Emirates BKK-HKG-BKK in Y
Jul 29, 2003, 3:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,352
Emirates BKK-HKG-BKK in Y
Dear all,
Here is my promised report on my weekend trip to Bangkok on Emirates. My party of six bought a very cheap hotel + air package ($1700HKD per person) and Emirates is the designated airline. Emirates is definitely one of the most talk about airlines during the past decade. It is expanding quickly and as of August 1, 2003, it will expand into Auckland with a twice-weekly flight. My verdict is that Emirates is definitely an above average airline with great ground staff and the inflight service is pretty good. A hot meal is served on the two hours sector from Hong Kong to Bangkok and return. If EK offers the same service level on its Australia to New Zealand flight, it will pose a threat to Qantas and Air New Zealand. I think EK is smart in choosing its network and picks the right route to create a niche for itself. But I think Emirates is still not as good as other top tier Asian and European airlines. Its flight attendant service is extremely inconsistent and they are not as friendly as promised. But the most disturbing part of the flight is the rude and inconsiderate behavior expressed by some of my fellow Asian passengers. Well, here is the report –
July 25, 2003
EK 383 HKG-BKK Lv2225 Arr0005+1
Airbus A330-200 A6-EAC
Check-in desks are opened at 8pm and lines were not too bad. There is no single queue, and we only had to wait around ten minutes before being checked in. The ground staff was Jardine representative and extremely friendly. However, the agent insisted on corresponding the bag with the correct passenger. It resulted in a long check in process. We took the time in filling out the health declaration forms and Emirate has extremely nice bag tags – red plastic tags and nice stickers. We were given six seats together in the front of the first section of the cabin. BTW, Row 10 on the 2-class Airbus A330-200 has no windows. We were then given exclusive Emirates green baggage tags to put on our bags, so we could not recognized. The agent was definitely one of the friendliest that I have encountered.
Gate 66 was our gate. Emirate uses the faraway gates in Hong Kong and that particular pier was extremely quiet with most shops closed at this time of the day. Our Airbus A330-200 was seating quietly at the tarmac next to an Air China’s Boeing 737. Emirates has downgraded the Hong Kong flights from Boeing 777-300s to Airbus A330-200s for the summer season, and the thrice weekly flights at midnight were changed to another flight with a stop at Bangkok, instead of nonstop. Boarding began at 9:42pm and J and Y class has their own jet bridge and counters. We waited a bit before joining the queue. We did not have many carry-on bags this evening. A newspaper trolley with HK Chinese (Sing Tao) & English (SCMP and HK Standard) and International newspapers were placed at the jet bridge. The purser was at the gate to direct passengers to their seats. The cabin looked clean but crowded. The aisle was relatively narrow and the seat pitch does not look like 34 inches as advertised. The window and aisle seats had the unwelcomed TV box, which reduce the legroom a bit. Two Chinese passengers had occupied our seats and took a few minutes for the F/A to send them back to their correct seats. Our flight was relatively full with many passengers heading to Bangkok. I settled at the window seat, 12A. A blanket (nice Emirate cotton blanket – clear and wrapped in plastic), a pillow and a headset were already placed at each seat, which did not happen on domestic USA Y flight.
