Genius1

Great reading again ^

It's a pity how some crew just don't seem to have that certain something in them. Have you written a complaint to Emirates? I certainly think that one is due...

matthandy

Yes, I wrote it after my London flight. Didn't get much of a response other than a 'Sorry' and 'hope it's better next time' which it wasn't. Disappointing. As I've said the Emirates A380 is an amazing setup, ruined by the crew.

matthandy

Thanks HIDDY! No problem, glad that you enjoyed the photos, I took a little bit more time to get the framing right rather than just snap away.

alan747

Hi Matt,

I enjoyed this trip report so far very much! Looks like we crossed paths in Hong Kong last month (we were in the Courtyard Marriott the same week). Your descriptions are top notch and the pictures very good, indeed. I have a link to a different style trip report in this section titled "Journals from Thailand and Hong Kong" if you want to check it out.

One thing I would suggest is not to let little inconveniences like bad shower facilities, a surly flight attendant or a bad meal sour your experiences at all. You have a job that affords you the opportunity to travel the world and make trips (i.e. business class on an A380) that most people in this world could never dream of making. Not that you shouldn't mention them in your report, they are good details, but just take everything in consideration and look at the big picture, which is that you are experiencing a trip that most people never will.

~Alan

matthandy

Hi Alan,

You make some really good points. Being able to do this trip was a real perk. As a child we rarely flew long haul and it was always in economy. Most of my friends and family have never flown anything but economy and haven't had the opportunity to even step foot into an airline lounge. Some of my friends have never even flown long haul.

Yes I do appreciate the bigger picture, to some extent, but I can't allow that to excuse poor quality service or products. When paying the vast sums of money that you need to in order to fly in the premium classes it is reasonable to expect a quality experience in return. My comments are relative to the expectations set by the airline through their (over) marketing of the product and my previous experiences on other airlines, not in comparison to an economy product.

So yes, while I do agree with you in part, as in, anyone travelling in economy on that flight would have jumped at the opportunity for a shower, or better quality food, I don't agree that this should excuse these failings when other airlines consistently do better.

oontiveros

+1 here. If the airline charges a multiple of Y fares for its premium products, they have to provide a much higher leverl of products and services.

I just finished 3 of 4 legs of an India -Shanghai/Guangzhou - DXB - India trip in F on EK and I have to say service failures happened on 2 of 3 legs so far. Not too chuffed about paying this kind of money for (sometimes) less-than-SQ econ level of service (however, one leg CAN to DXB the crew was fantastic and all amenities available).

Pandor

Fantastic trip report! Thoroughly enjoyed reading it; love the pictures! Thank you very much for your time and effort, looking forward to the conclusion.

Regards,

Pandor.

matthandy

Transit in Dubai

So I made my way towards the transfers area to find it pretty full and pretty disorganised. Bearing in mind the rather late/early hour I was surprised by this. Again I was frustrated that there were no separate lines for business and first class turning the situation into a free for all.

Security was very slow with many passengers not really knowing what to do. Admittedly, I did forget to take my iPhone out of my pocket so had to go back through the security arch. At this point the incredibly rude and impatient man behind me pushed right past almost slamming into me. Then as I tried to gather my things from the x-ray machine he reached right across me to grab his tray. Arghh! I shouted at him but he was either deaf or used to it and completely ignored me.

After a rather stressful transfer through security I made my way up to the lounge, luckily knowing where it was this time. The reception area was pretty much empty and in fact, wandering around the lounge it was rather quiet indeed. There were lots of people sleeping on the sofas which I thought may the place look somewhat tatty.

I had about 3 and a half hours to kill before my Gatwick flight which was about the right amount of time to have a shower, get a decent breakfast and explore the lounge.

Rather than making the same mistake again, I headed further into the lounge this time to find some showers that were hopefully less busy. I was able to have a shower straight away and was handed a plastic wrapped towel. As I have mentioned previously, I really don’t think much of the showers within the business class lounge. After a luke warm dribble of a shower I dried myself off, changed my clothes, freshened up and headed out to the main dining area for some breakfast.



The Emirates Business Class Lounge Complex – Terminal 3 DXB

Above you will find a map which highlights the main areas of the lounge.

The main dining area is huge with seating for a guess could be up to 150 people?


Main Dining Area – Marked as ‘4’ on the Map


Full bar service, 24 hours a day

There was a huge range on offer for breakfast today. I fancied a cooked breakfast so helped myself to some scrambled eggs, chicken sausages (no pork for obvious reasons) and beans with some toast on the side. To drink, I asked the bar staff to make me a Bucks Fizz/Mimosa, well why the hell not? Nothing wrong with drinking Champagne at 5am in my book He made it rather large as he first filled up a whole glass with Champagne then poured this into another glass and topped that up with orange juice. Yummy.

