Emirates Flight Report

So begins my second flight report! I have tried to keep it in a similar format to my first report and hopefully improved the layout a little bit. My trip, MEL-SIN, was the first for this sector is eight years and the very first on Emirates. My original intention was to write detailed report on my outgoing leg (SIN-SYD) when I was fresh, however I met a charming, talkative German backpacker and spent the trip chatting and drinking red wine.   However, I will use some comparisons that contrasted with the return leg and have one or two reference comparisons to my first flight report, AMS-SIN on Garuda, which can be found here: http://www.airliners.net/discussions/trip_reports/read.main/17092/6/
I would be very grateful for any comments/correction/criticisms so that in the future my reports will be better! My next trip is in two month’s time, SIN-COL-CDG on Sri Lankan, so if people like this report, I’ll try to write an improved report on that trip also.

Flight Data

Flight: Emirates EK 069
Class: Y
Route: MEL-SIN
Aircraft: 772
Duration: 8 hours approx. (9 hours SIN-SYD)
Seat: 19K
Date: 20th March, 2002
Writing time of this report: 4.5 hours

Airline Choice

Quick note about why I chose Emirates. As this trip was a personal one, (for a three week period for a couple of MBA interviews,) my only priorities were cost, routing and obtaining an open-jaw ticket so that I could arrive in SYN and depart from MEL. At the time of decision-making, I was not a member of any Frequent Flyer Program (FFP). There were only three choices in the lowest cost category: Malaysian, Emirates and Egypt Air. Mine was an easy choice since Malaysian were routed through KL and Egypt Air, while $50 cheaper, were full. Total cost of my ticket was Singapore (S) $680, including taxes.
A note to anyone looking for tickets in Singapore:
Online programs and last minute variable-cost price marketing are (despite the hype) much less developed than in both Europe and the USA. In Singapore I would suggest going to the following website to which will give overall views of current ticket prices and promotions:
1) http://www.airfares.com.sg/ Nice low-tech page of promotions
2) http://www.chanbrothersflights.com/ A ‘click-price-book-fly’ site, which sadly I have confirmed as not having all airlines, (such as low-cost alternatives as Kuwait, Egypt-Air or Sri-Lankan) in it’s database.
Once I have a short-list of dates, I would suggest booking through the airline agents themselves. In the 4 tests that I have done each time the agents quoted fares as S$25 lower. Pricing at the airline’s website was always higher which I assume to mean that there were no discounted fares offered online, another contrast to European Carriers, where one can book obtain discounted fares online and enjoy bonus miles if a FFP member.

Overview

Strengths: cost, flight route, entertainment, food/drink variety
Weaknesses: toilets
Surprises: variable cabin crew service, seat comfort level

REPORT

Check-in Staff at SIN and MEL:

SIN: I checked in very early in order to get a nice aisle seat and examine, for the first time in four years, the vaunted Changi Airport, Terminal 1. Full marks to the friendly, intelligent ground staff for allowing me to check in immediately although they were servicing another Emirates flight. My questions on capacity (85%) followed by my (rather demanding, heck why not try for it?) request for an aisle seat in a row in which the neighboring seat was empty, hoping that I wouldn’t have anyone next to me, and hence more room was meet without any raised eyebrows or calls to security. J
Boarding began precisely on time and that there were two specific requests to switch off mobile phones (electronic equipment) prior to boarding the aircraft in addition to two requests prior to take-off. Boarding began at the back by sector and was strictly followed, although FFP members of any status were allowed to board freely.
MEL: I checked in fairly late on this flight. Capacity was less (75-80%) and all my requests were fulfilled smoothly. In fact, service was similar and followed the same pattern as the SIN experience, right down to similar boarding and announcement protocols.

Comments on the Changi and Tullamarine/Kingfordsmith Terminals
(My comments are based on a single observation of each terminal.)

