matthandy

The Emirates A380 at LHR


Welcome to my Trip Report to Singapore and Seoul on the Emirates A380 and 777-300ER and Asiana A330-300 in Business (with an unscheduled side trip to Hong Kong and lounge tour)


My previous trip reports can be found here:


- March 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...a-wedding.html
- February 2010: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...eb-2010-a.html
- Nov–Dec 2009: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...y-pacific.html
- Feb 2009: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...d-lhr-jfk.html
- Nov 2008: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...rld-777-a.html
- Oct 2008: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...747-400-a.html
- Sept 2008 - My first TR: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...lub-world.html


This report features the following:

- Emirates A380 in Business
- Emirates 777-300ER in Business
- Asiana Airlines A330-300 in Business
- BONUS - Cathay Pacific A330 and 777-200 in Economy
- BONUS - Hong Kong Oneworld Lounge Tour: New Qantas Lounge, Cathay Pacific Wing, Pier and Gate 16 Lounges
- The Grand Hyatt, Singapore (http://singapore.grand.hyatt.com/hya...ogle_lbl_sinrs)
- The Intercontinental Coex, Seoul (http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/interco...ons/seoul-coex)
- The Rennaissance Harbour View Hotel, Hong Kong (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...tel-hong-kong/)

Routing

- London Heathrow T3 (LHR) to Dubai T3 (DXB): Emirates (EK), Business (J), A380
- Dubai T3 (DXB) to Singapore T1 (SIN): Emirates, Business (J), 777-300ER
- Singapore T2 (SIN) to Seoul Incheon (ICN): Asiana Airlines (OZ), Business (J), A330-300
- BONUS Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Hong Kong (HKG): Cathay Pacific (CX), Economy (Y), A330
- BONUS Hong Kong (HKG) to Seoul Incheon (ICN): Cathay Pacific (CX), Economy (Y), 777-200
- Seoul Incheon (ICN) to Dubai T3 (DXB): Emirates (EK), Business (J), A380
- Dubai T3 (DXB) to London Gatwick North (LGW): Emirates, Business (J), 777-300ER



Background

I work in IT for a luxury fashion brand and we’ve just gone live with a new reporting system so I was asked to go out to Asia to train our new users. Due to the business schedule I’d have to complete the training over the weekend in Singapore before moving on to Seoul on the Monday. Due to the schedules, and the fact that it takes quite a few hours to get from London to Singapore I decided to fly out on the Thursday (which was actually the day of the general election), arriving Friday afternoon and in theory giving me time to rest before starting in the office on Saturday morning.

I’ve been to Singapore many times and always enjoy visiting, although this was the first time for business. I was lucky enough that my schedule coincided with the schedule of some airline crew friends of mine so I was able to (finally) meet up with them ‘down route’.


Booking

As this was a corporate travel booking I used the client’s corporate travel agency. The lady that I dealt with couldn’t have been more friendly. We looked at few options on Singapore Airlines, Korean, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa, KLM and Air France (yuck). The problem was not getting from London to Singapore, many carriers offer a direct flight, but how I would then get to Seoul and back to London. Only Korean and Asian offer a direct flight from Seoul to London and both of these options were hideously expensive.

In the end, Emirates worked out the cheapest, although I’d have to factor in the lack of direct flights which led to an extended travel time. I had to do a bit of wrangling to ensure that I got a Heathrow (A380) sector in my itinerary as this was pricing up higher than the equivalent Gatwick sectors. In the end, Heathrow out and Gatwick back worked out the same as Gatwick both ways so I got my way.

Asiana airlines was booked to get me from Singapore to Seoul (a 6 hour flight to my surprise) and I managed to negotiate business class. I had initially attempted to get on to the Singapore Airlines code share which is a morning flight as I was desperate to try out the SQ business class seat, however, this flight was completely full even when booking two months in advance.

