Preface: I went on a cruise with my family during Easter out of Dubai to the UAE and Oman. We wanted to spend two nights before the cruise sailed away from Dubai on Saturday so we decided to fly from Barcelona either on Wednesday or Tuesday. We firstly thought about flying on Qatar Airways via Doha as the price was much cheaper than on Emirates, however, we decided to fly Emirates as it was much more comfortable to fly directly than doing a layover. We wanted to have at least two full days in Dubai before going on the cruise so we decided to fly on Wednesday. By booking the 10 PM flight from Barcelona, we would be able to work and go to school on Wednesday which is the main reason for which we decided to book the red-eye flight that would land in Dubai at 8 AM on Thursday, allowing us two full days in Dubai. Therefore, our routing was completed.
We drove to the airport getting there at 7 PM, three hours before our departure flight time. We left our car at the airport's parking which offered good deals to park vehicles there during Easter. The airport was rather empty. As we had plenty of time to spare, we decided to get some dirhams (AED) at a local bank, which are the United Arab Emirates' currency. We then headed upstairs to the check-in area. Views of Terminal 1. Our flight, EK188 for Dubai. We dropped our bags quickly as the line was very short. Time to go through security. And we are airside. The weather in Barcelona was horrendous, a huge thunderstorm was present and it even started hailing before our flight departed. There were some roof leaks in Terminal 1 at Barcelona as we are not used to such showers. We walked around the duty-free waiting for our flight to be called for boarding. International flights depart from gates D and E at T1, which are located on the upper floor of the Terminal so we headed upstairs. There was also a smaller duty-free in the upper floor. Views of the whole Terminal from upstairs. Air Europa Airbus A330-200 for Madrid. Our plane from a distance. We were going to fly on a 4-year-old Boeing 777-300ER equipped with Emirates' newest interior design (A6-EGT): Boarding was very well organized. It was still raining when we boarded the aircraft. Headphones, a pillow, and a blanket were in our seats when we boarded. The IFE, excellent size, and resolution. Legroom was fine, better than on Air Canada's 777-300ER. Views of the cabin (3-4-3). Our expected flight time was 5 hours and 37 minutes following the IFE. The flight attendants handed out hot towels. FC Barcelona was playing at that moment vs Arsenal, it was a very important game and luckily for me, it was possible to see the game live from the IFE. Good job Emirates! The security video was played in the IFE. Views from seat 20K. Many Vueling planes resting during the night. FC Barcelona scored one goal. One more! Before taking off, the captain announced that due to the thunderstorm still being present around the area, we would encounter some moderate turbulence while climbing to our cruise altitude. We finally took off at 10:30 PM. Time for a short tour of the IFE. There was Wi-Fi available througout the flight, the first 10 MB were free and the price for 500 MB was $1. I found it quite cheap and made use of it, it was pretty fast and easy to connect to. Movie selection. It was also possible to watch live TV. The flight attendants distributed the menu for today's flight. I went for the chicken. The meal was pretty good, the chicken and the rice were well-cooked,and the sauce was tasty. After enjoying the meal, we entered Egyptian airspace and I started playing some games. I even got to see some Casey Neistat videos! Lights were dimmed so that passengers could sleep. We were given a sort of bread with marmalade and were offered some drinks which I forgot to take a picture of. I had some sleep and when I woke up we were flying over Saudi Arabia. The sun started rising.
We were only 40 minutes away from Dubai International. Views of the cabin. We started our descent after 5 hours of flight. The weather in Dubai was not sunny at all, rather cloudy. We spent around 15 minutes on a holding pattern due to traffic at DXB. Views of the desert. Descending. Views of the powerful engine. Dubai Airport in sight. Reverse thrust. We touched down at 07:33 AM, 17 minutes before our schedulded arrival time. What a view! So many Emirates planes! We taxied for 15 minutes until our plane stopped. We were going to disembark the plane by stairs. Emirates Boeing 777-300ER for Kuala Lumpur. A380 taking off for Madrid. Goodbye A6-EGT! We disembarked the plane at 8 AM. Dubai Airport is really nice. Queueing to clear customs. We got our bags pretty quickly and headed towards Etisalat's store to buy a pre-paid SIM Card. We then took a taxi to our hotel, Steigenberger Business Bay Dubai.
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Verdict
Emirates
9.3/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering8.5
Barcelona - BCN
8.5/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0
Dubai - DXB
9.0/10
Efficiency7.5
Access9.5
Services9.5
Cleanliness9.5
Conclusion
Emirates provides an excellent long-haul product. Most of their planes are modern, equipped with the latest generation of in-flight entertainment and with decent legroom. Their crew are very friendly and are always keen to help with whatever you need. Meals were pretty good for aviation standards. I would highly recommend Emirates to anybody!
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You are right, it shouldn't happen in such a new building but unfortunately, these things happen in Spain. :(
I actually slept for half an hour. When we got to the hotel, we were given our room immediately so we decided to stay there for three to four hours having some rest which is how I survived that day.
DXB is an awesome airport, incredibly big yet not too stressful.
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4 Comments
What's the deal with the leaks in BCN, it shouldn't happen in such a new building.
EK's service looks better than EY (FR coming up soon). BTW it seems you didn't sleep at all, did you manage to survive that day?
DXB looks overwhelming with that size!
I actually slept for half an hour. When we got to the hotel, we were given our room immediately so we decided to stay there for three to four hours having some rest which is how I survived that day.
DXB is an awesome airport, incredibly big yet not too stressful.
I look forward to reading your EY report.
EK's catering policy is weird, on that flight you got a nice dinner and a snack but on other flights of the same duration you only get one meal.
The wifi is really cheap!
The Y cabin looks very modern with those screens which is not the case of the J cabin.
The cabin looks great, the 12,1 inch screen looks fantastic. Seat width may be tight in this 10-abreast configuration but the seat pitch looks good.
The meal looked good!
EK has an excellent hard-product (in their newer birds), would love to try them out one day!
Have a good one, see you!
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