extramileage

Case in point: SFO-DXB-BOM, return in J is... ~$5,100. Spend a night a 5 star hotel in BOM and still save $8,000.

zainman

2-3-2 is what airlines like PK have on their 777's. In today's day and age when your competition offers aisle access for every passenger, why would you pick a 2-3-2 777? It's never my first choice. Yes I would prefer it to a BA 777 J but not a QR or EY or CX or SQ.

FlyerTalker7654

Ok point taken...but where is the logic in charging this? Surely common sense should be to charge passengers in line with what other airlines are charging??

Obviouly Im wrong but I don't get it. If people are paying those sort of fares for a direct flight then fair play to EK, why change...but people paying though...that is the question!!

JTXC

And get a few more miles to boot.

Turicus

Business travelers. They don't have the leisure to fly an extra sector. Their time is more costly than the fare difference. They have to be in DXB exactly then, so price matters less. And the person flying doesn't care cause the company is paying. Why should you do an extra leg so your employer saves?

Other destination means other competition, so the price is adjusted. It has much more to do with loads and competition than with cost.

whimike

QR doesn't offer aisle access for everybody, and having flown QR enough now, I prefer EK J on the 777 over it. The 2-3-2 vs 2-2-2 doesn't matter to me, at all, since somebody paying for J usually isn't going to get stuck in the middle seat.

Lets see, TK, BA, UA, LX, LH, and a plethora of other airlines are competition for EK and they don't offer aisle access for every passenger. Do I prefer all aisle access? Absolutely. Does a lack of aisle access make a product "horrible"? Hardly.

Let's just look at your list of preferred airlines from your profile:

"QF WP, QR GOLD, TK GOLD, EY GOLD, AF/KLM GOLD"

How many of these airlines have aisle access in J for all passengers? And, if not, are they horrible?

whimike

The logic is simple. EK wants to compete with other airlines serving SFO-xxx-BOM. If you can get there for $5k on another airline then for EK to compete they have to get close on price.

EK doesn't have to come close on price on a direct SFO-DXB because nobody else competes. The only competition is via a connection, and EK is banking on those who have the money to pay value their time, over money, to not make a connection. If EK weren't selling tickets for $13k then they would have dropped their price already.

FlyerTalker7654

Yeah I can see that, and fair play to them. I would much rather fly direct and them over say UA, so I think they have the market.

Does anyone know if EK offers upgrade on the day at the airport from SFO? If so how much roughly are they charging?

eternaltransit

Also the SFO-DXB sector may already be completely full with connecting pax, so the high fares serve additional purposes - extra revenue in case any compensation needs to be paid for overbookings etc., as well as giving them additional pricing power leeway in case they need to fill up the sector with O&D traffic.

DYKWIA

BA has 2-4-2 in J

m3red

Ba

jackiedada

u sure, its not called Y...

zainman

Yes QR doesn't offer aisle access for all passengers on it's 777. However 2-2-2 will ALWAYS be better than 2-3-2. It's just a plain simple fact. Correct me if I'm wrong but even EY is 1-2-1 in their 77W isn't it?

And what do you mean by someone paying for J isn't going to get stuck in the middle seat? If the flight is full where else will they go? That's why the middle seat is there and that is why this config just isn't up to scratch! Just like the 10 Y seats they fit in the back. Give people the choice and they will always pick 1-2-1 or 2-2-2 and 9 across in Y.

The EU and NA carriers you have mentioned probably are inferior to EK. That's not the point. There will always be airlines better and worse off. The compeition is going towards 1-2-1. Even QF is finally waking up and will finally be putting in 1-2-1 in their A330 (who knows when it will happen) You want to fly a 2-3-2 J product? Knock yourself out.

My "preferred" list of airlines? They are simply airlines I am a member of. Half of them are status matches btw, :roll eyes:


Should I also pick your "preferred" airline as you are an EK "ambassador" LOL. Like I said, you go ahead and fly the 2-3-2 77W. I would rather fly F on that plane or J/F on the A380.

tuchop

I couldn't really believe that.. I checked, and you're right. If you're willing to pay a lot just to fly Emirates, departing from Dallas will be a bit cheaper.. otherwise check Qatar (one of the best Business classes, and IMO better than EK). They have fares to Dubai for 7500ish each (i think Amex has a 15% discount). It has two stops but its not that bad (2 and 1 hour layovers). Good luck<!

Hyperacusis

I certainly would not pay twice as much for an inferior product in J, even if it is non-stop. And yes, by today's standards, the EK 777 long haul J product is indeed inferior to many competitor TATL or TPAC options.

AA, UA, DL, US (yes folks, all US legacies) either currently offer or will shortly offer full-flat seating on TATL routes, many with all aisle access (AA/US and DL). The Cirrus seats on AA's 77W and the new custom designed J seats for the rest of the 777s (and likely 787s) look to be a game changer. BA's CW is an older product and may be 2-4-2 but it is still superior IMO because of the full flat seating, the extra privacy, and the fact that if you are climbing over someone, it is easier to do so than on EK. The likes of AF are upgrading their product as well. You've also got EY, which offers seating similar to the EK A380 on all TATL routes. On TPAC, you've got the likes of CX and SQ to choose from, which set the bar even higher. CX actually has some incredibly competitive fares in J ex-DXB to the US....