London Heathrow to Karachi Emirates J
Aug 20, 2005, 3:39 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Pennsylvania
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London Heathrow to Karachi Emirates J
London Heathrow to Karachi Emirates J
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Flight #1
London to Dubai EK004 B777-200
Sch Dep / Arr 2030 0625+1
Act Dep / Arr 2033 0622+1
Departure
Absolutely atrocious. Firstly, only 1 of 2 chauffer driven cars turned up, and after waiting and waiting we took a black cab not knowing if we would make our flight or not. Thankfully, EK covered the charges. At check-in a rude UA check in agent specifically ignored our requests for aisle seats (3 in business, 1 in economy class) we were given back boarding cards with 3 middle seats, and 1 aisle, all separate, and were told, too bad, turn up earlier next time. I was about to blow my top at them since it was completely their fault with the whole car ordeal and I called the supervisor. Minutes later, we had all aisles and 1 window... don't know how. The UA lounge had good sandwiches but was otherwise below par.
Cabin
Immediately our luck started to change, the plane was changed from a B777-300 to a newly configured B777-200 with the ICE system. We were shown to our seats in a half full business class cabin, which was a welcome after flying AC aeging B767's all summer. Everything was new, and clean
A pure delight. Washrooms were spotless and contained lots of amenities, which made up for the lack of amenity kits (due to the London Heathrow whatever)
Seat
A vast improvement over the original B777 seating. Recline / pitch was excellent with good lumbar support. Good stowage with an excellent sized TV monitor (the first class ones were bigger than my tv at home)
Catering
No menu given because of the catering problems, and we were asked: lamb, chicken, or beef. After asking the crew member (who was very nice) about each dish, I chose the Lamb and the duck starter, both were of an excellent size, and at a perfect tempreature. Dessert was either a cake, apple crumble, or chocolate mousse. After everyone had taken, there was tons more and we were offered seconds.
IFE
The ICE system is nothing short of fantastic. Over 150 movies (40 or so new released and others including classics, regional films, arabics, disney films) Many TV shows had their own channels (Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Joey, etc) there was around 350 music channels. there was seat to seat calling and detailed information about the flight.
Cabin Staff
Crew were quite nice, nothing amazing but generally courteous. As soon as the meal service finished, they all broke out their sudoku puzzles
but offered help if requested
Arrival
I was missing DXB airport as I hadn't been there in over a year, and was greeted by a (shudder) bus. Don't know why my flight wasn't good enough for a gate
Security Lines were horrendous although the busy and full of construction lounge in Dubai was a welcome transit point.
Overall Verdict 9/10
With the exception of departure, I was extremely impressed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flight #1
London to Dubai EK004 B777-200
Sch Dep / Arr 2030 0625+1
Act Dep / Arr 2033 0622+1
Departure
Absolutely atrocious. Firstly, only 1 of 2 chauffer driven cars turned up, and after waiting and waiting we took a black cab not knowing if we would make our flight or not. Thankfully, EK covered the charges. At check-in a rude UA check in agent specifically ignored our requests for aisle seats (3 in business, 1 in economy class) we were given back boarding cards with 3 middle seats, and 1 aisle, all separate, and were told, too bad, turn up earlier next time. I was about to blow my top at them since it was completely their fault with the whole car ordeal and I called the supervisor. Minutes later, we had all aisles and 1 window... don't know how. The UA lounge had good sandwiches but was otherwise below par.
Cabin
Immediately our luck started to change, the plane was changed from a B777-300 to a newly configured B777-200 with the ICE system. We were shown to our seats in a half full business class cabin, which was a welcome after flying AC aeging B767's all summer. Everything was new, and clean
A pure delight. Washrooms were spotless and contained lots of amenities, which made up for the lack of amenity kits (due to the London Heathrow whatever)Seat
A vast improvement over the original B777 seating. Recline / pitch was excellent with good lumbar support. Good stowage with an excellent sized TV monitor (the first class ones were bigger than my tv at home)
Catering
No menu given because of the catering problems, and we were asked: lamb, chicken, or beef. After asking the crew member (who was very nice) about each dish, I chose the Lamb and the duck starter, both were of an excellent size, and at a perfect tempreature. Dessert was either a cake, apple crumble, or chocolate mousse. After everyone had taken, there was tons more and we were offered seconds.
