Leg 8: LGW-DXB Emirates - Boeing 777-200

After a few days in the UK catching up with friends and family, with a few meetings shoe-horned in-between, it was time to head back to work in Dubai. Travels in the UK have included such accommodation highlights as the Holiday Inn Lincoln (finally demoted from Marriott status) and Ramada Bristol, both prime examples of the lodging delights on offer in your average UK city. On the plus side an honourable mention goes to the Hotel du Vin in Cambridge, which was a very decent hotel in a city where the hotels don’t really have to try very hard to fill up, and to the Express by Holiday Inn chain, which is consistently better than its big brother in the UK (probably because they’re all new rather than reincarnations of old Forte Post Houses).

After the budget hotel marathon we had managed to finally spend a night in our own place in Sussex the night before flying home so were only twenty minutes or so from Gatwick and didn’t have to be up too early for our 10 am flight. Check-in for Business / Gold Card holders was surprisingly busy but we were ushered across to the First Class desk once that was free and on our way to security within 5 minutes. The Fast Track desks were closed but there was no queue so wasn’t a problem and we were through 10 minutes later despite an argument between the woman in front and the security agent as to whether butter constituted a liquid and was thus not allowed on the plane (out of interest for anyone with a similar inclination to carry a pound of butter with them the consensus was that it certainly wasn’t a solid so therefore wouldn’t be allowed but she was welcome to eat it if she wished). I have no idea why Emirates bother paying for the Fast Track stickers at Gatwick as I can’t remember it ever being open for the 10 am flight.

After breaking my 18 month streak at Gatwick of not being selected to have my shoes scanned we were through and on our way to the Emirates Lounge. Unlike the new Dubai lounge, which I find huge and impersonal and which almost without fail has a fire or door alarm going off, I love the Emirates Lounges at their major outstations. The lounge at Gatwick never seems more than half full and is a great place to while away a couple of hours before a flight. I particularly like the area around the back away from the food, which no-one ever seems to go in but which has its own small drinks station stocked with the essentials (Veuve Cliquot and coffee).

Having skipped breakfast, I grabbed some eggs with hollandaise and some hash browns on my way past, just as they were being put out. It seems that I had inadvertently skipped an invisible queue for the eggs (which were admittedly rare in their appearance) and was treated to a look of undisguised hatred from the pin-striped suit sitting opposite the breakfast station at every possible opportunity for the remainder of my stay in the lounge. I’m ashamed to say that the early hour saw me adulterating my champagne with orange juice for the first glass or two before a quick unsullied glass just prior to boarding.

Boarding was called from the lounge about 25 minutes after it first appeared on the screens so was well underway by the time we reached the gate. A strange beep from the boarding card scanner had me hoping for the best but I was disappointed to find this was because the gate agent had scanned it upside down rather than a last minute intervention from the upgrade fairy.

The 777 operating today’s flight was one of those still to receive the business class upgrade and the thinner economy seats but did at least have the ICE AVOD system installed, albeit the first incarnation with the enormous under-seat boxes. The flight was about 90% full with only a few empty seats, all of which seemed to be next to people I recognised from the lounge so were probably blocked as a courtesy to higher tier fliers. I’m yet to sample the reputed delights of SQ and CX so for me ICE is the best entertainment system in the sky, particularly on runs to London where BA lags far behind. I would rate it significantly ahead of Etihad’s entertainment options, which I find glitchy at best, and the programme offering is generally better than that available on Qatar Airways (although I’m yet to sample their 777s so I may be proven wrong).

Catering today was the best I’ve had on Emirates in economy for some time, although the failure to load menus or to brief staff on what they were serving meant that the meal service was something of a lucky dip. I ended up with a chicken breast with tomato sauce served on a bland but pleasantly textured risotto, which went quite well with the Montana Sauv Blanc served with. The second meal service saw the welcome return of the afternoon tea complete with scones and clotted cream, which has either not been served or I have managed to miss out on for the last few months.

With the exception of the welcome return to form on the catering front, the flight was another example of Emirates lost service edge in the last couple of years. Crew were competent but somewhat disinterested, nothing to complain about but nothing to set them apart from the competition. It may just be me but I think there is a marked difference between Emirates service on runs to Heathrow (particularly that on the A380 which in my experience has been exemplary) where I have always been acknowledged and thanked by the Cabin Service Director and the service has been informed and proactive, and the Gatwick runs where I am yet to be approached by a CSD and the service seems mainly reactive.

Arrival in Dubai was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule and, despite the 2 km walk that is required to get out of Terminal 3, we were through passport control and baggage claim before the scheduled arrival time. Luckily our driver was running ahead of time so was waiting patiently in the cavernous arrivals hall and we were on our way home within minutes.

This is the last leg of this particular trip (although the EK ticket actually ends in Osaka as LGW-DXB-KIX with a 6 week stopover in Dubai outbound and a 4 week stopover inbound was only £40 more than a LGW-DXB ticket). In the lead up to the Japan trip I am likely to be back to the Dubai to Riyadh milk run for travel entertainment unless a potential trip to Munich comes off so will be back to reading on the forum rather than contributing for a while.