Door was closed at 10:21pm and hot towels were passed out, followed by menus. The menu was not the cheap one page thing, but a nice booklet with food served on both the HKG to BKK and BKK to DXB segment. During the push back, I turned on the personal TV to the forward view channel – Emirates has one sky map, one forward and downward birdeye view camera channels. Hong Kong airport was not too busy and we took off from runway 7R at 10:49pm. Seat belt sign was turned off at 10:55pm and the personal TV system was started with fifteen channels of short subjects – only short subjects were shown on the short two hours and twelve minutes Hong Kong to Bangkok segment. But the selection was very nice with comedies and lots of interesting international and Gulf TV programs. There is no separate cocktail service. The F/A came immediately with our light meals after the meal carts were spotted. The meal was of reasonable size – a full main meal tray with a cold bread roll (no warmed rolls for the short flights), a salad (Greek style with mesclun greens, feta cheese, and cherry tomato) with a tub of unknown dressing, a plastic water cup, dessert, and main choice. I had the chicken, which was decent, but filled with MSG. After the F/A passed out the meals, the same F/A came back with the beverage trolley – mini cans were offered and I had a vodka coke. The Thai F/As on this segment were extremely friendly, especially compared with the Caucasian and Arabic crew. After the beverage service, it came back to pick up dirty trays with tea and coffee. Then they disappeared. The light meal transcript was here –
Hong Kong to Bangkok
Light Meal
Salad
Seasonal Salad served with a dressing
Main Course
Stir-fried chicken with cashews
Stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, served with Chinese greens and steamed rice
Or
Fillet of Nile Perch
Served with buttered broccoli, red capsicum coulis and steamed parsley potatoes
Dessert
Citrus Bavarois flavored with cystalised orange zest and served with raspberry coulis
Beverages and Chocolates
Tea or Coffee
Chocolates
I played video games for the rest of the flight. I got a deck of Emirates’ playing cards and descent soon began on a cloudy night in Southeast Asia. Soon we were landed on Runway 21L at a minute after midnight. It took a while for us to taxi into our gate. BKK was very busy at this time of the day with many European and North Asian flights waiting for their turns to return to their respective countries. We parked next to an EVA’s MD-11 and a Korean Air Boeing 747-400. All continuing passengers to Dubai must stay aboard. There is a boarding pass check at the end of the jetway. Please be ware of these procedures!
We stayed at Bangkok’s tallest hotel – Baiyoke Sky Hotel, which is a tourist hotel, which is about three stars or maybe four stars. The hotel is located on a relatively quiet and poor area, but the hotel is not too bad. The rooms are reasonable clean and the breakfast buffet was relatively nice with lots of Asian, European, Thai and Japanese food to choose from. But we had problems about our room assignments. Communication is difficult and it takes another hour to sort out the problems. Then the following night, the manager decided to call me at 12:30am to ask if I need to switch rooms – not so professional. But for the price, it is a good hotel.
During the weekend, we had lots of good food on relatively cheap price. The best meal was the Sunday Brunch buffet at Regent Bangkok. The price tag is 1450 Baht ($280HKD) per person. The price is on the high side but the food selection is amazing. There is a full juice bar (made to order), cocktail bar (martini & Bloody Mary), caviar bar, Chinese buffet with Sharks Fin and Dim Sum, Japanese buffet with a made to order Japanese sashimi & sushi counter, cold soba, sukiyaki buffet, a Mediterranean bar, a goose liver bar (my sister had four pieces – perfectly cooked when ordered), a cold seafood bar, a grill bar with lamb chops, crayfish, steaks, beef tenderloin, fish pieces, and tiger prawns made to order, a dessert bar with cakes, souffles, and crepe bar. You don’t need to wait for your food. You were given many pieces of papers with your table number. The waiters and waitresses bring the food to your table. I highly recommend it to everyone.
After a crazy eating and shopping trip, it is time to go back to Hong Kong.
EK 382 BKK-HKG Lv1340 Arr1730
Airbus A330-200 A6-EAB
The check in area at Bangkok was relatively quiet and we did not need to wait at all. The Thai agent was friendly and our bags were tagged quickly, and boarding passes were printed out next. We were given seats towards the front (Row 15) and spent some times dining at a nice Thai restaurant inside the restricted area. The aircraft arrived late from Dubai (1pm) and we did not board till 1:46pm. Once again, two lines were formed and we waited till last minute to board. At the door way, only Gulf and Thai newspapers were offered and a pillow and headset were placed at each seat. The flight is definitely more crowded and we need to search for overhead space. Passengers were very selfish and rude on this segment. The folks at Row 14 reclined their seats immediately after seated and used very “foul language” on their conversation and the folks at 14G decided to put his bare feet up at the footrest of the seat in front of him. Very inconsiderate! Well, the flight attendants on this flight were mainly from the Gulf and other Caucasian countries. The Hindu flight attendant serving us meals was extremely rude and smiles were lacking. All except one F/As in the back seem to be professional. Other F/As did not look like that they want to be there. Door was closed at 2:02pm and pushed back six minutes later. Hot towels and menus were passed out, but the wrong menus were passed out (HKG-BKK-DXB) and no F/As were aware of the mistakes or went to recollect the menus. BKK was very quiet and we took off from Runway 21R at 2:22pm. Flying time was two hours and twenty-three minutes. Our flight route took us towards Surin and Da Nang and climbing up to 37,000ft.
