Emirates

[Keith and Linda]

Well we have booked our flights to UK with Emirates, first time long haul with them and also first time they have come near with the price. We could have got cheaper with other airlines especially Southern China, however the timings with Emirates at about 2hrs in Dubai, was without doubt the best, beats 14+hrs in Guangzhou. We look forward to trying them out just a shame that there was no economy section upstairs on the A380. we did research all options on line and then booked direct with Emirates over the phone, the lady was very helpful trying to find a better price for us by looking at different timings/days/routes, Had seat guru open when reserving the seats she advised the small section at the front is a good area and we got the same seats on three legs so hope they are good.

We will also be flying with Virgin Atlantic, we were to say the least a little disappointed with them last time, probably seemed worse by how good they were previously, this was booked through Budget Air website and not direct with Virgin whom was some $200 more. Got to try and reserve seats now, this was one of the things Virgin failed with miserably last time.

[Diane]

We were really impressed with Emirates when we flew with them in January - economy class had good leg room, and they made me their friend for life by upgrading us to business class on the Dubai-Adelaide leg :smile:

[calNgary]

We fly with Emirates in a few months and have a short stop in Dubai, i have only ever done the trip with Singapore Air so hoping Emirates are as good.

 

Cal x

[HappyHeart]

My friend flew with them a few weeks ago....comfort levels good, service poor. I was surprised.

[JockinTas]

Flown with them a couple of times. No complaints.

[calNgary]

We are going to find it interesting comparing airports as well as airlines, we will use Brisbane, Dubai, Manchester, Gatwick, Amsterdam and Arrecife in our time away, so more airports in a month than i've seen in 10 years,lol. Lets hope we don't have too many delays.

 

Cal x

[Keith and Linda]

We are going to find it interesting comparing airports as well as airlines, we will use Brisbane, Dubai, Manchester, Gatwick, Amsterdam and Arrecife in our time away, so more airports in a month than i've seen in 10 years,lol. Lets hope we don't have too many delays.

 

Cal x

 

We will scoot across to see some Christmas markets so another couple of airports and budget airlines to experience too but pretty much know what to expect with those.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip Cal.

[Keith and Linda]

My friend flew with them a few weeks ago....comfort levels good, service poor. I was surprised.

 

Quite a few recent poor reports about service, but then have heard same about other airlines we have flown on and found them OK. a lot depends on the actual crew on the day I think.

[ramot]

Flown lots of times, cabin service sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes indifferent, all that matters is that the price and timing suits you and you land safe.

Prefer the 380 to the 777, seems quieter, and more room with a window seat.

 

Have a safe journey.

[Keith and Linda]

We were really impressed with Emirates when we flew with them in January - economy class had good leg room, and they made me their friend for life by upgrading us to business class on the Dubai-Adelaide leg :smile:

 

we live in hope then!

[Guest]

Won't fly that route again. Was not overly impressed with Emirates, they were fine but nothing special. Hated Dubai airport and the half mile walk when we transfered there both ways. Plus the short leg was the A380 and the long one the 777. Would rather have the long leg on the A380. Sticking in future to routes, airports and airlines that can tick those boxes.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Guest
typo

[Lindor]

I always fly with Emirates as they go to Newcastle from Dubai. I've never had cause to complain, I always found the cabin crew very helpful and the wine is good

[Keith and Linda]

Won't fly that route again. Was not overly impressed with Emirates, they were fine but nothing special. Hated Dubai airport and the half mile walk when we transfered there both ways. Plus the short leg was the A380 and the long one the 777. Would rather have the long leg on the A380. Sticking in future to routes, airports and airlines that can tick those boxes.

 

I do, much to Linda's annoyance, quite a bit of research into flights especially long haul - airline, plane, routes, timings, cost, airports and the like and this was the best for us at this time, however the chance to experience Emirates long haul had a little sway in the matter too. We have three of the legs on the A380 and one long leg on the 777 but that was for the better timings for us in this instance even with a refueling stop in Singapore.

[Suzukiscottie]

I have flown with Emirates more times than I care to remember. Been upgraded a few times too; not just me, our whole family of 5! Consistently good on every level in my experience. Plus, they fly to Glasgow which is really convenient for me.

