Seats of EKs B777-300
 

Is there still a seating difference between EKs old B777-300s and those which were aquired in the past 3-4 years ?
I was on A6-EMN last summer and the interior of the plane was in a tired condition (e.g. stained and wavily deformed carpets), so I presumed that a refurbishment would be taking place soon.

On A.net, I found those pics for comparison:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/635131/L/

A6-EMM (del. 02/99) - same seats as on A6-EMN

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/304685/L/

A6-EMS (del. 07/02) - new design



I will be on a B777-300 (3-class config) from FRA-DXB in February and I pre-reserved seats 46J and 46K as we are two travelling together (hope the seat maps on emirates.com are accurate). Are those seats a good choice ? I hate being squished in a middle seat - last time on an EK flight from DAC to KUL, I spilled Sprite on my neighbours´pants because I could not move my arms properly :(

The same thing happened to us once. We were travelling Karachi- Dubai - London in J. In KHI we were given the 3rd last row of Y class and 2 middle seats with the promise of J seats being assigned in DXB. Of course, that did not happen. Once getting aboard, and being in shock of the seats I had been given when I was paying a full fare business class ticket, I spilled McDonalds McFlurry all over the aisle passenger sitting next to me. He was not happy. Asides from that, I love it, I found the 2 middle seats very cosy :)

With regards to the 2 types of B777-300's. I like to call them the big tv 777's and the small tv 777's. The big tv 777s http://www.airliners.net/open.file/304685/L/ have been delivered more recently, whereas the small tv 777's http://www.airliners.net/open.file/635131/L/ have been here for a while

The main difference, is the size of the TV's :) Also, in the big tv 777's J class has an inseat video player whereas only First Class have it on the small tv 777s

EK has started refurbishing all 777-300's and this should be done by the end of this year.

Cheers

Pardon? A downgrade for 2 segments? Please provide further detail.

When I travel with my wife, then we always prereserve us 46 A/B or J/K. I think they are the best seats for a couple.
Not only that you have more privacy, but both passengers have more room to the left and right.
Row 47 is o.k. too, but 48 is too close to the restrooms and the recline is limited.

Oh yes, sorry I forgot to mention that. Normally I try and sit at the front, because otherwise it takes ages to get out of the plane (especially one with this many seats) However, for privacy and comfort, 46 can't be beat

I remember on 1 EK B777, when the seating went from 3x4x3 to 2x4x2 the tv was still in the seat in front of you and was extremely misaligned, but that was a long time ago and should no longer be an issue (I think they moved the TVs in to the armrests)

Cheers

Sorry, for not being clearer. I was flying Karachi - Dubai - London in Business Class with my sister. In Karachi we were handed J class boaring passes for KHI-DXB but Y class ones for DXB-LHR and were told that we would be given our J class seats in DXB. This did not happen... so we were only downgraded on the DXB-LHR segment (to a pair of middle seats at the back of the plane)

Cheers

Thanks for clarifying, I get the picture. Downgrading is not very common in general; is it on EK? Any reasonable explanation when you raised hell at DXB?

Downgrading on EK is more common than on other airlines, but upgrading is MUCH more common. (About 70%+ of my EK flights they have had to upgrade someone usually J-->F. I do always travel in peak though.)

I was 12 and my sister was 10, and that was the main reason. (Kids dont know anything blah blah) So they knew the flight was oversold, and in KHI they bumped us down and basically waitlisted us for J (in case of a large # of no shows or missed connection) and they gave us crummy seats in Y accordingly (since we wouldn't be using them :rolleyes: ) In Dubai (with less than 45 minutes to departure) we went to the desk and I raised hell with the transfer agent who was rude and unhelpful saying "what do you want me to do, the flight is full. You are stuck in those economy seats you got assigned"

We asked again in the DXB lounge and the people there were much nicer but still no dice. We had a connection to AC so we could not accept VDB and thus were downgraded without compensation. (Their deal was VDB or accept this flight in economy without refund - stupid i know, but it is in their fare rules)

The way people treat kids... **sigh** thankfully from now on, I am much more travel savvy. They have tried it a few more times in KHI but I am far less considerate to their suggestions. Some things they have said


- We have assigned you 2 seats together, but they are in economy. Is that OK? :rolleyes:

- We are not allowed to assign you business class seats because there are none left :confused:

-They will definately give you the business class seats in Dubai :rolleyes:

-They do not allow business class seats to be assigned here in Karachi :rolleyes:

Cheers

Thanks for the insight, I now really look forward to my (paid) F flights on the a340-500 and hope I will actually be in F :rolleyes:

Haha don't worry. I have never heard of anyone being downgraded out of F, and also, this is only happened twice in 16 years, you just need to demand the seat that you paid for :)

Cheers

Okay then, thanks for the reassuring!

I'm no mathematician but Sadiq, shouldn't the number of downgraded passengers equal the number of upgraded passengers.

Anyway, I'm sorry you got scammed in KHI. I can tell you what happened, because I've seen it dozens of times. It's actually an organized racket carried out by the EK check-in staff in concert with the porters. Being 12 and all, you wouldn't have noticed the porters offering passengers upgrades for Rs. 5,000 to 25,000 (which is where your seats went!).

FYI, The other KHI racket is the one where you are standing in line and your porter starts lifting your suitcases off the ground as if to mentally weigh them. He tells you they are way over the limit, quotes you his expert opinion of how much you will be paying in excess baggage charges, then tells you he can get the charges waived if you give him Rs. 5,000.

KHI is a pit of vipers, if you don't know how to deal with scam artists.

Upgrading is more common than downgrading because Y is more often oversold that F. (If Y is oversold then they need to upgrade and can't downgrade people to Y)

If F is oversold they need to downgrade and can't upgrade people to F.

I have seen the upgrades being offered, but that is normally for the KHI-DXB hop not the long haul DXB-LHR flight, which is why KHI-DXB is ALWAYS full in J, no matter when you fly. DXB-KHI is full often as well, but not nearly as often as KHI-DXB. This is the work of the agent, filling the J class cabin, and pocketing the extra cash.

Luckily since then my grandfather hires porters to check in for us. This has often helped us. This summer we were flying BA DXB-LHR-YYZ and KHI-DXB on EK. We did not have our BA ticket in KHI, so we were allowed 20K each. In the end, we checked in around 68K per person, and did not pay a single Rupee in excess baggage but rather a 500RS/- "tip" for the agent helping us. :)

The other scam is security confiscating things that you are allowed to carry unless you hand them some money (batteries mainly :mad: :mad: - I have had them removed from my mp3 player)

Cheers