Flight: Emirates EK 215 from Dubai to Los Angeles
Duration: 16 hours 30 minutes
Equipment: A388 (Airbus 380-800)
Class: Business
Seat: 12B (Window seat)
Seat Specification: True Flat Bed, Seat pitch: 48 “, Seat width: 18.5 ”
Emirates operates multiple aircraft types between Dubai and USA, mainly Airbus 380 and Boeing 777-300ER. The business class experience between these 2 aircraft are poles apart as A380 has the 1 x 2 x 1 fully flat business class seat configuration whereas Boeing 777-3000ER has angled flat seats in 2 x 3 x 2 configuration. Luckily Emirates has been operating the A380 between DXB – LAX route since forever!!
I had 2 firsts on this leg – first time boarding directly from the lounge and also getting the dreaded SSSS sticker on my boarding pass. Business class passengers can board directly from the gates inside the Emirates Business Class lounge instead of regular boarding gates. Right after clearing the boarding gates, there were security personnel asking some passengers to go to “enhanced” security procedures. The agent went through the carry-on bag swabbing it but cleared me right away so I was held up maybe less than 3-4 minutes.
The A-J rows have arm rests facing the aisle and have more privacy than B-K rows where arm-rest is right by the window.
For breakfast I ordered the Shakshouka, which was fried egg with tomato sauce, served with lamb sausage. It was extremely delicious, one of the top 10 meals I have had in my travelling life. After breakfast, I converted the seat to bed.
Before going to sleep, I decided to take some pictures of the onboard bar. A couple of flight attendants saw me take pictures and asked if I wanted to pose behind the bar and I happily obliged!
Midway through the flight, lunch service commenced. I chose Tandoori chicken salad for appetizer and Lamb with rice for the entrée. The tandoori chicken was just so so and looking back should definitely have ordered the Arabic Mezze. The Lamb with rice was quite delicious.
After lunch, went back to sleep for a few hours and woke up about 1 hours before landing. The seat is of right firmness and really good for sleeping.
Bottomline:
Seat: *****
Service: ***1/2
Food: ****
Emirates Business class seats on the A380 are really good for these ultra long-haul flights. The 1 x 2 x 1 configuration ensures direct aisle access to all seats. The A-J rows have better privacy than the B-K rows due to arm rest next to aisle instead of window.
The meals overall for this flight were really good. The Shakshouka for breakfast was fantastic (one of the best meals I’ve had on a flight) and the slow cooked lamb for lunch was also quite tasty.
Service was quite good for this segment, the flight attendants were diligent in clearing the tables during meal service and helped put bedding on the seats.