 

Might give Qatar a try at some point since they now fly to Edinburgh.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Slean Wolfhead]

We will also be flying with Virgin Atlantic, we were to say the least a little disappointed with them last time, probably seemed worse by how good they were previously, this was booked through Budget Air website and not direct with Virgin whom was some $200 more. Got to try and reserve seats now, this was one of the things Virgin failed with miserably last time.

 

Have you booked directly this time? That's often an issue with booking through an agent...you suddenly don't have a valid code to log and request changes, or check-in online.

Also happens if you book through Virgin Australia but fly Singapore on the code share, saves a few dollars but everything is manual and laborious and Singapore just direct you back to Virgin.

[Guest]

I do, much to Linda's annoyance, quite a bit of research into flights especially long haul - airline, plane, routes, timings, cost, airports and the like and this was the best for us at this time, however the chance to experience Emirates long haul had a little sway in the matter too. We have three of the legs on the A380 and one long leg on the 777 but that was for the better timings for us in this instance even with a refueling stop in Singapore.

 

Oh I knew what planes we'd be flying on for which leg. The only reason we flew with them this time was the $$$ saving price difference all up. Our route is such that the A380 does not fly into our airport so the 777 as the long leg option was the only one if going that route. Normally we fly via Singapore and Singapore airlines with the long leg on the A380 then the short 6 hour hop on the 777 which is fine. But they didn't have flights that worked timing wise when we booked. Next time I'll book earlier to ensure we get the Singapore route that we like. I don't mind a couple of hundred dollars price difference either for the route I like. Plus things like the pool at Changi and other things are always good and we use them. The Emirates 777 flights being the sleeping ones and so long were loud engine wise and not pleasant overall either way. Less leg room and slightly narrower seats also didn't add to the comfort levels. Son didn't care obviously but I felt it.

 

I was also really hacked off with Emirates that the distance we had to travel from disembarking to getting to the departure gate was very long. They said there would be a train but nope, no train, just a very long walk with a tired kid after a 13 hour flight with little sleep. Then we got to the departure area and our terminal was then 2 floors down, a train ride and a 10 minute walk to get to the terminal. And then the gate was a walk again. No way do I need that when travelling 24 hours when the skytrain at Changi runs every few minutes and the connections between terminals is so easy. Dubai is now a huge hub and I didn't enjoy it one bit.

 

Emirates service in flight was fine but nothing out of the ordinary I didn't think. Throw in all the other things and the route just doesn't work for us so won't use it again if we can help it is all.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Guest
edited

[VERYSTORMY]

I have about 1 million miles with emirates and they are fine. Though last flight was with Qatar and would say they were just as good though were a lot cheaper - we paid $800 each while the cheapest emirates was $1300.

[Patphillips47]

Emirates are fine no complaints we have done the Newcastle - Adelaide route often

Our fare in early December was around £800 which I think was really good ( can never understand why it's cheaper UK to Oz than visa versa )

Short stopover in Dubai seems fine on paper but we found by the time you get off on plane and through the airport there is only time for a pit stop and maybe a coffee if your lucky

For us it's 7 hours plus then 13 hours to Adelaide

We much prefer a stop over but looking at flight out of Dubai both to Newcastle and Adelaide it's the wee small hours so we would really get a full night in a hotel

Going with Singapore Airlines in April back to Adelaide with a couple of days stopover

They used to have economy upstairs on the 380 which was great but seemingly no more of that

Must admit if all the carriers and we have flown with a few Singapore Airlines to me is the best

Having said that one flight with Garuda who did not have a good name we have 4 seats to ourselves so could stretch out and a week in Bali in a 5 star hotel for next to nothing so we had no complaints !

[ramot]

Emirates are fine no complaints we have done the Newcastle - Adelaide route often

Our fare in early December was around £800 which I think was really good ( can never understand why it's cheaper UK to Oz than visa versa )

Short stopover in Dubai seems fine on paper but we found by the time you get off on plane and through the airport there is only time for a pit stop and maybe a coffee if your lucky

For us it's 7 hours plus then 13 hours to Adelaide

We much prefer a stop over but looking at flight out of Dubai both to Newcastle and Adelaide it's the wee small hours so we would really get a full night in a hotel

Going with Singapore Airlines in April back to Adelaide with a couple of days stopover

They used to have economy upstairs on the 380 which was great but seemingly no more of that

Must admit if all the carriers and we have flown with a few Singapore Airlines to me is the best

Having said that one flight with Garuda who did not have a good name we have 4 seats to ourselves so could stretch out and a week in Bali in a 5 star hotel for next to nothing so we had no complaints !

