Airline review: Emirates 777-300/ER economy class, Dubai to Stockholm

Emirates 777-300/ER economy class, Dubai to Stockholm

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01. Trip report introduction
02. Emirates 777-300/ER economy class, Stockholm to Dubai
03. Flora Grand Hotel, Dubai
04. Emirates 777-300/ER economy class, Dubai to Stockholm
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Dubai (DXB) to Stockholm Arlanda (ARN)

Date: 2018-02-19
Flight number: Emirates EK157
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300/ER
Registration: A6-ECB
Age of aircraft: 10½ years
Duration of flight: 6:45 (scheduled)
Seat: 14E (economy class)

Seat map with my seat (14E) in red. Courtesy of  Seatguru.com

Alright! It's time for the return flight to ARN. During my stay in Dubai, however, I contracted some sort of illness. I had cramps and fever during my last night, so the return flight wasn't all that enjoyable. (My illness led to myocarditis a couple of days later, and this in turn led to me cancelling my next trip, but more on that in a future post.)

However, I was fit enough to get on the plane, and fit enough to take a few pictures with my cell phone, so here goes. Not as thorough as the last review (and not a window seat), but still.

Scheduled time of departure was 8:10 am, so we took a taxi from the hotel, and arrived at the airport at 6:10, with two hours to go before our flight.

We had heard that DXB can be crowded, and that it can take some time to pass through security and passport control. However, it turned out that we had ample time for this, as it only took thirty minutes to get physical boarding passes and go through passport control and security. (I already had a mobile boarding passport, but a paper version was needed for work, as this was a business trip.)

EK157 departing from gate B27 this morning. It looks like it's going to be an on-time departure

Luckily, gate B27 was a real gate (with a jet bridge), so there was no need to take a bus for 30-40 minutes like when we arrived. Boarding was scheduled to begin at 7:25, but it started a little more than ten minutes later. And since we were in the last zone (boarding zone F), we had to wait in the gate area for quite some time. We were among the last to board, and boarding was completed at 8:15.

This bird was a lot older than the one that flew us here. 10½ years. It surprised me a little bit, but I guess not every aircraft can be new even for Emirates...

The pillow and blanket were not needed on this daytime flight. Should've stuffed them in the overhead compartment. Oh well... Leg room was basically the same as the previous flight, but there was less storage space below the seat in front.

The first thing to notice was that there was a lot less space under the seat in front of me, compared to the previous flight. This time, we had seats between the aisles, and it was a lot harder to stuff my backpack under the seat this time. I'm not a fan of using the overhead compartments, so I always try to use the space under the seat in front of me. So - for the sake of storage space (and not just for the obvious reason of avoiding the inconvenience of sitting between the aisles), try to get a seat closer to the windows, as they appeared to have more storage space.

Pushback was at 8:20, and we were on the runway some fifteen minutes later, taking off half an hour behind schedule.

I kind of like the sand dune pattern on the bulkhead. A nice touch, given the fact that the UAE consists mainly of deserts.

Shortly after departure, they served drinks and a breakfast sandwich. I passed on the sandwich (given my illness, which had ruined my appetite), but gladly took a glass of apple juice.

Let's have a look at the menu!

Different food on this flight, which I was happy to see. Even though I didn't eat much of it, I liked the fact that there are different menus on the ARN-DXB and the DXB-ARN flights.

When lunch was served a couple of hours later, I passed on the main course, but got the appetizer and the dessert. I only managed to taste a spoonful of both, but they were definitely tasty.

Appetizer and dessert

After lunch, it took ages for the FAs to retrieve the food trays. OK, I'm exaggerating, but only a little. It took a lot of time. I was a little surprised by this, as we were sitting near the front of the economy class cabin.

When they had collected the food trays and trash, they handed out hot towels. And this time they were scorching hot! I could only hold it for a nanosecond before I had to drop it in my lap and let it cool off for a few moments. First world problems, I know...

I didn't really have to use the lavatory, but I went for the sake of making this trip report a little more interesting, and to add something which I didn't write about on the first flight...

Standing in line for the lavatory

Sorry for the gross picture, but a picture of the lavatory seemed to be the only thing that would add something that I missed in the previous review. This might have been the tiniest lavatory I've been on. And it was not peachy...

As we started our descent into Arlanda, I was really surprised that the FAs didn't ask people to move their seats to the upright position. (And lots of seats were reclined...) That kind of laissez-faire take on safety should not be practiced on any airline, but much less on a high-aspiring airline such as Emirates...

We landed at Arlanda at 11:30, 25 minutes ahead of schedule, and then taxied for a few minutes. We were out of the plane by 11:45, and past passport control and by the baggage carousel ten minutes later. This time I only had to wait for 17 minutes by the baggage carousel... Must be a new record for the ground staff at ARN. Quite unlike Osaka/Kansai airport (KIX), where all the bags were handed out in a matter of seconds (it sure felt like it) after arrival.

This flight was not as enjoyable as the previous one. Mainly because of my illness, naturally, but also because of our seats, a little older plane, and not as attentive FAs. Last time was top notch, but this time was far from that performance. However, I wouldn't hesitate to fly with Emirates again. I would like to try out Etihad and Qatar someday though, to compare the three Middle Eastern giants.