To London and Barcelona via DXB on EK/QF A380 Y

[yflyer]

Just got back to Singapore last Saturday, after a trip to London and Barcelona.

I usually do flights to the UK/Europe nonstop. I’ve done this recently on SQ (On their new 77WN) and BA (On their 77W). I also did this previously on QF, when the Kangaroo still hopped over to Europe via SIN.

Non-stop is always more convenient than one-stop. With a late night departure out of SIN, I can usually get a huge amount of uninterrupted sleep, and some time for work or IFE as well before landing bright and early in Europe.

But I’ve always wondered what flying this route would be like if it included a stop in the Middle East, whether Dubai, or one of the newer hubs such as Doha or Abu Dhabi.

Flights on EK, or any of the other ME3 carriers, are usually a fair bit cheaper than a nonstop option on SQ. And if your journey includes an intra-Europe sector from a non-hub city in Europe before the non-stop sector to SIN, then a one-stop option via DXB looks attractive.

At the heart of this TR is a question: With nonstops being the most convenient way to get to UK and Europe from SIN, is there any reason at all to contemplate flying this route with a stop in one of the bases of the ME3 i.e. Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi?

I decided to find out for myself, and for this trip, I flew SIN-DXB on an Emirates A380 then connected to Qantas QF1, also an A380 service, on the DXB-LHR sector. After a short stay in London, I flew BA on the short sector from LGW to BCN (Covered here), spent a week in Barcelona, and then returned on Emirates, flying BCN-DXB-SIN in Y on EK’s A380.

My flight connections were through the dedicated A380 terminal at DXB, Concourse A, which meant that I got to enjoy the Emirates Business Class Lounge while in transit.

On the single Qantas sector on my trip, I also got to try out QF’s new “trayless” economy meal service while onboard QF1. At least one airline is doing something innovative in the back of the plane!

Would the body clock be messed up by having to wake up during the transit stop? What would the actual transit experience in DXB be like? Is there any sense at all doing this route in two legs rather than non stop?

Read on for one traveller’s experience!

[yflyer]

My trip started out 2 weeks ago, in the last week of February, with a check-in at Changi T1 for my outbound flight, EK355, SIN-DXB. This was an A380 service, with a 9pm departure time.

My ticket was issued by Qantas, with all flights operated by Emirates (QF codeshares) except QF1 DXB-LHR. At the EK check-in counter for this EK operated flight, I asked, “I am Qantas Gold, can I use the Qantas Lounge or do I need to use the Emirates Lounge”?

“You can use either one!”

Great! But which one? Easy decision to make: I would go to both

To start the lounge hop, I headed first to the Qantas Singapore Lounge, my favourite lounge in Changi Airport, for an artfully mixed martini at the full service bar…

[yflyer]

The dining options in the Qantas Lounge looked superb as well, but I had just eaten there not long ago, and so, for variety’s sake, I decided to head instead to the Emirates Business Lounge for something to eat.

The Emirates Lounge was unchanged since my last visit in 2014: Not the newest lounge, with “classic” rather than modern décor.



The Emirates Lounge had a decent self-service beverage selection, but this could not be compared to the full bar service in the Qantas Lounge.



The dining selection at the EK lounge was quite outstanding. Practically restaurant standard.



A wide range of cold starters…







…and a fairly wide, and substantial, selection of mains including roast lamb, satay, and a variety of Western and Asian selections.





Grilled fillet steak sandwiches…



And dessert…

[yflyer]

Today’s flight was operated by A6-EOB, a very new A380, delivered just months ago, in November 2014.



I boarded from the main deck. With Emirates, there is no Y cabin on the upper deck, so in Y what you have is an economy cabin, configured in a roomy 3-4-3 10 abreast configuration running the entire length of the lower deck, and split into several sections.



This aircraft had very comfortable Y seating. Emex rows had huge amounts of legroom (At additional cost). There were also several window seats one row behind the Emex row, which had no seat in front of it – highly desirable. Unfortunately all these were already booked when I tried to select them online.




IFE was the latest version of Emirates’ highly acclaimed ICE (Information, Communications, Entertainment) system. This was based on a touchscreen, very similar to SQ’s latest version on the 77WN, but easier to use, in my view.



I wonder why Emirates has a special movie category called Scary Movies…



Hot towels were distributed. These were as hot as SQ's towels.

Menus were presented.



You had a choice of two mains for dinner on this flight.







The chicken was tender, and the sauce more subtle, than I expected. The vegetables had good texture as well. A delicious dish.



A small chocolate square…



Wine and spirits were served in individual single-serve bottles.

[yflyer]

There was also a snack pack with each meal…





The A380 lower deck is quite spacious, and even a full A380 does not feel overly crowded. This was the cabin ambience in the rear of the cabin…





I gambled on the flight being less than completely full, and chose a seat near the rear of the aircraft. Today the gamble paid off, and I had 3 Y seats to myself and I had a very good nap for the remainder of the flight, which landed close to 1am Dubai time, (Just before 5am Singapore time).



