Having only decided to go about 3 weeks ago to join my dad at a conference, my flight options were limited. It was between Air Mauritius or BA from LHR, BA being expensive and only 3 times a week (and not days that were convenient for me), and MK being cheaper but having read reports that quality has suffered of late, decided to avoid.
So the only reasonably priced option left was EK. At first I was put off as they don't credit FF miles to any of the schemes I was currently a member of.
But then I got over it and just created a Skywards account. Will have to keep an eye on those miles and see if I can bump them up with hotel stay points, etc.So, all booked and packed, we set off for MAN. Uneventful arrival into pre-booked car park (T1/T3 Long Stay), 10 minute walk to the terminal as stated on the website and checked in by a friendly ground staffer. I had already checked in online, but on enquiry, we were moved to exit row seats FOC. Security was a breeze, although they have people x-ray, I'm not sure that they were using it.
The duty free/retail area seemed a lot tidier and well specified than T2, although it was 3 years ago since I last went through MAN T2.
Up to the Escape lounge which was nice and quiet at the time we were there, food was good although bar was not self service.
Spent a few hours up there until the gate number came up on the monitors - boarding was quite swift and the flight looked to be about 60% full. We were on a 2 class 77W with the older style economy seats - which at first seemed OK, but a few hours into the flight I felt were quite hard. Had to fold up my blanket and use that to pad the seat - good job I wasn't cold! No amenity kits served in economy on EK.
I felt the service was actually quite good - a full dinner meal was served about an hour in to the flight (chicken dish or the lamb curry that I had - which was very nice) with tuna salad, bread bun, a berry cheesecake, a small chocolate and cheese/crackers. I had the Australian white wine which my wife tells me wasn't good, although I thought it was quite acceptable so clearly I was already wrecked from the visit to the lounge.
The cabin lights were swiftly dimmed and the aircraft interior was quite nice. Sparkly star effect lighting in the ceiling and mood lighting throughout the cabin, VS ought to retrofit their 744s with those 777 WCs as they have a much better fixture/finish than the 80s style 747 WCs!
The seat was quite narrow (a consequence of putting 10 seats across the width of a 777 I guess) and the large man sat in 37A and encroaching on my personal space didn't really help me to sleep, although the extra leg room was welcome. There was a juice/water run during the night and then about an hour and a half before landing breakfast tea/coffee was served and a small snack item. Poor - I was expecting a plated breakfast but perhaps thats expecting too much these days?
The IFE was OK - about the same as V-Port I would say, although with the addition of front/down facing cameras. Active from gate to gate as not constrained by CAA regs, although we had to stow our monitors for taxi/takeoff/landing so didn't get to benefit from that. They showed the front camera on the large public screens - a little controversial as some nervous flyers might essentially be forced to watch it!
Aeromobile was on board but I didn't have use of it. From what I've read, the only UK network that has a roaming agreement with them is O2 which is useful?
The landing was very bumpy - strong crosswinds I think. Again, we were all forced to watch it on the screens which I think makes it worse because you know the main gear is on the runway but it seems like an age before the nose lands as well!
We parked on a remote stand which took ages to get to, and the bus took ages to get to the terminal after.
And then we ended up in the departures area rather than border control/baggage claim - signs were very poor. DXB T3 is vast!Eventually managed to get out, border control was about a 10 minute wait but pretty much waved straight through (they knew which hotel we were staying in... or a lucky guess?) and then our bag was already going around the carousel (since we'd taken ages to get to it!).
Into a taxi and off to the Hilton Dubai Creek where we got the same friendly welcome as last time. Served breakfast in the lounge and into a room within an hour and a half. Excellent service. Went up to the rooftop pool for a couple of hours in the sun then out to do some shopping. Now sitting in the exec lounge with some drinks and snacks and will be off to bed very shortly. Will be checking out at midnight (!) to get back to the airport for the next leg...
Overall - better flight than I had expected given what I had read about EK, VS could learn some things from them, but then the learning could be a two way street!
I love the rooftop pool at the Hilton with its great views over the city. Hope the next leg of the trip goes smoothly. Have a great time in Mauritius, we were there 10 years ago and stayed at the Hilton.
