Hello everyone,
I’m joining you on a rather exceptional trip. Indeed, having to visit several friends in a rather limited time, I run on a world tour, which I tried to have as avgeek as possible. This one has the following routing:
Flight routing
- 1AF983 - Economique - Paris → Tel Aviv - Airbus A350
- 2
- 3EK414 - Economique - Dubaï → Sydney - Airbus A380-800
- 4NF11 - Economique - Sydney → Port-Vila - Boeing 737-800
- 5VA56 - Economique - Port-Vila → Brisbane - Boeing 737-800
- 6VA986 - Economique - Brisbane → Sydney - Boeing 737-800
- 7QF11 - Economique - Sydney → Los Angeles - Airbus A380-800
- 8DL2267 - Economique - Los Angeles → San Francisco - Airbus A320
- 9AF083 - Economique - San Francisco → Paris - Boeing 777-300 ER
I left you getting off my plane from TLV.
The majority of travelers on my flights are connecting, like many people at DXB
The connection path is very simple to DXB and indicated by large red signs
This is definetely the land of Emirates!
FIDS is very impressive but quite sized in view of the EK fleet on the ground
A security inspection will be passed by all passengers, but everything passes very quickly despite the crowd of passengers in connections.
After an escalator, we arrive in the DXB duty free hall.
And, it's really huge !
We find every stuff, goodies, branded in EK colors…
… and even a duty free specialized in gold !
I will get to my door quite quickly, and surprise, each door has only 50 seats for aircraft up to 500 PAX non-premium, which is really not much.
Apart from duty free, the doars are not very pleasant, and conveys to DXB a feeling on only focusing on premium customers
It’s a pity:(
Two hours before the theoretical departure time, the door is open, which I find rather strange.
I will pass the control, with an EK hostess in IA, quite original and funny
After another escalator, we arrive in front of a large pre-boarding room, explaining the small number of seats available at the door.
This is a pity, and a pre-boarding for a company of a standing of EK is disapointing to me.
Our neighbor, another A380 EK
I will board among the latest ones
Door time
Fuselage shot
This is my second flight in A380, after a first one on AF in 2010.
And even 13 years later, the A380’s sense of greatness and gigantism is still there.
My seat, the 69K
1st impression, the seat seems to be the same as on B777, maybe a little bigger.
The pitch is always very good, and the screen is very big too
The Hublot is gigantic, such as the wing that seems oversized
Our neighbor, an other A380 EK
Original for DXB !
The ceiling light betrays the moderately advanced age of our A380
We’ll push back on time.
The safety video of the A380 will be slightly better than that of the B777, although rather disappointing for a company like Emirates
Outside, it is still the impressive land of EK !
Taxi will be followed thanks to the camera
After 10 minutes of taxi, we line up.
Impressive and extremely quiet takeoff
As soon as the light signal is off, distribution of an amenity kit.
Very surprised to receive one in economy
This one will be quite complete
A very good point for Emirates
Meals will be given just after
The KSML box of "Kosher Arabia" is back
Very surprisingly, at 4 am, DXB time, we are offered a full breakfast.
Everything is really good.
Special mention for fruits that are very tasty.
I would fall asleep directly before unloading the tray, and would be awakened 4 hours later by the snack service.
Quite surprised to receive a falafel in flight, but again everything will be very good and in very generous portions.
A beverage service will also be offered between services.
Rarely seen as many PNC during a long haul flight
Outside, we approach Indonesia as the sun has risen up
The windows will then be closed and the moodlightning enabled.
This one is original and very suitable for the desired atmosphere in the cabin
After 4 more hours of sleep, very comfortable seat, we approach the Australian coasts
I will try the Emirates ICE entertainment program, which is very complete
and offers many choices in French.
OSS 117 accompanies us during this flight
3h before arrival, a last meal tray will be offered.
One meal every 4 hours and in generous portions
The proposed tray will be the same as TLV-DXB, and is again very good.
The only negative point is that the tray is kosher because it does not contain any forbidden products in Judaism.
A piece of meat as on the normal trays would have been appreciated, but the criticism is very hard in comparison to the excellent catering offered on this flight!
Marathonage is once again very easy !
I will try once again the WiFi that is still not free of charge !
Outside, night is coming back as we are approaching on Sydney
An Oshibori will be offered as the cabin is prepared for landing
A video will be broadcast at the beginning of the descent, warning us of the bio-security laws put in place in Australia.
All in a rather harsh tone
Then we get the card to declare the goods for bio-security screening in Australia.
If in doubt, it is encouraged to declare under penalty of a heavy fine in case of control
I’ll track the landing using the camera.
View of runway at end of approach
Immediate landing
Landing in Sydney after 12:30 in flight, 1h early
View on the local aircrafts
Malaysian in A330
Spotting made complicated by the giant wing of our A380
Cathay Pacific in A350
Deboarding via 3 jet bridges pretty fast, and goodbye to our crew really pampered throughout the flight
1st sight of Australia, the Sydney arrival duty free
Passage through the rapid passport control to enter to Australia, less than 5 minutes will be necessary.
Rather complicated baggage delivery.
Indeed, an A380 fully loaded, requires 2 luggage belts, but everything will be very nicely explained by the airport staff
We’ll be out almost an hour before the theoretical arrival time.
I’ll take the bus to Sydney.
Thank you for reading me
See you soon for the rest of the journey
Papa Sierra Golf 91
Nice flight report on this iconic EK A380 route! Thanks for sharing!