Emirates

I was lucky enough to go to South Africa recently and the tour was booked using Emirates as the airline and as a treat decided to go business class.

Arrived at LHR and after checking in the bag it was straight to the new Emirates lounge in T3 as I had heard good things about it. The view from here is excellent allowing all the movements on 27L to be monitored and easy access to the boarding gates (if yours aircraft is parked in this areas) A good selection of drinks & hot / cold food and desserts was available for ‘grazing’ before boarding the flight.

Emirates are currently in the process of refurbishing their business class seating and over the 4 flights we got 3 different types.

Ek030 A6-EMR had the slightly older style pods & near lay flat bed which were quite comfortable along with a large sceen to make best use of the ICE system which is one of the best around. The headsets provided are ok but a little uncomfortable after a while especially if you wear glasses.

LHR – DXB flight Dep 5pm.

Pre departure drinks were served and we were on our way.

Menus were handed out and our choice of hot meal was ordered. As this was to be an evening flight the meal was a hot dinner which consisted of

cold canapes

Appetiser or either Arabiz mezze (traditional arabic fare) or tuna loin and as I do not eat fish I opted for the mezze which was very different.

Salad with dressing was also included.

Main courses were between Lamb machbous, veal loin, honey glazed chicken and grilled seafood. I had the chicken which was very nice.

Dessert was choice of tripple chocolate delice or apple & almond tart – chcocolate was very good. Follwed by chease / crackers / fresh fruit and drink.

The usual hot towels were handed out but i found these a bit chewy 🙂

Arrived in DXB at 2.35am and headed to the lounge there as we had a few hours to kill before the next leg. In comparision to LHR this lounge was very average and got very busy but the opening of the new terminal will improve things.

Boarded EK770 A6-EMG to Cape Town

This aicraft had the old style business class – no pods or lay flat seat but was sill quite comfortable. See pic above.

As this was a early AM departure (8.30am) breakfast was the first meal to be offered and consisted of : fruit juice / season fruit / yoghurt followed by a choice of omelette / poached salmon kedgeree / french toast with tea / coffee etc.

As this was a long flight (9.5 hours) another meal was served later on.
Again this offfered the arabic mezze or lobster cocktail for appitiser with the main courses being char grilled steak / chicken with parmesan and walnut pesto / skewers of gulf prawns.

Dessert was a summer berry sponge and whipped cream followed by cheese / crackers and the usual drinks selection with a small ‘ after dinner chocolate’ also being offered.

The group also did an internal flight on Kulula between Cape Town & Lanseria (Joburg) They are a low cost carrier but the cabin crew were very entertaining.

Return flight from Joburg to Dubai was onboard A6-ECF which had the latest business class seating and was very comfortable. EK do use a 2-3-2 seating layout which is a little cramped for most business class layouts.

An evening departure so a light meal was offered.

A selection of cold canapes followed by a choice of appetiser – smoked salmon with capers or tomatoes puttanesca.

Main course was a choice of fillet of beef / braised ducklinig breast / fresh local fish fillets or spinach & ricotta pasta.

Dessert was a chocolate gateau opera followed by chease / crackers / drinks etc.

With a flight time or around 8 hours a light continental breakfast was offered before landing.

Final leg was Ek001 which will be an A380 in a few months time – shame it was not this time.

8am departure meant a continental breakfast followed a couple of hours alter by a lunch.

Appetisers were the arabic mezze or hoisin roast duck and the main courses were a choice of chicken malai / veal medallions / grilled salmon fillet or braised beef tenderloin.

Desserts were a choice of strawberry pavlova or chocolate panettone bread pudding with the usual cheese / crackers and drinks.

In general I found all the flights to be pretty good with good staff who were attentive and generally friendly. One thing I did notice was that the left side of the plane seemed to get the menus / towels / food first but i guess they have to start somehere. The amenity kits provided were good with a leather washbag containing a tootbrush/paste, razor + foam, smellies, wipes, comb but we only got this on 3 out of the 4 flights. DXB – LHR did not get one as it is a ‘day flight’ (so was DXB – Cape Town but what do i know)

I do have a pic or 2 of the new business class which i can add or take a look at the usual website for a pic.

Hope this report is ok