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Emirates have always been my favorite airline for a long time. I was Emirates-crazy in the 90's and early 00's where I used to still fly their A300s and A310s. They were one of the few airlines at the time where personal video screen was installed on every aircraft.

Since 2003, I did not get the chance to fly the airline until last year in 2016 when I flew from Dubai to Delhi. I have been avoiding any Economy seat with 3-4-3 seating arrangement in Economy, but since it was a short flight I didn't mind flying for just under three hours.

Emirates have REALLY expanded in the past decade. There have been a lot of cost-cutting measure across many airlines but for Emirates there was no way I felt that. What I experienced on this short Dubai to Delhi flight was exceptional, and they truly still retained that top-class airline image from the past.

<Boarding at DXB>
Very efficient and very polite ground staff handling the chaotic queues. Boarding process was very orderly for 300+ passengers getting onto the flight.


Boarding B777-300ER aircraft

<Business Class Cabin>
Passing through Business cabin, I realized every seat had a mattress pad placed. For such a short day flight? There are many airlines that don't even provide mattress-pad for a 12hr flight! Kudos for Emirates for that.


Business seats

<Economy Class Cabin & Seat>
So, my fear was that 3-4-3 configuration would be too squishy. It was not that bad actually - because the space gap between the front seat is compensated for it and provides quite a comfortable leg space.


Economy seats


Decent leg space (I'm 167cm tall)


Quite high-tech seat

It's not the latest generation seat, but I was quite blown away especially with all the extras attached to the front seat.

<Pre-Departure Service>
First, a welcome drink was served and it was a tasty lime juice. Then came a refreshing towel, along with a menu. Yes, menu on a flight less than 3hrs!


Refreshing welcome drink


Wet wipe


Menu card


Menu content

<Entertainment>
Oh my... there are way too many channels! I can spend a whole month just simply sitting there enjoying all the channels, if my butt doesn't hurt. I was also impressed by the quality of headphone provided - it's not a Bose, but still a very high-quality with proper ear pads. Well done!


Magazines in seat-pocket


Excellent quality headphone

<Views>

DXB T3


Musandam Peninsula in Oman

<Meal>
A lunch was served on this flight. I've had one of the best Economy meals in sky - great tasting main dish to dessert!


Overall tray


Mutton biryani

Mutton is hidden inside the rice. The rice was not too dry and the meat was tender. Some raisins and cashew nut topping is great!


Cottage cheese salad in yogurt sauce Indian style

Salad was refreshing and good.

What blew me away was the dessert - I can confidently say this is a Business Class level dessert! Coconut and pistachio flakes were added on top and it shows some attention to detail. Very tasty carrot cake in sweetened milk sauce.


Carrot halwa


Quite an attention to detail!


Little tasty chocolate and tea


Cabin after dusk

All these goodies at almost the same cost of LCC carriers! No wonder, Gulf carriers are growing. Some may argue about being subsidized by the government but as a passenger, I would want the best service at the best price - which these carriers seem to be proving. Emirates still maintained my trust. Would love to fly with them again anytime!

That is one of the best Y meals I have ever seen in my life....seriously not joking. Amazing EK !

Good trip report!

Since when have EK started serving welcome drinks in Y again? I haven't seen that for quite some time.

theaviator380 wrote:

That is one of the best Y meals I have ever seen in my life....seriously not joking. Amazing EK !

Haha, it was quite good for an Indian meal. Another favorite airline of mine that serves a good Indian option, is Singapore Airlines. Their curry is pretty good!

LTenEleven wrote:

Good trip report!

Since when have EK started serving welcome drinks in Y again? I haven't seen that for quite some time

Thanks! Are serving welcome drinks something new in Y?

The pictures are great. I've never had mutton before, but it looks like I would give it a try based on your picture. Thanks for sharing your flight with us!

11725Flyer wrote:

The pictures are great. I've never had mutton before, but it looks like I would give it a try based on your picture. Thanks for sharing your flight with us!

Thanks for your feedback!

hirofumi wrote:

theaviator380 wrote:

That is one of the best Y meals I have ever seen in my life....seriously not joking. Amazing EK !

Haha, it was quite good for an Indian meal. Another favorite airline of mine that serves a good Indian option, is Singapore Airlines. Their curry is pretty good!

LTenEleven wrote:

Good trip report!

Since when have EK started serving welcome drinks in Y again? I haven't seen that for quite some time

Thanks! Are serving welcome drinks something new in Y?

I've flown EK numerous times in the past 12 months (Most recent was 4 weeks ago) and I was never served a welcome aboard drink in Y. Was the flight delayed at all?

Nice trip report!

QF29 wrote:

I've flown EK numerous times in the past 12 months (Most recent was 4 weeks ago) and I was never served a welcome aboard drink in Y. Was the flight delayed at all?