A very smooth touchdown in DXB…

[yflyer]

There were quite a few flights were connecting at that hour. It was now 1:18am and my connecting flight, QF1, was departing at 2:25am.

QF1 would also be departing from Concourse A, the same concourse I arrived in, so the gate was close by.



Queues at the security checkpoint to head back to the airside part of the terminal were fairly lengthy, and slightly chaotic. There might have been a few delayed flights, as groups of passengers for flights that were about to depart were being directed to the head of the queue.

There was a dedicated priority queue for premium/F/J pax at the security lines, but that too took a few minutes to clear.

I don’t know if this was a typical transit experience in DXB, or just an example of bad luck, but this illustrates one of the challenges of running a massive transit hub like DXB: how to manage bunching of flight arrivals and surges in passenger traffic at a particular point in time.

I am sure they do a good job managing the flow of passengers overall, but in a megahub like DXB, there will probably always be rare moments of madness and the occasional “perfect storm” of travellers converging on a single security checkpoint all at the same time. In this case, the lines back to the airside area took no more than 15-20 minutes to clear, nothing too inconvenient, but even that kind of queuing time is not ideal.

Checkpoint queues, aside, the transit experience was quite smooth once you were airside again, especially if you had Emirates lounge access, and direct boarding of the aircraft from the lounge.

I did not have to change terminals or concourses on this occasion as my flights both landed and departed from Concourse A. On other occasions, I have had to take a peoplemover train from one concourse to another.

Once past security, you were in the airside shopping and dining area – bustling and crowded as usual despite it being past midnight.

I headed straight to the Emirates Business Class Lounge, which is the designated lounge for both QF and EK flights.



This is a large lounge, spanning the entire length of Concourse A, the dedicated A380 terminal.



Fuller coverage of the lounge will come later when I discuss my return leg BCN-DXB-SIN.

There wasn’t a lot of time to use the facilities in the lounge, but the one feature of this lounge was direct boarding from the lounge itself.



You literally proceeded to your gate in the lounge, had your boarding pass and passport checked…



…then headed to the elevator directly down to the aerobridge with no further checks required.



This enabled you to maximize time in the lounge, and also avoid any queues at the boarding gate, and I felt that this really enhanced the transit experience.

[yflyer]

It was down the elevator and straight onto the aerobridge for boarding on the upper deck of QF1.



It was good to be on a Qantas A380 again after a long while. I used to fly them a lot between SIN and Australia, and occasionally to London as well, and was always very happy with the overall experience flying Qantas.

Today, I was in the the small Y section in the rear of the upper deck, and so passed through the QF J and PY cabins before reaching the cosy Y cabin in the rear (even smaller than SQ’s mini Y cabin on the upper deck of the earlier SQ A380’s).

This is QF J on the A380 upper deck, configured 2-2-2.



These seats recline into full flat sleepers.





Pre-take off beverage service for J pax…




Next, was the Premium Economy (PY) cabin, in a spacious 2-3-2 layout.





And finally, the upper deck Y cabin, laid out 2-4-2. This was a much smaller Y cabin on the upper deck than on SQ.



The Qantas pillows in Y are very comfortable: large with soft fabric covers-- much more comfortable than the small EK pillows with non-fabric pillow cases.





Not a lot of overhead storage in this cabin, but the window seats had a very convenient side storage bin.

[yflyer]

The Marc Newson-designed Y seats were exceptionally comfortable, and had good recline. This is one of my favourite Y seats, about on par with the latest SQ 77WN Y, and Emirates 2nd generation A380 Y seats.



USB charging in the armrest…



Full AVOD on a individual widescreen displays in Y.







Six and a half hour flight to London.



As this was a late night flight, there was only a snack served after take-off, with a full breakfast served just prior to landing.





Chicken Sharwarma…



Piping hot and tastier than expected…



Cabin ambience in the Y mini cabin on the upper deck…

[yflyer]

Dawn was breaking over Europe as breakfast service began…



This was Qantas’ new “trayless” meal service, which was literally just that. A large dish, upon which the main course casserole was placed. Everything else was handed to you item by item by the cabin crew. (Note: I took the main course casserole off the platter before snapping the next picture. They don't place an empty platter on your tray table first.)



I thought this was a concept that worked reasonaby well, although it probably took a few more seconds than serving everything at once on a tray.



The main course itself was fairly substantial – larger than QF Y main courses I have had on previous flights.





We approached London on schedule. It was a busy morning, and so we had to do a few circuits above London before landing…





It was foggy all the way to the ground…



Touchdown was smooth, and after a long taxi, we arrived at Heathrow T3, where we lucked out and entered the UK Border control area with hardly any queues in sight.



Conclusions from SIN-DXB-LHR on EK and QF?