Blankets were available on request and my blanket “accidentally” fell into my bag – one of the best Y airline blankets. For the PTV system, movies were shown on the longer return segment from BKK to HKG, and the light meal service began shortly after takeoff. Here is the transcript –
Bangkok to Hong Kong
Appetizers
Grilled chicken with Pamelo Salad
Marinated pamelo salad with grilled chicken
Main Course
Stir-fried beef
Chinese style stir-fried beef, braised with oyster sauce and vegetables, accompanied by steamed rice and pak choy
Or
Steamed Perch
Steamed perch fillet, topped with creamy sauce and drizzled with a herb and roast tomato salsa, served with sugar snap peas, sauteed red pepper and lemon rice
Dessert
Strawberry Financier
Fresh strawberries, placed on baked macaroon and vanilla cream, topped with caramelized orange zest
Beverages and Chocolates
Tea or Coffee
Chocolates
Another one tray service with a nice chicken appetizer, a well-cooked and tasty beef entrée, and an excellent dessert. A cold soft plain roll, a water cup, and an Emirates (Nestle) milk chocolate square were served as well. The meal was better than the outbound flight.
Descent began at 4:18pm and we landed on Runway 25R at 5:43pm (HKG is an hour ahead of BKK). We returned to gate 66 again. Of course, half of the Y passengers unbuckled their seat belts after the plane touched down and left the runway. Before the aircraft even stopped, all the passengers stood up and got their bags. Some of them rushed to the front from the back. The F/As made no attempts to stop these passengers. Although Hong Kong passengers were mainly found on this Hong Kong bound flights and Cantonese speaking F/As were there. No Chinese announcements were made – only Arabic, English and Thai and the menus did not have Chinese translation. Nevertheless, Emirates provides an above average service with the price of the tickets. But I was disturbed by the misleading advertisement about better legroom. I don’t think it is that good. Jetblue seats are more comfortable. Anyway, enough of economy travels -–next report will be on Asiana’s return flight to SF in August.
Carfield
Here is my promised report on my weekend trip to Bangkok on Emirates. My party of six bought a very cheap hotel + air package ($1700HKD per person) and Emirates is the designated airline. Emirates is definitely one of the most talk about airlines during the past decade. It is expanding quickly and as of August 1, 2003, it will expand into Auckland with a twice-weekly flight. My verdict is that Emirates is definitely an above average airline with great ground staff and the inflight service is pretty good. A hot meal is served on the two hours sector from Hong Kong to Bangkok and return. If EK offers the same service level on its Australia to New Zealand flight, it will pose a threat to Qantas and Air New Zealand. I think EK is smart in choosing its network and picks the right route to create a niche for itself. But I think Emirates is still not as good as other top tier Asian and European airlines. Its flight attendant service is extremely inconsistent and they are not as friendly as promised. But the most disturbing part of the flight is the rude and inconsiderate behavior expressed by some of my fellow Asian passengers. Well, here is the report –
July 25, 2003
EK 383 HKG-BKK Lv2225 Arr0005+1
Airbus A330-200 A6-EAC
Check-in desks are opened at 8pm and lines were not too bad. There is no single queue, and we only had to wait around ten minutes before being checked in. The ground staff was Jardine representative and extremely friendly. However, the agent insisted on corresponding the bag with the correct passenger. It resulted in a long check in process. We took the time in filling out the health declaration forms and Emirate has extremely nice bag tags – red plastic tags and nice stickers. We were given six seats together in the front of the first section of the cabin. BTW, Row 10 on the 2-class Airbus A330-200 has no windows. We were then given exclusive Emirates green baggage tags to put on our bags, so we could not recognized. The agent was definitely one of the friendliest that I have encountered.
Gate 66 was our gate. Emirate uses the faraway gates in Hong Kong and that particular pier was extremely quiet with most shops closed at this time of the day. Our Airbus A330-200 was seating quietly at the tarmac next to an Air China’s Boeing 737. Emirates has downgraded the Hong Kong flights from Boeing 777-300s to Airbus A330-200s for the summer season, and the thrice weekly flights at midnight were changed to another flight with a stop at Bangkok, instead of nonstop. Boarding began at 9:42pm and J and Y class has their own jet bridge and counters. We waited a bit before joining the queue. We did not have many carry-on bags this evening. A newspaper trolley with HK Chinese (Sing Tao) & English (SCMP and HK Standard) and International newspapers were placed at the jet bridge. The purser was at the gate to direct passengers to their seats. The cabin looked clean but crowded. The aisle was relatively narrow and the seat pitch does not look like 34 inches as advertised. The window and aisle seats had the unwelcomed TV box, which reduce the legroom a bit. Two Chinese passengers had occupied our seats and took a few minutes for the F/A to send them back to their correct seats. Our flight was relatively full with many passengers heading to Bangkok. I settled at the window seat, 12A. A blanket (nice Emirate cotton blanket – clear and wrapped in plastic), a pillow and a headset were already placed at each seat, which did not happen on domestic USA Y flight.
