V-Flyer

Time to head off to warmer climes for Christmas in Abu Dhabi (although as I type this looking out the window there is lots of fog here!). This flight was a miles upgrade from Premium, as luckily a seat had come up nearer my travel date after booking.

Arrived around 4pm as had got bored at work and thought I might as well head off. Airport was relatively quiet, with 5 (!) upper class desks open and no-one there. Swift bag drop and then through security (again no-one there) and into the lounge. Had thought that this might be busy as my mother had flown out on Saturday and it was very busy in there apparently. Got some local currency and reading material and then off to the lounge.

Was surprised that this was relatively quiet, and that the typical person in there today was older and more leisure based than the usual business type passenger. This was true all evening, but suppose it was close to christmas. Had the usual first glass of champagne and then relaxed before my facial at 6.....very good! The menu had seemed to change again - had leak and potato soup (not bad but could have been warmer!) and then honey roast hock of ham with mash (VERY good). Service was a lot lot better than when we flew through here in November - more staff around.

Headed down to gate to find all Prem/Econ already boarded/boarding. Got on to my original seat of 9K - Christmas music playing as boarding music today. There were complaining families as hadn't realised that their seats weren't facing each other.....as on my own offered to move to 10A. Upper class seemed to be full of large families and a few odd people like me travelling on their own.

Nice pre-flight champagne and diet coke (to rehydrate of course)! Everything was ready to go and then the captain came on to say that we were being delayed as someone had become ill and they need to be taken off. Not sure what the problem was, but ambulances with blue flashing lights appeared. Eventually took off at 21:45, with a short flight time of just over 6 hours.

There was no formal snooze zone on this flight, with the majority of people eating on board. The express supper tray was leak and potato soup! The other options were a chicken curry (which I had and was very nice), salmon and a veggie option. They did a proper drinks service and then dinner - more like a daytime flight rather than a night flight. After my curry, bed down and managed to get about 3 hours sleep.

On waking, everyone else was having breakfast. As I was meeting people here and they had suggested breakfast on arrival, I declined. However, I asked for a glass of sparkling water - this seemed to never occur, although everyone kept asking if I wanted something to eat.

Arrived to Dubai in cloud - really odd seeing all the tall buildings sticking out above the cloud on the way in. Dubai airport is getting huge these days.....I've always been on a remote stand but with Terminal 3 open VS now seem to get a proper gate. THe only problem with this, is that on arrival it is a very long old walk to immigration area.

Overall a nice flight, but a very different type of passenger up the front to normal!!

Thanks for the TR[y][y][y]

It does always seem to be the tale of two opposites when travelling over Christmas with it being either full to over flowing or completely empty[:?]
quote: I've always been on a remote stand but with Terminal 3 open VS now seem to get a proper gate
At least that is a result

Have a good break in the Emirates whether it be sunny / foggy or anything else for that matter[:D][:D]

buns

Thanks for the TR hope you didnt forget to pickup your duty free from the airport before you left DXB!

cheers

alex

Have a great break - I love the sound of Ham hock and mash in the Clubhouse and hope that's still there when I pass through in a couple of weeks!

Soundsa fairly unusual... Have only done that route twice, but both times (in August) VERY few people have opted for food: at least 90% of the UC cabin have opted to go straight to sleep...

Have a nice trip [:)]

Boo

Nice TR. Doesn't sound like a bad way to start the Christmas festivities. I assume that at this time of year the passengers are primarily leisure focused so may wish to drink and dine in the air as opposed to getting straight to sleep. When I flew this route last I am sure the majority of passengers had a main meal before bedding down, and with this being one of the few routes that offers the full four meal choices, why not? [:D]

Enjoy Dubai [y]

Thanks,
Sarah

I thought 4 meal choices was very good, as sleeper services from the US East Coast usually just have the hot and cold supper tray options. It was still long enough to get a few hours sleep, before the arrival.

Abu Dhabi airport was closed yesterday morning here due to the early morning fog!

Thanks for the TR, good to hear that you had a good flight. DXB suffers from bad fog, I have been there about 6 times and I'd say 5 of the 6 times we have been circling for the fog to lift. I would much rather be there than cold London!

Have a great trip.

Dominic

A bit late but thanks for the TR![y]