I'm flying back out on Monday evening LHR-DXB-SIN. I have decided to give it one last go, then if I am not impressed I will be going direct with BA Club, as they're are offering the same price for a direct flight.

Perhaps I have been very lucky, but I have always had great experiences in J on EK, both on the 380 and 777, short and long haul sectors. One exception was a very cold crew on one YYZ-DXB flight, who even decided to end the service after the main course (I had to ask for the dessert and tea).

I tried F for the first time last week, and was impressed (but I felt rather self-conscious being alone in F on the outward flight; the J crew teased the F crew about deciding who got to serve me. Doing F again tomorrow AMM-DXB.

I guess I have one quibble: service in J and F should *never* be on a tray. I was surprised to get a tray on EK 903 DXB-AMM in F last week. That is my only suggestion for improvement on what otherwise I have found to be a great hard and soft product.

Someone mentioned that there are improvements coming to the 380 service. Are we allowed to know just yet what these are? Just curious.

The more I read these threads about poor service in J and F the more I am getting scared of our flight in F from BKK to HKG.

All service in J class will become pre-plated tray service from August onwards. It will help speed up the time to complete the service significantly.

Perhaps I was lucky, but I flew on Emirates (in J) for the first time to Bangalore earlier this week from JFK on the A380, connecting onto the A330. Except for the JFK lounge lights being a little bright, I thought it was overall great, and I'd do it again. Service on the A380 was friendly, timely and good, food was a little average but I was already zonked so barely noticed, constant drink refills (but I insist, Sir)... the A330 leg, was in J but F was empty and a few passengers myself included wanted to sleep so they let us use the F cabin and they dimmed the lights as they weren't doing service. nice touch. I flew BA, CX, JL all in J ex JFK last year a number of times - I'd definately fly Emirates again in J and recommend to colleagues.

I would say Singapore Airlines if lucky enough to be flying F. I still think EK is very good though, except for very slow service on the 380. For those you don't, just go and fly Delta for a while, the FA's are as old as most of their planes on the transatlantic routes, and apart from dinner, you don't even see them.

Anf of course, i mean slow service in J,because F, afterall, is F, there's always service, it's what makes all the difference. Just wish i got to fly F!

The post I was replying to did say that if that person was buying J/F tickets that would not choose Emirates. For 1st class I would say that there are few options that are going to be better.

i would say skip a380 J class

1- you don't get true J Class service (84 J passengers). More of premium economy service like in BA. or even economy if you are have very high standards.

2- difficulty to sleep. i tried it three times. was never able to sleep. even my father, who normally sleeps easily, was not able to sleep on a 9 hour flight.
seats are narrow compared to a 777-300 ER

There's actually 76 pax and the service is not comparable to BA WT+, which is the same as BA Y, which is apparently terrible.

The 380 has horizontal flat beds. You get a mattress, duvet and full size pillow which make it great for sleeping in.

You paid, what, maybe $800 USD for it per person? Those were the roundtrip prices on that route when I last checked.

Go try and find a North American carrier that offers lie-flat beds, private suites, outstanding IFE, Dom and showers on a ~3 hour flight in their first class cabin, to the tune of an $800 or so round-trip fare. You won't. So if you set your expectations appropriately (this is more like a low-priced sample of EK F), you'll be fine.

FWIW, the C service on that route less than a month ago I got was fine (I'm not quite to that part of my trip report yet, probably next weekend, I'm trying to don one or two installments every so often). The flight attendants were personable and willing to talk to the passengers, I got everything that I wanted. It was clearly a rushed service, but they're going through meal service to a lot of C passengers in a very short flight to do a full meal service on.

I'd skip the mille-feuille, though. The one that came with my C chicken tikka curry dinner was identical to this one served in F on the same route- kind of tough- but the chicken curry came out just fine and tasty (because unlike the beef in that picture, curries do better at being held at temperature- generally you are best off ordering stews and braises if you think the meat might get overdone in the airplane oven). But that's fine, because the BKK EK lounge is full of tasty petit fours and pralines, and I'm used to flying on USA airlines where you get to buy a cheeseburger in Y (or ask for one of the leftover cheeseburgers if you're in F and the rabbit food served in F didn't fill you up).

Tell me, which single-malt scotch does BA serve in economy? I got Glenfiddich 15 in EK C, to go along with Chivas Regal 18 as a blend (which I don't think is much different in quality than JW Blue, though they taste different- both are fine blends, even though JW Blue has more snob appeal and is priced accordingly). Oh, and Möet-Chandon Brut Impérial for the champagne.

I thought the lie-flats in 23K were fine- didn't sleep in them, but did test them out for "research" purposes.

Enough is enough. Slow service on the A380 again. I asked for my meal asap as I wanted to sleep, it arrived 1.5hrs later, with 45 minutes between courses. DXB lounge really busy, but it was ok. Had a shower but the water was way too hot, even on the coldest setting. Boarded the 777 to find that my seat power was not working and the seat would not recline. F pax had the same but they got an engineer to fix his seat. I was asked if I wanted to swap with a pax in Y!!!!!!! With no seat power, I couldn’t work so I just slept. Served on a tray, food ok but very salty.

I was going to try F but I just cannot justify the cost if the experience is going to be awful. SO I have taken the step and just booked my next flight with BA, yes BA!

Maybe I am expecting too much, I don’t know. Travelling in J every two weeks, long haul has become very tiresome and I just feel deflated about the whole Emirates experience. The only thing that I would give 10/10 for is the chauffeur service, totally excellent.

You've mentioned a couple of times that you could do F, but are apprehensive about the service. Well - that's the big difference between J and F - everything happens within 10 seconds. And it's dine on demand. And the lounge is fantastic. There is IMO a world of difference between the two!

You probably haven't had much experience with the dinosaur FG1s who don't believe in working and consider themselves untouchable because their boyfriend is some sheikh or the other. All is not perfect on the front side of the curtain either!

I think you'll agree that at a similar price point EK F trumps BA J.

All I'm saying is - I don't like the EK meals in Y or the slow service so I won't fly EK J - doesn't make sense to me. The quality of service in one class has little bearing on that in another, and while on the odd occasion one might have an average crew in F, the crew to pax ratio usually ensures you get attentive service.