I am supposed to fly to Dubai in the next 3 weeks and wonder if you guys could offer some advice. I'll be flying in Business. Ideally I'd like to fly non-stop, but from what I can gather, the J class in Emirates don't have lie-flat seats (they're angled). Is that true?

If not with Emirates, what would be a carrier of your choice? Etihad? Any other ones, please?

My criteria would be lie flat seats. As of now, I am leaning towards VS with a connection in LHR. I know it's not super ideal, but I love the VS Lounge.

EK201/202 (if I recall correctly) have lie-flat seats in J at an angle to the floor. The other flights have non lie-flat seats that just recline 'deeply' (EK's choice of words, not mine).

If you want to sleep, I cannot recommend EY highly enough. In fact, I'd say that EY would even be worth making a connection for. The beds are similar to BA's, but wider (I find) and more spacious (again, just my opinion.) The service and food are not the best, but if you want sleep this shouldn't be a major issue.

Cheers,

Sadiq,
What about the lounges in AUH? Were you able to make any use of the miles on EY's Guest program?

Lounges in AUH are not bad, but AUH as a whole is not very nice - it's small and nothing special. I would say the EK lounges are better. I have not used any EY miles yet (have about 25,000 so far) but EY's program seems to be interesting - you can redeem miles on any flight at a rate proportional to availability or something. It's too confusing for me but might be useful for others.

Cheers,

It looks like both direct flights (EK201/202 AND EK203/204) now have lie-flat seats, at least according to the Emirates site.

A colleague is flying EK203 and EK202 at the end of the month in J, so will know for certain then.

That is correct - my mistake. I was thinking of the fact that only EK201/202 have the F class suites.

Cheers,

Yes, EK fly B77Ws on there non-stop DXB-JFK flights. These are fitted/being retrofitted with angled lie-flat seats in a 7 abreast config. nothing particularly special except the huge J class tvs.

EY flies daily AUH-JFK with A340-500s fitted with a horizontal flat bed product in 'Pearl.' Everyone has aisle access, 15" TV, 21" (don't quote me) wide bed...

QR also fly into Newark where you could connect. This is either an A340-600 or a B77W with angled lie-flats & flat beds respectively.

VS has a flat bed product including an onboard bar, masseuse, , V-PORT IFE (equivalent to the current ICE software) on all JFK & most EWR flights, amazing lounge & limo transfers (on revenue tickets only).

I would disagree - I flew one of the new B777s (A6-EMU I believe it was) with lie-flat J and found the seat to be outstanding - much better than other carrier's lie-flat products and almost as good as other carriers horziontal products - I flew AC's new 'suites' right before EK's lie-flat seats and would probably prefer EK's seats even for sleeping.

EY will offer limo transfers in New York and Abu Dhabi - same as VS (not on Z class fares though) and EK.

For ground experience, I'd take VS, assuming you don't mind transferring through the hell that is London Heathrow For sleeping, I'd take EY,

Cheers,

I find it interesting you'd say that. In order to make a flat bed cost efficient, airlines come up with all sorts of arrangements to keep the seat count up. This can compromise on comfort. The new Air Canada Executive Flat beds are a baby cousin of the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Suite which was pioneered in 2003. It features a flat bed that rivals other airlines first, a leather seat, large tv etc. but the downsides include the high privacy walls & odd angle which crinks your neck if you try & look out the window. Some people like it, others don't. If your claustrophobic, I'd advise against VS. EY is narrow, but not as bad & the configuration is more open but not as open as you like. Increased privacy = claustrophobia...

Virgin Atlantic will treat you reasonably through Heathrow. You will arrive after your dayflight from NYC to connect to the evening DXB flight. The revivals lounge won't be open, but you can go straight into the LHR Clubhouse (through the new Upper Class wing I'm not sure) which is one of the best airline lounges in the world. Remember to prebook a haircut & manacure!

I would agree, if you plan on sleeping, fly EY & avoid the hassle.

That's exactly it. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=768415

For an 'all around' experience I think EK's seats are the best. For a daylight flight, AC's seats are claustrophobic, make it difficult to talk to others (I called AC to pre-book my seat on this flight and the agent said she calls it the 'anti-social plane') and are at an odd angle for viewing the window. I still found EY to be less 'uncomfortable' than AC though (I still find AC's seats to be rather excellent - just not as good as EK's or EY's) - perhaps because I was in an aisle on an empty flight.

Cheers,

I fly this route on a regular basis in J, and do not have a single complain about the seating in J (non-stop). Go for it. You cannot go wrong. Plus the lounge at JFK is a sure plus. Go for the window seats. It gives a more 'suite-like' feel once you have the privacy screen up.

Well the best choice here is certainly EK flight 201/202 because it has the new seats, which are pretty nice (even though they are 2-3-2 configurated). Also, the food (and maybe also the service) are better than on EY. Last, EY's lounge are way below EK's, with the AUH one being ridiculously small; at JFK they use the Swiss lounge, again not on par with EK's.

From what I've read on FT, looks like lie-flats in J are in the following:

EK201/202 - DXB-JFK-DXB - Daily
EK203/204 - DXB-JFK-DXB - Daily

But I got conflicting info about the type of seats. Are they FLAT BEDS like BA or VS or are they angled lie-flat like TG, LH?

I am no longer considering EH - now it's between EK and VS.

I just tried booking online, but couldn't find seat selector button. Can one select seats when making an online booking?

If you can get over the issue of going to Abu Dhabi, Etihad's product is sleek and comfortable. One disadvantage is that from JFK they leave at 10:00 A.M. so you blow the day off and making connections from other cities is next to impossible unless you red eye from the west coast. The seats are great in Pearl.

But what no one mention here is that to compete with Emirates, Etihad's pricing seems to be much more competitive, with fares at $4,200 vs over $6,000 on Emirates. I got an offer from 1stair.net that they have special fares here on this route. I have used 1stair.net on other routes with moderate success...Either way, if price does not matter than go with Emirates but for a true lie flat product and savings Etihad has the most compelling offer (but forget about the miles)