Review of Emirates flight Dubai → Bangkok in Economy

DISNOTE: This flight report contains few pictures since it was a red-eye flight and I was a bit tired after a 7-hour flight from Oslo to Dubai. Sorry if it isn't,t after Flight-Reports criteria.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my 2 flight on my journey to Bangkok. I have already landed in Dubai and is in transit for EK376 to Bangkok.  Today I`m flying on Emirates A380 for the first time. I was lucky to have booked tickets for one of Emirates two-class A380s. These aircrafts contain a first deck just with economy seats and a second deck with the economy and business seats. This will be my opportunity to fly economy on A380s second deck before Emirates may change their seat configuration. Rumours and news say that Emirates may remove an economy class on the upper deck in favour of a premium economy class section. The seats on the upper deck are wider and contain more legroom, and of course the upper deck bonus "Storage containers near the window seats". These seats are like an "Economy +" onboard this aircraft. These seats are now called preferred on the Emirates seat map. This will be my experience on the A380 before it fades away in the next years. Hang on
  

Todays Boarding Pass. Luckily I got all of my boarding passes at the check-in counter in Oslo. If you haven,t read my other flight report. Click the link below.

TRANSIT IN DUBAI

On my way to concourse A. Look at the tall palms. A nice touch for an airport.

Getting to Concourse A:
 I arrived at gate C6 with 3 hr and 45 minutes before the next flight to Bangkok. Since I am flying on the A380, I am flying from Dubai airport special designed A380 concourse A. Going thru security was literally done in 2 minutes since it was no queue. But right before passing through the metal detector. I got surprised by the Airport Fire Alarm. I was ready to evacuate through the emergency exit, but the staff said that there was someone that has smoked in the departure terminal, as it happened every day.  After passing through the security screening, I was walking my way to concourse A. I must say that the signage at Dubai Airport is confusing. Since I was in terminal C, I was taking the shuttle bus to concourse A. All of the sign to the shuttle bus was confusing with arrows in both ways, leading me to bypass a security checkpoint. The security workers just let us in and let us bypass the metal detector. There was no designated way to get to the shuttle bus without bypassing a live security check.
 Chilling in Dubai:
The bus was standing at the stand in 15 min before leaving. If I have been in a tight connection, I am 99% sure that I have missed it. 1 hour and 20 minutes later. I am standing in the right concourse. Concourse A is long and huge. It took me a 13 min walk from the shuttle bus stop to my departure gate A10. I settled on 1 of the 2 restaurants close to my gate. I took some Chicken Cashew and some orange juice to drink. The food was tasty and spicy. Overall a good night snack before my red-eye flight to Bangkok (BKK). 

Boarding

 2 Hours later. The gate opened and boarding was commenced 40 minutes before departure. This was a normal A380 gate where the passengers waited in a huge waiting lounge. Since I am seated in the upper deck I got boarding zone B. When having boarding zone B, I got to board right after business class and passengers with status in Emirates skywards. After the agents checked my boarding pass I was let into the second-floor airbridge. You are feeling like a king when you are boarding through the second deck. From the bridge, I could see the enormous engine alliance GP7200 engines which are empowering this enormous bird. I must say I was quite lucky to get a Special livery on this flight. The blue colure stands for mobility, a part of EXPO 2020 Dubai. Since many passengers were interested to take pictures of this fading bird, it was some queue to get onboard. For me, it wasn,t a big deal. More time = More pictures. 

TODAYS FLIGHT
GATE: A10
ROUTE: DUBAI (DXB) - BANGKOK (BKK)
SEAT: 28A
AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS A380-800
REGISTRATION: A6-EOS
AGE: 4 Years
COUNTRY OF REGISTRATION: United Arab Emirates (UAE)
CONFIGURATION: 2 Class (Business and Economy) 
MOBILITY LIVERY EXPO 2020 DUBAI   

WELCOME ONBOARD & MY IMPRESSIONS

I was greeted by the nice flight attendant and let into the left. This cabin consists of about 15 rows, making a cosy and private atmosphere. The seats and cabin looked in mint condition and the 4-year mark wasn't showing it,s age. The cabin crew distributed paper menus as on my previous flight and the immigration form for entering Thailand. Since I was boarding quite early I got a look of the amazing front staircase. This is something you are most likely not going to see in Scandinavia soon.

