Anyone flown Emirates Economy?

Hi All,

My question is what experiences anyone has had of Emirates' economy class? Also if anyone has transited at Dubai?

We'd be on the B777-300ER for 3 flights and the A340-300 for one flight. They seem to be getting very mixed reviews with people either loving or hating them!

We're planning a trip to China, and Emirates are by far the cheapest with the following routing coming out at 818 for two passngers!
LGW - DXB - PEK
PVG - DXB - LGW
The outbound involves a connection at DXB in the middle of the night (00.25 - 03.00) though [|)]

BA LHR - PEK, PVG - LHR is around 1,400 for two.
Virgin LHR-PVG-LHR is coming out at a whopping 1,800 EACH for economy! [B)]Reservations said it's because the lower economy fares haven't been released and they've only sold 2 seats on the flights we wanted!

I'm not sure if our loyalty to Virgin is really worth holding out for a deal that might even come close to Emirates.

Cheers!
James

PVG makes a frequent appearance on sale fares. It's a strange route where some days the flight is sold out but often it's near empty. The last flight I was on from there had 115 total on board including flight/cabin crew - judging by the length of runway used to take off from PVG I guess it's a cargo heavy route.
Sale prices in Y tend to be 350-450, W around 775-900.
If you get one of the empty flights then the Virgin A340-600 is great since you have many rows with 4 seats abreast in the middle. Also, all flights are V-Port of course.

The B777-300ER is a fine plane however with 2 MASSIVE engines it's really really noisy!

Are EK still seating their 777s in high-density 3-4-3 seating in Y?

These are really narrow, which is fine if you're a waif, but not if you're a slightly chunky chap like I...

Mike

I last flew Emirates economy in 2007 mainly on the B777-300ER (trip reports LHR-DXB, DXB-KUL, SIN-DXB and DXB-LGW. Therefore my experiences might be a bit out of date - the seating is quite cramped (I'm average height) but ICE is an excellent AVOD system with plenty of options - at the time I was a fan of their 'Best of...' collections although I don't know if they still have these.

As for transiting in Dubai, it's definately not the greatest experience. There tends to be crowds of people occupying every available bit of floor while waiting for their connections but again with the opening of T3 things may have changed.

Jonathan

I've never flown with EK however I have been onboard the 773 when it was full and it does look awfully claustraphobic.
Personally though if it's cheapest I'd go for that, if it was about 100 difference fair enough, but the difference in price is huge!
EK crew are lovely as well

quote:Originally posted by jtlc2345


As for transiting in Dubai, it's definately not the greatest experience. There tends to be crowds of people occupying every available bit of floor while waiting for their connections but again with the opening of T3 things may have changed.



Having been to DXB twice since T3 opened, I have noticed that it does seem A LOT quieter!

quote:Originally posted by mike-smashing
Are EK still seating their 777s in high-density 3-4-3 seating in Y?



Yes they do, not that I can comment on this from personal experience [:p]. Some say the Airbi are better because they are 9 abreast (albeit a slightly less wide fuselage).

quote:Originally posted by Tinkerbelle
Having been to DXB twice since T3 opened, I have noticed that it does seem A LOT quieter!


Indeed it is. Though I do dislike the new business and first lounges, they're really atmosphereless.

quote:Originally posted by clarkeysntfc
The outbound involves a connection at DXB in the middle of the night (00.25 - 03.00) though [|)]


Indeed, the is EK all over!

quote:Originally posted by jtlc2345


As for transiting in Dubai, it's definately not the greatest experience. There tends to be crowds of people occupying every available bit of floor while waiting for their connections but again with the opening of T3 things may have changed.

Jonathan


I know where your coming from[?] last september trying to tiptoe over bodies on the floor proved quite the excerise i didnt need making our way to the gulf air lounge, which when inside the lounge decided that leaving to go get some shopping done proved way more hassle than it was worth[n]

cheers


alex