in the second half of April, I was lucky enough to spend 2 weeks of holiday in South-East Asia
. Spent about 1 week in wonderful Laos (Luang Prabang), and 1 week in Southern Thailand. To get to Thailand in the first place, I opted for EK - as they fly that fabulous A380 between DXB and BKK (the flight then goes on to HKG). I flew the DXB-BKK route last November, and was so thrilled by the A380 experience, that, this time, I booked the trip in Business Class. What a great experience this was.... :thumbup: What follows is a short report on the DXB-BKK flight EK384 I enjoyed on April 15th. (FYI - I flew an EK 777 to DXB from AMS).
Don’t look for technical details in this report. It’s more about showing you how amazing this EK A380 business class experience is.
So, here are the flight details according to the template suggested by the webmaster :
Flight: EK384
Date : 15 04 2011
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800 reg. A6-EDK
From-To: Dubai - Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (DXB-BKK)
Seat: 23K
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 03:15 / 03:40 (GMT + 4)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 12:25/12:40 (GMT +7)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 06 hrs 10 mins/ 06 hrs 00 mins
So, after a rather smooth flight from AMS, I arrived at DXB at around midnight local time. The airport was crowdy as always around this time, as many flights from Europe, Africa and North America come in and flights to Asia are leaving …
After plenty of time spent in the rather spacious EK Business Class Lounge (occupies quite a considerable section of the first floor of Terminal 3) and after, hm, a couple of glasses of champagne, it was time to board the A380 with reg.nr. A6-EDK at gate 232.
Here's a pic taken from one of the upper ramps used for boarding first & business class passengers. Very smooth process after all.
Ok, once on board, the spaciousness of EK's Business Class configuration is striking. With the help of some specialized websites, I had found out that 23K would be one of the 'best' seats available in business (not too far from, but also not too close to the lounge bar in the back - which, according to what I read - is a great place for socializing so it can get a bit noisy back there
). So here I am, all set in 23K. Very confortable seats, with massage feature, and, of course, they go fully flat.
People are still boarding (not a full flight (at least, not in business)) :
Time for a (well, yet another
) glass of champagne, and have a look around ...Some other fellow passengers waiting for take off.
Obviously, a little movie tells a lot more than 2 pics so here we go :
Movie starts with a close up of my own personal minibar ... non-alcoholic drinks - for the ‘real’ stuff, ask your favourite flight attendant or go to the back and grab a cocktail in the lounge bar...
PS Don't mind my feet at 0:40" - they're just very enthusiastic about all the space they'd get during this flight
By the way, you also get your own Emirates travel kit (with a selection of Bulgari products inside...)
As the flight wasn't full, and there was a small delay due to heavy traffic at DXB, I sneaked a bit more towards the front of the cabin, and took this picture from another seat (row 20) - gives you a better idea of how spacious this whole setting is. I also like the mood lighting system. Relaxes you even more (on top of the massage features of your seat, and the champagne, of course )...
Talking of champagne, here's an excerpt from the inflight menu - wines section...
Not the sharpest picture, but here's a hint at what the inflight dining experience looks like :
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And now the real stuff - take off and climbing out over Dubai... One of the lavatory doors wasn't well shut, and that is the rattling noise you hear on this video. The noise shouldn't have been there, of course, but it's really an eye (or should I say, "ear") opener as to how silent this aircraft really is : you just barely hear any engines at all ... that's proven once again towards the end of this movie, when you hear the flight attendant announcing the languages spoken by the crew on this flight (first in arabic, then in english).
Owkay, airborne (with some 25 minutes delay) : waiting for another drink, then "breakfast" (always quite a weird experience when you travel long haul through different time zones : most people travelling from Europe are still in "late night" mode and tend to order red wine with their breakfast
), and then : OFF TO THE LOUNGE BAR ! But before doing so, I was in doubt whether to take my inflight entertainment system with me : yes, you can : besides your personal TV screen, you have a portable device which you can use both for manipulating your seat, reading lamp etc.., AND to watch TV, movies, etc... (ICE has about 1200 movies available - I watched some episodes of my favourite show Family Guy
). Here's me playing around with this device. Sorry once again but image not as sharp as it should be ...
Finally, left the device at my seat and went off to check out the bar ...
And here it is : the lounge bar ! There’s a list of approx. 12 cocktails (plus straight liquor,including Hennessy XO, and other great stuff), but ask for any cocktail and the crew will do its utmost best to give you what you want ...
Here's flight attendant Sonia from Spain serving a Russian passenger.
Here’s another movie giving you an overview of this unique place in the sky.
Went back to my seat approx. 1.5 hours before landing in BKK – it would be a shame not to have tested the seats in fully flat position. And believe me, it’s a real treat. Had sweet dreams just to wake up in sticky hot Bangkok, landing at 12.40 pm local time (36c at noon, April is the hottest month and the period you should avoid Bangkok alltoghether – but in my humble opinion, Thailand is not a place to be avoided at all – lovely people, lovely food, and a beautiful place )…
Thanks for reading , and, if one day you think about doing this : just DO it – you only live once !
Cheerz …
