DXB for J class - good and bad...
 

OK, having been completely blown away by ICE on the flight out to Dubai, I feel compelled to report on the mixed bag that is DXB for departing pax in J.

The dedicated check-in is very well organised, but because my flight goes from the low gate numbers, they directed me to the "new" lounge at gate 9 (where i'm sitting now).

Hmmmm... Not very good at all. Food & drink selections seem very limited compared to what I recall in the other lounge, although it is a couple of years since I last used it (no champagne for example). Wish i'd made the effort to go up to the old lounge.

Oh well, at least it's a comfy seat, free beer and a decent plate of biriayni before I get on the A330 (minus ICE :( ) for the trip home...

I suppose you are in the Civil Aviation Business Class Lounge right now - you are right, this place is not as attractive as the EK lounge. However, I had the experience that the spot is less crowded. Sometimes it´s really hard to find a place to sit down in the "original" lounge.

In August, I´ll have the opportunity to try out the First Class Lounge. Is there a big difference between the C-Class and F-Class places ?

Very little difference IME. Food is slightly better (but it's very good anyway in the J lounge). Drink was pretty much the same.

You've got the option to get a bed for a few hours, if they're not already booked up.

Extremely busy at peak times. So bad that you may struggle to find a seat.

Cheers,
Rick

Haha, I've been "directed" to that lounge many times too but I just plodded off the regular EK J lounge because I find it far better. Hopefully the new terminal will reduce the crowding problems.

Cheers

No, this is a wholly EK branded affair between gates 9 and 11. I later found out that champagne is available and it was but a few minutes walk to the gate rather than schlepping down from the other side of duty free but sadly the lounge was the beginning of a rather poor flight experience all round...

Aircraft was incredibly hot onboard with no change seen until we were well into the taxi.
Pre flight drinks service not even started until we were taxi-ing
Canapes were frozen when offered
Meal service was rushed when compared to outbound flight
Crew disappeared for just over 2hrs with no one passing through the cabin to offer drinks etc (again in complete contrast to the outbound)
Afternoon tea service was left too late IMO with only one pass with sandwiches/cakes made, then again a crew bundle into the forward galley (so no prizes for guessing what they were doing then).

Oh well Emirates, you're still consistently inconsistent if nothing else. The fact I can avoid Heathrow will always be a bonus, but I certainly didn't get off that flight last night feeling particularly special...

If I take a look on an EK lounge voucher, the back says "Department of Civil Aviation First Class Lounge" between Gate 9 and 11. "This Lounge is operated by the Department of Civil Aviation and is offered by Emirates as an additional facility".

So I suppose other carriers also use this place for their customers :confused:

If you look at www.dubaiairport.com, it shows two lounges between 9 and 11. I can't find anything more however than the fact they're lounges A and B...

A few years ago I was directed to an alternate lounge because the EK one was under refurb. (leather armchairs, ice cream in the freezer) and that certainly wasn't where I was yesterday.

Also, IIRC only EK & codeshare flights were on the departure board.

It was as if they had knocked a couple of gate lounges together - we were sitting near the reception desk (staffed wholly by EK) - and - presumably because there was no upper level - it was completely open above the approx 10ft wall into the main concourse.

It also had a very temporary look & feel to the place - one unpainted wall, a strange bar area for soft drinks etc.

I suppose it's a case of if you can be bothered, go to the other one at the high gate numbers but when you're schlepping a lot of carry-on luggage around the place, the novelty of the "proper" one might be marginalised a bit...

Yeah I know this place. I think EK also uses the lounge for their Skywards Silver members. If you sit right at the entrance, you can see some kind of illuminated space shuttle at the terminal ceiling.

I thought I would add to this thread with my recent experience of Emirates in J class (all sectors were in J). I travelled from LHR - SYD via DXB. I used the non-stop service from DXB - SYD on the A340-500. I hope Swiss Tony does not mind me hijacking this thread!

