Trip report:
Emirates Business class Dubai to Manchester ek17 (a380), Manchester to Johannesburg (ek21 and ek763), Federal Air from Johannesburg to the safari at Ulusuba, then onto Cape Town with South African Airways, 4 nights in Cape Town and a wine tour, then back to Cape Town ek771 (business).
Part 1:
DXB to MAN
As usual the emirates chauffeur was 15 minutes early, I received a text and hurried my wife along as usual! The car service Emirates offer is excellently run, always on time (or early) and this was no exception. My wife and I were dropped off in 15 minutes from where we live in downtown to the emirates dedicated business and first class check in area. There was no queue at check in and we proceeded swiftly to the lounge which was the "old" lounge at b gate as our flight departed from b17 so no train ride to terminal a despite us being on the A380. This seems to be a common occurrence for this flight that i take quite often.
The A380 in business is such a vast cabin, however fortunately for my wife and I it was rather empty meaning the service was fantastic. Usually EK's service in J and F is excellent and this did not disappoint. We were looked after by a chap called Themis who made the flight one of the more enjoyable ones on the A380. Personally I prefer the 777 with 42 business seats as opposed to 76 on the big bus.
We got a nice greeting as we are both gold frequent flyers on EK and settled in. I do like the bar on the A380 and if you haven't been on it before it is a great experience, everyone is always fairly jovial and up for a drink or two...
Settling in...
Continental breakfast to start
Lunch starter was the Tuna which I really enjoyed
The last bits of my wife's beef main course, again it was excellent:
The wine list
Cheese to finish with a nice glass of the Malbec blend and plenty of Veuve beforehand!
Overall, this was one of my better experiences on the A380, great service and an enjoyable flight. Tonight we fly to JNB via DXB from MAN both on the 777-300 ER so it will be good to compare the service and the seats which are slightly angled rather than flat.
I am really looking forward to the MAN lounge and will try to take some decent photos!