The elusive 23K on the A380...
i have recently been on a couple of F trips on a 777-300 and 4 sector trips in J on a A380, two of which i was in 18A and two of which i was in 23K... I had done all the research on the forum on which seat to get in J on the A380 and was pretty sold on 23K being the preferred seat of choice so was looking forward to seeing it for itself.
What a load of rubbish, i think this possibly has to be one of the worst aisle seats in the upper deck....I first had my reservations as soon as i sat down. I was of the opinion that this seat was very private, but i could still easily see the people to my left hand side, this sort of seat isn't to be compared with 64K on the upper deck of a BA747 for instance. As a gold member on my previous journey i had the stewardess take time out when i was in 18A to come and talk to me prior to departure, ask me what i wanted for drink after take off etc etc. It was all very pleasant, this happened on both sectors when i was in 18A... The complete opposite was evident in 23K. While i merrily watched other stewards talk to passengers, about what they would like as a drink or whether they wanted to be woken for breakfast, it became clear that for one stewardess, row 23 was their last row to serve in terms of information gathering. What then transpired was that on both sectors i wasn't even spoken to prior to take off, no greeting, no question of whether i wanted a drink, or to be disturbed for breakfast....I was totally shocked by the lack of service, rushed or not....
Lastly, one has to be concerned during night flights that there seems to be an awful lot of clunking above and below the footbox in 23k...I think there are maybe closets above it, or something going on below in economy as there was an awful lot of noise generated. To some this seat could also feel pretty cramped with just a wall in front of you with a TV screen, as i said earlier, i don't buy the privacy argument, the privacy views were no different In my opinion to 18A....
As a side note, i was extremely impressed with the food and wine offering on my F sector trips, all top notch, although the sky cruiser lie flat beds are not good enough for elite F at this level. All in all, emirates still seem to do a good job with the grub and booze but the contrast in service when Skywards Gold, can leave a disappointing taste in the mouth.