Hey could you guide me to that thread please? Was looking to book in Jan 24 but I guess it's not to be

Hi all, only just seen this thread and clicked on to see that STN loses new Gamechanger - i'm travelling in March and had specifically booked on to that flight because of it (using miles) - what are my options for rebooking this to another route which the gamechanger is on? I'm fairly flexible on destination from Dubai as long as its got a good connection back to the UK. Will I lose miles/be charged a fee for any changes?

I've not had any notification of the swap, only just logged on to check and the seating arrangement is clearly different

Otherwise I think i'd rather swap the the 380 LHR instead!

Gutted!

Cheers

EK41/42 (LHR) will still be new F in March (at least that seems to be the schedule at the moment).

Thanks for this, the seating plan has however changed on my booking to show 8x First seats as opposed to the staggered plan of the gamechanger....

I thought you said you were booked from STN . 41/42 is from LHR

I'm flying from DXB to STN... the other thread about route changes initially said STN was keeping the new First, and then a later note said STN was losing them.

My flight (already booked) was initially showing the 'new' first seating plan, now it shows the traditional seating plan. I'd selected 1A, so I guess as I am still in 1A I would not have any notificiation of aircraft changes.

If its the case that Old F is going to be at STN, I'd like to swap the flight to somewhere that does have the New First. But as I redeemed miles i'm not sure what options are available. I can't see any 'live' reward availability on the other routes as I don't have enough miles to complete a booking.

As noted above, there is one flight pair from LHR (EK41/42) with new F (this flight doesn’t operate every day) although I imagine you will have difficulty finding reward availability for this flight. If you are willing to travel somewhere else in Europe to try new F, then GVA, BRU, NCE and ZRH are your options.

Arrrghh so annoyed about it being removed from STN.

Would have flown from BRU instead but there's availability most days in Feb except for mine and a couple of others!

Will probably switch to the A380 from LGW....don't want to fly 777 without benefit of gamechanger!

you’ll have to take it - it’s perfectly fine and way better than J

While it's a bummer that new 777 First is no longer scheduled (at the moment), I actually prefer old 777 to A380. It feels more spacious to me. And six less F passengers can make a difference.

Certainly row 1 A/K on A380 is less spacious than 77W. I agree that when you don't value the shower and the bar 77W is better than A380. At times I have enjoyed a leg stretch by walking to the bar at the back. Shower is a (pleasant) gimmick. And indeed, with fewer passengers the service on the 77W is usually better than on the A380 (except for the time I was in 2K and the only other passenger was in 1A so we each had a personal FA).

For me the problem with old 777 F is that the toilets are economy toilets. Really not good.

I'm happy to fly from DXB to pretty much any of the destinations available with the gamechanger, then get a short hop back to London the following day. EK's website isn't allowing any changes apart from a different day. I need a different destination!

You’ll need to cancel (incur fee) and rebook (assuming availability). They won’t make accommodations (no fee / availability) due to the equipment change.

I prefer EK F on the 380 over the 777 (non-Game Changer) due to the cabin noise (less) and greater spaciousness of the suite. The bathrooms (forget shower aspect for a second) are also much better. Never had service issues even when full. But at this level, it’s splitting hairs. I’ll take any EK F on the most convenient route. And I would not build in a stop in a place I don’t need to be and fly the next day to my real destination just to experience Game Changer F over regular EK F. You’re adding another flight experience in some terrible euro business / economy short haul situation — to me, it defeats the whole purpose of flying F.