After breakfast I took a wander around the lounge to get some snaps as it was now quite light. So here we go.


Children’s Food Area – Marked as ‘1’ on the Map

At the very far end of the lounge (best place for them) is the children’s area complete with a children’s food bar and playroom.

Moving away from the children’s area is a seating area which was full of sofas and accompanying sleeping people.


Sleeping, I mean seating area

I worked my way down one side of the lounge as the other side seemed to be mostly under construction. I moved through the main dining area again which was then followed by another, secondary dining area. It’s fair to say that Emirates really win on gluttony.


Secondary Dining Area – Marked as ‘3’ on the left hand side of the map


Fruit available in the secondary dining area


Desserts

The closer that you get to reception the comfier and therefore busier the seats seem to get. At this point, about 6.30am the lounge was really reasonably busy so finding somewhere to sit was difficult.


Comfy Seating near Reception – Marked as ‘5’ on the Map


Recliners near Reception – Near the area marked as ‘3’ on the Map, beyond reception

I found my way to the reclining seats at the very far tip of the lounge, past reception but again found that these were all occupied.

I decided to settle for a less than comfy seat in one of the areas that run parallel to the main departure concourse so trekked back to the middle of the lounge. I happened to pass something that caught my eye, Hagen-Daz ice-cream, fantastic! I grabbed a small pot of Strawberry Cheesecake and carried on.


Ice-cream – Marked as ‘3’ on the Map, beyond reception


Main departure concourse, running through the middle of the lounge complex


Where I parked myself – Near the middle ‘7’ on the Map

I settled down, plugged in my iPhone to charge, grabbed an English newspaper and started catching up on all of the news back home. This was the first time that I’d read an English newspaper since leaving home a couple of weeks ago.

My flight was due to push back at 8am and I kept checking the departure boards to see when boarding would commence. At about 7am I decided to head down to the gate as I wanted to be one of the first on-board so that I could get some photos. I found however that the lounge was so busy that there were actually queues for the men’s toilets. Too busy.

I left the lounge at about 7.10 and made my way down to Gate 230 which was close.

Verdict

I felt as though I got to experience a little more of this lounge this time around. I thought that the food and drink offering was absolutely extensive, far more than I’ve ever seen in a lounge before.

There are however a large list of minus points for this lounge.

- Despite it’s size, there isn’t enough comfortable seating
- The shower facilities are poor, there aren’t enough of them and the showers themselves are luke warm and have low pressure
- The in-lounge wifi is painfully slow
- The lounge is too big, it doesn’t feel like a business class lounge, it doesn’t feel exclusive

I wouldn’t be rushing back to Dubai to experience this lounge again but overall, it served it’s purpose. I was able to refresh (just), eat, and relax. There are however far, far better lounges out there though.

matthandy

Dubai to London Gatwick on the Emirates (EK) Boeing 777-300ER in Business

Flight: EK015
Carrier: Emirates
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Scheduled Departure time: 08:00
Duration: 7h 30m
Scheduled Arrival time: 12:30 (local)
Routing: Dubai T3 to London Gatwick, North
Class: Business
Seat: 7A (seat plan)

So, I was on my way to gate 230 to board my final flight home to Gatwick. I actually consider Gatwick my home airport as I always used to fly from there as a child for family holidays. Therefore, I was quite looking forward to flying back there instead of busy Heathrow. It also meant a quicker journey home once I was in the car.

So I arrived at the Gate to find it ‘Open’.


Arriving at Gate 230

There didn’t seem to be separate queues for business and first, despite having the desks there, everyone had to queue up in a single line. My boarding pass and passport were checked and I made my way down to the already full gate area. I sat there for a good half an hour before the boarding announcement was made. The aircraft was parked right outside the window although there was a strange pattern on the glass so it was difficult to get a good look.


EK 777-300ER operating EK015 to LGW

At 07.35 the boarding announcement was made with First, Business and those passengers needing assistance invited to board first. Two air bridges were attached, door 1L for First Class and Door 2L for Business and economy passengers. A rather rough looking family pushed past me and immediately marched down the First class air bridge. To be honest, they didn’t look like they were going to be sitting in First class and as I boarded I watched as they were sent down the back, walking right past me in the forward Business class cabin.


My Seat, 7A – the window is blocked by the open door

I arrived at my seat to find a pillow and blanket, no sign of the mattress which had made all the difference on my previous flights. I stowed my bag in the overhead locker and sat down, waiting for the other passengers to board.
The forward business class cabin is definitely preferable over the rear, as, you get to turn left, which is always fun, plus you have no-one walking past you during boarding.

I was the first passenger on-board in either the First or forward Business class cabins so took advantage of this to get some photos.


