What's up with EK Business?
 

Relatively speaking, I had the most atrocious Intercontinental Buisness class trip of my life on EKs Business from Dubai to Seattle. Despite being in a bulkhead, the seats were incredibly uncomfortable. There was zero storage space of any sort. The crew, despite being well intentioned, did a very poor job. I think I was asked if I was finished with my meal five times when more than half of my food was still in the plate. All I would do was pause from eating to drink some water, and they would assume I was finished with my meal. They simply assumed my mother didn't want desert and didn't offer any. They provided her a Duty Free magazine when she asked towards the end of the flight, but never came back to ask if she wanted anything until Duty free closed. The ICE control tablet, while cool, was incredibly clunky. It would take four or five hard presses to do something. Often, it would end up doing the wrong thing. Tell me again, why is EK held in such high regard? I have flown with them four times now, once in First, three times in Business, and found them to be nothing better than mediocre in Business Class.

It is unfortunate that you didn't have a good experience on-board the world's best airline. The crew can be a hit and miss, so don't let that experience prevent you from enjoying what EK offers to its passengers. If you wanted to have really good service and wanted to take a long time enjoying your food you should've flown in first class, as they provide "dine on demand" service there (which should meet your expectations regarding good service.) As a silver member recently I had a bad experience with one of the cabin crew members in economy class. Despite EK not responding to my complaint regarding the incident I still fly EK, and I enjoy my experience on-board (I'm aiming for gold BTW.) I do not let such incidents ruin (or interfere) my whole experience. Just make a complaint to Emirates regarding your experience and see how they respond. Regarding the ICE control tablet, you do realize that the screens are touch-screens, so touching the screen to view what you want is easier than using the control right? I personally prefer to have a touch-screen than a control pad that takes more time to select what I want.

Regarding the seats and zero storage, I'm surprised that you found the seats to be "uncomfortable" as you mentioned. Yes! The business class seats are not up to par with QR, CX, SQ, etc. but the overall EK experience makes up for it (food, ICE, amenity kits, towels in lavatories, etc.) Can you talk more about the "zero storage space"? As I never had an issue with storing my stuff when I fly business class.

Regarding the dessert, you could have asked them if they served dessert on the flight rather than waiting for them to offer it to you (yes, that is not a good service but you could've solved the issue by asking for a dessert on the spot.)

Out of curiosity, if EK is not the world's best airline can you tell me which one is? I have experienced a variety of reputable airlines (CX, QR, EK, UL, SQ, MH, GA, KU, KAL) and found EK to be the best.

EK J is a good product, however, it lacks that human touch. Sometimes I feel like the cabin crew are like robots in the sense that they strictly follow their manual or script without realizing that people's needs are different. If they address this part then,I can say with full confidence that they are my best airlines when flying in J.

EK J class is rubbish - especially if you're not on an A380. Even on an A380 it isn't great, the seat is so narrow - it's basically the same width as economy. I'm 6'2 with broad shoulders and I loathe their A380 J seat.

They're very much on a script especially on the A380 - the only way to get personal service is to ask for things, within reason, as the crew aren't mindreaders of the type you find in F ;) Also, and I am not implying that others don't do this, but kindness and please/thank you is remembered by the crew and goes a long way...

I have not flown nearly enough airlines to determine a "worlds best airline". In fact I have only flown three intercontinental long haul Business Class products. Considering just a couple weeks ago I flew on Lufthansa's Business class (Which had 67 seats rather than EKs 42 I must add, and on a 9 hour flight, meaning the crew should have been more rushed than the Emirates crew) and comfortably slept in a fully flat bed, with a place to put both of my shoes, glasses, my phone, my amenity kit, and a hand bag, a crew who didn't try to make me shove food down my throat, and who didn't simply assume I didn't want a service when it had never been offered, I would say Emirates can in no way be the "Worlds Best Airline". Honestly, you simply cannot call a long haul J product competitive when it doesn't have a flat bed. I could 't find any pockets, drawers, etc to put my phone and bag. On my previous flight, I was asked to place my shoes in a compartment behind the other seat, but the compartments were so small that I would have needed to use both to fit both my shoes in there. There was also nowhere to put my my bedding, but that is a nitpick. The only storage area I found on the seat was the armrest. I did end up asking for duty free and desert, but the point is you shouldn't have to. I don't know about you, but considering I am not a drinker or big movie watcher, for me the cabin crew are the only people who can make me feel welcome or unwelcome on an airplane. It is their job to represent the airline. I did not realize it was a touch screen, as the flight I took before the long haul was on an older aircraft without touch screens and a control tablet. One of the downsides of the bulkhead was not being able to reach the screen, but at least I had somewhere to stretch my legs without hitting a wall!

Out of curiosity, what makes you say EK is the "world's best airline"?

Definitely. I hope I am not sending the wrong message: Despite my criticism of the crew they were very polite and kind

As previously mentioned the EK business class cabin is not up to par with the competition so I understand your frustrations regarding the seat/cabin/storage/etc, so if these things were crucial to you perhaps first class would've been a better experience for you? Despite knowing this (and having flown a variety of reputable airlines on long-haul business class) I continue to fly EK since I enjoy my experience with EK. I enjoy the lounges I experience before my flight, I enjoy the IFE, I enjoy being appreciated for being a loyal passenger (YMMV,) I enjoy the spacious and comfortable economy class seats on all of their aircraft, and most importantly I enjoy the amenity kits/pijamas served to first class passengers and I enjoy showering on their A380 fleet. Having flown a variety of reputable airlines I never found an airline that provides me the EK experience, which is why I'm loyal to them.

If cabin crew is your main concern regarding flying then I strongly recommend you try Qatar Airways, as my personal experience with them regarding cabin crew was extraordinary.

I have to agree It amazes me people rave about EK. I find Oman Air, Qatar and Etihad all much better, particularly the crew. For crew I'd say Oman is best. For choice of flights though, Emirates is by far best for me, so I did 18 flights with them in 2018. Four were good or very good.

I think many would agree that in terms of soft product EK is not a definitive number one. You do get amazing crews, but you also get very average crews. The major difference is in scale and operations. EY is a tiny airline, compared to EK, with a disastrous airport in AUH and very poor ground ops at outstations. Their fleet is a fraction of the size overall, and even smaller if you look at total seats, since they have many narrow bodies. They also do not serve many destinations that EK does, and not with the same frequency on the ones they do. With QR it is more or less the same, though the ground experience is better, both in DOH and at outstations.

What I like about EK, and the reason I am loyal to them, is that they are a well run airline, with solid operations, and well run outstations. They're almost a bit too "german" in that they are very good on a technical level, but sometimes lack a bit on the personal touches, but for my travel patterns they have the route network, timings and consistency (and low prices) that I need. And generall never more than a 4 hour layover, whereas QR or EY often end up with long layovers.

EKs incredibly huge route network is my main reason for flying with them. If I wasn't feeling ill I could have spent my whole time at the airport just staring at the Departures/Arrivals board

I think this is they key to EK being the airline of choice but also what causes the problems. I have taken 15 (segments) flights in business this year, all recreationally, all at my own expense. I would often get off one flight thinking I would not spend another penny on EK but then get on the next one and everything is great. It is also not the crew that change so much from flight to flight but also the variety in aircraft and the quality of the hard products on each.

Until I started using TUN I would have agreed with you on the outstations comment!

I disagree about the lounges. They are a world better than the home lounges of most other airlines.