Feeling like this Emirates board is becoming my "home" I have decided to write down some thoughts about my flight today heading from Billund in Denmark with the final destination being Dar Es Salaam - Tanzania. Emphasis will be on the Emirates flights as they are in F, and as this will not be a typical trip report i have decided to post it here and not in the general trip reports section.

Sitting here writing this post in the wonderful shared lounge facility at BLL airport Denmark (http://www.bll.dk). Its still prety dark outside and the time is getting to 7am local danish time. The routing is as folows:

BLL-CDG (AF/DM codeshare) - in Y - got seat 12C Small
CDG-CAI (AF) - in Y - got seat 21B
CAI-DXB (EK) - in F - looking forward to this
DXB-DAR (EK - in F - yihaa...

Now let me get some breakfast before i come back and write some more of my thoughts.

hmm... sorry about this delay.... where did i come from... yes the wonderfull king amlet lounge in BLL, and a quick breakfast before heading on the Maersk Air flight to Paris.

This was a pretty uneventfull flight, 20 minutes delayed which gave me only about 30 minutes to catch my connecting flight in CDG, but AF impressed me this morning. Right there after getting off the plane was an AF ground agent, with my name, told me to follow her, down the stairs into an AF car, and she drove me directly to the gate of the Cairo/Jeddah AF flight, found a passport control guy that could quickly took a look at my passport passed through an extra security check with hand luggage screening and a few questions, and off i was, in no time at the gate. Well done Air France!!

The AF flight was a large A340-300 flight and 21B was the seat is was lucky to get when checking in at BLL, and what a seat. First row of economy aile seat, with pretty much unlimited legroom... The plane looked rather old but it got us all to Cairo, with an ok meal service (menu cards, pre dinner drinks and snack, two choice main course and so on...) Honestly I must say I was quite impressed - Y was fine for me for this 4 hour trip, and even the recline was very generous.

Arrived in Cairo mid afternoon, and that airport really is crazy, passport control took me about one hour to clear, and a visa was 15 usd. I noticed some people being collected by travelagents and they had some interesting ways to get people through immigration in no time Fast track??

Well i found a shuttle bus that took me to Le Meridien close to the airport where Emirates have their office. They had forgotten to issue a STPC for my 20 hour connection time in Dubai, the agent was friendly and quickly issued this, in ten minutes later i was in a cab heading back for the airport ready for my first - Emirates first class experience. Checkin was smooth as there was a dedicated first class check in counter, and i was given an invitation to some shared lounge in CAI. Nothing special, but still a lot better than the seating offered in the terminal. Guava juice was offered together with some different egyptian style snacks.

After relaxing 30 minutes in the lounge boarding was anounced and i headed for the gate. The flight was a 777-200 or was it -300 i do not recall. I was shown to seat 2B, and imediatly offered champagne, juice or a non alchoholic freshly prepared fruitpunch of some kind was served together with some roasted nuts, followed by arabic coffee and wonderfully sweet and nice dates.

The seat was great, with plenty of legroom, in front of me, a nice pillow, and a blanket was handed out.

Dinner service was fine but since this flight was only 3 hours and 50 minutes its not the full 7 course dinner that you get on their "real" longhaul routes. Still however plenty of food, and the quality was perfect. Unfortuantly the FAs were rather ignorant and didn't really pamper us the way i expected being in First. To be honest on this flight i did not feel as if it was anything different than being in EK business, except the seat which is wider, has a better recline og more room around.

After dinner i had a good one hours sleep - and not the kind of sleep like en Y where you wake up feeling pain somewhere after over stretching some body part because of the cramped position you have to sleep in, now sleep in F was wonderfull with a thick blanket provided and as earlier mentioned a nice pillow. Headsets on this route were the economy ones which also dissapointed me quite a bit (however these became much better on the next leg from Dubai to Dar Es Salaam - more on that later...)

All in all a nice four hour flight, and arriving in Dubai i was given a fast track card, and together with the priority tag on the luggage was out of the airport and into the prebooked EK sponsored chauffer drive (a big volvo) heading for the Le Meridien Dubai in few minutes.

