I am gobsmacked at a recent flight in J. BOM-DXB with 3 hr 15 min published time, though we landed in 3 hours. First of all one has to deal with the poor 777 configuration.
Orders were taken after take off which was already an indication of how this was going to go. Drinks served one hour after take off. Food came out a good 15-20 mins AFTER captain announces descent.
At that point, confused expressions everywhere, like are we skipping meal service? Yet crew seemed to be walking around doing...something? Finally we were served (and in random order) Luckily I had ordered wine with the meal which was brought out, otherwise there would have been no time, because no refills were offered. Dessert was skipped! Did NOT even bring it out on the meal tray. Just not bothered with dessert I guess. Skipped an entire course.

So disappointing, and they continue to charge eye watering fares in J. And you wonder why they show record profit. Never wasting cash or miles on this experience again, thank you!

For what its worth, anything less than 3 hrs with Emirates is basic service. Even in First. But over 3 hrs I noticed service in First to be premium. I always notice if there is caviar or not would be the difference.

Agreed, having had flights to ISB, JED etc which are all around the 3 hour mark, its always depart, meal service will start, clean up and were about to land. Its the same as europe flights, F and J is better served on longer haul flights.

I always use these shorter flights to just sleep. The food just isn�t worth it, I�d rather eat in the F lounge at DXB.

I would say doing a complete meal service IS a basic service, which they failed at. It was pretty evident it was the crew that were at fault. They just seemed slow and uninterested.

The quality of service and quality of flights to India vs flights to Europe/US are markedly different. Definitely feels like a step-down. But that's the case with European carriers too.

That being said, I regularly fly DXB -> BOM and BLR in J - haven't had such a terrible experience so far. My last flight to BLR was amazing - staff kept checking up on me and refilling my wine promptly

Also got this box of chocolates which I think is normally reserved for F

That is very strange.