This has been an anomaly finally getting sorted out. While I agree and it makes sense that ports such as Dubai, Riyadh and other Middle-east posts are within the flight range of a narrowbody like a 73x or a 32x series plane, but the Mid-East carriers such as Emirates have been dumping capacity (to fly forward pax to North America etc). For the longest time they flew the B777s to India, and my expectations were set high when I first booked a BOM-DXB-BOM in 2009, without bothering to check if it was a narrowbody plane or a widebody. I was thoroughly pissed with myself for not checking up the plane when I walked into the plane to realise it was not a bigger jet, like the B777 Emirates flew from BOM.
It might not make a difference to most, but yes, having flown in International Economy and Business Class both on short-haul planes and long-haul planes of Indian carriers, I can vouch that they reserve their best service for the widebody services. So, for instance, expect to find more comfortable seats and better ‘experience’ when you fly Jet Airways on the A330 on BOM-SIN than the DEL-DXB where you fly a B737.
However, to close the gap with their competition from the middle-east, they are finally getting their act together. Air India is flying the B777ER in the winter schedule to Riyadh and Damman, possibly on the back of higher loads from the blue-collar workforce and the pilgrimage traffic on that route.
Jet Airways, I noticed just now, has just put in place an A332 on the BOM-DXB-BOM service on one of its 3 frequencies daily. Have a look!
So, if some of you are planning your NYE getaways to DXB and haven’t booked yet, you might want to give this a try for the ‘better experience’
Do let me know if you think you better quality of hard product and service on the widebodies as compared to the narrowbodies!? 😉
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