So these are the negative points: -

• I still do not think that enough focus is placed on safety demonstrations; they happen with little warning and go on and on.
• Cabin announcements are completely inaudible - turn the volume up a little
• The 777-200 has very limited legroom (46"?) and the IFE in this case was not ICE (I was not expecting ICE, so this was not a problem). I am surprised that this aircraft is still in service on the LHR - DXB route given the competition from Virgin, BA and probably also Etihad. If the person in the row in front reclines, it is very difficult for anyone not on the aisle to get out.
• The food service can be unbearably long and random in its delivery (people being missed out, orders not being taken etc.) - there was no problem with drinks taking a long time as have been reported previously. The food on the journey out of LHR and from DXB - SYD was pretty bad (overcooked and/or dry) some of it was also VERY heavily spiced catering more for an far eastern taste.
• The seat on the A340-500 is bizarre. The massage function is great, but the positions of the seat itself are strange. The controls are fiddly, and do not always do what you think they should. It was not possible to sleep on my side during this journey as the seat does not go flat enough to allow this. I am not surprised that this seat has not made an appearance on the 777-300ER. I am generally surprised at the fact that Emirates are continuing to roll out a non-flat seat given the increasing competition on this route.
• The lounge in Dubai does get very crowded very quickly, there is not enough seating for all the passengers who need it. The plus point was that some of the staff were helping passengers to find seats, the negative was that passengers were getting irate with staff because of the lack of seating - but what can the staff do except report difficulties to management?
• There are not enough toilets in the lounge - there is always a queue for the loos at peak times. I did notice about showers, but I could not see where they were.
• Boarding is still a little chaotic - even though they call you from the lounge, they are not always ready to get you onto the aircraft when you arrive at the lounge. At DXB they were very protective over the First Class cabin and did not allow passengers to board through the first/business dedicated air bridge.

And now for the good points!

• The chauffeur drive service is outstanding – a real plus point (even on a companion fare, we got two cars in London to and from the airport). The only problem was that one of us did not confirm the journey on the way back, and as a result there was no car scheduled for pick up in London. This was quickly rectified by the guy behind the desk, the drawback being I got the reserve idiot driver who took the most bizarre route back to my home. This took 2 hours for a journey that shouldn’t have been more than an hour, frustrating, but seeing as I had nowhere to go (urgently) this was not a problem.
• The new lounge at Sydney is great, the only drawback being that they have only installed 2 cubicles in the men’s loo for the capacity of the lounge (this is just plain silly).
• The food from Sydney right through to London was much better (for some reason).
• I do like the concept of the multi lingual and multi ethnic cabin crew.
• The cabin crew on the service from SYD - DXB were very good (friendly, efficient and interested).
• The pitch on the 777-300ER is fantastic - all aircraft like this please Emirates!
• I made Skywards Silver on the return journey (bad news is that my next journey will mean that I do not make Gold because Skywards run the January - December membership period).
• ICE is good, but I would not rate it as highly as others have. There is an absolutely enormous list of films and TV. I managed to get through a couple of films, but did not find very much that I really wanted to watch. They do have a big selection of TV programmes, but they could offer more of each series. I watched 6 episodes of Friends, 3 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, 6 episodes of Kath and Kim, 3 episodes of Prison Break and bits of other series. On journeys of this length, more episodes would be useful - how often do Emirates rotate/change their content? Even with this much choice, I could see it getting repetitive after a couple of journeys (that’s right, customers always want more!).
• Can't think of anything else right now, but if I do, I will add to this list...

Overall, a good trip, at £2,100 per person, this is cheaper than my next trip to Perth at Christmas which is coming in at £2,400 for a shorter journey.

JakesterUK - are you sure it was a 777-200 that didn't have the ICE? I thought all the -200' s had been upgraded.

There are still some 777-300's that haven't been converted.

Cheers,
Rick

Yep - according to the website, only 75% of 777-200's have been upgraded.

JakesterUK - you're welcome to hijack the thread at will...

Inteerstingly, I felt the food out of the UK (BHX) was better than out of DXB. The return wasn't necessarily bad and it may have been that the better service style going out made the food taste better too...

Non-flat seats - well, for daytime flights, I prefer the EK offering over the BA NCW seat. Also, EK always seem to be offering a very good price point (i.e. akin to BA's World Traveller +) rather than others' club offerings.

Crowded Dubai lounge - I guess that's why they opened the "shed" that I ended up in... Keep quiet else they'll open something else even worse ;)

Is interesting that they have "old" 772's into LHR, but perhaps this was a last minute change. Odd that it would be routine when they have the new ones going to BHX.

Good call on the chauufeur drive. However, as I mentioned before, they're now axing this on some cheaper fares, so a warning to others to check this before booking.