Had a couple of drinks in the lounge (yes, they do try and call it that in Birmingham) and a couple of pre-packed pieces of cake and biscuits.
Thankfully the plane boarded on time with business passengers being called to the head of the queue which made no difference as we were placed in the holding pen anyway. Once boarded, Moet champagne given out pre-take off and settled into the Airbus 330-200 (2 class) narrow seats for a 7 hour flight to Dubai. Even though these seats are narrow, they have a 60' seat pitch enabling the window seat to get past the aisle seat passenger without too many problems.
Meal choice as follows: Salmon fillet/Piri piri chicken followed by Wok Fried prawns/lamb loin/Arabic style chicken/halibut fillet with Morello cherry & white chocolate wedge/banana toffee pudding to follow. Moet champagne; whites of Pouilly fume/chardonnay or red crozes hermitage/cabernet sauvignon.
Once the meal had been served with very nice Godiva chocolates to follow, the lights went out and most people went to sleep.
Had a laugh in the galley with a couple of the cabin crew (including the senior who had introduced himself to us as we boarded). It's nice to see that Emirates have some staff who have fun because mostly they just do their job with smiles and courtesy and that's it.
The IFE was the old fashioned and there were 2 sets of films to watch - watched Mission Impossible 3 followed by a little sleep. Before you knew it, we were landing in Dubai at 7.30am.
Had a quick mooch around duty free and then to the business class lounge. Found some Veuve Cliquot to start the morning off well and had a couple of hash browns/sausage/beans to wash it down with!
Had a nice hike from gate 20 to gate 7 for next leg of journey from Dubai to Bangkok on a much larger 777-300ER (3 class) plane. There is a smaller section at the rear of business housing seat rows 6&7 (we had seats 7J&K), with the remainder of business class split after the galley from rows 8-11 (or 12). This felt like it was a much more private cabin with only 14 seats. The seats on the 777 are a lot wider so you can virtually curl up in them to sleep if desired. However, the downside is getting out of a window past the aisle seat - luckily for me it's my husband, but the only way I could get out with all seats around fully reclined was sit on his lap and clamber.
Take off on time at 9am and served a brunch consisting of: aparagus omelette/stir fried lobseter/pan fried lamb cutlet followed by a selection of sweets including their usual passion fruit and chocolate mousse dome (gorgeous).
The system this time was ICE which is AVOD known by another name. Lots of choice and decided to watch just the one film as this leg of the journey was only 5.5 hours.
The staff on this leg of the journey just seemed to disappear after food service so can't really make any comment about them. However, I suppose if they've got to then travel on to Sydney and Aukland they try to get as much rest as possible!
Overall, good flights, timing perfect and food excellent.