Thank you for the first parts of your report.
You are using an unusual routing from Paris to Dar es Salaam via Cairo and Dubai on two different airlines, in different classes. Why not EK from CDG to DXB?

Yes this certainly is an unusual routing... I had read so many posts in this forum about the cheap fares out of CAI, and one day whilst i was playing around on the emirates website trying to figure out how to get to Dar Es Salaam I found out that there were some pretty good deals to be found from CAI in both J and F

I found a price of 1300 usd for a return flight in F CAI-DXB-DAR-DXB-CAI... (J was about 1150) Hmm... a trip to cairo from denmark in Y was 450 usd, all in all 1750 usd for this unique experience. It didn't take long for me to decide to try this out, and with the full flexibility of an F ticket which is changable at any time up until departure this suited me just perfect. On the top of everything EK through in a nights stay at the Le Meridien (STPC) which gave me a wonderfull time relaxing by the pool until the chauffer picked me up at around 1:30 pm.

It might be a bit crazy (it is a bit crazy i know ) but for me it was another exiciting adventure which gave me new insights into EKs service.

Had this been a business trip where an employer was paying for me however i doubt that they had accepted this "alternative" routing... But attending a conference and having a few days to spare it was just the right thing to do for me...

by the way the prices i found from CDG-DAR on EK website were about 5000 usd!!! Probably this could be found cheaper elsewhere, but i doubt that it can compete with the fare out of CAI.

Thanks for your interesting report, Mogensen !

As I will do a somewhat similiar trip in January (CAI-DXB-SYD r/t in F) I have some questions regarding your trip:

1. Did you book your tickets online (with 5 day pick-up deadline) ?
2. Is there an EK office airside in CAI's T2 (I was told so by the lady at the Meridien's EK office; I shall pick up my layover hotel voucher for DXB there when transiting from FRA) ?
3. Have you been able to check your luggage through to Dar es Salaam or did you collect it in DXB for the layover night ?
4. Did you apply for a visa in DXB for the layover at Le Meridien Dubai ?

BTW: Lucky you to catch a shuttle bus to Le Meridien CAI. I recently waited for almost 100 minutes at T2 but never saw a Meridien shuttle bus (only Novotel and sometimes a Moevenpick van). Instead watched Robert Mugabe and entourage arriving at the Special Services building between arrival and departure terminal departing for the UN in New York Maybe the Meridien shuttle only appears when intl. flights are due to arrive, I arrived on a domestic flight from SSH in the morning and T2 was pretty empty at that time of the day...(except for the many policemen waiting for Bob's arrival in his bulletproof Merc)

When you book your layover, you have to provide your passport details to EK. EU citizens no longer need to apply for a visa, but get a 90 day permit rubber stamped into the passport at arrival, similiar to HKG.

Dear oliver2002

Sorry for this late reply... The conference i am participating in doesn't leave much time for using the internet.

I booked my tickets online, with a special arrangement made with EK Cairo to have a friend in Cairo come and pay for the tickets. I do not know why they can't do an online payment yet and just fedex the tickets to anywhere.

I didn't notice any EK ticketing office airside, and they asked me to come to the le meriedien to pick up the voucher they had forgotten to print the first time.

I could choose where i wanted to check my luggage on to, i chose to collect it in DXB but checking it through was no problem at all if this was what i wanted.

The shuttle bus was parked in the parking lot, and i just asked one from le meridien about it and he showed me to the bus, kindof acted as i was going to stay there, upon arrival they asked for my name and i just told them that i was heading for the EK office, however i paid the portier a little for helping me with the luggage and so at least he was happy and accomodating.

Thank you, oliver and Mogensen, for your info !

Now I know why the lady at the EK office couldn't issue the layover voucher without the passport (or copy) of my girlfriend in hand. She said that I could collect it on the day of my trip while in transit at CAI's T2 at an EK desk airside (the landside office is closed). Probably I will try to get the voucher ahead of my trip by contacting FRA's EK office (hope they will cooperate).

