First Flight from T£
 

Checked in for flight to Doha, arrived at the biz lounge to be told flight was departing from T3 and to proceed to the terminal. Wow i thought one for the first FT'ers to use the facilities. WRONG!!! After spending 15 - 20 minutes to get to the biz lounge it was closed. Managed to find EK staff in the First Class lounge and they told me apart from the DF nothing was open to serve refreshments. If I was only going to be in the T1 lounge for 30 minutes i could understand but i had 2 1/2 hours to kill. Tried to get back to the T1 lounge through security and was told that although the lounges were closed the western food court was open. Trying to explain to this guy that I had paid for certain services that Emirates were not delivering I was told to take it up with Emirates. Fantastic PR and fantastic service NOT!!

I am really surprised (and it is hard to believe) how come somebody from check-in told you to proceed to T3 if T3 is still not operating! First flight from T3 is on 14 Oct!
Did you check-in on T3? According to your post - NO!

P.S. and you defenetly did not pay to use the lounge. it's just an "extra" for premium pax and you were more than welcome to use the lounge in T1 where your flight was scheduled to depart

I assume that some flights are departing from the T3 gates, even though the terminal is not yet open.

:confused:

Of course you pay to use the lounge... that's one of the extras you get for paying 3 or 4 times more than economy.

Cheers,
Rick

It did not register when i checked in that the flight was leaving from gate 203It was not until i got to the lounge that i was told to go to T3. Another pax across the aisle had the same problem but managed to get past Guy the Gorilla on security. When he got to the lounge and complained he was told that he must have made a mistake/misheard what he was told to do. He was really pleased when 6 - 7 pax behind him complained that they had also been told to proceed to T3. but managed to get past security. It turned out that the lounge was packed, considering that 2 flights were leaving from T3, Doha and Muscat, makes you wonder?? The crew confirmed that these two flights were the first real live trials prior to the official opening on the 14th. The only refreshments that were available were from the Cosi Coffee shop, this opened at 07.00am. They only had coffee either with or without milk + tea. Their coffee machine had broken down. The choice of food was muffin, muffin or muffin. Starbucks was on the point of opening at 07.30. The EK ground staff had their normal unhelpful attitude. I mentioned it would be a nice gesture to give me a food and drink voucher. I was told the terminal was new and i had to expect these problems :mad: I ended up paying for the coffee, i passed on the muffin, muffin or muffin. At least i had plenty of time to go on a voyage of discovery. There are a lack of toilets and inside they are really small. There are 4 food/beverage outlets close to gate 203 but only one M/F toilet . The signage for the toilet is also poor. The sign for the toilet from gate 203 takes up the corridor. Turn right and right again, this takes you down the opposite corridor past the duty free past the food outlets and down to the same toilets. The next set of toilets are a fair old walk away. The business and first class lounges look really spacious. Not sure about the lounge access being so open, and like the current setup there is only one desk so no doubt when it is busy you will get the same bottleneck. It seems as though the open bar concept is not in place. The bars appeared to set up for serving by staff. Not sure if they will change the speed of the escalators, when you walk on to them they are moving so slow it takes you by surprise. Boarding took forever, the 1st office made an announcement confirming that this was a trial departure and some of the passengers had got lost trying to find the gate. Ended up leaving 30 minutes late.

Forgot to confirm that I was flying business.
Checked in at the First/Business Class Check in at T1 as always.

I am landing this Wed on T3 .. lets see, I am excited!

I think I was on the first flight from T3. I flew Tuesday morning to Muscat. I thought I would be flying from T1, but ended up out of T3.

All I can I say about the new terminal is wow. I was very impressed. Way better choice of restaurants, space and space, and bright....No more dingy Terminal 1.


I didn't have time to go to the lounge and it seemed not many people knew where it was. I am going to USA soon, so I will check it out.


Nice one Emirates. The best part, No more taking the bus for 30 minutes.

Cheers

Billman

Yup, lots of space & this was probably the first time I've seen Dubai Airport rather 'quiet'. Reminds me of a mall too. They've also opted for floor tiles than carpet ~ sneaky, as to discourage passengers aka 'airport refugees' from sleeping on the floor. It was freezing in the terminal as well.

The J lounge is also much, much bigger and with sofas! I do like the power points they've installed beside the dining tables. :)

Does anyone have any experience staying at the new airport hotels? I just might be interested if I don't get STPC. Not sure if the terminal will still be as 'quiet' once all EK flights depart from T3

[/QUOTE]

I wondered if EK will use the Terminal hotels in the future for STPC, long connects? Does anyone want to speculate? It may be less hassle than going through emigration, drive to hotel and back.etc.