Flight Report- JFK-DXB
I flew on JFK-DXB on EK 202 in F. Awesome. The best in the business. Limo service is with Boston Coach and limo came for pick up 5 minutes before scheduled 7 PM pick up time at Newark Sheraton. Surprisingly there was no traffic and we were at JFK within 40 minutes. Check in was at F but somehow the check in agent took more than 5 minutes to give me my boarding pass.
Surprisingly EK does not have a first class lounge at JFK. All pax use the business class lounge. There is free wi fi and the food selection was excellent. They had 2 buffet spreads, western and asian with a lot of cold starters. Food was hot and great. They need to add ice creams as these were not available. The bar selection was strictly OK. Spent a few hours watching TV and doing some work. Boarding call was on time.
I was assigned 1A. A lot of passengers actually want this seat but I would advise against it. It is too close to the galley and if you are trying to sleep the noise of flight attendants is preparing for service is going to disturb you. Every seat is obviously an aisle. The seat is very good with one problem. There is not place for a bag. They have provided a small storage area next to the leg but my small computer bag also would not fit into it. The bag was actually jutting and would have hindered in letting me convert the seat into a bed. The flight attendant stowed it away in the coat closet. This is a big negative of this seat.
The positive is that this is a suite. The door can be closed after take off for privacy. The attendant call button will bring someone to the seat within 30 seconds. The seat is converted into a full bed. The good part was that you could actually sleep on the side. Good product. The bed is made up for you after take off and you have a pillow and a duvet.
Upon seating Dom Perignon was served. Plus they have a bunch of goodies, candies, chips available on the seat along with a personal mini bar. Emirates has a big problem with food. The quality is pretty pedantic. They need to do something about this. After take off i had a bite and snoozed for a few hours. Of course it is eat as you want and so you can order anything off the menu anytime of the flight.
The ICE is absolutely awesome. Hundreds of movies and TV programs. Landed into Dubai on time. I was connecting to Mumbai. The Emirates First lounge in Dubai is average at best. Nothing different from the biz class lounge except they have 4-5 sleep rooms. the food is terrible. I landed in Mumbai on time. Now for the shocker. It took more than 45 minutes for me to get my bags. They seemed to have loaded the first class luggage towards the end. Took forever. I would assume they should take care of such small things.
Now the biggest problem with EK is that their customer service is really bad. I had lost my luggage on the way to JFK. I was promised a compensation which never came through. I have now been following for more than a month with little result. That's EK for you.