I would have to say that most of the reports, which I have read about Changi are glowing, so naturally my judgment of it is more demanding. My biggest complaint is that there is absolutely NO decent viewing gallery for transit or checked-in passengers. I was also disappointed to note that while first-rate showers and computer terminals exist, they are expensive for a non-business traveler to use. On the plus side, I was most impressed by clever use of plants and even waterfalls, which give the interior a relaxed, airy feel. (Top marks to Singapore for interior decorating of large buildings in general.) The other impressive detail is the top-quality laptop ports, which also has a very good view, as is located just behind the new computer area. There is also a pool/bar area, which is expensive but nice (and where there IS am open-air viewing area).
As for Tullamarine, I liked the design that gave passengers waiting to board fantastic runway/boarding aircraft views. I found free showers in Tullamarine. Kingfordsmith had good views also in addition to free email! (No ports available to insert floppy discs, however, and ports were limited)

REVIEW- STRENGTHS

Entertainment

First the facts as stated by the Emirates in-flight magazine:18 movie channels, 22 audio channels, 18 games including a couple of games in which to passengers can play against each other. (Not sure which games, chess maybe?) Satellite phone: US$5/min. I would say that the entertainment standard was the best that I have experienced, although please not that I have not flown on SQ or CX. I was especially impressed but the intelligent and successful effort to bring a cosmopolitan selection of entertainment to passengers, which included movies and/or music from China/HK, India, Thailand, the Middle-East, artistic (read, more-talk-less bangs??) offerings from minority film directors or from France or Italy in addition to some of the latest Hollywood hits and some nicely segregated western music channels. (I especially liked the music channel developed for snoozing). I watched Shallow Hal (outgoing) and K-PAX (incoming). 2 channels are devoted to external cameras and on the incoming leg, one channel wasn’t working. (The more-talk movie that I wanted to watch, AHH!) The only movies that were current and not shown (and which I was hoping to see, so caught my attention) were: Lord of the Rings, In the Bedroom and Harry Potter. The one entertainment detraction was that on both flight-legs (the explanation was that these were older aircraft) there were no games selection at all, which I thought was definitely below par. To be fair however, the Emirates website does not specifically mention games being available, although their in-flight magazine does. The headsets that were given out had slightly above-par (read a bit better than horrid) performance parameters, fit snugly into its socket resulting in none of the usual static and were a little larger and more comfortable than normal. The sole religious-based item of note was the discreet reminders on one channel as to in which direction Mecca lay for those wishing to pray, I believe. (?) The obligatory spiel extolling the virtues of that particular airline which occurs shortly after takeoff normally, was only a single, short, low-volume non-annoying set piece.

Food/Drink Variety

FOOD
Menu from MEL-SIN
DINNER
Appetizer: Beef Carpaccio with black pepper and tomato bush chutney
Salad: Seasonal served with vinaigrette dressing
Main Course:
1) Fillets of John Dory with herbs, chilli and Japanese crumbs, oven roasted and served with aioli sauce, sugar-snap peas, baby carrots and potatoes
2) Thai Style Chicken Curry in a coconut flavoured curry sauce, served with pak-choy and steamed rice
Dessert: Citrus Bavarois with crystalised orange zest and raspberry coulis
Bread-and Butter, Cheese, Biscuits, Chocolates

Opinion:
I believe that Emirates food has obtained it’s deserved reputation for excellent food mainly through their main courses in addition to their appetizers.
The appetizer and salad were almost identical save for a small thin piece of raw beef which was a disappointment. However the salads were very fresh and contained a variety of greens. (Outgoing leg was far superior with the appetizer being Honey Roasted Duck, which was absolutely fantastic.)
I had John (the fish, couldn’t resist, sorry) and it was fresh, well prepared, piping hot and was substantially of greater quantity than the normal Y meal.
Dessert (except for that name!!) and the bread etc were completely unexceptional. The chocolate, however, was Lindt, which was first rate.

SAVOURY SNACK
Appetizers: Selection of Cut Fruit
Pastries: Apricot Danish

OPINION: Quite a disappointment after both the Dinner experience and the Snack on the outgoing-leg which featured piping hot croissants. Call me a barbarian, but what is so “SAVORY” about cold fruit and a cold Danish?
One mistake that occurred on the outgoing-leg was that the cabin-crew started snack service/lighting up the too soon, which I believe disturbed a fair number of the passengers who then stared blanking into space for the hour before we commenced descent. This didn’t happen on the return journey however.

DRINKS
What was notable for me was that Emirate served complimentary cocktails (Bloody Mary, Manhattan, Negroni, Tom Collins and Whisky-Gin-Brandy Sours or Highballs, in addition to slightly above average (read: fair) airline wines, (Listel Grenache Syrah 2000/Wente Chardonnay 2000) and other standard offerings. Champagne and champagne cocktails were also available but cost 20 DHS each. (Don’t know how much that is). However in my opinion the airline with the best drink service (in Y) is still Air France.

