Earlier this year, I had to make a quick trip to Seattle. With out and back within a week, business class was the best way to proceed on this trip. Seattle is on the Pacific Northwest, is a long route, and while Air India is “considering” launching flights on the Delhi – Seattle route, these haven’t materialised. This left me with an old friend, Emirates, to do the honours. The other option was Qatar Airways, which involved slumming it out in an IndiGo codeshare part of the way. Ultimately, Emirates won.

Earlier in the same month, I flew the Delhi—Dubai sector in Business Class on Air India’s A350 and back, so I figured it would be great to compare both products in action. With Emirates, while I had many options, I just thought I wanted to spend time at home rather than at the airport on this trip, given the month was full of travel and I was hardly home. So, I decided on the early morning flight at 4:15 AM. Since there is only one flight a day to Seattle from Dubai, this was the only way to get there to Dubai without spending a whole night in the city.

After booking my flight, I went to book my seats and limousine pickup. On the Delhi—Dubai route, most of the seats were already taken, but luckily, a front-row window seat was waiting for me.

Emirates handed me over to Blacklane to book the limousine, and I got a confirmation for my car pickup quickly. On the day of travel, at about midnight, a Mercedes E220 pulled up to take me to the airport. The trick of when to book the car for, though, was excruciating. I did not want others to wait for a 4:15 AM departure from Delhi. So, I decided to head to the airport as soon as the car would arrive.

I arrived at the Delhi Airport about four hours before the scheduled departure of the flight.

The chauffeur knew the drill and the gate where he should drop me this evening. It all worked out very well, as it has, mostly with Emirates in the past.

Going to one of the further gates of Delhi Airport Terminal 3 is always a good idea. Entry was quick around here.

It was a long queue at the airport, as it happens every day for the midnight bank of flights.

Fortunately for me, as an Emirates Gold Tier customer and flying Business today, within six minutes of arriving at the airport, I was at the front of the Emirates check-in aisle at Delhi Airport.

At the front of the queue, I met Neha from AI SATS, which handles Emirates’ ground handling at Delhi Airport. While she checked me in quickly, there were troubles with the baggage belt, so it took a while for everything to go.

In the meantime, there was an oops moment on my timing. The airline posted a 25-minute delay on the expected departure of the flight right as I was in the queue.

After that, immigration and security checks were quick, and I completed the whole exercise within 20 minutes. That’s one of the perks of arriving early, I guess.

Afterwards, I headed to the Delhi T3 Encalm Prive Lounge, exclusive to airline customers. You can read the full review of the lounge here.

The Lounge was as busy as it could be, and it was hard to find an empty spot. I ran into many friends and people I know at the lounge, and it seems Saturday night is a good time for everyone to fly out.

I spent a few hours in the lounge, trying to stay up. It was a long day, and my worst fear at this hour was that if I ended up trying to catch a nap at this hour, I’d miss my flight. Meh! The good part of this late-night stretch at the lounge was to realise that the lounge gets empty at 2:30 AM.

At about 3:30 AM, I finally headed to the gate. My incoming plane had landed, and I could now wait at the gate and pace around to get my steps in.

The AISATS ground handling crew limited themselves to requesting gate check-in of handbags, given that it was going to be a full flight.

The Emirates Dispatcher arrived at the gate only about 4 AM, and while the flight was supposed to start boarding at that time, there was no communication from his end for a while. Preboarding only started at about 4:20 AM for people with limited mobility and those travelling with infants. Then, all the Emirates Platinum, Gold,ess Class passengers were told to come forward in one go First and Busin.

Emirates EK513
Delhi (DEL) – Dubai (DXB)
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Departure: 04:50 AM
Duration: 3 Hours 35 minutes
Arrival: 06:55 AM
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 6K (Business)
Meal Service: Breakfast

Emirates operated the seven-across business class for this route. Only after this flight did they announce that they were launching the 1-2-1 business class on the Boeing 777-300s via a retrofit as well.

Emirates has two cabins for the business class on the 777s. The first section is between doors one and two, behind the first-class cabin and has two rows of business class. The second one is behind door two and has four rows of business class, making a total of  42 seats in the cabin.

As you can see, the cabin was pretty crowded when I arrived on board, and there were hardly any opportunities to take a picture of the cabin.

When I boarded, a nice full-size pillow, a blanket, and noise-cancelling headphones were waiting for me on my seat.

Outside, an Air India jet was preparing to depart at the unearthly hour from the adjacent gate.

Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class In-flight product

As you can see and perhaps have experienced,  Emirates Business Class gives you either a window or an aisle. If you are on the window side, you need to hop over to the aisle or squeeze through with your co-passenger if you need to head to the washroom or access the galley. And the ones in the middle seat have to squeeze through regardless. I’ve been there once. Fortunately, with the new business class being quickly rolled out, this 2-4-2 product will be history soon.

Each seat converts to a 69″ long angled-flat bed with a fold-out footrest and is equipped with a bi-fold table, a motorised privacy screen, and a low-level nook for stowing shoes or small personal items.

The seat width is 20.5″, measured between the armrests. A 17″ touchscreen display is installed in the front of each seat.

The menu was already placed in the seat pocket. Also, there was a bottle of water, along with the usual literature and duty-free offerings.

The screen has enough distance to watch even while you are far away comfortably.

The first-class cabin on this particular flight was full, so my request for an upgrade was not cleared. But for a 3-hour flight, the business class would also do fine. There was a magazine rack right in front of me.

