Once through security we headed down an escalator and through a tunnel to the satellite terminal where the gates were. Prior to boarding, we spent the time browsing Dubai duty-free which, although better than almost any other airport was not as good as I had expected and have heard from reviews etc. Other than a magazine, I didnt buy anything, although I did debate purchasing a new Cross pen sorry EGG, I couldnt quite stretch to limited edition Mont Blanc.[;)]
Then walked over to the gate (cant remember which one) and with nothing else to do enquired as to the availability of window seats. With none available, the gate agent gave us another block of four in the middle, meaning that we would have two seats each a nice touch from the ground staff which made the flight a lot more comfortable than it would have been.[y][^]
A few minutes later, boarding commenced and, with no priority boarding, we were actually the first on the aircraft. Have only ever had that once before traveling UC on the 45 to JFK.[:D]
First impressions of the aircraft were slightly lacking with both 90s style seats and d_cor. The biz class seats were particularly drab and in a 2-3-2 configuration with no flat-bed conversion available. The Y seats looked pretty awful but were actually quite comfortable, although a bit tight as they were 3-4-3. Originally, most 777 operators had a 3-3-3 config but most have now switched over to 3-4-3([:I]). We had seats 34/35 defg which were in front of the bulkhead, although recline was not restricted as far as I know.
The taxi out was quick I thought DXB would be a lot busier on a Monday morning although several of the overhead bins fell open on Take Off. During rotate I carried out a quick risk assessment and concluded that the danger to me standing up and closing the bin opposite me just after we lifted off would be a lot less than if one of the bags fell out and hit either myself or the person sitting directly underneath the bin if the plane was to bank steeply. Fortunately, I did not get grumbled at by an FA as I thought may happen.[:I]
Shortly after we reached cruising altitude, the F/As handed out (read: threw at pax) some roll type thingies which were even worse than the usual BA Euro Traveller offerings with no smiling/courtesy at all. This was it for the rest of the flight until right before landing and seeing as I and most others had not yet had breakfast due to the early flight time, this seemed somewhat inadequate from what I hear is the best airline in the world.[:(!]
The rest of the flight proceeded without event and we received some Lebanese chicken thing right before descent which my Dad picked up a stomach bug from none of the rest of us ate it. The nose camera was left on for landing and seeing as we landed slightly skew, this was a bit unnerving. We parked at a remote stand which necessitated the use of a bus. Everyone piled into this bendy-bus and due to the decisions of those Gods that are airport management, we were forced to take the scenic route of the airport and after a three minute detour, we ended up 50m from where we started but facing the other way - several pax voiced their opinions on this matter. However, we did get a good view of the new satellite terminal being built which I guess is to allow for the 2010 world cup. Arrivals was a fairly quick affair although it took a while for our bags to come. Most people with more than one piece of baggage received their first bag and then had to wait a considerable amount of time (relatively) for the next one/s. The only real queues we experienced on this trip were at the bottleneck at customs where everyone had to hand their forms in. We debated going through the red channel and pretending to have something to declare although decided against this.[:I]
The IFE on the flight was very good and had the same sort of AVOD functions as v:port. There were probably more programmes and movies on offer than VS, but the selection was not nearly so good many of the films were pretty old and not up to date like on VS. The system was actually very unreliable and mine froze up so I asked the F/A if he could reset it - only to be told no. I then moved to the seat next to me where the IFE also froze so I moved to another seat. Thankfully, my third seats IFE managed to hold together for the remainder of the flight. My brothers IFE also froze, meaning that he too had to play musical chairs.[xx(][:(!][V]
In general, the service from the F/As was fairly sub-standard and unfriendly with no sign of a smile or any kind of compassion. The only smiles that appeared during the 8hr+ flight were when pax were deplaning I think this pretty much sums up the service we received. Although polite on the whole, any conversation with the F/As was met with a cold response.[V] I was impressed, however, that the crew spoke a total of 13 languages. [y]
Overall, my flight with Emirates was not the world-class experience I had expected and certainly was not even as good as even some of my worst VS flights. To anyone wishing to travel to the Emirates, I will recommend VS, BA or Etihad to Abu Dhabi. In the three times I have flown with EK, I have never had this spectacular service that everyone raves about and will, if possible, find alternative routes of travel.[V] Unfortunately, SAA do not fly to DXB with their own metal.[:(]
Thanks for reading.[y][^][:D][8D][:)]