Once booked, the tickets were issued within 24 hours and I was able to go online and use Emirates ‘Manage a Booking’ feature to select seats in the forward business class cabin, heeding advice on Flyertalk about the configuration for window seats on the A380. I ended up choosing 14K on both A380 legs and 7A on both 777 legs. I was also able to log on to the Asiana website to select a seat in row 1 for my Singapore to Seoul flight, which was somewhat trickier than Emirates due to the workings of the Asiana website.

Once booked and seats confirmed it was a matter of waiting until the day of the first flight (which was a long wait, since I was stupidly excited about flying on the EK A380!).

London to Dubai on the EK A380 in Business

Flight: EK002
Carrier: Emirates
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Scheduled Departure time: 14.15
Duration: 6h 50m
Scheduled Arrival time: 00:05 (local)
Routing: London Heathrow (LHR) T3 – Dubai (DXB) T3
Class: Business
Seat: 14K – Upper Deck (seat plan)


Getting to Heathrow

I woke up at about 8.30, excited as a child on Christmas morning. It was a beautiful sunny day and as I’d already completed most of my packing the night before I was able to spend the morning sorting out a few personal things. I could have used the time to vote, however, I’d already completed a postal vote several days prior.

Emirates offer a chauffeur driven transfer service to and from nominated airports for Business and First Class passengers. For business pick up is available within a 50 mile radius (as the crow flies) from Heathrow. My travel agent had already arranged my pick up for 11am. The afternoon before my flight I was telephoned by the chauffeur company to confirm the booking.

At 10.45am I got a phone call from the driver who was waiting downstairs for me. The car was a brand new 10 plate Volvo S60. The car was actually only three weeks old. The driver was very professional, opening the door for me and calling me Sir all the time. We had quite a good chat along the way, mostly about the election.


Nearing Heathrow on the M25

We arrived at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 in good time, taking only an hour, giving me plenty of time to enjoy the lounge before the flight. I wished the driver well and made my way into the Terminal to find the Emirates check in desks (Zone C).




Terminal 3 departures area

I found my way to the Emirates check in area which is divided into Economy, Business and First desks.


Emirates check in desks

Note the man to the right in the red shirt. As soon as I snapped the photo above he came over and told me off. Whoops.

There was no queue at the Business Class check in and I must have checked in within 60 seconds flat, it was very quick. I should point out here that I did complete online check in the day before, printing off my boarding pass in the process. All I had to do at the airport is hand over my checked luggage.

I was directed upstairs to security and invited to use the ‘Fast Track’ line. However, upon arrival, I missed the fast track completely (it’s not very well signed) and joined the reasonably long queue with all of the other passengers. By the looks of it, ‘Fast Track’ looked about as fast as the economy queue anyway. Security took about 15 minutes (only two lines open) and I managed to short cut out of the departure area and made my way to the Emirates shared Business class and First class lounge which is located near Gate 7.

I was greeted at reception by a lady in full Emirates uniform, my name was ticked off the list and I was directed upstairs to the lounge itself.

The lounge is rather large and has a long and thin configuration. This layout offers greater privacy as people are not bundled together. The decor didn't move me and I found that it looked rather dated, nothing like the BA lounges in Terminal 5 or the Wing/Pier in Hong Kong (despite those lounges being many years old).


The Emirates Heathrow Lounge – Looking left towards door A and the main food area


Looking right, away from the entrance towards the mini-bar area and Door B


Looking down the complete length of the lounge from near door A, the business centre is on the left
The most stunning feature of the lounge was the view. The lounge looks right out onto the Southern runway with most aircraft leaving the ground directly opposite where I was sitting.


An American Airlines 777 taking off from the Southern Runway

I found myself a spot overlooking the runway and proceeded to explore the food and drink options. These were extensive, with a good selection of wines, 2 whites, 2 reds and plenty of Veuve Clicquot champagne (my favourite). Each wine was accompanied by tasting notes. The food menu was probably better than most that I’d seen in other airport lounges with a full three course meal on offer. The choices were:

- Thai Green Chicken Curry with Rice
- Fish Escalope with Chunky Chips
- Beef and Mushroom Pie

And for dessert:

- Tiramisu
- Bannoffee Pie
- Apple Crumble
- Cheese and Biscuits

In addition a variety of snacks and other drinks were available such as juices, fruit smoothies, soft drinks, beer, cider and crisps.


