Review of Emirates flight from Colombo to Singapore in Business

UAE

EK - Emirates

Flight taken on 15 September 2014
EK348
15:05 03h 30m 21:05
Class Business
Seat 9D
studentflyer
6,902 · 11 · 3 · 0

Hi and welcome back.
This is my 2nd Flight Report, you can find the First one here (http://flight-report.com/en/report-8484.html)
A week before EK348, i was mulling around for a overnight option to bridge the transit between the MH flight and EK flight. Of which i decided upon booking the Colombo Serenediva Transit hotel instead of heading into the city.
The transit hotel can be summed up with a single word - Basic. Total cost of setting up shop there = US$120.00. Total cost of heading into town and staying in the Hilton = US$250.00. It was a no brainer really. And staying in the transit area would be good for me as the EK lounge is beside and i could visit as many times as i want, or so i thought…
The Cheap (and very hard) bed. The only 'quilt' that was available that night was a single piece of top sheet :O


photo IMG_0591

A Desk area if you needed to work. The only available power port was hidden behind that sofa, so i had to do some 'manual work' to get to it. Power ports in Sri Lanka seem to be the same as Malaysia, Singapore and the UK (not surprising as its an ex UK colony).


photo IMG_0592

The Amenity section of the room. Complimentary Teas are available. Note that the serviceware is UL branded :P


photo IMG_0600

Now this is the confusing part, who needs an umbrella rack when you're airside in transit? O.o


photo IMG_0601

And last but not least, the completely lacklustre toilet, or shall i call it the W.C. instead. I was contemplating showering but didn't as the shower looked so dodgy.


photo IMG_0595

Fast forward a few hours… alarm forgot to rang, and it was 30 mins to boarding. It turns out that the gate was conveniently located at the furthest gate ever available at CMB. Needless to say i scurried franticly towards Gate 14, where when i was through security, i was practically the last person to board.
Initial thoughts: Oh wow, this is great, plenty of legroom!, until i realised - its a angled lie flat recliner disguised as a lie flat seat.
The IFE screen is huge though, and features an endless selection of entertainment. Endless is a good word probably for one who's pretty much entertained by any indie film that i can put my hands on.


photo IMG_0608

And so the usual safety video banter and checks are done and it felt like an eternity from barding to finally getting the cabin secured. IMHO i haven't seen a draggy safety video that requires 2 loops, once in arabic and once in english. The flights I've been on feature short and sweet safety banter.
We line up at the runway and spool up for takeoff. God i love how these B77W engines roar. So.Much.Power! It felt a lil orgasmic :P
After takeoff i settle for some fine French Bordeaux wine for aperitif before a late lunch.


photo IMG_0609

And oh yes, one thing i like about this seat is that its controlled by a futuristic control panel instead of buttons that you need to press!


photo IMG_0610

EK has this weird meal ritual. So you have one FA holding the entire stack of linens and the other FA setting it up. It felt a lil too much, like there was a surplus of FAs on the flight.


photo IMG_0607

After being spoilt by QF countless times being served course by course in J, it was a bit surreal to be presented with a tray in EK J. Otherwise the meal was just fine, not very spectacular i should add.
On the tray we have:
- A smoked salmon kind of starter
- The main which was a herb crusted beef with rosti and grilled seasonal veggies
- Bread plate and butter
- Salt and pepper
- Cutlery, napkin and various service items
Bread was served separately from a basket and featured garlic bread, soft tool and a sesame roll.


photo IMG_0611

The FAs then disappeared into the galley for a good whole hour, not to be seen other than the odd one passing from the whY cabin into the J galley. In my head it was like a BBC wildlife episode, where Sir David Attenborough could be heard commenting about the odd 'fleeting wildebeests' of the savannah, of which in this case 'The Elusive Flight Attendant'. :P
Dessert was served which was a mango cheesecake (not pictured). I gobbled it down before i could take a picture of it. Oops :P
The cabin was secured after the Captain announced the ToD (Top of Descent for non #AVGEEKS) The scurry to secure the cabin ensues again. The Inflight manager did stop by eventually to 'Thank' me for my business, and 'enjoyed serving me today' onboard the flight. (This person was new, i didn't see her until the very end LOL!)
The plane touched down with a tiny smooch on runway 02C. Taxi took quite some time to the gate at T1, but i was let into the bowels of Changi T1 after an eternity of 30 mins.
Needing a toilet break and a quick bubbly, i hurried off to the Qantas lounge. My flight was going to board in 45 minutes but heck, i was determined to say hi to select individuals working in the QF lounge before sauntering hurriedly back to board EK404.


photo IMG_0565

Once i have found enough pictures, i will then post the review of EK404, so stay tuned!
To find out about more of my travels or to see some of the other Lounge Reviews i have made, please visit my dedicated blog.
DOSSIER | LUXUS http://dossierluxus.wordpress.com

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Emirates 6.9

  • Cabin7.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew6.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi8.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering6.0 / 10
Lounge

Emirates Lounge6.0

  • Comfort6.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering6.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi6.0 / 10
  • Services6.0 / 10
Departure airport

Colombo - CMB4.0

  • Efficiency6.0 / 10
  • Access3.0 / 10
  • Services3.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness4.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Singapore - SIN10.0

  • Efficiency10.0 / 10
  • Access10.0 / 10
  • Services10.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness10.0 / 10

Conclusion

A flight from point to point that serves the purpose for the price point. Nothing interesting and nothing spectacular. Good thing this flight was booked under a QF code otherwise i wouldn't have considered flying EK on purpose.

Did you enjoy reading this?

Let the author know by sharing a clap! It will be greatly appreciated!

0 Clap

studentflyer 's latest reviews

Comments (3)

  • Thanks for sharing this FR

    It could be interesting to publish all the routing even if not all the reports are not published

    The hotel is not on par the international standards but seems to be clean at least

    Unfortunately you didn't have enough time to spot a bit at the airport and didn't have a window seat

    No menu or wine list ?

    The EK tray is very basic but maybe the reason to have a tray is the length of the flight (a bit less than 4 hours I believe)

    Anyway the food is not appetizing at all, especially the bread

    See you soon for another report

  • Thanks for sharing this installment. Not the most exemplary EK experience. Hopefully your next EK flight will be better.

  • Nice! Two reports in 2 days; you're on a roll :-)

    EK just seems so inconsistent...from hard product to soft product, to flight crew. The catering looks kind of sad, actually. The seats are fine for a short-ish flight, but these angled-flat seats are just not consistent with EK's blingy luxury image.

    So since QF and EK have a JV partnership, do you still have to book your EK flights under the QF code to get your QF miles or can you just buy EK outright and get all the benefits from your status, i.e. mileage bonus, extra baggage allowance, etc.

    Thanks for sharing this interesting report!

Login to post a comment.
Flight-Report

Ad Blocker Detected

Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist.

If you enjoy our website, we would greatly appreciate it if you could disable your ad blocker to support us. Thank you for your help and understanding!

How to Allow Flight-Report.com?