Checked out at the ungodly hour of 5am and had to wait for some time before we could get a big cab to take us to the airport. Fascinating watching the hotel staff trying to jam 3 suitcases into the back of a car. We were lucky that a van taxi rolled by and was even funnier with the staff running after it to flag it down.
The hotel.
We were dropped off at the First/Business class area and made our wake inside.
The check in hall was busy today with all counters being taken up. We walked down to another section of business class counters and was helped after 5 minutes.
Immigration and security was a breeze as usual and we took the elevator up to the airside concourse.
Definitely busy but not as busy as it was during pre COVID.
Made our way to the B concourse business class lounge. Entrance is now automated where you scan your boarding gass at a gate and enter.
Since the A concourse was closed, it looked like all passengers congregated to the B lounge. Was a complete zoo and seating was hard to come by.
Food selection was "meh" at best … actually, it was terrible. It is not anywhere close to the variety and quality I have seen in past visits to the lounge.
The morning bank.
After Junior was fed, we headed over to the C concourse where our flight was departing from and it was quite a long walk.
"Boarding" was underway but it was just into the holding pen behind, so we waited outside until the "Final Call" message was displayed.
Back in the mini cabin again and this time I chose the A seat.
Gorgeous day.
This was supposedly the menu from the app but the crew informed us that it was totally different. The menu items were read off to us and we made our choices.
The cabin was definitely showing its age (also the lack of care by the engineering crew).
The funniest moment for me was hearing the captain coming on the comm and giving us his intro spiel. Then he gets into the part about how all Emirates aircraft are equipped with hepa filters designed to recycle air and how the plane is thoroughly sanitized before every flight. As the spiel was going on, I saw the dust on the seat area and I laughed. Dont know why it was funny but it just was.
You probably cant see it here but there are dust particles all over the white areas.
The flight was delayed due to a medical emergency. I saw the jet bridge retract and then come back. Eventually, we were underway.
Once the seat belts signs were off, I settled back and watched as many movies as I could.
Breakfast was served and I had no choice to choose the Frittata as the other two choices were out. It was decent.
This was a much quieter flight (with the exception of a crying baby in the mini cabin) and definitely less people compared to our outbound flight from YYZ.
Lunch was served during the mid point of the flight. This was odd as I thought lunch would be served closer to landing but the crew said this was how they were doing it now and they wouldnt serve it later. The lunch menu was totally different from what was provided - the real choices was Chicken Biryani, Prawn Curry and Pasta.
Mezze to start - the outbound version was better IMO.
Followed by the biryani which was absolutely delicious.
Chocolate cake which was meh.
I slept after lunch for 4 hours and woke up an hour before landing.
VIDEOS:
1. Take off from DXB
https://youtu.be/qsXKqu5SCsM
Nice report! Nice to see more and more reports on A380s again. I'm not surprised you say meal service felt like an assembly line. With these huge Business class cabins, cabin crew have too many passengers to serve in a short time and the service end up feeling more impersonal. I always notice that cabin crew experiences are better on smaller aircraft or aircraft with smaller J cabins. Thanks for sharing!