A selection of main courses


Dessert, including Bannoffe Pie, crumble and Tiramisu


The mini-bar located near door B

After helping myself to a glass of Champagne and an apple juice I sat down and started to answer a few emails using the free Wifi, the password for which was posted at reception.

At about 1pm an announcement was made that the aircraft had arrived at Heathrow and about 10 minutes later it started to come in to view.


The Emirates A380 arriving at Gate 7, all viewed with a nice glass of Champagne

It was quite a sight. I’d been on and seen both the Qantas and the Singapore Airlines A380’s and I think that the Emirates livery is the most striking. I was starting to get more excited now. Several people in the lounge started taking photos. What a way to build the anticipation, by parking the aircraft right in front of the lounge. An excellent move by Emirates I must say!

As soon as A6-EDH arrived at the gate the carefully conducted manoeuvres began and it was very interesting to watch. As soon as the blocks were on, the waiting vehicles pounced. The dual air bridges were attached and then the catering trucks approached followed by the baggage handlers. Interestingly, some of the baggage containers were loaded straight on to articulated lorries, straight from the aircraft, rather on trolleys.


Knock, knock, let me in please – the catering truck service door U2R had to wait quite a while to be let in


Servicing the aircraft

An announcement was made shortly after that boarding would be delayed due to the late arrival of the aircraft. No worries, more time in the lounge drinking champagne. As I had to take two flights to get to Singapore my strategy was the drink as much Champagne as I could on the first leg and sleep on the second, therefore a slight delay in the lounge didn’t bother me.


My little area in the lounge, with a great view

I decided to give the food a go, as I hadn’t had any breakfast and it would probably be a good couple of hours before lunch on-board. I went for the Beef and Mushroom pie followed by a slice of Bannoffee pie, both of which were excellent.

A new departure time of 2.40pm was announced, with boarding starting at 2.20pm. Boarding was to take place directly from the lounge through door A which was past the food area to the right.

Boarding took a little while, with all of the premium passengers boarding at the same time. Anyone waiting in the gate area would have wondered where the rest of the passengers were. Door A took us straight in to the corridor that led to the air bridges, by-passing the gate area completely. Boarding passes were scanned by the Emirates agent at the lounge door.


Boarding directly from the lounge through Door A – note the model A380 in the corner

matthandy

First and Business passengers board through door 1 on the upper deck. First class passengers turn left, business right. I was greeted at the door and pointed in the direction of my seat, 14K, on the right hand side of the cabin approximately half way down the first business class cabin, just at the front of the wing.

First impressions were good, the cabin was bright and airy although the seats took up a lot of ‘space’ in the cabin making it feel a little full.


The cabin during boarding

My first impressions of my seat, 14K were excellent, with lots of personal space and a very private feeling. If you haven’t heard, the A and K seats are the ones to choose on this aircraft. The configuration is a bit strange, with a staggered layout. This means that the A and K seats are adjacent to the window and have access to the window side bins but the B and J seats do not as the feet of the A and K passengers pass under the B and J seat’s mini-bar area which is close to the window. It makes more sense if you refer to the seat plan. Note that there is no row 13.

The seat itself was very comfortable although the foot rest was a little strange as it was quite a distance from the main seat meaning that a ‘bridging’ foot rest popped up to support passenger’s feet when not in bed mode.


My seat, 14K – note the window side bins which were used for storage of blankets, pillows etc


View of the IFE screen, secondary IFE controller, USB and laptop power and foot tunnel – the pop-up foot rest is the carpeted area at the bottom of the photo


A Qantas 747 arrived from Hong Kong

Welcome drinks of Bollinger Champagne, water or orange juice were offered as well as a separate newspaper run and the menu and wine list. The crew were very mixed with multiple nationalities serving today. I was served mostly by a male Australian crew member. He seemed to have a bit of an attitude but I suspect he thought that he was being funny. For example, he walked down the cabin with a tray of newspapers and one of the passengers near me stopped him and asked to take a newspaper, fair enough. The crew member offered him a paper but as he left to make his way to the front of the cabin he muttered ‘help yourself’ in a sarcastic manner. I found this extremely unprofessional. Unfortunately, this set the tone for the rest of the flight.

