Hi friends, I would like to share my experience of flying Emirates Airlines fromMumbai to Dubai by EK 509 and my return journey fromDubai to Bangalore by EK 568.Emirates have one of the best facilities if you travel by first or business class. Especially my return journey on 17th September 2009 was a great experience.
Check In:
The departure time from Dubai was at 9:30 pm. We left the hotel early to wander around the duty free shops. To the surprise check in was less crowded and easy and we did all the formalities with in 15 minutes.
Boarding
Boarding was efficiently done, starting about 30 minutes prior to departure. People were asked to board the aircraft according to the zones. First class and business class people can board at any time. Four airhostesses were standing near the entrance with smile to guide us in the right directions. (Air India Aunties please take note!) Some airhostesses were inside helping us to stow our hand bags.
The Flight
The business class seating is arranged in 2-3-2 fashion. The business class has very comfortable seating. We can adjust the seats with the touch screens buttons. There were enough spaces between the seats. Even if the front passenger in recline position, still u have enough space to walk around. The seats are not fully flat but molded in such a way that our body fits to get a good sleep. Apart from that, adjustable headrest, footrests made seating more comfortable. Overhead bins are spacious enough to hold lot of materials. Just a touch of button, over head bin lowers automatically, not like other aircraft were we have to open and close it manually.
*Entertainment
A small LCD monitor was embedded in the back of the headrest in front of you with a control handset stashed neatly on the right side of my seat. This handset has double functions, one side is used as remote control for the TV and the other side is used as satellite phone. If we have international dialing card then we can make call to anywhere in the world. Apart from that we can use our mobile phone to call home even at 40, 000 ft.That was amazing. There is enough choice of channels for every one of all ages and different nationals. From 20 channels of music to movie, comedy, games everything was there.
One channel displayed a flight map, giving present position, height, speed, time elapsed from take-off and estimated time of arrival. Two more were linked into downward and forward facing cameras. That was very good on take-off and landing.
The Food
A small menu card was provided when we boarded the aircraft. Champagne was given as a welcome drink. I found the food to be of exceptional quality for business class and it’s hot and tasty. A choice of vegetarian or two meat meals were available. All drinks with the exception of champagne were free. So I had beer and Salmon fish with roasted potatoes and some green leaves. That was really delicious. The cabin crews were rushing backwards and forwards quickly all the time with smiling face to help passengers while taking food. Always smiling (Again Air India aunties take note!).
Disembarkation
All the flight attendants were all lined up to give you a friendly farewell, hope you enjoyed the flight and to see you again. I was quite impressed by the cabin-crew, smartly turned out with nice uniforms and obviously well trained in customer care.
Overall impressions
Brilliant. I never felt even a single vibration through out my journey and was very smooth. I felt as if, I was sleeping at my home. The in flight service was very good and crew members were very attentive and friendly. I am really pleased with the whole airline. I don’t have any hesitation in using them again or in recommending them to others.