Emirates A380. Photo / Roderick Eime
Gaurav Sehgal flies aboard Emirates EK11 from Dubai to London Gatwick.
The plane: An Airbus A380, newly refurbished with comfortable Economy seats and huge IFE screen.
Class: Economy, but very comfortable - extra leg room for travellers.
Price: From $619 one-way Economy Class. You can get Auckland to Gatwick from $1649 return.
Flight time: Seven hours, 15 minutes.
Fellow passengers: Mostly European travellers going back home after holidays in Dubai.
On time: Flight was ready to depart at 2.45pm (scheduled time) though due to traffic congestion at the airport, we had to wait for about 20 mins before takeoff. Customers were well informed about the situation by the cabin crew and pilot.
My seat: 47A, windows seat with 3-4-3 configuration. The middle and aisle seats were empty so quite a comfortable ride for myself.
How full: Most seats were empty in economy, it's hard to believe a plane like Emirates A380 is that empty, though this is the flight to London Gatwick. Emirates has EK7 - an A380 to London Heathrow at the same time, so I guess most of the people prefer travelling to Heathrow.
Entertainment: Emirates IFE has heaps of latest HD movies plus TV shows, sports, documentaries and Live TV - sports and news.
Wi-Fi: The inflight wi-fi system is bit slow but reliable. For US$1 you get 500mb of data.
The service: Humble and always smiling, helpful to elderly and people in need.
Food and drink: It was an early morning flight so only had one meal in the seven-hour flight, which was disappointing. Drinks were served a couple of times. For breakfast, there was a very standard baked beans, hash brown and mushrooms, served with juice.
The toilets: Always clean and tidy. No queue outside toilets as I had experienced in other flights recently.
Airport experience: Dubai airport is time-consuming with baggage restrictions in place, they won't allow you to carry half a kg extra over limit. Terminal 3 (dedicated to Emirates Airlines) had a huge queue at 1am - it took me about 45 mins to check-in and submit my luggage though I had checked in online. Plenty of duty free at Dubai airport. Train connectivity to Terminal 1 and 2 by Train. London Gatwick is busy as and very cramped.
Hardly had any seat empty.
Luggage: Two bags of a whopping 23kg each.
Would I fly this again? Absolutely, treat to be travelling via Emirates though I would fly day or afternoon next time for views and good food.
When there's nothing as far as the eye can see, you may appreciate the company.