The captain came over the PA to announce a flight time of 6 hours and 18 minutes and informed us of the weather in Dubai. Very soon after the safety video was played, firstly in Arabic and then in English. During taxi I could hardly here the engines at all, it was very eerie. I’ve flown on the A380 on both Qantas and Singapore Airlines before now but I’ve never noticed it being this quiet before.

I was able to watch our progress on the tail cam and soon we were turning on to the Southern runway. We took off at 3.15pm, an hour later than the scheduled push back. Take off was again, incredibly quiet with little power, however, we took off reasonably quickly and after a little low level turbulence we were on our way to Dubai. An interesting point about the IFE, it is available for use the moment the passenger sits down, apart from the safety video and announcements, passengers can use it throughout taxi and take off and landing.

The Captain took about 20 minutes to turn off the seat belt sign and as soon as he did I headed down the back to use the toilet but also to check out the famous bar area. It should be noted that all of the toilets (4) for the business class cabin are located at the back of the aircraft and you have to pass through the bar area to reach them. More on the bar later.

The toilets located at either side of the aircraft have windows, which is a first for me. The blind is closed on the ground, for obvious reasons however, in the air, it can be opened up. The toilet was no larger than other A380 toilets that I’ve used however it was decorated in typical Emirates style, which lots of wood effect panels. There was a good range of amenities on offer including perfume and aftershave as well as razors and hand cream. Additionally, cloth towels were provided instead of paper ones which is something that I like to see in the premium cabins.


A toilet with a view, note the wood effect toilet seat


The well stocked sink area

I returned to my seat and shortly afterwards the crew came by to offer to add a mattress to people’s seats. This took the form of a padded, cotton lined mattress that was placed directly over the seat making for a more comfortable bed. I declined as I didn’t intend to catch any sleep until later in the flight. My mattress was placed in the window bin, for use later.

A little more about the seat. This is Emirate’s latest generation flat bed business class seat and offers a range of pre-set and fully adjustable positions. It is the only business class seat in the Emirates flat that goes fully flat. The seat width is good, about the same as Qantas, BA and Cathay Pacific. Each passenger is provided with ample personal space in the form of a mini-bar area which includes soft drinks and a large shelf for the placement of personal items such as a laptop. The shelf is actually covering the foot tunnel for the passenger behind. It also houses the large, solid dining table. Additionally, each A or K seat has two window bins available to them for further storage.


The mini-bar, buttons to control the seat and lighting, shelf and in-seat wireless controller


A closer view of the wireless controller, taken later in the flight

The seat can be controlled using the rather hefty wireless touch screen controller. As previously mentioned this can be used to fully adjust the seat as required. It also controls the IFE, however, I found this very confusing because what is displayed on the remote control is not always the same as on the main IFE screen meaning that you have to look at both. I was able to display the tail cam on the main screen and the airshow on the screen of the controller at the same time which was a nice feature. I actually found it easier to use the standard IFE controller which was located underneath the IFE screen itself. To be honest I found the wireless controller to be a bit of a gimmick. I did play with it again later in the flight and found it easier to use second time around but not as easy as using the in seat buttons or built in IFE controller. It also got very upset if you tried to remove it during descent as I tried to do to take some photos. A message came up to say that it was locked. If you tried to remove it the controller grassed you up with a message saying that it must be docked and had informed the crew that you’ve tried to remove it, nice.

Soon a rather surly Indian lady crew member took my lunch and drinks order. At no time did she address me by name or even use ‘Sir’. It seemed as though the crew on this flight felt as though the passengers were inconveniencing their journey home to Dubai. I’ve never had service like this, even in economy. I’ve had bad service before, but it’s never been openly rude like this was.