The voucher is normally set up by EK FRA, but I always had to collect it from the Airport Desk at MUC before starting the trip. I have tried various reasonings, but EK FRA was always firm. I suggest you ask if you can pick up the voucher for your GF ahead of time from the MUC or FRA airport counters.

Normally the Airport staff pulls up your reservation, takes a good look at the details and then starts the process of issuing an MCO and charging your credit card manually.

Come on Mogensen,

don't take your conference too serious, we are waiting for the Dubai - Dar es Salaam trip report!

ok ok, now i finally found the time to write a bit more about the EK F experience.

Woke up and had a nice breakfast at the Le Meridien, this hotel is nothing special compared to Mina A Salaam (which i tried out this summer), and other of the other top end Dubai hotels. Emirates have a special wing for all the transitting passengers, and this was always quite busy.

After breakfast i spent a few hours around the pool just relaxing and getting ready for the next flight. At 12.45 the EK driver arrived, and within 10 minutes i was back at the dedicated First and business class check in. This is a great thing, as it leads you away from the crowds at the main Y check in area. But do not expect to be treated anyhow special, despite being a F passenger. And also after having your handluggage screened be prepared for a long walk to the gates, lounge and shopping area.

Found the Emirates first class lounge, presented my invitation and looked around. The lounge is nice however really nothing that special, typical in decoration with plush leather furniture, a self serve area and some large tvs, i will post a link to the few pictures i took of it. The food was ok but nowhere near what i had expected. why don;t they employ some people to work serving the food, and doing this in a nice way, together with maybe a couple of massage people, small things like that would be great.

Luggage can be stored in an area, where everybody has access with no survaillance once again EK could have chosen a more professional attitude concerning this, i wonder what would happen if somebodys 5000 USD laptop was stolen from this luggage room.

Maybe i sound very negative whilst mentioning these issues, its just that i feel as if EK could or actually ought to do it much better.

Yes, it is disappointing not to be treated special at the first class check-in and first class lounge.

That is not what I would have expected. I am flying first class JFK - DXB in January and was hoping for a special experience. I like to be made to feel important. After all, I am paying top dollar for the trip.

I guess the special treatment happens in the air as a first/business class passenger The fact that there is a dedicated hotel for transit passengers, that a car picks you up from your hotel, drives you to the airport where you have your own dedicated check-in area and customs & immigration personnel is not so special anymore

I doubt you will see people giving massages anytime soon, especially in Dubai (Middle East = different acceptable social norms) and I don't think anyone would steal your luggage from a first class lounge (or any other area) given the consequences if someone is caught stealing I guess if you needed further attention, you could always check into the dedicated hotel (Le Meridien).

EK is growing really fast and is becoming a true leader in the airline industry and I think that is something to be proud of.

Just some thoughts...

Thanks for your thoughts BEYFlyer

Sorry if the last post sounded as if i was complaining. This was not my intention and so far i have had a wonderfull EK experience, i am just elaborating on some issues i feel could be drawn to EKs/ this boards attention.

EK is growing fast maybe sometimes to fast. I was discussing this issue with a lawyer in Dubai, and he sees the problem being that the rate they are employing new personal simply means that the quality managenent can not keep up. They move the best FAs to the prestigious routes, and this means that there can be big differences depending on which route you fly.

I felt treated well, also at the dedicated check in area, but in the highly competitative world of airlines EK must not fall a sleep but has to continue improving their services both on ground and in the air. Service for me is more than just a yes sir, and beatifull marble walls and golden invitation cards its the way you act, the things you say and the things you do.

EK is a Dubai based airline and therefore also catering especially to the middle eastern business market with other traditions other things that impress. The culture is different, and so is the airline.

I also fully agree that Middle Eastern business men might not be so interested in a massage, i was just trying to give some examples of what could be done to improve the level of service made available. I think the offer on the New York route shows that they are thinking of new exciting and innovative ways of spoiling their customers, offering a free 5 course dinner at a fancy new york restaurant before the flight to dubai.

I will try to find the time today to write more about my impressions on the dubai - Dar Es Salaam route today, which was a great experience...