IFE
The ICE system is nothing short of fantastic. Over 150 movies (40 or so new released and others including classics, regional films, arabics, disney films) Many TV shows had their own channels (Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Joey, etc) there was around 350 music channels. there was seat to seat calling and detailed information about the flight.
Cabin Staff
Crew were quite nice, nothing amazing but generally courteous. As soon as the meal service finished, they all broke out their sudoku puzzles
but offered help if requestedArrival
I was missing DXB airport as I hadn't been there in over a year, and was greeted by a (shudder) bus. Don't know why my flight wasn't good enough for a gate
Security Lines were horrendous although the busy and full of construction lounge in Dubai was a welcome transit point.Overall Verdict 9/10
With the exception of departure, I was extremely impressed.
Aug 20, 2005, 3:47 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Pennsylvania
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, AC *S, Marriott Gold Elite, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 9,689
London Heathrow to Karachi Emirates J
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flight #2
Dubai to Karachi EK600 B777-300
Sch Dep / Arr 0800 1100
Act Dep / Arr 0804 1102
Departure
Made our way to the gate 11 mintues before departure, as this is the time we were called from the lounge, the new on-time departure phonemonon (arrive at the gate 15 minutes before departure or be offloaded) was not enforced
Cabin
Time-Warp... This older 773 was in a different class than the newly configured plane although there was flowers in the bulkhead (not allowed on LHR flights) and everything was clean and pleasant.
Seat
Comfortable, although seat pitch and tv size was quite poor. However, it was still OK for this DXB-KHI hop. However these are the same seats used for the LHR-DXB flight normally which would be uncomfortable
Catering
Same food as economy class. Food was OK, nothing worth mentioning.
IFE
15 or 16 channels of IFE showing TV shows.
Cabin Staff
Excellent. I was adressed with traditional arabic and pakistani greetings with a crew that genuinely seemed to care.
Arrival
Security was painless and bags came out fast.
Overall Verdict 8.5/10
A commendable, if not memorable flight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flight #2
Dubai to Karachi EK600 B777-300
Sch Dep / Arr 0800 1100
Act Dep / Arr 0804 1102
Departure
Made our way to the gate 11 mintues before departure, as this is the time we were called from the lounge, the new on-time departure phonemonon (arrive at the gate 15 minutes before departure or be offloaded) was not enforced
Cabin
Time-Warp... This older 773 was in a different class than the newly configured plane although there was flowers in the bulkhead (not allowed on LHR flights) and everything was clean and pleasant.
Seat
Comfortable, although seat pitch and tv size was quite poor. However, it was still OK for this DXB-KHI hop. However these are the same seats used for the LHR-DXB flight normally which would be uncomfortable
Catering
Same food as economy class. Food was OK, nothing worth mentioning.
IFE
15 or 16 channels of IFE showing TV shows.
Cabin Staff
Excellent. I was adressed with traditional arabic and pakistani greetings with a crew that genuinely seemed to care.
Arrival
Security was painless and bags came out fast.
Overall Verdict 8.5/10
A commendable, if not memorable flight.
Last edited by sadiqhassan; Dec 20, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Aug 20, 2005, 6:19 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New York City
Programs: BA Gold Guest List; HH Diamond; Hyatt Diamond; SPG Gold
Posts: 2,832
Originally Posted by sadiqhassan
This older 773
Aug 20, 2005, 5:23 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Pennsylvania
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Posts: 9,689
As Emirates have almost completely phased out their pre 1995 fleet (A300-600R / A310) The B777-300/200 delivered before 2000/2001 which have not been reconfigured since delivery (you can tell by smaller PTV's in J and Y, mechincal recline in J as well as no wooden armrests) are, for my purposes, being called the older planes although they are by no means old.
Cheers
Cheers