Emirates Business Class Review – Dubai to Kuwait

Emirates, the national carrier of Dubai has consistently been rated among the best airlines on the planet by multiple rating agencies and customer surveys. It has one of the world’s largest wide-body (double aisle) fleet of aircraft consisting of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.

For someone like me who has grown up flying on single aisle aircraft like the Boeing 737, Airbus A320 and A321, this is surely something to look forward to. Until sometime last year, I hadn’t flown even once on Emirates but as luck would have had it, since then I have aggregated a lot of frequent flyer miles under them courtesy more than 15 or so flights to destinations across continents.

I would be lying if I say that I hadn’t ever dreamt of flying their business class one day. But little did I know that the opportunity would come so soon. While boarding my flight EK871 (Boeing 777-300ER) to Kuwait on Saturday, 2nd September 2017, I was handed a new boarding pass indicating my seat change to 11E in business class. I was delighted to say the least. So yeah to those asking, it was a last minute upgrade which means that I did miss out on the business class lounge.

Cabin and Seat

Each seat measures 20.5 inches wide with a pitch of 60 inches. The seat is angled flat and has multiple controls to do the job. Thankfully, the angle is there at the head rather than at the feet and there’s also a level of privacy with the shield between the seats. Interestingly, the A380 has a completely flat bed in the business class which I hope to try one day :D.

Coming back, each passenger is provided with excellent noise cancellation headphones, a bottle of water, pillow, a blanket and a couple of magazines to add to the overall experience.

The IFE screen at 23 inches is pretty good for viewing your favourite movies or TV shows on board ICE – the hugely awarded in-flight entertainment system.

The remote for the IFE and the jack for the headphones are located right near the armrest.  The seats are in a 2-3-2 configuration and I must admit that in case if you sit in the middle like me, on a full flight you may just need to jump over a passenger to go to your seat which is not really ideal. But since the business class was fairly empty on my flight, this wasn’t really a problem.

There is also a lot of leg space and racks to keep your shoes and anything else.

Food & Beverages

Considering that this flight was quite a short hop of about 1hr 15 mins, the choices in the meals were pretty limited. Nonetheless, we were welcomed by a choice of juices which included apple, orange, mango and pineapple. I asked for the orange juice.

There was also a variety of spirits including rum, gin, vodka, wine and others to choose from. Since it was a mid-day flight, lunch was served.

While there were both chicken and beef options, it would have been great to have a veg option as well.

While economy class meals in Emirates are surely better than most of its competitors, the business class meal surely takes the cake. The food was delicious and the way it was served was even better.

Service

I quite liked the attention to detail from each cabin crew member to serve the passengers in the best possible manner. The practice of giving warm towels both on take off and after the meals is perfect. The attendants always came forward to ask if anything else was required. The idea of using a table cloth to cover the food tray is pretty awesome as well. While I am sure that a lot of this service maybe provided by other competitors as well, I do have a feeling that Emirates surely does things differently.

All in all, my first experience on the Emirates Business Class was exemplary. Am hopeful that sooner rather than later I can experience this service on a long – haul flight as well as on the A380.

Linking to #MyFriendAlexa