A remote is also embedded in the seat armrest to navigate the main screen.

Two more controls are along the armrest for the seat positions and to adjust the seat up and down.

I made a quick trip to the lavatory, and there was enough room in this standard-size lavatory for people to change into pyjamas when offered. However, on this route, given that it is classified as a “regional” flight, no amenity kits or pajamas were offered.

The lavatory was very well stocked. I first noticed the bespoke Eau de Toilette fragrances that Emirates has partnered with VOYA to develop, even though Emirates officially announced this partnership in September 2024. These are available only in the First and Business Class cabins on board.

The lav was also well stocked with combs, dental kits, and other personal hygiene requirements.

Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class In-flight service

A few moments after being seated, a cabin crew member brought pre-departure beverages. The options were Apple juice and Orange Juice. Emirates does not offer alcoholic options such as Champagne on the ground because, in India, you’d have to pay a customs duty to serve alcoholic beverages on the ground.

Instead, I asked the cabin crew member for some water, to which she pointed to the water bottle already placed in my seat pocket. A little later, the cabin crew came back to take meal orders. To their credit, the cabin crew member recognised the late hour of this flight and asked me if I would like to have breakfast rather than assuming I’d like to have it.

No wine list was offered on this flight. However, there was a list of the cocktails offered on the menu. Here are the hot breakfast options that were on offer.

A little later, the cabin supervisor introduced himself and greeted me as an Emirates Gold Tier member. It was a busy cabin, and everyone was trying to get everything done quickly so we could get airborne. So, it was appreciated that the cabin supervisor did not deviate from protocol to say hello to the elites on board at that hour.

A bit later, the cabin crew brought hot towels and distributed them across the cabin.

We finally pushed back closer to 5 AM, about 40 minutes later than the initially intended departure time. With a connection to make, I was worried but not so much, given we had ample time to make the next flight.

Emirates was one of the first airlines to equip its fleet with tail and forward cameras. About twenty minutes after we departed from the gate, we were all set for our takeoff roll and on our way out of Delhi.

Shortly after, I dozed off and woke up after a long nap. I connected to the onboard Wi-Fi to see if it worked. Emirates First Class passengers and Silver, Gold, and Platinum Skywards members travelling in Business Class have unlimited free internet if they are Skywards members. It worked, but only after we exited the Indian borders.

I kept the electronic window blinds closed most of the time, given the sun was sharp outside.

About one and a half hours after departure, the crew started to prepare for breakfast service. They came around and laid the table. Since I would not be getting any sleep anymore, I pulled out the headphones and started looking for something to watch on board.

While Emirates’ in-flight entertainment system has an excellent library of over 6,500 hours of programming, I needed to watch something I’d already seen, so I settled for Top Gun Maverick.

I requested the Indian non-vegetarian option and was served a pretty extensive breakfast platter. It included fruits, egg bhurji, parantha, and a beetroot patty. Preserves, table butter, and yoghurt were also included.

As is the Emirates service style, a member of the crew also brought champagne, orange juice, and water. It was too early to drink anything but water this morning.

Most people were still sleeping, so breakfast was a quick affair. It did fill me up, and the taste of the egg bhurji was spot on. The presentation was also top-notch.

The crew came back to collect the trays a short while after I was done with breakfast. We still had time to go before the plane arrived at Dubai International.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and I might have slipped in and out of my nap. About an hour later, when the crew was told to prepare the cabin for landing, the cabin supervisor returned, handed me a box of chocolates, and thanked me for my Gold Status with the airline.

Emirates has these excellent luxury chocolates from Valrhona, which are currently being served on board. A different chocolatier might take over another year. Usually, the box is opened for First Class customers, and in Business Class, they hand out chocolates depending on availability. Given that F was full, they only handed it out to elites. My neighbour was staring at this conversation and transaction between the crew and myself. And he never got any, unfortunately.

The view outside was great, and I could keep the window blinds open without the sharp sun coming in.

Eventually, it turned out we had to do a few loops over Dubai while we waited for our turn to land. And I was happy with this wait since it took us right over DXB and get a view of what I call poetry in motion.

I also got a great picture of the city, all quiet and sleepy.

Eventually, we landed at about 6:45 AM and docked at the gate after about ten minutes of taxi. There were a tonne of heavies to be followed or crossing us over.

Just as we arrived, I spotted an Air India A350 aircraft in Dubai for days.

Arriving in Dubai early in the morning means seeing the whole morning bank of flights preparing for departure at DXB Terminal 3. There is a lot of symmetry out there, which is beautiful and not to be found at many airports around the globe.

And like that, my quick flight between Delhi and Dubai was over. Thanks to the Emirates app on my phone in Dubai, I knew which gate my next flight would be at.

However, I first had to head to transit security, which is all done in the same place. So, off I went.

Bottomline

This was a good flight experience with Emirates, except for the chaos before departure. I switched to flying Emirates a lot after Jet Airways went under, and since then, it has been a reliable travel experience for me across the three cabins. The hard product was okay on this flight, but the soft product was excellent. The next flight would be even better, and I was looking forward to catching a good sleep.

Have you experienced the Emirates’ Boeing 777? What has been your experience?

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Pros

+ High frequency of operations
+ Onboard Wi-Fi
+ Extensive F&B Menu
+ Great Cabin Crew

Cons

- Dated 2-3-2 Business Class product

Rating