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احلى واروع تقرير لاول رحلة A380 Fly Emirates
Having arrived on VS400 I proceeded to check-in for EK3801
I had expected EK to put up banners and general promote this historic day, however this was sadly lacking,
I had expected EK to put up banners and general promote this historic day, however this was sadly lacking,
At check-in I enquired as to J class availability, basically had any seats freed up?? - appears 1 window seat had opened up, I snapped it up, sure glad I did too!
I had to visit the ticket desk and pay the difference, took about 5 minutes then headed to the dedicated check-in desk for US bound EK flights, went smoothly enough thought the agent seemed to have trouble getting to grips with me leaving JFK for Europe on the same day after such a long flight!
Got my boarding pass and a lounge invitation, still not sure why they have to write these things out, seems like a waste of paper/card to be honest!
Passport control and security was pretty easy, again First & Business have a dedicated lane to use, saves getting in line with the great unwashed.
I will say the First/Business check-in area was not that great, looks quite dated compared to the layout/offerings from say BA and VS.
The walk from security brings you to duty free
great if you want to buy stuff, but a pain if you don’t want anything, masses of people, reminds me of T3 @ Heathrow, a zoo!
Once up to the next level, departures, I took a walk along to try and get some spotting in and snap some pix of the A380. Be warned, DXB is not great for spotting, it’s hard to read reg numbers of the planes parked at the gates and there are people everywhere, the whole place in the early morning is a nightmare to navigate, hot, stuffy, you’ll be drenched in sweat before you know it. I’ve not been here long but have developed a dislike for the place already.
After a quick walk to try and get in some spotting, enough was enough, decided to hit the lounge.
great if you want to buy stuff, but a pain if you don’t want anything, masses of people, reminds me of T3 @ Heathrow, a zoo!
Once up to the next level, departures, I took a walk along to try and get some spotting in and snap some pix of the A380. Be warned, DXB is not great for spotting, it’s hard to read reg numbers of the planes parked at the gates and there are people everywhere, the whole place in the early morning is a nightmare to navigate, hot, stuffy, you’ll be drenched in sweat before you know it. I’ve not been here long but have developed a dislike for the place already.
After a quick walk to try and get in some spotting, enough was enough, decided to hit the lounge.
I chose the lounge closest gate 25, this being the gate allocated for our departure.
Upon arrival the reception agent wanted to take my lounge invite but I asked to keep as a memento of the day, no problem, she copied the details onto another and let me have the original, why copy the detail??
By now I was hot as hell, had a nice sheen of sweat on me and had been in the same clothes for some 10 hours, thankfully the lounge had a couple of showers and 1 was free. Whilst refreshing, the shower room lacked any form of ventilation, the ceiling was covered with damp stains and you were wet as soon as you had dried off, rubbish! – That said, I did feel much better even if I was soaked in a new layer of sweat!
Luggage for the trip
Shower
I managed to find a table next to the window, grabbed a paper, OJ and coffee, relaxation at last! – The lounge had free wifi so I checked my inbox and checked the most important web site in the world, A.NET to see what was going on, I noted Roni was already at the gate. A text or 8 to MissBA319131 back in London and I headed down to the gate around about 10am ish.
View from the lounge
There appeared to be nothing special at gate 25 for the flight, a passport & boarding pass inspection and I was through. I had been advised to show my ticket stub to the girls in the gate area to receive our gift – this was an Emirates bag with a couple of goodies, nice but quite poor compared to the gift SQ gave out on their inagural A380 flight.
The whole affair was quite a complete contrast to the SQ affair, I had expected EK to really promote this day, the inagural flight of their 1st A380 and the first A380 powered by the new engine alliance GP7200.
I sat near the window and managed to catch a couple of local’s who will never fly to LHR, really need to re-visit this place where I can get some good spotting in, it’s a paradise! – Anyway, I good looking chap approached, it was Roni! We had a bit of a chat, boarding for First & Business was called so we headed off, stopping for numerous pictures along the way!
Boarding
View of the boarding area
Here is our baby!
View of the boarding area
Here is our baby!
Roni heading down the jetway.
Once aboard we both headed right, me row A, Roni in K.
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