ME STANDING IN THE STAIR CASE BEFORE DEPATURE. Note that the staircase is often closed during inflight, if you would like to try, I suggest that you do it upon boarding or arrival.

The Seat

Sitting on the upper deck is something unique. It feels more personal and premium. It is like a Premium Economy seat without the food and recline. Here you got a 2-4-2 seat arrangement where the seats at the sides got a storage container. The storage container could easily fit a dutyfree bag and a backpack. When you have closed the storage container you got some extra room, giving a more spacious feeling. The seats at the upper deck got a little bit extra legroom and without a backpack stowed in front off you, you are going to have much better legroom compared to Emirates B777-300. If you are looking for an upgrade between lower deck economy and business class, I think that Economy preferred is a good upgrade for a bit more comfort. Regularly, it is costing around 30 USD for the upper deck economy preferred.

IFE: Look at the enormous IFE Display featuring ICE and Voyager 3D. The screen is super sharp and has thin bezels and a nice touch screen controller. Compared to the screen on my previous journey from OSLO - DUBAI, is this a significant upgrade. Emirates please install more of these IFE screens. This IFE Screen is on power with some premium economy products. 
WINDOW:
One strange thing is the mini windows on the upper deck. It looks big from the inside but it,s quite small compared to a normal aircraft window. Kudos to Emirates for it,s attention to details with a sleek wood design around the windows. It looks quite premium in my opinion.

BYE BYE DUBAI

Today,s menu on this flight. Interesting that Emirates offer Instant cup noodles. Unfortunately I forgot to try it.  

We got a delay with about 1 because of some trouble with the loading. Hour. Under the pushback, the safety video was screened. Look at the staircase, something you only find on B747 and A380 today.

An A380 departing form runway 30L.

An another A380 standig right at my side. Would have been a better picture in daylight. Perhaps :)

IN FLIGHT

Watching our ascent up to 39 000 feet (11 887m) Look at the A380s four engines. 4 Engines but still one of the quietest cabin I have been to. Only beaten by the Dreamliner.

Got some midnight snack with some tasty orange juice. A good concept instead of waking everybody up like Qatar Airways. Saving me for some stress, I chose to fill out the immigration form on board.

Cruising over the Indian ocean on my flight to Bangkok at 39 000 feet. Have never experienced a so detailed Airshow system as Panasonic Voyager 3D. Nice for all AVGEEKS :) Have you tried it?

Got through some heavy turbulence where we dropped down some meters. Quite interesting to look at the tail cam. Under you can see a picture before entering the turbulence. A nice sunrise, but I wasn,t allowed to use my window since the Flight Attendants meant everybody should sleep.

MEALS

Around 2 hours before landing. We got served breakfast. I chose the Chicken Yakisoba. It was OK, average at best. Nothing special. The fruit was not tasty at all and the main dish was a bit watery, like if it was over steamed. The yogurt and croissant was the best of the meal.

LANDING AND ARRIVAL AT BKK

Bye Bye A380. Hopefully, I got to try you again before it fades away. This is one of the best aircraft's when it comes to comfort. The deboarding was quick but the immigration at BKK is a pure nightmare. Ques with a lot of people everywhere. It took around 40 minutes before I was through. Not the best time to arrive regarding It has arrived 3 A380 from Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. Overall a good and easy airport to navigate in but a slow efficiency. 

FLIGHT PLAYBACK

Todays flight path. Look at the special route the pilot has chosen over the Bay of Bengal It looks like he tries to break through the heavy storm and turbulence, Instead of flying like the other planes over Dhaka. This is one of the most heavy turbulence I have been to. (Even if it isn`t stated on Flightradar 24 graph. Courtesy of Flightradar24.com