Nice trip report!

That's funny. No, the flight was right on time. May be some Indian passengers tend to ask for water service when they board a plane, so perhaps it's a nice gesture by Emirates for flights to India? Quite interesting. Thanks for the information!

Good report. dessert looks yummy.

hirofumi wrote:

QF29 wrote:

I've flown EK numerous times in the past 12 months (Most recent was 4 weeks ago) and I was never served a welcome aboard drink in Y. Was the flight delayed at all?

Nice trip report!

That's funny. No, the flight was right on time. May be some Indian passengers tend to ask for water service when they board a plane, so perhaps it's a nice gesture by Emirates for flights to India? Quite interesting. Thanks for the information!

Usually to Middle East they serve Orange Juice and to India Lemon juice. But this isn't new and it has been there for many years.

Terminal48 wrote:

Usually to Middle East they serve Orange Juice and to India Lemon juice. But this isn't new and it has been there for many years.

That's funny they don't provide such service on longer routes like the comments above. Interesting.

hkore wrote:

Good report. dessert looks yummy.

Thanks!

amazing report, i'm a big fan of any meal that includes rice with emirates.
hope you enjoyed the flight.

thank you

EK201 wrote:

amazing report, i'm a big fan of any meal that includes rice with emirates.
hope you enjoyed the flight.

thank you

Thanks for the comment. Me too, I generally like the Gulf style biryani and never refuse when there is an option in menu. The flight was short yet very memorable.

Looks fantastic. The US airlines can't compete and don't want to. That's why they are trying to get rid of them by crying wolf.

theaviator380 wrote:

That is one of the best Y meals I have ever seen in my life....seriously not joking. Amazing EK !

Yes, I had some good meals on Emirates in economy recently too.

And I also found the 777-300/ER more comfortable than the A380 in economy, it felt like I had more space to stretch out. Noisy though in comparison with the A380. The narrow seats didn't bother me, I'm very slim anyway and there was nobody in the middle seat.

I also get rid of the promo books quickly, they go in the overhead locker, that also gets you a little bit more room.

I'd echo the topic starter in giving kudos to Emirates. They were pleasant to fly with.

Something else too, we had hot towels brought around too on boarding, drinks too (orange or apple juice, water, etc). A great thing to please weary travelers.

lychemsa wrote:

Looks fantastic. The US airlines can't compete and don't want to. That's why they are trying to get rid of them by crying wolf.

Thanks for the comment.

cpd wrote:

Yes, I had some good meals on Emirates in economy recently too.

And I also found the 777-300/ER more comfortable than the A380 in economy, it felt like I had more space to stretch out. Noisy though in comparison with the A380. The narrow seats didn't bother me, I'm very slim anyway and there was nobody in the middle seat.

I also get rid of the promo books quickly, they go in the overhead locker, that also gets you a little bit more room.

I'd echo the topic starter in giving kudos to Emirates. They were pleasant to fly with.

Something else too, we had hot towels brought around too on boarding, drinks too (orange or apple juice, water, etc). A great thing to please weary travelers.

That's interesting. I always thought that A380 economy would be more comfy since their seats have bigger width. Perhaps B777's legroom compensates for that.

The width is probably a factor if you are a wider person. I have pretty long legs so I notice more leg room. I could have been mistaken but it seemed like the B777 had very slightly more leg room. You could certainly see its seats were narrower without needing to read specs or measure them.

That was something I wasn't expecting.

cpd wrote:

The width is probably a factor if you are a wider person. I have pretty long legs so I notice more leg room. I could have been mistaken but it seemed like the B777 had very slightly more leg room. You could certainly see its seats were narrower without needing to read specs or measure them.

That was something I wasn't expecting.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to fly their A380 economy too, but some B777s seem to have up to 34" of legroom so that makes sense. I remember their vanished A330 felt quite tight even though with larger seat width, so they are compensating something in return for narrow space.

hirofumi wrote:

cpd wrote:

The width is probably a factor if you are a wider person. I have pretty long legs so I notice more leg room. I could have been mistaken but it seemed like the B777 had very slightly more leg room. You could certainly see its seats were narrower without needing to read specs or measure them.

That was something I wasn't expecting.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to fly their A380 economy too, but some B777s seem to have up to 34" of legroom so that makes sense. I remember their vanished A330 felt quite tight even though with larger seat width, so they are compensating something in return for narrow space.

Hmm, 32-24" pitch for the A380 mentioned:

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Emira ... s_A380.php

The B777 was A6-EBV from memory, if it was 34" pitch, that indeed explains it. I found it very comfortable, despite the narrow seats. Good information, thanks. They do not send B777 our way anymore I don't think, we get only the A380.