20 february EK261 Flight late again by 45 minutes (touch down at GRU) 14:20 flying time + 25 mins on the ground in DXB as opposed to advertised 14 hours.

I met a 777 Commander I knew on my outbound transit at DXB and we had a coffee together He told me that EK has underestimated the flying time DXB-GRU at 13:55 (this is takeoff to touchdown) Pilot feedback has been given to EK operations that that consistent headwinds across the Atlantic makes it more like between 14:15-14:30 In addition there is inevitably congestion in DXB at the departure time plus sometimes taxiway congestion in GRU (For those who dont know GRU is a chaotic, under-capacity mess of an airport) So delays are commonplace unless they manage to get the aircarft out of the stand 20 mins in advance and/or there are no headwinds.

AND they have stopped giving out amenity kits in J GRU-DXB (see separate post)