Review of Emirates flight Colombo → Singapore in Business

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



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).



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



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



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.



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.



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.



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!



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.



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.



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.



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