Door was closed at 10:21pm and hot towels were passed out, followed by menus. The menu was not the cheap one page thing, but a nice booklet with food served on both the HKG to BKK and BKK to DXB segment. During the push back, I turned on the personal TV to the forward view channel – Emirates has one sky map, one forward and downward birdeye view camera channels. Hong Kong airport was not too busy and we took off from runway 7R at 10:49pm. Seat belt sign was turned off at 10:55pm and the personal TV system was started with fifteen channels of short subjects – only short subjects were shown on the short two hours and twelve minutes Hong Kong to Bangkok segment. But the selection was very nice with comedies and lots of interesting international and Gulf TV programs. There is no separate cocktail service. The F/A came immediately with our light meals after the meal carts were spotted. The meal was of reasonable size – a full main meal tray with a cold bread roll (no warmed rolls for the short flights), a salad (Greek style with mesclun greens, feta cheese, and cherry tomato) with a tub of unknown dressing, a plastic water cup, dessert, and main choice. I had the chicken, which was decent, but filled with MSG. After the F/A passed out the meals, the same F/A came back with the beverage trolley – mini cans were offered and I had a vodka coke. The Thai F/As on this segment were extremely friendly, especially compared with the Caucasian and Arabic crew. After the beverage service, it came back to pick up dirty trays with tea and coffee. Then they disappeared. The light meal transcript was here –
Hong Kong to Bangkok
Light Meal
Salad
Seasonal Salad served with a dressing
Main Course
Stir-fried chicken with cashews
Stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, served with Chinese greens and steamed rice
Or
Fillet of Nile Perch
Served with buttered broccoli, red capsicum coulis and steamed parsley potatoes
Dessert
Citrus Bavarois flavored with cystalised orange zest and served with raspberry coulis
Beverages and Chocolates
Tea or Coffee
Chocolates
I played video games for the rest of the flight. I got a deck of Emirates’ playing cards and descent soon began on a cloudy night in Southeast Asia. Soon we were landed on Runway 21L at a minute after midnight. It took a while for us to taxi into our gate. BKK was very busy at this time of the day with many European and North Asian flights waiting for their turns to return to their respective countries. We parked next to an EVA’s MD-11 and a Korean Air Boeing 747-400. All continuing passengers to Dubai must stay aboard. There is a boarding pass check at the end of the jetway. Please be ware of these procedures!
We stayed at Bangkok’s tallest hotel – Baiyoke Sky Hotel, which is a tourist hotel, which is about three stars or maybe four stars. The hotel is located on a relatively quiet and poor area, but the hotel is not too bad. The rooms are reasonable clean and the breakfast buffet was relatively nice with lots of Asian, European, Thai and Japanese food to choose from. But we had problems about our room assignments. Communication is difficult and it takes another hour to sort out the problems. Then the following night, the manager decided to call me at 12:30am to ask if I need to switch rooms – not so professional. But for the price, it is a good hotel.
During the weekend, we had lots of good food on relatively cheap price. The best meal was the Sunday Brunch buffet at Regent Bangkok. The price tag is 1450 Baht ($280HKD) per person. The price is on the high side but the food selection is amazing. There is a full juice bar (made to order), cocktail bar (martini & Bloody Mary), caviar bar, Chinese buffet with Sharks Fin and Dim Sum, Japanese buffet with a made to order Japanese sashimi & sushi counter, cold soba, sukiyaki buffet, a Mediterranean bar, a goose liver bar (my sister had four pieces – perfectly cooked when ordered), a cold seafood bar, a grill bar with lamb chops, crayfish, steaks, beef tenderloin, fish pieces, and tiger prawns made to order, a dessert bar with cakes, souffles, and crepe bar. You don’t need to wait for your food. You were given many pieces of papers with your table number. The waiters and waitresses bring the food to your table. I highly recommend it to everyone.