Here is the rather full on menu, staring with the bar service:


The Menu



The Wine List

And the wine list:

Now that I’ve just typed this up I’ve realised that I didn’t get offered half of what was on the menu. I received no side salad, didn’t get offered the cheese or the fruit, didn’t get the chocolates and had to ask for the dessert. This is terrible and representative of the lazy crew that I had on-board. This has now spurred me on to write to Emirates to complain.

Anyway, on with the trip report.

My drinks and canapés arrived within about 20 minutes. I’d ordered a glass of Champagne and some iced water. For some reason the water and the canapés arrived together but I had to wait a little longer for the Champagne.


Champagne, water and canapés

The canapés were delicious and just as they should be, tiny taste sensations. After delicately devouring these I had to wait rather a long time for my starter to show up, 30 minutes in fact. The crew member laid my table, which came out of the mini-bar area to the left of the seat. It was rather large, but could not be moved forward or backwards, essentially trapping you in your seat. Without a word he laid the white cotton table cloth and individual salt and pepper pots as well as butter and salad dressing. I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure what the salad dressing was for, but now I realise that it was for the side salad that I never got. The starter was offered with a choice of bread rolls including pita bread.


Seared duck breast and bread

The duck was great, especially when combined with the orange compote.
Next followed the main which arrived on a trolley along with my adjacent passengers choices. I was offered a drinks top up and more bread. Perhaps my FA was trying to make up for being rude.


Grilled salmon with steam potatoes and vegetables

The salmon was excellent and was about the same size portion that you would expect in a restaurant. I liked the presentation including the fact that all meals were served on substantial china crockery with the Emirates logo always facing towards the front of the plane.

After finishing the salmon, and clearing my plate without saying excuse me, the male FA serving me asked me if I’d like anything else from the menu. I was a little confused by this as I assume that he’d ask me what I wanted for dessert. It felt as though asking for what I was expecting was going to be a huge inconvenience to him. Clearly, the crew wanted to finish the meal service early so that they could go and hang out with each other at the back of the plane. Due to this, I didn't even realise that there was a cheese course as this was never offered to me.

This attitude was further demonstrated when he asked the passenger behind me if he wanted anything else. The passenger didn’t hear him properly and the crew member responded rather aggressively with “well that’s why I’m asking you!”. His attitude stank to high heaven. I’ve never heard any crew member talk to a passenger like that on any flight, in any class.

A really good friend of mine is an on-board manager for another airline and I gave her these examples from my flight. She was disgusted and noted that she’d be very disappointed and embarrassed if any of her crew had spoken to passengers in that way. She actually thanked me for the anecdotes though as she then used them in her crew briefing for her flight the following day as clear examples of how NOT to do it! She urged me to file a complaint with Emirates as the crew member in question is doing the airline a big disservice.

Back to the TR. My dessert turned up and was delicious. I’d ordered the chocolate delice.


Chocolate delice with vanilla sauce

Rather than wait for the crew to clear my table I moved it all on to the mini-bar area and went to the back of the aircraft to the bar area. I took a photo of the business class cabin along the way.


The business class cabin, after the lunch service

Now, the bar. Well, the first thing I can say is that it is pretty special. Of all commercial aircraft that I’m aware of this is the largest bar area available to passengers in the sky. Virgin Atlantic may have started with the concept, but Emirates topped it off.


The Emirates bar area – the lovely Irish FA serving some champagne and a few cheeky chappies on the sofas


The Emirates bar area – looking the other way towards the right hand set of sofas


The Emirates bar area – looking towards the rear of the air craft to the large LCD screen showing the rather high tech airshow

There was a full selection of drinks available including champagne, wines, spirits and soft drinks. Around the bar canapés and sandwiches were available if you hadn’t eaten enough for lunch.

One thing to be cautious of though, the bar actually sticks out slightly from the back of the second business class cabin, this means that if you are seated in the last row in that cabin you are practically in the bar. The worst seat of the cabin has to be aisle seat in the last row.


