We were welcomed on board by name and were informed we were the only 1st passengers on this flight and had 3 staff to look after us. We were asked if we wanted to have a look at the flight deck and said yes, so had a quick chat to the NZ pilot and Brazilian 1st officer.
We were looked after so well by the Scottish purser, and 2 FA's, one from Texas and the other from the Far East. My glass of Dom was never empty and neither was hubby's JD and Coke.
On any of the EK flights on this trip, we weren't given an amenity kit as the stipulation for the kits is that they have to be night flights over 6-7 hours. Slippers and eyemasks were given out as usual, but the staff also gave us a bag containing toothbrushes, razors, playing cards, mirrors etc to take away with us.
Again, at our request the crew served breakfast just before our descent which set us up ready for our short 2 night stay in Dubai.
Following this short stay, we were driven by the hotel's car to the T3 business and first check in area which was really quiet. Following my recent research on EK website, I discovered that they were using a 3 class plane on a 2 class route back to BHX. I asked if we could move our seats to rows 1 and 2 to bag a 1st class seat. The check in lady had to make a phone call and lo and behold seats 2JK were released to us. Spent a couple of hours in the business lounge in DXB with 2 glasses of Veuve a snack to keep me company and then boarded the plan from an airbridge. We heard the dreaded noise walking down the airbridge of a child screaming. Unfortuntely the 2 year old boy was in seat 1J with his mother in 1K and I think grandfather in the middle aisle seat.
The doors shut quickly and I grabbed the noise reduction headphones to quieten things down a litte and drank more champagne to dull the senses.
The drinks service came around quickly and meal orders taken. The service was slower this time as they had more seats to deal with in business, rather than the usual 42, there was an additional 12 seats to serve in the first class section. These were the same seats as we had on the MLE leg, so were very comfortable.
Watched a film called Push which had some loud actions scenes in and thankfully when these were on it dulled the sound of crying/wailing out but you lost some of the talking with the noise and I was constantly fiddling with the volume button to hear what was being said. After the film had finished, the champagne did its trick and I put the seat into flat mode, turned headphones up to full blast and listened to Pink Floyd and managed to get a couple of hours sleep.
Again, two more good trips with EK, the MLE-DXB leg being exceptional and the DXB-BHX leg only ruined by inconsiderate parents not bringing anything for the little boy to keep him occupied. Managing to snag a first class seat on a business class flight made a lot of difference in being able to sleep a little as the normal seats were their deeply reclining seats only again.
On arrival at BHX, we were the first people through security and bags were off immediately following the crew bags. Chauffeur drive from the airport was very good as usual.
