Dubai to London Gatwick on the Emirates (EK) Boeing 777-300ER in Business

Flight: EK015
Carrier: Emirates
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Scheduled Departure time: 08:00
Duration: 7h 30m
Scheduled Arrival time: 12:30 (local)
Routing: Dubai T3 to London Gatwick, North
Class: Business
Seat: 7A (seat plan)

So, I was on my way to gate 230 to board my final flight home to Gatwick. I actually consider Gatwick my home airport as I always used to fly from there as a child for family holidays. Therefore, I was quite looking forward to flying back there instead of busy Heathrow. It also meant a quicker journey home once I was in the car.

So I arrived at the Gate to find it ‘Open’.


Arriving at Gate 230

There didn’t seem to be separate queues for business and first, despite having the desks there, everyone had to queue up in a single line. My boarding pass and passport were checked and I made my way down to the already full gate area. I sat there for a good half an hour before the boarding announcement was made. The aircraft was parked right outside the window although there was a strange pattern on the glass so it was difficult to get a good look.


EK 777-300ER operating EK015 to LGW

At 07.35 the boarding announcement was made with First, Business and those passengers needing assistance invited to board first. Two air bridges were attached, door 1L for First Class and Door 2L for Business and economy passengers. A rather rough looking family pushed past me and immediately marched down the First class air bridge. To be honest, they didn’t look like they were going to be sitting in First class and as I boarded I watched as they were sent down the back, walking right past me in the forward Business class cabin.


My Seat, 7A – the window is blocked by the open door

I arrived at my seat to find a pillow and blanket, no sign of the mattress which had made all the difference on my previous flights. I stowed my bag in the overhead locker and sat down, waiting for the other passengers to board.
The forward business class cabin is definitely preferable over the rear, as, you get to turn left, which is always fun, plus you have no-one walking past you during boarding.

I was the first passenger on-board in either the First or forward Business class cabins so took advantage of this to get some photos.


The Emirates ‘Lie Flat’ Business Class Seat


First Class Suites – Note the lack of overhead bins making the cabin seem very spacious indeed

First class looks pretty special, although I could imagine that sitting in the middle suites with all the doors closed might feel a bit dark since you have no access to light from the windows.

I was joined shortly after by an Australian gentlemen who actually become a bit of an annoyance later in the flight. I’ll explain when we get to that part.


Waiting for others to board

Shortly afterwards one of the crew came by to offer pre-departure drinks. The choices were orange juice, apple juice, water or Champagne. I went for the Champagne of course. Newspapers and magazines were also handed out.


Waiting for others to board

The Captain came on the PA to welcome us on-board and inform us of the flight time, which was 7 hours and 5 minutes. We were clearly running behind schedule as boarding was announced late. The air bridge attached to door 1 was removed at about 8am with door 2 closed and everyone boarded at 8.20. The forward business class cabin was almost empty, with maybe only half of the 14 seats occupied.

We pushed back at around 8.25 and taxied out towards the runway. From my window I got a pretty good view of the traffic around at this time in the morning.


EK A340-500


Emirates Line Up at T3


Just about to Enter the Runway

We took off effortlessly at about 8.40 and were leaving the dusty airport behind for the green pastures of Sussex.

The seat belt sign was turned off relatively early and the crew came around with the menu and wine list, and amenity kits as well as offering to set up people’s seats with a mattress to which I said yes to.


The Menu

There are some odd things going on with the wine list. I’ve collected four wine lists from my Emirates flights and I got a little confused about which refers to which flight. There appears to be some mixing and matching going on with the wine lists. I really only have two wine lists but they do not appear to be assigned to flights based on the aircraft type. For example on the A380 Heathrow to Dubai flight we had Bollinger Champagne, but Moet on the 777-300ER to Singapore. We then had Moet on the A380 flight from Seoul and Bollinger on the 777-300ER flight to Gatwick, weird.


The Wine List