 

don't forget there is an airside hotel in Dubai airport. You only take hand luggage with you, your hold luggage is tagged through, you are met as you land, and you are then checked in for your next sector. You only pay for the hours you stay, food on tap, pool, and can leave the airport if you want to. Can't fault it.

[Patphillips47]

don't forget there is an airside hotel in Dubai airport. You only take hand luggage with you, your hold luggage is tagged through, you are met as you land, and you are then checked in for your next sector. You only pay for the hours you stay, food on tap, pool, and can leave the airport if you want to. Can't fault it.

Our time in aiport I think just under 2 hours one way 2.5 the other meant we wouldn't have had time to get to the hotel

We would have stayed overnight or for a couple of nights but flight times out for us were not good time either

[Keith and Linda]

Have you booked directly this time? That's often an issue with booking through an agent...you suddenly don't have a valid code to log and request changes, or check-in online.

Also happens if you book through Virgin Australia but fly Singapore on the code share, saves a few dollars but everything is manual and laborious and Singapore just direct you back to Virgin.

 

No not direct with Virgin it is through a booking agent ($200 each cheaper), however last time we booked Virgin it was direct with virgin all the way to UK via America had seats reserved (though we know this is not a guarantee of seat) The virgin Australia legs were no problem the problem was with Atlantic, as you say could not online check-in and when checking in at airport had to use one of those self check-in machines it would not recognize us, either name, booking ref or eticket, one of the groundstaff came to do it and after some time gave us our boarding passes and had us on separate seats well away from each other even though I had told and shown her all our paperwork with seat numbers etc. paid for some 8 months earlier, and their response basically was tough $#!t as well as giving me some like the planes full and everybody is checked in! yeah some 3 hours or more before the flight and people still in the queue. But then we had to check our bags in, the lady did all her normal stuff for this then asked for our boarding passes she tore them up and gave us two seats together! all that crap for nothing. Lesser problems on the return leg but still problems and the inflight service on both Atlantic legs were pretty crap too.

I look forward to these next ones with no optimism

[bell123321]

I got a good deal last Easter with Emirates UK-Dubai-Sydney and back, was A380 on all legs. I did like the A380 noticed it was quieter and plenty of leg room. They also had on board wifi for the majority of the route (Except over parts of the Middle East). It was I think a dollar for 500mb? Was enough for Facebook and lasted one flight. Had a big selection of movies, and the food was standard airplane food.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[calNgary]

Our time in aiport I think just under 2 hours one way 2.5 the other meant we wouldn't have had time to get to the hotel

We would have stayed overnight or for a couple of nights but flight times out for us were not good time either

 

I am sure thats the stop overs we have at Dubai, i was quite glad as with the kids (albeit they are a bit older this time) i would rather just get there,lol, as long as we have time for a drink and for a top up of my nicotine levels we should be fine,lol..

 

Cal x

[LKC]

We were thinking of booking with Emirates from Sydney to Glasgow, then our return flight from Heathrow to Sydney, so that we can fit in the visiting we would like to do and also a short holiday in Scotland. I will have a look at Qatar too, since they fly to Edinburgh. We've always flown via Singapore with Singapore or Qantas in the past, but they don't fly to Glasgow/Edinburgh. If we decided to fly in/out of Heathrow we will probably book Singapore again as we've always had great flights with them (as great as a flight can be, anyway!).

[kyliedonut]

I went with Emirates Glasgow-Dubai-Auckland/Adelaide and thought they were good. Nothing spectacular, but everything I expected. When travelling in a pair, we booked seats at the back of the plane and we were able to stretch out a bit without worrying about having people behind us. Travelling alone last year, I booked an aisle seat in the middle and found that on both outward and inward flights there was nobody beside me in the middle seats. Guess it is all dependent on time of year too though, how busy each flight will be.