The Emirates ‘Lie Flat’ Business Class Seat


First Class Suites – Note the lack of overhead bins making the cabin seem very spacious indeed

First class looks pretty special, although I could imagine that sitting in the middle suites with all the doors closed might feel a bit dark since you have no access to light from the windows.

I was joined shortly after by an Australian gentlemen who actually become a bit of an annoyance later in the flight. I’ll explain when we get to that part.


Waiting for others to board

Shortly afterwards one of the crew came by to offer pre-departure drinks. The choices were orange juice, apple juice, water or Champagne. I went for the Champagne of course. Newspapers and magazines were also handed out.


Waiting for others to board

The Captain came on the PA to welcome us on-board and inform us of the flight time, which was 7 hours and 5 minutes. We were clearly running behind schedule as boarding was announced late. The air bridge attached to door 1 was removed at about 8am with door 2 closed and everyone boarded at 8.20. The forward business class cabin was almost empty, with maybe only half of the 14 seats occupied.

We pushed back at around 8.25 and taxied out towards the runway. From my window I got a pretty good view of the traffic around at this time in the morning.


EK A340-500


Emirates Line Up at T3


Just about to Enter the Runway

We took off effortlessly at about 8.40 and were leaving the dusty airport behind for the green pastures of Sussex.

The seat belt sign was turned off relatively early and the crew came around with the menu and wine list, and amenity kits as well as offering to set up people’s seats with a mattress to which I said yes to.


The Menu

There are some odd things going on with the wine list. I’ve collected four wine lists from my Emirates flights and I got a little confused about which refers to which flight. There appears to be some mixing and matching going on with the wine lists. I really only have two wine lists but they do not appear to be assigned to flights based on the aircraft type. For example on the A380 Heathrow to Dubai flight we had Bollinger Champagne, but Moet on the 777-300ER to Singapore. We then had Moet on the A380 flight from Seoul and Bollinger on the 777-300ER flight to Gatwick, weird.


The Wine List

matthandy

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the menu, I had expected a proper breakfast. It seems that there is a bit of a pattern going on. On the 777-300ER, early morning/late night flights the first meal is small. I suppose this is to allow people to get to sleep earlier. However, for a flight scheduled to depart at 8am, I doubt that sleep would be on many people’s minds.

As there was no choice, the meal arrived without any need to place an order. It arrived after about 25 minutes after take off which was very quick. Why couldn’t they have done this on the Seoul to Dubai A380 flight?


Breakfast

To be honest, I only really ate the croissants, and then another. At least they were warm.

After this I settled down for a bit of a snooze. The seat reclines to pretty much flat and with the mattress and the large pillow it makes a very comfortable bed. The only thing that could do with improvement is the blanket which seemed to be prone to static.

I dozed for a bit, but didn’t really get to sleep. I took a peak outside. The sky was beautifully clear.


Flying over Turkey


Flying over the Baltic states

At about 11.45 Dubai time the crew came around to take the main meal order. I decided to start with the prawns and follow with the steak. I knew that the steak was a bit of a gamble, but I didn’t really fancy anything else on the menu.

About half an hour later, at 9.15am London time (so about 3 hours before landing) the canapés arrived.


Selection of cold canapés (olives and buffalo mozzarella


Marinated prawns with quails eggs, side salad and bread

My table was set up by the friendly crew member, including laying linens. Shortly afterwards the starter tray arrived and I was offered a choice of bread followed by wine. I asked to try a glass of the Riesling after reading the fantastic write up in the wine list, and fantastic it was. Although I wasn’t asked to taste the wine the bottle was presented during serving.

Again, ‘proper’ cutlery was presented along with China crockery, although it looked a little dated in style.

I’ve never had quails eggs before, they were good, basically, more flavoursome versions of their larger cousins. The prawns were also good although I’d never really choose prawns unless they were no other more tempting options. The salad was ok, but a bit plain.

The man next to me was very much enjoying his starter, however, the use of cutlery seemed to be something that he’d not been taught when growing up. He was picking up the prawns and shoving them in his mouth with his fingers. He didn’t stop at the prawns though, the salad was also going in that way also. Disgusting.


Filet Mignon with Gnocchi and Asparagus

After clearing my starter my main arrived shortly afterwards. Sadly the steak was very overcooked and dry. I suppose that this is the gamble that one takes when choosing steak on-board. It was a bit of weird dish to be honest, as there was just too much crammed onto the plate. The gnocchi was good but perhaps a bit heavy to be served with a steak.

Next was dessert. The very friendly, smiling crew presented the desserts, along with the cheeses on a trolley and asked passengers to make their selection. I liked this as you could see what you were getting before you ordered it.

I decided on the pecan pie and my neighbour went for the cheese, which was cut individually according to the passengers selection.


Warm Pecan Pie, mmmmmmmmmm!

The pie was absolutely fantastic, served warm with a delicious sauce. I could have had another! I was also offered chocolates, which I accepted.

