Anyway, through security in no time and onto the Emirates Lounge. This is one big lounge they have at MAN. But then again, if it has to be able to take all the upper deck of an A380 + any Gold Skywards pax, it needs to be big. Got seats by the window and watched the A380 arrive at the end of the pier… followed closely by the later VS departure to Orlando passing outside too.
There was a good selection of food in the lounge. We had some snacks and a few fruit juices (no, seriously, apple juice) followed by one glass of bubbly before the flight. The flight was called and we headed down to Gate 12. The organization at the gate is not brilliant, but not a lot Emirates can do about this. There is only one A380 gate at Manchester and this is it. It did feel odd doing a notable uphill walk on the jet-bridge. Onboard and down to 16A / 16B. Initial visual impression of the seat is a definite “wow” – but that is only the initial impression.
As the flight progressed and you had time to play with the seat, opinions changed a bit. The IFE screen whilst large, is too far away. The gap you enter & exit the seat through is not the largest (neither of us are big either). And when you are seated with the tray-table out, you are trapped in the seat. (On a VS747, you can just about push the tray table far enough forward to be able to squeeze out in Upper). On the plus side, really like the useful sized “side table bit” of the seat. The in-seat mini bar is a gimmick, but I guess they had to use the space somehow.
It’s also worth noting that there was not an amenity kit in sight on the flight. There were drawers in the business class toilets that were supposed to contain amenity kit items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors and the like) but they were empty when I first visited the toilet a couple of hours into the flight.
On-board food wise, Emirates was OK at best. We both had the Smoked Salmon Timbale followed by the Pan Fried Steak. Both were good, but nothing “wow” about them either. The meal service was painfully slow too, with service for the entire J cabin being staged from the large rear galley behind the bar area. The crew seemed to be very randomly allocated across the cabin too. On Virgin, on a LGW/MAN Upper flight, there are normally 2 crew serving in Upper (with help from a FSM / CSS), but the 2 crew taking the lead normally take one side of the cabin each. On Emirates, one crew member [for instance] seemed to have 3 “A” seats in the cabin, they then missed a few rows then served some rows on the opposite side of the aisle. Given that it is impossible to dine together in Emirates Business, I guess this does not really matter – but it seemed odd. Ended the meal with the cheese, which was very good.
There was no other food service on the flight. So departed MAN at 14:10, landed in DXB just after midnight, having had one meal served a couple of hours out of MAN. If you wanted any other food you had to go and help yourself from the plentiful offerings on offer in the bar area. Sure, there was a very good large selection here, but at least Virgin offer an afternoon tea service to your seat.
The bar area – now this is where Emirates really excel. I am sure many people on here have seen pictures of the Emirates J-Class bar area on the likes of A.Net. It makes Virgin’s bar [which is pretty good] look like a real poor attempt.
Arrival in Dubai was uneventful and the airport was fairly quiet. Through immigration & baggage claim in no time and out to the taxi rank. Due to the early hour of our arrival we were at the Marina area in about 25mins. Boy is it hot in Dubai.
So to summarize, I can only say that for Emirates supposed flagship product on the A380, this flight was a bit of a let-down. Put the issues with the seat aside, as this could be down to personal preference… but I feel the food offerings were not as good as Virgin (in particular the lack of any afternoon tea / snack service to your seat). The crew did not seem to be that pro-active either. I know crew consistency is an issue for all airlines (Virgin being no exception!) When you get a good Virgin crew, the service can be stellar. This Emirates crew probably needed a bit of a nudge. (The business cabin was only about 60% full too).
As an aside, I can’t see it being long before Virgin drop the DXB route to free up a LHR slot. The ME3 – and in particular Emirates – have the UK – DXB market stitched up. Both Virgin and the supposed national carrier, BA, can only get you to DXB direct from London. As we all know, Emirates do the job from LHR, LGW, BHX, MAN & NCL & GLA – with multiple daily flights in many cases.
