EK863/EK37 MCT-DXB-BHX 5 June 2009
Posted: 11 Jun 2009, 14:59After a wonderful chauffeur drive from the hotel we got out into the zoo known as Muscat Seeb International Airport. I think because it was a Friday (the equivalent of our Sunday), the world and his dog was going home with all their worldly goods. I've never seen so many trolleys full of bedding and hastily taped up items. The queue was snaking around the outside of the terminal. I didn't fancy standing in it in the heat, so left Mark with our luggage and thankfully found a fast track door for business class passengers. Managed to get through the throng and have our suitcases scanned and proceeded to check in. They kindly swapped our DXB-BHX seats to 1JK for me there and then. I asked about the EK office so we could reclaim our money for delayed luggage and was advised it was outside the security area we had just come through. Again, the office was closed so had no joy in obtaining our claim. Back through fasttrack again thankfully and had a quick look around the duty free area which was better than expected - it's certainly better than anything the US seems to offer.
The lounge is very small with a selection of cold food/snacks and a handful of alcoholic drinks. Luckily it wasn't full but there were a few kids running around quite noisily. The screens weren't updating so took a stroll at the approximate boarding time to the gate and found we were (and other busines passengers) some of the last to board. We were bussed to the plane but as it's not a big airport, this didn't take too long.
Usual pre-flight drink offered followed by a hot brunch consisting of tikka lamb chops, arabic chicken and another couple of items which were quite tasty. It was only a 40 minute flight with a half full cabin. We actually got an airbridge this time when getting off the plane in Dubai.
The cabin crew advised us to check with ground staff about making our luggage claim and we asked about 3 people who directed us to customer service 2 floors down by baggage claim. They advised us we would have to go through the immigration desks to enter Dubai before we could make a claim and advised us to speak to the EK staff at Birmingham instead. We did on arrival and they said they couldn't help either, so here we go, another letter to Emirates to get something sort out on my return.
This was our first look at the new T3 in Dubai and we felt it was much larger and more open then the old terminal, although there were more shops. There also seemed a lot less people sleeping on the floors than before. We went to the lounge which was very strange as it's all open like a mezzanine floor overlooking the shopping and general area. This made it like a corridor around an open atrium where seats were placed with small tables. The area was effectively split into two large corridors, with food/drink stations and toilets in the middle. One side overlooked the atrium shopping level and the other side overlooked the atrium towards the runway but all still open and very noisy from downstairs. The food was very good as usual but could get very busy around the areas when serving yourself - nearly had my drink knocked out of my hand a couple of times. I might have missed them, but I didn't find the comfortable seating that was in the old lounge to relax in, just soft chairs and tables but nothing to really relax in. We only had about an hour anyway but it was nice to able to find two chairs together which was quite difficult in the old lounge.
The BHX flight was boarding from gate 120 and we realised this was in the old terminal and was quite a hike. We left with plenty of time and again waited in the holding pen for about 10 minutes before boarding. Priority boarding was again offered firstly to business passengers. Business was only about a third full on this leg and as it was a daytime flight, it was nice to be able to watch the ICE system and relax with the a drink and the nice food offered. Before landing into a rainy Birmingham, there was a hot snack offered too.
On the whole, very good flights and other than the legs we had not offering lie flat seating which would be nice, the cabin crew looked after us really well.
The chauffeur at BHX was a really nice lady who remembered us from before as she only lives about 5 minutes away from our home address, so it made it a really friendly return to a nasty rainy UK.