One of two ‘worst’ seats in the house, almost encroaching on the bar area, bound to be heavy with traffic and noise

The bar seemed pretty popular and there was always a few people hanging out there each time that I visited. On this occasion I met the cheeky chappies from my photo earlier. They were travel agents flying to Dubai for a travel fair. I also met a man from First Class who owned a construction company and made regular trips to the UAE for business.

The bar was a very social area and passengers were socialising with the crew and each other. The cabin manager spent quite a bit of time in the bar area telling passengers about the plane. He described the First class showers and mentioned that no-one had chosen to use them on this flight. I felt like asking if I could have a go instead, but didn’t.

The cabin manager offered to take my photo behind the bar, which was fun. I grabbed a bottle of Bolly and he snapped away. One of the other FA’s then took my photo sitting on the sofa’s with the bar in the foreground. What was amusing is that the crew also had a Polaroid camera to take photos of the passengers either behind the bar or socialising. That was quite a nice touch.

matthandy

After about an hour I asked if I could take a look downstairs at the economy cabins. The nice FA serving and the bar said that this was no problem and showed me to the back stairs and opened the gate that ensured that people didn’t fall down the stairs during turbulence. She told the crew to let me back up when I’d finished.

I walked down the stairs and realised that I'd actually forgotten that there was a whole other deck underneath me. The main deck on this aircraft and accommodate 399 economy passengers and it was vast. I made my way towards the front of the aircraft to get the full view. I was able to walk the full length of the main deck, from the back stairs to the front stairs which led to First Class. For some reason it seemed much more spacious than the Singapore Airlines A380 that I’d been on previously.


The centre economy cabin on the main deck


The forward stairs leading to First Class with the First Class bar area visible

I definitely prefer upstairs

On my return one of the crew was sitting on the stairs doing some paperwork. She was sitting right across one step which would have made it hard for me to get past. However, instead of moving out the way for me, a passenger after all, she just sat there and didn’t even acknowledge my existence. I actually had to ask if she would move so that I could get past. Forget the fact that I was a passenger, wouldn't any decent, normal person move anyway? The fact that I was a paying passenger and she was crew just made it worse. I then got to the gate at the top of the stairs and I couldn’t work out how to open it. Again, she just kept staring at her paperwork as I tried to fumble with the gate to get it open. I had to turn to her and ask in a rather firm tone whether she’d open the gate for me, she did, without uttering a word. I was amazed by this, another example of crew that was completely uninterested in the passengers that they were supposed to be looking after.

On my return it was clear that the crew had activated the mood lighting.


Mood lighting active in the business class cabin


Anyway, I returned to my seat a little peed off by this. I decided to turn my seat into a bed so proceeded to get the mattress out of it’s bag and fully recline the seat. With everything set up it was very comfortable. The only downside was that the foot tunnel was quite narrow.


My seat in flat bed mode, very comfortable

As a bed, the seat offered a good amount of elbow room and with the soft mattress and large cotton pillow it was easy to get comfortable. I didn’t actually go to sleep but instead decided to lay in bed and watch Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lovely Bones’. A bit of a strange but not a bad film.

I took advantage of the mini-bar and helped myself to a drink of Evian. It was only a small bottle and after that ran out I went back to the bar to get a top up.
On my return the mood lighting was in full swing.


Mood lighting in the smaller, rear business class cabin


Mood lighting in the main business class cabin

And so, for the last hour and a half of my flight I watched the end of the film and dozed before the captain came on to inform us that we had 40 minutes to landing. This was followed by the turning on of the lights which was done reasonably sharply without using the mood lighting at all.

We were soon descending into Dubai and flew over the city itself. At night it’s difficult to see anything in detail but I suspect it would look amazing during the day.

After a slightly wobbly landing we pulled up at Dubai’s Terminal 3 at around 00.55. Next to us was the customary row of Emirates tail fins.


Waiting Emirates Aircraft at Terminal 3

Deplaning was relatively quick with three air bridges attached to the aircraft.