After a crazy eating and shopping trip, it is time to go back to Hong Kong.
EK 382 BKK-HKG Lv1340 Arr1730
Airbus A330-200 A6-EAB
The check in area at Bangkok was relatively quiet and we did not need to wait at all. The Thai agent was friendly and our bags were tagged quickly, and boarding passes were printed out next. We were given seats towards the front (Row 15) and spent some times dining at a nice Thai restaurant inside the restricted area. The aircraft arrived late from Dubai (1pm) and we did not board till 1:46pm. Once again, two lines were formed and we waited till last minute to board. At the door way, only Gulf and Thai newspapers were offered and a pillow and headset were placed at each seat. The flight is definitely more crowded and we need to search for overhead space. Passengers were very selfish and rude on this segment. The folks at Row 14 reclined their seats immediately after seated and used very “foul language” on their conversation and the folks at 14G decided to put his bare feet up at the footrest of the seat in front of him. Very inconsiderate! Well, the flight attendants on this flight were mainly from the Gulf and other Caucasian countries. The Hindu flight attendant serving us meals was extremely rude and smiles were lacking. All except one F/As in the back seem to be professional. Other F/As did not look like that they want to be there. Door was closed at 2:02pm and pushed back six minutes later. Hot towels and menus were passed out, but the wrong menus were passed out (HKG-BKK-DXB) and no F/As were aware of the mistakes or went to recollect the menus. BKK was very quiet and we took off from Runway 21R at 2:22pm. Flying time was two hours and twenty-three minutes. Our flight route took us towards Surin and Da Nang and climbing up to 37,000ft.
Blankets were available on request and my blanket “accidentally” fell into my bag – one of the best Y airline blankets. For the PTV system, movies were shown on the longer return segment from BKK to HKG, and the light meal service began shortly after takeoff. Here is the transcript –
Bangkok to Hong Kong
Appetizers
Grilled chicken with Pamelo Salad
Marinated pamelo salad with grilled chicken
Main Course
Stir-fried beef
Chinese style stir-fried beef, braised with oyster sauce and vegetables, accompanied by steamed rice and pak choy
Or
Steamed Perch
Steamed perch fillet, topped with creamy sauce and drizzled with a herb and roast tomato salsa, served with sugar snap peas, sauteed red pepper and lemon rice
Dessert
Strawberry Financier
Fresh strawberries, placed on baked macaroon and vanilla cream, topped with caramelized orange zest
Beverages and Chocolates
Tea or Coffee
Chocolates
Another one tray service with a nice chicken appetizer, a well-cooked and tasty beef entrée, and an excellent dessert. A cold soft plain roll, a water cup, and an Emirates (Nestle) milk chocolate square were served as well. The meal was better than the outbound flight.
Descent began at 4:18pm and we landed on Runway 25R at 5:43pm (HKG is an hour ahead of BKK). We returned to gate 66 again. Of course, half of the Y passengers unbuckled their seat belts after the plane touched down and left the runway. Before the aircraft even stopped, all the passengers stood up and got their bags. Some of them rushed to the front from the back. The F/As made no attempts to stop these passengers. Although Hong Kong passengers were mainly found on this Hong Kong bound flights and Cantonese speaking F/As were there. No Chinese announcements were made – only Arabic, English and Thai and the menus did not have Chinese translation. Nevertheless, Emirates provides an above average service with the price of the tickets. But I was disturbed by the misleading advertisement about better legroom. I don’t think it is that good. Jetblue seats are more comfortable. Anyway, enough of economy travels -–next report will be on Asiana’s return flight to SF in August.
Carfield
Jul 29, 2003, 6:09 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,046
Thanks for the post, very very good. Am also very interested in your trip on Asiana to SF!
Just spotted a great fare on http://www.zuji.com.au for A$336 plus taxes ex SYD or MEL to AKL. You can get http://www.flightcentre.com.au to match and the effective price is just A$316 return plus taxes SYD or MEL to AKL... bargain.
Just spotted a great fare on http://www.zuji.com.au for A$336 plus taxes ex SYD or MEL to AKL. You can get http://www.flightcentre.com.au to match and the effective price is just A$316 return plus taxes SYD or MEL to AKL... bargain.
Jul 29, 2003, 7:35 am
#3
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: None any more
Posts: 11,017
Thanks for the interesting report - yet again Emirates doesn't seem in reality to match the awards it somehow wins.
