Emirates Airlines
 

I am searching for flights to NBO and Emirates out of NY is coming in at about $300 cheaper than American or BA...can you anyone give feedback on the positives/negatives of Emirates and compare vs. the others. Thanks!

Emirates is AWESOME!

I would pay $300 MORE to fly with them ;)

Clean, new planes, great food, TV with choices of hundreds of movies and video games.

If you have to layover in Dubai, you get a free night at the hotel they own. Abosolutely fly Emirates.

Emirates is fantastic!!! great service, entertainment, decent food also. I cant compare emirates to American because, i dont think American belongs in the same league. What sectors are you flying? NY-Dubai-Nairobi??? JFK-Dubai is a great flight? What class of travel?

Hari

Can only comment on Emirates flights from Nairobi (1st class -superb) - Dubai (coach - very good) - Mahe - great airline, wonderful lounge in Dubai, good food and service.

I have not flown Emirates, but my husband has. He has complained - as have other I know - that the economy/coach seats are VERY uncomfortable. Otherwise - okay.

The JFK-Dubai first class is fantastic!!! Literally over a 100 movies available on the on-demand system. 19inch personal tv screen. Food is decent by airplane standards.....

Great flight.....on the shorter flights (Dubai to India routes) their service is still very good......

Sign up for their skywards frequent-flier program. As you can accrue miles for your future flights with SAA.

BA is pretty good, only on the USA-UK route. I hv flown them many times on their London-India sector and the service was appalling (both first and business classes). I have plenty of miles with them, however.....i will never fly them again, after that Heathrow ground staff strike in 2004. That's a horror story on it's own.

Hari

Thanks so much -- seems very positive! Yeah, we would be taking the JFK --> Dubai --> Nairobi route and same way back!

I think the other opinions should probably be considered first, since they are doing the same route, but my experience with Emirates was that the service and food varied from so-so to awful. Based on 4 flights and 4 different crews. "Hardware" was excellent, as stated, and so I would use them again anyway and take some of my own food. This was in cattle class.

Haven't flown them, though have tried a numbers of times; their price for my time of travel was much higher than KLM. For a $300 savings, you've got a good deal. And straight through JFK/DBX, that's great and with about four ongoing flights to NBO, you're safe if there are delays.

Reminder though - being a airline of a Muslim country, you won't have alcoholic beverage service. You may want to bring your own flask with your favorite! Or if you've saved any of those little bottles, fill them and bring those. They'll give you set-ups and mixers.

Sandi,

You got that wrong........they have top-notch alcoholic beverages. Award winning wines and all the rest!!!

Hari

Also, must say.....their cabin crew is from all around the world.....Australia/uk/usa/india/sri lanka/eastern europe (etc etc)

hari

Hari -

Glad to hear, though a friend recently flew Emirates, and no alcohol was served. Did the ground crew not load it?

But people should be aware that many Muslim owned airlines don't serve alcohol if this is a determination as with whom to fly.

Hi Sandi,

No alcohol on board? very strange......

If they forgot to load it on the flight on JFK-Dubai, i would assume a lot of irate passengers (12 hr flight).....

Hari

I know Egypt Air does not serve alcohol, but seems to have no objections to flasks. My understanding is that Emirates DOES serve alcohol.

My fav memory of the Dubai airport... ...... 2 Arab men in the fully-starched all-white garb, sitting at the bar in a "pub" decorated with multiple Christmas trees! Oh - WHERE was my camera?????

In Coach on their A 340/330's they have 8 across which is standard, but on their 777's in Coach they have 10 across qwhich is 1 more than almost anyone else, so on the 777's the seat is somewhat tight.
Otherwise food superb, drinks no problem. Seatback entertainment all classes great too. They are going up to 3 times daily from JFK to Dubai from the current twice daily, note that there are 2 non stops at the moment with A-340-500's but the third flight will stop in Hamburg each way and is on a 777.
From Dubai to Nairobi it's just over 5 hours, I think that sector is A 330/340.
Dubai is also a great place to stop if you want to break the journey.

I had about 4 Irish cremes, a glass of wine, and something else I can't even remember ;) on my Emirates flight.

Alcohol is definitely served.

I was originally scheduled to fly Emirates for my August trip to Kwando, but, re-scheduled with SAA. I was able to get a substantial discount from SAA along with a direct flight Mumbai-joburg.

Hari

I can't agree more with waynehazel about Emirates. It has been a few years since my last flight with them, but the service in coach was AMAZING! I was traveling with my three year old, they literally found me in the airport in Hong Kong, and personally escorted us on to the plane! They could not have been more helpful and friendly! It would be worth extra $$$ to fly with them, but if you can find the flight at a discount, grab it then buy a lottery ticket, 'cause you are truly lucky!

Emirates Air is fantastic. The on-board staff is always very attentive and responsive to your needs. The food and beverage service was outstanding and I still (somewhere) have the beautiful menus they distributed (yes! in coach class!). They also always have a nice packet of amenities such as toothbrush, eye mask, etc. and a couple of times I've even received some frameable prints!!

After 3 flights with them to Pakistan I always check to see if I can catch them to other destinations, but so far, no luck.

In the airports of Dubai and Doha I've even seen personnel in the gate area checking to make sure that passengers in the gate area are understanding the multi-lingual announcements and getting ready to board the correct flights.

An outstanding airline!!