Waiting to disembark


Three air bridges attached to this A380


Verdict

The Emirates A380 business class experience is truly excellent, apart from the crew on this occassion. The seat was spacious, private and comfortable, the lounge was good with an amazing view, the food and the bar really topped it off. I found the IFE a bit confusing and the wireless controller a bit of a gimmick.

You know my thoughts on the crew, utterly unprofessional and I've already penned my email to Emirates. Let's hope the next leg is better.

Flyingfox

Thanks for the excellent report thus far!^

I have to say that it really depends on the crew when it comes to service. We flew with them in F on the A380 from LHR-DXB-BKK a while back and the crew on BOTH legs just were not that good. There was one FA on the LHR-DXB leg that was great, the others all pretty poor. They certainly don't say "excuse me" whilst reaching over you. My AVOD was having trouble for the first 2 hours and I basically had to move to another empty seat on my own as they never even offered! They played with it for about 45 minutes and gave up. No apologies nor offers to move me. On the second sector, the crew were more interested in their gossip in the galley than serving, so they tried to rush the meal service. I didn't like that at ALL. They served two items incorrectly (did not add garnishes and forgot the sides requested). Once I made a complaint (in the air), however, they seemed to improve and took things a tad more seriously. I did find that I had to ASK for what I wanted, as it was not offered outright. I would suggest getting a good read of the menu and ask for everything you want, do not be shy at all - and that includes using the call light if that is what it takes (which it did for me)!

roadwarriorafrica

Great report so far I would agree with the Emirates crew comments. There is no consistency in service. Sometimes you get great crew and sometimes a mixed bag.

Can't wait for the rest of the report.

falconred

Great report!

How nice to be able to board the plane directly from the lounge.

Sorry the service wasn't the best on that flight, but the A380's amenities look great.

oontiveros

That's sort of like service in the UAE in general...

Genius1

This is a really good report so far ^

I like the 'new' presentation style you've been using recently.

The fact that EK offer a chauffeur service for premium passengers in the UK makes them stand out from the crowd somewhat (I believe only VS do on certain fares?).

The Emirates lounge looks fairly spacious (although I don't like the decor), and the food offering seems very good for a business class lounge. I always tend to find that joint J/F lounges like this have a slightly better selection than 'normal' J lounges. Great view, too. That AA aircraft is a 777, not a 767

Interesting that you boarded from the lounge - I wasn't aware of this at LHR. Was Door B for the next door gate, in the event that EK use that gate too?

It's interesting to note from the seat plan of the A380 that EK haven't placed any seating behind Doors U3LR, but it makes sense the way they have the bar and washrooms located right at the back.

I'm not a fan of the EK interior decor, but the seat looks fairly comfortable.

The meal service looks excellent, and the presentation of both the food and the table service is quite extraordinary for a business class cabin (ie. individual salt/pepper pots).

The bar area is impressive, and certainly a lot more useful than QF's somewhat redundant 'meeting area' on the A380.

The stairs at the back are surely to keep the riff raff out rather than to stop people falling down them?

A real shame about the crew, but EK certainly are impressive in every other regard.

Looking forward to the rest of the TR, and am really enjoying those clear photos. ^

melvin

Just curious how do you know the AA aircraft is a 777 and not a 767??

want to see if u figure it out like i did..

qbrain

I hate bad service on a premium product, it doesn't really matter what it is.

Great report and sounds like a nice hard product.

snod08

I really enjoyed the A380 Business class as well on DXB-JFK (when they were still using the A380)! Its such an awesome experience.

Great TR!
Also, enjoyed most of your other TR's.

Daytona

Wow, nice picture. It almost looks like you are sitting outside on the tarmac!

Moomba

Boarding from the lounge. How very civilised. Only done that once in my life when taking a very fast flight to JFK from LHR.


Great report matthandy ^

Genius1

Because it just is. It's like saying the colour red is blue, when it so clearly isn't

Seriously though, the engines on the 777 are larger, the fuselage is longer, and there are 4 doors, which are of a different type than a 767 (they come out, as opposed to sliding up).

Moomba

Umm the dead give away is the three wheel undercarriage.