First Time Emirates flyer, what to expect??
 

hey guys, finally decided to join up here after a while of lurking. Anyways, im planning to go home for the summer so im seriously considering booking a BLR-LAX round trip. How is emirates in Y overall? im reading reviews on the skytrax website (Airline quality) and its not looking good :(. How is the longhaul Y product??? how is the service? the food? etc. Im used to the asian hospitality but those carriers are turning out to be to rich for my blood :(.

Well, that's such a broad question really. Blr to Dxb will be terrible in Y. I havn't flown a distance like DXB-LAX. That only sounds like its painful in Y no matter what airline.

I can live for the 4 hour trip to DXB from BLR. Ive flown LAX-HKG which was like i think 12 hours. I just wanted to know how the Y product is overall, because im getting wary from reading whats on the skytrax website.

J wise I think Ek wins over Cx anyday - even EK beats the new conf on CX.

In Y _ cannot tell you too much, I used to fly EK in Y when it was really good I have seen a few complaints of late, I think EK got a bit too big for their boots as it was. However, the crew are good, and can be tentative.

You will earn enough miles on the return trip to upgrade on your next flight from BLR-DXB-BLR which is a bonus..

Apparently the LAX and SFO flights are never too busy, so there is always the chance that you can grab a few seats.

Go to the EK website, make a booking on line and say you will collect tickets from the EK offices, it will show you the seat map when you go to book your seat - and then you can make your choice whether to go ahead or not.

IF YOU DECIDE NOT TO GO AHEAD WITH THE BOOKING - BE SURE TO CALL EK AND CANCEL...

The EK website is actually more expensive than the agent here in india. If anything ill book through the agent because its somewhat cheaper and ill quote my skywards number. My other choices are CX and SQ. CX is a bit cheaper but i have to spend a day in HKG which i dont mind (but im wary of this swine flu business). SQ is turning out to be to rich for my blood :(. Do u recommend taking an aisle seat?

I like to move around when traveling in premium, so I would certainly think an aisle seat is the way forward. I am doing BOM-DXB-SFO in a few weeks in F and am not looking forward to almost 17 hours none stop - lets hope your not as big as I am! :)

Travelled business class from AKL - MEL last November and thought it was fabulous...from excellent lounge in AKL, superb food on board to TV/ movies avaliable on big, individual screens.
We had upgraded using mileage and it was worth it! Normally on AA as a 2 MM so this was a really pleasant change!
Why not upgrade with mileage, or BUY mileage....
Enjoy

hehehe but u are in F though, ill be in Y. I have no mileage with EK so i cant upgrade. This will be my first flight

I honestly think you will be fine, but worth checking the load before you book. When do you fly?

EK crew are used to people stood in the galleys chatting or stretching. I once saw a women doing yoga in the galley behind J class.

We are not talking about F or J class, we are talking about Y class.
You will be on a 777 aircraft with 10 seats in a row. If you are not too big, it will be o.k. - if the flight is not full and the seat left or right from you is not occupied, even better.
You will like the ICE entertainment system, which makes the flight much shorter.
Food and drink service is better than on most other airlines

i am not too big at all :), pretty lean actually :). Ive heard great things about ICE and the food, so looking forward to that. Is the 3-4-3 setup on a 777 honestly that bad?? I fly out most probably on july 29th.

Actually seats on EK 777 are 1.5" narrower than seats on other airlines' 777 - EK 17", most other airlines 18.5".

If you are pretty lean, you will have no problems.
Enjoy the flight!

I flew EK JFK-DUB-COK in Y in 2006 (and will be flying the same route next month) and I thought it was fine. If you are flying the 777-300ER pick either 47B or 47J. Only two seats in at the ends in that row. You will probably have to wait a while for service to get to you, but it is a small price to pay for the fact that there is only one person next to you. (One thing to keep in mind is that on your way into LAX, you may want to sit right up in front, since that gives you a head start with standing in the immigration line. On the way back, do the same for the DXB-BLR flight).
Seat comfort was alright I believe and so was the service (my memory is fuzzy but I think that's a good thing because nothing went horribly wrong or I would have remembered). The entertainment system kept me, well, entertained, so I was fine.

Load-wise, my experience has been that flying out on Sunday mornings is bad because you get to the US on a Sunday evening and so people tend to travel on that day. My best guess is that when leaving the US, try not to fly out on Friday since that's when the loads are high (unless you want to get bumped and get a free ticket)

Hope this helps!

it helped out a lot :). The 200LR is used on this route. I wonder how the A330's of emirates are? (all of a sudden this AF crash is freaking me out with the pitot tube thing). Well i would be flying out a on weekday and coming back to BLR on a weekday so hopefully no problems there.