Overall, I’d say that while the food was generally ok, the food and presentation on the A380 was consistently better. I’m not sure why Emirates couldn’t upgrade the crockery on their 777-300ER aircraft to match that of the A380, the design seemed rather dated.

After lunch I decided to take a wander around the aircraft. What a contrast to the A380. The 777 seems so much smaller and more confined.

I made my way through the curtain to the rather busy rear business class cabin and then onwards to economy.


The rear business class cabin


Cramped economy, 3-4-3 configuration!

Economy is split over 3 cabins with a large galley at the rear. The cabin was full to bursting. Emirates have employed a 3-4-3 configuration on this aircraft. A contentious layout with 10 abreast seating making the aisles very small. Only a handful of airlines configure their 777’s with 10 abreast, most opting for 3-3-3. Compared to the A380, the 777 is definitely the poor cousin when travelling in economy.

I quickly returned to the comfort of business class, stopping to grab Top Gear magazine from the rack on the way past. I read this pretty much cover to cover when the Captain came on the PA at about 11.55 to announce that we’d be landing in about 40 minutes.

We started our descent into Gatwick and passed right over Kent with the Sussex coastline in the distance. The sky was clear and I was able to get a shot of a land mark that is local to me, Leeds Castle.


Leeds Castle, from 10,000 feet

We landed from the West at about 12.30 local time and taxied towards the North Terminal, passing an interesting Virgin 747-400 along the way.


Virgin 747-400, painted with the Harry Potter logo to advertise the theme park that would be opening in Florida


Easyjet Central at Gatwick

We taxied to our gate at the North Terminal and I happened to notice the Police waiting for us at the door. Oh dear, what were they doing here? It turns out that they must have had a warrant for someone as an announcement was made on-board for a passenger to make themselves known to the crew.

Gatwick is a pretty easy airport to get through and I was through immigration with my bag in my hand after about 20 minutes after landing.

I entered the arrivals hall and went over to the Emirates Chauffer service desks to pick up my ride home. The ride home was a very nice Mercedes E-Class and we were on our way at 1pm. Excellent.

Verdict

This was an excellent flight. The hard product, the seat, was very good, very comfortable in any position including sleeping. The crew were also pretty good. No-one made the effort to really chat to passengers but everyone was friendly and professional and treated the passengers very well.

The food was also reasonably good, the main was disappointing but the starter and dessert in particular were very good.

Arriving into Gatwick was also a breeze, with no long queues it was possible to pass through the airport very quickly indeed.


Overall Verdict

Would I fly Emirates again? You know what, probably not if I could help it. If I was flying directly to Seoul I would have gone with Cathay Pacific. With Singapore in the mix it got a little complicated. To be honest Emirates was also very competitively priced and I got to experience the A380, twice.

Overall, I was happy with the product and level of service on board the 777 but the crew on the A380 really let me down. In my opinion the A380 is simply too big for the crew to handle effectively. Perhaps there needs to be some changes with the on-board service and crew training to improve the overall experience.

Bottom line: Emirates overpromised with the A380 and didn’t deliver.

Well that's it....

Thanks for reading. It's taken me a while to put this thing together, but I'm glad that it turned out ok. The whole report is around 27,000 words long and includes over 200 photos. Thanks again for reading, I really love reading your comments so don't be afraid to post some.

kamchatsky

Great report! I would love to try out EK J myself. Need to save up I guess

ung1

Thanks, again, for a wonderful report.

Your point about the Champagne selection - I believe that is varied by route, and not by aircraft. So flying (in Y) to the US, I've always been offered Californian wines, and to Singapore, always Australian wines. I suspect it's something along similar lines.

One question though: for the forward business cabin, would you pick row 6 or row 7? 6 has the bulkhead, but 7 has the galley right behind it.

Another observation, regarding crew interacting with passengers. I suppose this is different in premium cabins because of the much lower ratio of passengers to crew, but in economy I find that initiating some sort of conversation gets the crew a little more interactive. I often find that service also improves as a result. Just requires a well timed visit to the galley.

matthandy

Row 6 definately. You have no-one in front of you and get served first.

Genius1

An excellent conclusion to an excellent trip report ^

I had always regarded Emirates quite highly based on reviews, but after your consistently sub-standard experiences, I would question flying with them. Their lack of alliance also puts me off, of course.

I don't like the look of the lounge in Dubai. Too open, too large, not exclusive at all, as you say.

The lottery of business class seating on EK's fleet also puts me off - lots of their aircraft don't even have shells around their seats!

The service onboard looks average in terms of food etc., but the very variable crew can make or break a flight, and I would not want one of my flights to be 'broken' by the cabin crew.

Once again, thanks for the great trip report - what's next?

time2go1st

Thanks Matt, enjoyed all of it and glad to see it came to a happy end for you!