Boraxo

Flew recently SFO-DXB and DXB-SFO in business class on the 777-300 and was definitely underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high based on prior short-haul flights. But overall I found the seats inferior to UA's and BA's lie-flat TATL product, the food unappealing, and the service somewhat deficient. I really had high hopes, but sadly they were not realized.

Preflight @ SFO

Online Checkin was a waste of my time as you had to go to counter to show your passport. The limo showed up a few minutes late, which was a little disconcerting as EK does not provide you with the telephone # for the car service contractor. Almost no wait at airport counter which was good compared to last week's 10m wait in UA's F line. No hassle over my 22" carryon ^ I have covered the SFO lounge elsewhere in the appropriate thread, but suffice it to say that the lounge was one of the better parts of the journey. Boarding via lounge passageway is a big plus.

Seats

I found the angled 777-300 seats to be far inferior to UA's current horizontal lie-flat, though a better product than LH C. The problem is not so much the angle but lack of leg support when fully extended. The IFE was good and comparable to UA and BA though extra points to EK for the front and bottom cameras! ^

Service

The soft product was greatly below expectations - very little FA effort except during meal service and even then very slow in bringing drinks. IMO the FAs were somewhat lazy, failing to even match up to UA's senior staff who generally venture out every hour or so with water refills. Mind you I'm not expecting a beer every half hour like some I've seen. But the attitude seems to be that once the lights go out there is no need to check the cabin until the next meal is ready. Both bathrooms ran out of towels midflight.

Food

All of the food options (for every meal) were generally unhealthy excepting the fruit side. The salad was half frise (aka weeds). The main dishes were all too spicy with the exception of the rather pathetic deli plates. I realize that US carrier generally err on the other side (bland food) but there has to be a happy medium. Sadly the food was better on my 40m connecting flight (not unique to EK but kind of ridiculous when you think about it). Midflight snack offerings pathetic (same as competition - why does everyone insist on over-buttering sandwiches?) Apparently you are not allowed to choose your own condiments on airplanes. Ran out of the French white during dinner service. Ran out of diet coke in F/C but managed to find some in Y. Not sure why it is so hard to provide the can, particularly when they don't patrol the aisles with refills.

Arrivals

At both DXB and my final destination there were no jetways so we had to take busses (this was also true for the first return flight). That's a big minus as I like to carryon my 22" bag. More of an airport failure, but still no fun particularly for the phys disabled (not me). The DXB lounge was better than the mediocre RCCs and *A lounges, but well below the level of other EK lounges in terms of food and luxury. I guess they can't justify putting a out a good spread for thousands that pass through every day. But compares unfavorably to the wonderful BA hub lounges at LHR.

Finally, I don't check bags but my colleagues arrived fairly quickly. Our cars were waiting when we exited customs.

Complete failures

Neither of our cars showed up for the return flight. My assistant spent 1/2 hour on the phone and was finally told that EK policy is to cancel the car service when you are upgraded (in this case from C to F). Sure, that makes sense, and don't bother to inform the customer Upon arrival at SFO there was also no car waiting but this time I had the contractor's # and was told that one would be at the curb in 5m. After 20m the car arrives .... if I'd known that I would have used my corporate service I hate spinning my wheels after whizzing through customs with Global Entry.

Based on this experience, I don't find any reason to prioritize EK over UA or BA when flying to the Middle East. I knew the hard product, i.e. seat, would be a little deficient, but I was expecting the soft product to make up for it and that simply wasn't the case. The AS miles are a plus, assuming they post eventually, but not enough to warrant a switch from UA or BA. As much as we like to b**** in the UA forum, I can't say the grass is greener at EK, putting aside the lounges. And frankly, it's not a plus to be a neurotic US citizen flying over Iran.

Buttercup38

Being bused from/to flights at DXB is becoming a very common occurrence.
I had a 10+minute bus to a flight recently (from the amount of construction happening it appears the expansion is a bit behind the demand), to walk up the stairs that had grease covering the railings. All the passengers boarding in every class, were requesting hand towels.

Havoc10G

Based on this experience, I don't find any reason to prioritize EK over UA or BA when flying to the Middle East. I knew the hard product, i.e. seat, would be a little deficient, but I was expecting the soft product to make up for it and that simply wasn't the case. The AS miles are a plus, assuming they post eventually, but not enough to warrant a switch from UA or BA. As much as we like to b**** in the UA forum, I can't say the grass is greener at EK, putting aside the lounges. And frankly, it's not a plus to be a neurotic US citizen flying over Iran. [/QUOTE]

I think a sample size of 1 should not be the basis of a decision on anything in life. My own experience of BA vs EK is that EK is much better. In terms of service and overall experience. BA is a tired old airline in my view. I have flown BA for over 20 years and can see the decline. EK isn't perfect but is on the right upward trajectory and makes money, important when considering the future of airlines. As for flying over Iran, why don't you drink a pint of man the .... Up!

DYKWIA

Good review... But I'm a little concerned when you say EK IFE is on a par with BA. EK is steets ahead!

We've just got off a BA flight LHR-HGK. My girlfriends screen wasn't working. A couple of reboots and it was no better. Fortunately, there was somebody on board who seemed to know a bit more that the BA staff, and managed to get it going (me!).

My screen was awful - very washed out colours, and definately a stretched widescreen picture.

The rest of the flight was great. Perfect service, and pretty nice nice food and wine.

JTXC

Is this true? They cancel your chauffeur booking when you had been op-up'd from J to F?

Boraxo

Unfortunately you can't make this stuff up. That was exactly what they told my assistant. Not sure I buy it but it was consistent across two reservations. No notification either - you just wait for a car that never shows up

avarice13

Good review, thanks for the insight.

I would agree with Havoc that EK is far better than BA; yes, it isn't perfect, but the BA product in C or even F is just annoying.

I posted on another forum that I flew BA F LAS-LHR and then EK C LHR-DXB; maybe it is just me but I didn't enjoy the BA product at all (even the 747 F or Upper Deck C). Very unhappy and unfriendly faces on BA and the seats just felt weird and unconventional (again, in my opinion).

Also, BA IFE = terrible (small, poor quality screens, less selection), EK IFE/ICE = amazing!!!

xEKr

Actually what happens is they cancel your existing flight booking in the lower class, which auto-cancels the chauffeur service. The agent probably forgot to rebook it when he/she was rebooking the flight into the higher class (either because the upgraded flight booking didn't confirm right away, or they just plain forgot).
Shouldn't be necessary, but always a good idea to reconfirm the day before.

mrtdxb

With the new style MMB screen it is much easier to see, without having to dig, whether your limo bookings are still intact.

OzTennis

I think a sample size of 1 should not be the basis of a decision on anything in life. My own experience of BA vs EK is that EK is much better. In terms of service and overall experience. BA is a tired old airline in my view. I have flown BA for over 20 years and can see the decline. EK isn't perfect but is on the right upward trajectory and makes money, important when considering the future of airlines. As for flying over Iran, why don't you drink a pint of man the .... Up![/QUOTE]

Re sample size of 1; the other side of that coin could be 'you only get one chance to make a first impression' or 'first impressions are lasting impressions'. Far too many businesses forget this.