The Y hard product on both EK and QF were state of the art. The A380 cabin was spacious, and the Y seats were wide and comfortable.

While cabin service on EK was not up to level of pampering that you would get in SQ Y, and varied by individual crew member, on the whole it ranged from above average to very good.

On Qantas, the style of service was more casual than on SQ, but cabin crew were very attentive and professional.

Meals on both EK and QF were good, even if the selection of main courses was more limited.

The transit experience in DXB on this sector was not perfect, as the security checkpoint was fairly crowded, but once through security, there was a lot to do to kill time before the connecting flight. The EK Lounge in the A Concourse added tremendously to the level of comfort while in transit, with good F&B as well as easy boarding through direct access to the boarding gates.

And the most important question (to me at least): Did I manage to sleep on this flight, and was I as well rested as I would be after a direct 13 hour SIN-LHR flight?

I would give that last question a qualified yes…I felt almost as well rested. Not fully, but enough. I think a 13 hour non-stop is still superior in that on a late night departure out of SIN, you get uninterrupted rest until your natural body clock wakes you up several hours before landing, but on this trip I did manage to sleep on both SIN-DXB and DXB-LHR legs, to the point that I felt sufficiently rested to go about the day immediately upon my early morning arrival.

I then spent a couple of days in London before heading to Barcelona on BA in Club Europe (Covered here.)

Next up, a few days in Barcelona, followed by my return trip BCN-DXB-SIN on Emirates.

To be continued...

[yflyer]

In Barcelona, I stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal.



This is a business hotel along the busy Avenue Diagonal, less than ten minutes away from the Sagrada Familia (Visible from many of the hotel rooms), and fifteen minutes away from La Rambla, the most well known pedestrian mall in the city.

Not the most centrally located hotel, but convenient enough. It is close to the large Glories shopping mall, which has a stupendously well stocked Carrefour outlet, and is right next to another restaurant and shop-lined pedestrian mall, Rambla Del Poblenau, which is about a kilometer and a half in length, and ends by the beach, which gave me very easy access to one of my favourite running routes.



Four Points Lobby...



My room was not particularly large, but it was very new, and had modern styling. I found the room very comfortable.





I could just see the Sagrada Familia from my room window.



A better view of the Sagrada Familia from the window next to the lift lobby.

[yflyer]

This is the Rambla Del Poblenau, right next to the Four Points. A very characterful and lively pedestrian mall, lined with eateries and an eclectic mix of stores.



Including ice cream...



And Jamon Iberico...

[yflyer]

Best of all, Rambla Del Poblenau ended right at the beachfront, where an endless beach stretched out in both directions.





Waves were fairly strong along the beach the week I was there. There were quite a number of surfers...



Along the jogging route was Port Olimpic...which, apart from boats, included a long row of restaurants.



A run from the Four Points down Rambla Del Poblenau to the beach, and then a right turn along the beach to the iconic sail-shaped W hotel along the waterfront, and back, made a total distance of 10km.





This is the 10km route from the Four Points to the W and back. A great route whether you are walking, running or cycling.

[yflyer]

One memorable dinner I had on this trip was at L'Ostia, located at a picturesque square in Barcelonetta.





This was tapas-style dining, with small shared plates.



A wonderful way to dine if you are with a group of friends.

I also made a return trip to El Xampanyet, another tapas bar, but one with a much more intimate setting, very popular with locals. If you go to El Xampanyet, be prepared for a packed, crowded restaurant and a very long wait for tables!

[yflyer]

My flight home to Singapore was BCN-DXB-SIN on Emirates, with both sectors operated by A380's.

Barcelona's stylish International Airport is located about 30 minutes from the city.



As a major trade show and conference in Barcelona had just ended, the airport was really busy.

This was the queue at Emirates check-in that day. The kind of queue you get when you have a Whale Jet operating



Thankfully the F, J and frequent flyer queues were far shorter.



They were asking for volunteers to be bumped that day. I was sorely tempted, but stuck to my schedule as I had commitments back home.



There is a huge airside shopping area at BCN...



However, if you are on an international flight, be sure to go down the escalators to the shopping area to shop first, before heading back up the escalators to clear immigration, because there are very few shops after clearing EU immigration!

Go down here to shop first...





Before heading back up to the D, E international gates, where you pass through EU immigration, and then to the lounge and the boarding gates.

[yflyer]

One of the best features of BCN is an airside outdoor plaza (accessible from the airside shopping and dining areas) which doubles as a smoking zone, but which is really much more than that: a wonderful outdoor setting which is perfect for spending time before your flight, especially if the weather is good.





There is a cafe here as as well as a coffee outlet.





The weather was perfect the day I was there. Spending time there was far preferable to spending time cooped up in a business class lounge...





Remember: this is airside. You get here after the security checkpoint (but before the EU immigration and international gates, though). More airports should have this concept of outdoor airside spaces.