Two Class A380 - disembarking order
 

All

I asked this in the newbie forum (long term lurker), but thought I may get some more first hand experience answers via a separate thread.

Im travelling to PVG in Y in a few weeks and wondered if anyone has expiernece of the disembarking order on the 2 class variants? I have only ever been in J on 3 class variant in the past so not sure what to expect (quite surprised to see a 2 class on PVG route!). Basically I want to know if upper deck Y disembark before J? Immigration is a nightmare at PVG so aim is to get off the plane as quickly as possible as per usual in PVG. Currently have 47D selected but if upper deck will get me off quicker then I will change.

Yes to my knowledge upper deck Y disembark first, before J

I've been on the two class A380's twice in J.

​​​​​​The Y cabin was disembarked first at least on one trip.

Not sure if Upper deck Y was not used on the second trip as it looked surprisingly clean after a 7 hr trip (could be due to very light loads as well)

It depends.

If load permits, they won't use the rear upper deck Y cabin. This will allow J passsengers to pass through this empty cabin to the door, while upper deck Y passengers in the front cabin are held back.

You should be able to tell which is the case from the seatmap in Manage a Booking.

Strangely, on my single 2-class A380 flight, I was first off the upper deck from J.

As soon as the seat belt sign went off, I got my bag and stuff sorted out. I then walked into the Y section - and everyone was still seated! So, I walked to the front and waited for the doors to be opened. People then started standing up in Y.

So - I'm guessing that they may leave the seatbelt sign on in Y (is this possible?) for a while longer.

And people actually obeyed the sign? ;)

I don't believe that's possible, unless the A380 has such an option. Generally in the cockpit there's just an on/off switch for the entire cabin.

I personally think it wasn't one of EK's Design Teams finest moments in the way they have come up with the 2 class A380 configuration. It must pee off quite a few J class pax.

It also seems strange when circumstances allow, that they would keep a whole cabin section empty for (what I interpret) as the sole purpose of the buffer zone to allow J disembarkation first.

S

It's not the sole purpose. It makes the workload easier on the crew. It might even require fewer crew to be on-duty, not sure of the legal requirements of closed off sections, if they still count towards the seat to crew ratio.

I think moving J to the forward section would have required way more re-engineering and involved more costs. This also makes the aircraft more flexible as presumably they can decide relatively late in the production how to outfit the aircraft, I think the only consideration there is whether they have the structural reinforcement for the weight of the F class seats.

I totally understand that, but it seems like it might have been an afterthought.

Maybe they'll designate that cabin section as Premium Economy if it comes.....

S

I think it was to make the workload easier on the EK design specification team :D No need to redesign a bar in the front galley etc.

Witnessed them do this at MAN (when flying J). A man in a suit got very uppity with the FAs over that.

I've seen many people get "uppity" over small things but I get it in this case - people pay a lot more for j than y and j should disembark first.

J gets to board first on a 2 class A380 from memory. ;):D

Is your second username 'aceboy' by any chance? :D