Just out of curiosity, how did you determine the religion of the "Hindu" cabin crew? It's not the sort of question I would think to ask!
Just out of curiosity, how did you determine the religion of the "Hindu" cabin crew? It's not the sort of question I would think to ask!
Jul 29, 2003, 8:00 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,352
Thanks for the comments.
Emirates is not a bad airline... its Y service is really good for its price, but don't expect SQ type service.
About the religion of the F/A, her ethnicities were announced on the welcome accouncements by the purser. We have Hindi, Chinese, Thai, Arabian, and UK F/A on the return flight. Emirates really emphasizes the ethnicities of the flight attendants, and that particular F/A is easily identified...
I like the Thai F/As the best -- very professional and friendly...
Emirates is not a bad airline... its Y service is really good for its price, but don't expect SQ type service.
About the religion of the F/A, her ethnicities were announced on the welcome accouncements by the purser. We have Hindi, Chinese, Thai, Arabian, and UK F/A on the return flight. Emirates really emphasizes the ethnicities of the flight attendants, and that particular F/A is easily identified...
I like the Thai F/As the best -- very professional and friendly...
Jul 29, 2003, 9:32 am
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: None any more
Posts: 11,017
Fair enough, sort of - but I suspect they were announcing the language people speak: it says nothing about their religion. Many Hindi speaking people (of racially Indian descent) are Muslim, Christian, Sikh or various other faiths, not just Hindu.
On the other hand, being from the UK I know plenty of people of Indian ethnic descent who don't speak Hindi.
On the other hand, being from the UK I know plenty of people of Indian ethnic descent who don't speak Hindi.
Jul 30, 2003, 3:38 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: SYD
Programs: Too many golds, no plat: OZ*G, AC*G, NZ*G, VA Gold, QF Gold, HH Gold, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 5,350
Interesting report - EK's standards seem to be very inconsistent, with both service and seat comfort/pitch varying considerably from flight to flight and aircraft to aircraft. The food sounded good though.
I remember those Emirates blankets - when I flew LHR-DXB-JNB back in '98 to backpack my way through Africa, those blankets mysteriously found their way into our backpacks too, and were treasured possessions for the next 6 months as we traversed Africa. What's more, we noticed several other backpackers with them too! (Just in case you all think I'm a bit light fingered, when I eventually flew back from Nairobi, I put my used blanket back on the plane ... a little dirtier than before but much more well-travelled!
)
I remember those Emirates blankets - when I flew LHR-DXB-JNB back in '98 to backpack my way through Africa, those blankets mysteriously found their way into our backpacks too, and were treasured possessions for the next 6 months as we traversed Africa. What's more, we noticed several other backpackers with them too! (Just in case you all think I'm a bit light fingered, when I eventually flew back from Nairobi, I put my used blanket back on the plane ... a little dirtier than before but much more well-travelled!
)
Jul 30, 2003, 6:01 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: SE1, London
Posts: 23,449
Having flown EK Y and J, I'd agree with Carfields comments on Y. It's pretty good but not amazing. Y in the 777 is pretty tight as the configuration is 3-4-3. When full it feels very crowded.
J is highly overrated. The seating and IFE are about the same standard as CX's regional routes. The catering doesn't reach that standard and neither does the service. Fine for DXB - DEL. Not so nice if you are flying LHR - DXB - SIN - SYD. I think BWatson commented that they miust have the best PR agent in the world given positive press they get. And how their DXB lounges beat the Wing and Pier in the Skytrax survey I will never know.
Thanks for the report Carfield!
J is highly overrated. The seating and IFE are about the same standard as CX's regional routes. The catering doesn't reach that standard and neither does the service. Fine for DXB - DEL. Not so nice if you are flying LHR - DXB - SIN - SYD. I think BWatson commented that they miust have the best PR agent in the world given positive press they get. And how their DXB lounges beat the Wing and Pier in the Skytrax survey I will never know.
Thanks for the report Carfield!
Jul 30, 2003, 12:20 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 1999
Programs: QF WP, AA EXP
Posts: 3,520
Thanks for the report, Carfield. We can always rely on you to give an excellent view of all food services
I was going to take this flight on my November Australia/Asia trip, becuase I needed to buy a flight from HKG-BKK-HKG and this was very inexpensive compared to CX. However, the late night departure from HKG was not going to work for me, so I' going CX.
