Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Flying Emirates 232 from Washington Dulles to Dubai - Review

Emirates flies the Airbus A380-800 from Washington DC to Dubai

There was a time that flying between India and the US meant a stopover in London, Frankfurt, Paris or Amsterdam (I loved Amsterdam). However in the past decade this has changed dramatically. Now `Emirates (Dubai) Etihad (Abu Dhabi) Qatar Airways (In Doha, Qatar) have taken over these routes with their new aircraft and great service.

From Washington DC, Emirates is an outlier, it flies in the morning at 10.55 from Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) and reaches Dubai at around 8.30 a.m. Other flights, Etihad, Qatar and flights with European stopovers take off after 9 p.m at night.

I love this timing but it does cause a disagreement in my house. My wife prefers to fly Eithad due to the timings. My wife's viewpoint is that it is difficult to sleep on the Emirates flight since it starts in the morning. I enjoy the morning flight. My game plan is to sleep less for a few days to my Emirates flight. Once on the flight, I divide the 13 hours into 4 and sleep for 2 quarters of the flight. I also set my watch to the destination time and arrive fresh in the morning to Dubai.

The second reason my wife prefers to fly Etihad is the layover in Dubai for the onward flight to Hyderabad on Emirates is about 7.5 hours. I love this layover even though I feel that the layover kind of circumvents the Emirates facility of a hotel to passengers with more than 8 hours layover. 

I have friends in Dubai and my routine is to effortlessly pass through Immigration (US citizens get visa on arrival) and meet friends. 



This visit :

We spend about 4 hours out of the airport and were back in comfortable time to our flight to Hyderabad. Now the flight to Hyderabad reaches at 8.30 p.m Indian Standard Time and it was time to sleep again. In my opinion this flight makes jet lag minimal and you get to visit another country albeit for a short while.




Emirates Flight Experience


The seats on the A 780-800 seem to have adequate space and I love the ICE entertainment system. Loved the choice of new movies and watched 3 movies in the 13 hour flight.



Food 
We had asked for a HNML meal that excludes beef from the menu. The first meal from Washington DC was bland with chicken, noodles and beans. I am not sure about the catering at Washington DC but I had hoped the meal was tastier.

Another disappointment was that Emirates no longer carries the beer VB - Victoria Bitter which was special to me. Now they carry Heineken, Amstel Light and Budweiser.

Service:
This is one of the best things about Emirates, great service and this flight excelled.

Exceptional Circumstances:
Our flight was on the same day that an Emirates airlines flight crash landed in Dubai causing disruption. Our flights were relatively on time and Dubai airport marveled in their communications to passengers. All Emirates passengers got free food and were well taken care of . Kudos to Emirates and Dubai airport.


I am looking forward to my return flight in a few days on Emirates.


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