Last week I flew in business AKL-SYD. I was pretty excited to try out the EK service that I have heard so much about and the A380. Overall I wasn't impressed and felt to service was about par with United in business. I had two main issues one was with the meal service. Service started late about 90 min in on a three hour flight and the FAs did not come by and check on drinks or offer after dinner coffee, Ect. More annoying was that service items were not picked up. Once we began our decent my tray was cleared. Then on the next pass through my glassware was cleared. The table cloth, napkin, and bowl that the warm nuts were were served in were never clear. After a rough landing I heard a crash behind my seat. Either an FA or the passenger behind me had put a plate on the seat shell behind my seat and when we slowed down it slid and fell between the shell and my seat. Overall not very impressed. Did I pull the short straw with crew or is this normal?

Thanks

Sadly, that's quite normal for the A380 crews.

Service is much much better on the main fleet.

If you look at my profile you can view my posts but last night I flew back from SIN to LHR and it was the best flight yet. Nice food and friendly staff, but the A380 business class is massive, so I think it feels less exclusive

Totally normal. A380 in business is almost a new concept, sort of "mass business class".

Honestly folks, I know it is supposed to be getting better, but I have had better service on Easyjet. It is just getting beyond a joke and EK needs to do something about it big time.

What is most insidious is the way that crews are clearly inventing their own workarounds to minimise the effort that is required to service that (admittedly large) cabin. No doubt all that traipsing back and forth from the rear galley is a chore. The other day on Dxb-Man, it has finally become clear that there is no longer even lip service to the idea that you will receive all the deliverables promised by the menu. After the starter, the interminable wait for the main course. As the main course is cleared, the FA [who should hang her head in shame[ said to each passenger, "do you want anything else?" a question designed and phrased to imply the meal service was finished and encourage a polite "no", and I observed most pax took the bait. Instant wrap up, clear, and that's that. Ihad to proactively say "yes, I would like a dessert if you don't mind?". Eat the dessert, they clear the dessert, and then the show is over, no more. I never saw a coffee or tea pot appear once in 7 hr 30 let alone the long lost Godiva chocolates.

On landing, I had one empty nuts bowl and 2 (count em) uncollected soggy ex-hot towels littering my space.

Personally I am through with the A380.

+1

+1 agree

The main problem with the A380 Business Class is the way the service has been designed, It was designed for a much smaller aircraft ie 42 pax not 76!

how is service at the bar?

Not all crew give a Y service in J class, and we feel your pain, working with crew giving crap service is very frustrating , try to hire people who care, to work in Dubai. The worse is when we tell those crew off, they don't even get it and are not phased . Problem is management that keep these crew and seem to be more focused on getting the planes filled up to capacity more then anything else. This said , service on Emirates is still far better then most airlines anywhere in the world ! I sweat a lot delivering it !

It is very unfortunate that premium customers are short changed, hopefully your complaints to the company will be heard one day ...

Hi Dubai76, and another welcome to the forum. From the comments you are giving, I imply that you are aircrew or even cabin crew. Please do keep commenting and giving us insights because it also helps to understand the "other" side of the equation!

I like J on the A380, but that's probably because I tend to sleep through the entire flight. No problems with meal service then

The hard product and op-up potential together are enough to make me select the A380 whenever I can.

Traveled on EK first time on A380 Business , and I had good experience overall. Was better than most of the American airlines.

I equally work just as hard to maintain the standards on the A380. Whenever I travel on a 330 or 777 the job looks so much easier compared what we cope with on the 380. Please be assured there are a lot of people trying very hard to offer and maintain a high level of service.

Please don't compare Emirates to American carriers, that would be insulting.

Also, FWIW, I've only done 2 legs on the A380 (one in Y and one in J), but the Y one was absolutely outstanding service by the crew, whereas the J one was fairly impersonal, but excellent service at the bar. This was more than a year ago though.