Service Changes in J
 

Flew back from MAN yesterday (New Years' Day) and the crew mentioned that the 380 lounge was closed, and there was no pre-departure beverage due to Covid. I presume this is related the uptick in cases in the UK/UAE, but am curious to know whether these changes have been applied across the network, or whether they are just for the UK.

Bar was closed on DXB-JFK yesterday as well.
I was in F, we did have pre depature drinks. Unsure about J.

No pre departure drink in J this morning EK77 DXB-NCE

No Pre-dep drink (J) or onboard lounge YYZ to DXB Jan 1

Crew said they only found out that day as all normal on their outbound Dec 31.

Ugh, hopefully by the 17th this will all be sorted, went out of my way to book the A380 to LAX. First time traveling on EK in 2 years :-/ was hoping for the full experience!

BKK-DXB & DXB-VIE, Jan 1-2 in J, no drinks or bar on either.
there were also no amenity kits. Is this an ongoing thing?

Ek-8 | lhr-dxb | 26/12/21
 

These services level reductions must be very recent, because on EK-8 on December 26th everything was open and operating, crew were highly enthusiastic and even encouraged people to check out the bar / lounge area if they desired.

It appears to be from 1st January.

i flew F on EK76 from Paris to Dubai on Jan 1. Bar was open and pre-departure beverage was flowing. However, the purser did mention that they are not allowed to serve food in the bar. then I continued with EK358 in J to Jakarta (January 2) and again pre-departure drinks were served. it must be something very very recent and of sudden effect in nature, that explains the inconsistency.

So EK has come out and addressed that this is due to Omicron a few days ago. All pre-departure and bar/lounge service has been temporarily halted on the A380's.

Sigh.. I am supposed to be going JFK-DXB-MRU-DXB-MXP-JFK in mid-February in J. I really hope this lifts before then. My hopes are not high tho given the state of this wave in many countries EK serves.

Where was this addressed, I can't see anything in my inbox or on the what's on board pages?

I had a pretty crappy experience BKK to DXB and DXB to MAN. No pre departure drink, not even asked if I would like a drink after take off. First time I was offered a drink was 1 hour into the flight as part of the continental breakfast service although by the time the drinks trolley had arrived I have already finished the crappy breakfast with the squashed croissant.

I just did a news search on Google for Emirates, Bar, A380 (lol priorities!) and a few came up covering it.

Yeah I see, I would have thought changes to in flight service like that would have been announced on the website and via email to customers with booking, not solely in industry press.

hopefully it’s a very temporary thing then!

Was on DXB-LAX a couple days ago on the new bar design (with tables). Basically they allow one table to be occupied by a group of max 2ish people while they have beverages or meals there... I had to wait quite a while for a table to open up - was pretty much only the last 2 hours of flight. The bar itself is closed but they keep your wines, etc nearby for refills and you can order anything that's on offer for your cabin.