WEAKNESSES

Toilets

I bring this up because in my previous flight report of Garuda I commented that the toilets were cleaned around the 7th hour of the flight and remained spotless throughout the flight. Feedback from my brother revealed that the same thing occurred on KLM for a similar AMS-SIN flight. However on both legs of this (albeit, only 9 hour) flight the toilets deteriorated rapidly until I found them unpleasant at the end of the flight. The situation wasn’t improved on the return leg when a couple of toilets broke down. Perhaps 9 hours is not considered long enough to warrant cleaning the toilets? It should be!

SURPRISES

In-flight Service

It should be noted right away that, due to my Aussie upbringing with Dutch influence over the last 2 years, I don’t put any premium on the (somewhat) artificial-fixed smiles from “top” Asian airlines, preferring efficiency, little extra helpfulness for unusual requests and general kindness. I would give a few bonus points for genuine friendliness and down-to-earth chattiness given the appropriate time and situation.
What surprised by during both flight-legs was that cabin crew service deteriorated rather notably (particularly after the final snack was served) during the flight in terms of politeness and receptivity to passenger requests such as snacks and drinks. Another example would be the response time to the service light was about 1 minute during the first part of the flight (only average among airlines that I’ve traveled) and about 3-5 minutes at the end (sub-standard). In addition to this, on the return leg there were also 2 gorgeous Brit hostesses who definitely had sub-par service skills throughout the flight. (To busy being pretty?)
What I liked, apart from these detractions, was that the crew were very experienced and pro-active in making small children feel at home and comfortable (thus making the rest of us feel comfortable!!), friendly and down-to-earth in general and extremely competent in handling themselves and the tools of their trade in the cramped, confining space of the aircraft. Given this general air of well-drilled competence, if I was in an emergency situation, I would choose with Emirates cabin crew, without a doubt.
Another competitive advantage is the unparallel number of languages spoken by the crew, which, along with the entertainment, gives a wonderful international atmosphere to the flights. (Which Emirates realize and wisely exploits through advertising).
Other minor items of note: unlike Garuda, no pre-takeoff drink was served;
a decent range of newspapers were offered; I found the in-flight magazine to be of average quality and in fairly poor condition. (Jan-March edition so due to be replaced in 2 weeks); crew walk-arounds and drink services were every hour or so which was adequate; the cabin was decorated in a light pastel color scheme and was very clean.

Seats

Contrary to many flight reports, I didn’t find the Emirates Y seat to be either very comfortable or very spacious for my build: I have an athletic build (very broad shoulders) and am of slightly below average height. (5’ 8).

Seat Criteria:
I believe that for me there are five components to a comfortable aircraft seat: Support for the lower back and the neck, (both when the seat is upright and reclined, which can be two very different), support for the head when the seat is reclined, pitch, (space for the legs), pillow design, and a seat cushion which doesn’t start to feel uncomfortably hard after a descent period of time (shall we say a 5 hour minimum?). (I would argue that seat width is a non-variable in Y-its always going to be too narrow, and can’t be realistically changed without major seating plan alteration).

The Emirates 772 Y Seat.
PLUSES: a nice comfortable seat cushion and a fairly flat hard pillow that supported the back quite well.
MINUSES: a normal pitch (32’ , which I found cramped after a while, decent back-neck support while the seat was upright, but in the reclined position neither was supported particularly well. The angle of recline was average. On both flights one of the flaps supporting the head was too loose and therefore of no support at all.

This compared to two recent flights:
The Qantas 744 Y Seat.
PLUSES: back support was the best I have experience, especially when in the reclined position, unfortunately this was counterbalanced by a complete and utter lack of any neck support. Angle of recline was slightly greater than average. Head flaps were good.
MINUSES: Neck support (as stated above), normal pitch (32’ , seat cushion which was extremely hard and an overstuffed pillow which was useless.
Note: With my own little neck support pillow, the Qantas seat in the reclined position would be the best of my experience for long-haul.

The Garuda 744 Y Seat:
PLUSES: Pitch, pitch, pitch! 37’ makes a lot of difference! In addition, the best angle of recline of my experience, quite fantastic
MINUSES: No head flaps at all, average neck support.
Note: Without any accessories of my own, the Garuda 744 seat would be my choice among these represented here as well as for the airlines with which I have traveled in the last year, but can’t remember in detail: SwissAir, Aeroflot, Kuwait and Air France.

Postscript:
PILOTS
Both captains were Australian with a Malaysia FO (outgoing) and a UAE FO (return). FO made the landing into Sydney, which was average, (a little bit of overcompensation in the approach I believe). The Aussie Cappie’s landing into Singapore on the return leg was flawless.