I was going to take this flight on my November Australia/Asia trip, becuase I needed to buy a flight from HKG-BKK-HKG and this was very inexpensive compared to CX. However, the late night departure from HKG was not going to work for me, so I' going CX.
Jul 31, 2003, 11:00 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Dubai, UAE
Programs: EK Gold, BA Silver, IHC Plat, HERTZ gold, GF Gold, SAS Silver
Posts: 749
When you are based in Dubai, you don;t realize how lucky you are to be able to get "cheap flights" on our major carrier. We have to pay a little more money to fly them, as EK offer for the majority of the time, the most direct routes. EK win all the time - especially in economy. Remember it was EK that pioneered many of the economy luxuries in particular the IFE. Also, the HKG-BKK is a short turn around for crew that have had a lay over in BKK the night before. I have done 8 return trips DXB-HKG-DXB each time with the hour or so stop on the aircraft in BKG. There are vast aounts of tour groups on the sector BKG-HKG and rreturn, it is very different on the BKG-DXB sector. The crew not only change in person, but also in attitude, more time to offer a great service. I think they do a dam fine job personally!
Aug 6, 2003, 12:00 am
#10
Join Date: Dec 2001
Programs: AA PLT 2MM
Posts: 573
Funny, the Y menu sounds rather similar to much of the J menu on this route 
... well, at least from a year ago. For your comparison, so as to complete the view of food services on this sector 
...
Emirates Business Class Menu
Emirates – Skytrax Airline of the Year 2002
Emirates is pleased to invite you to enjoy its award-winning cuisine, complemented by the finest beverages.
No pork products are used in the preparation of Emirates’ cuisine. All meats served are prepared according to the Halal method.
Hong Kong-Bangkok: Light Meal
Appetizer
Nonya Duck with Fried Tofu: Chinese style duck with fried tofu and rojak, wrapped in banana leaf, served with chilli sauce
Marinated Asian Seafood: Pan-fried scallops, fresh water crayfish and smoked tuna drizzled with Oriental dressing, accompanied with sun-dried tomatoes and lime wedge.
Main Course
Steamed Fillet of Salmon: With wasabi roots and kaffir lime celery, served with buttered broccoli, turned carrots and tagliatelle noodles
Grilled Veal Medallions: served with mushroom sauce and green asparagus tips, accompanied with sautéed mixed peppers, cauliflower and gratinated potatoes
Stir Fried Chicken with Cashews: stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, served with Chinese greens and steamed rice
Dessert
Citrus Bavarois: flavoured with crystalised orange zest and served with raspberry coulis
Beverages and Chocolates
Selection of teas; coffee; chocolates
On Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 aircraft, Espresso coffee will be available at any time during the flight.
(Menu duplicated in an Arabic “mirror image,” as Arabic conveniently reads right to left, “back” to “front”)
... well, at least from a year ago. For your comparison, so as to complete the view of food services on this sector ...Emirates Business Class Menu
Emirates – Skytrax Airline of the Year 2002
Emirates is pleased to invite you to enjoy its award-winning cuisine, complemented by the finest beverages.
No pork products are used in the preparation of Emirates’ cuisine. All meats served are prepared according to the Halal method.
Hong Kong-Bangkok: Light Meal
Appetizer
Nonya Duck with Fried Tofu: Chinese style duck with fried tofu and rojak, wrapped in banana leaf, served with chilli sauce
Marinated Asian Seafood: Pan-fried scallops, fresh water crayfish and smoked tuna drizzled with Oriental dressing, accompanied with sun-dried tomatoes and lime wedge.
Main Course
Steamed Fillet of Salmon: With wasabi roots and kaffir lime celery, served with buttered broccoli, turned carrots and tagliatelle noodles
Grilled Veal Medallions: served with mushroom sauce and green asparagus tips, accompanied with sautéed mixed peppers, cauliflower and gratinated potatoes
Stir Fried Chicken with Cashews: stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, served with Chinese greens and steamed rice
Dessert
Citrus Bavarois: flavoured with crystalised orange zest and served with raspberry coulis
Beverages and Chocolates
Selection of teas; coffee; chocolates
On Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 aircraft, Espresso coffee will be available at any time during the flight.
(Menu duplicated in an Arabic “mirror image,” as Arabic conveniently reads right to left, “back” to “front”)