- Introduction: First Trip to Dubai with My Son!
- Review: Emirates Airlines 777-200LR (Economy Class) – Dallas to Dubai
- Review: Sheraton Hotel – Mall of Emirates
- Review: Marriott Hotel – Al Jaddaf
- Review: Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
- Review: Burj Khalifa 124
- Review: Dubai Speedboat Tour
- Review: Marhaba Lounge – Dubai International Airport
- Review: Emirates Airlines 777-200LR (Business Class) – Dubai to Dallas
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is a short drive from my home in north Texas. I parked at the international terminal, Terminal D, thanks to complimentary parking for veterans. We were in the check in line within minutes of arriving, which happened to be three and a half hours prior to departure. The queue appeared to be quite long.
It was not too bad as as passports and bag was tagged in about 15 minutes. Another surprising thing was we made it through normal security in less than five minutes.
With nearly two and a half hours to spare before boarding, we stopped by The Club Lounge, which happened to be a short walk from out boarding gate. Nicholas and I relaxed and snacked a bit then it was time to head to the gate. Boarding started 45 minutes prior to departure.
EK222
DFW-DXB
Takeoff: 1130
Landing: 1200 (+1 day)
Economy Class
December 17, 2022
We boarded through door 2L. This meant we had to pass through through the business class cabin. These seats were the ones we needed for the 14 hour flight but were way out of my price range.
We also passed through the forward economy cabin before arriving at our seats at the back of the rear economy cabin. I was in my seat only 11 minutes after boarding started.
If we were going to be in economy, i wanted unimpeded access to the aisle without an extra person in the row, so I booked the twin seats. The twin seats, or “honeymoon seats”, were two rows from the back of the rear economy cabin.
A blanket, headphones, and pillow were waiting at the seat. The seats also came with the, what I call, “greasy headrest preventer”. I really appreciated this because my bald head stays moisturized and I would have hated to mess up the seat.
The seat, while older, was better than any economy product I had experienced. The inflight entertainment screen was huge and responsive.
The tray was just the inflight entertainment. The tray could be used halved or whole. I used the halved position for a majority of the flight.
The seat also included a pull out cord, which I used to hang up my jacket. The was also a “cup holder” looking thing that I found useless. Any know what it is???
Boarding was completed ten minutes prior to our scheduled departure. Once this announcement was made, the flight attendants distributed amenity kits. The kit included an eye mask, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste.
We began our pushback four minutes early and the safety demo was played soon thereafter. The demo was narrated by a noticeably British guy.
After a 16 minute taxi, we had a rolling takeoff. The air above Dallas was silky smooth.
15 minutes after takeoff, the flight attendants came around and gave all of the kids duffel bags. OMG!
The toilet smelled from 46 minutes after takeoff…I would like to refer to the smell as pooppourri. I don’t understand how someone can get on an airplane knowing they have to drop a deuce. The crew should make them take out the honey pot like back in my Air Force days. If you poop on the jet, you clean what you pooped in…simple.
Kids meals were delivered first, everything on one tray, about 50 minutes after takeoff, The tray included water, yogurt, salad, roll, nutri grain bar, honey roasted sesame chips, mashed potatoes, broccoli and fish sticks. M & Ms were tucked under the entree.
The drink cart rolled down the aisle 15 minutes thereafter. Another 15 minutes and it eventually arrived at my seat. To my surprise, the drink cart doubled as the food cart, minus the entree. It was the same tray as the kids’ meal except I was given an option for vegetarian or chicken. I went with chicken and came with pasta.
Nicholas asked for a “bite” when he saw it was pasta with the chicken. He left my entree barren and desolate.
The pasta may have been the best thing on my tray, as the chicken with veggies was salty, the salad was way too oniony, and the roll was hard as a rock. I will say that it was very impressive seeing the flight attendant serve the entire back economy cabin off of the small cart.
I messed around with the Wi-Fi on my phone and couldn’t get it to connect. My son’s, however, worked perfectly so he could play Roblox. The Wifi was ~25 for the entire flight. The IFE ws so “busy” that I did not use anything but Wifi, camera, and duty free.
My tray was cleared 45 minutes later. To my amazement, passengers kept bumping into/touching the flight attendant to go to the lavatory or stand in the back of the aircraft. I had not ever seen the attendants allow this behavior on any airline…until now, and she did it with a smile. The lunch service was finally finished about two hours into flight.
The lights were dimmed right after dinner. It got to the point that flight attendants were directing people to close the window shades. It was enchanting or whatever. The stars at the top of the cabin really set the mood. By the way, it wass hard to sleep when the time was 1430 back home.
I dozed in out for the next couple of hours. I was awakened by the drink/snack cart as it rolled down the aisle. I happily agreed two take two pizzas, one for me and the other for my sleeping so. He could have awaken before I ate both of them. LOL. The pizza, which wasn’t bad, came 35 minutes later.
After the pizza, silence. The majority of the flight attendants must have been on their sleep schedule because there was not too much from the back of the house. As I stated earlier, I browsed the duty free and came across an Emporio Armani watch that I had to have. I was also gifted a Singapore Sling from business class.
The breakfast service began just over two hours from Dubai. Special meals were distributed first. Nicholas’s tray came with yogurt, water, fruit, a cheese plate, the same hard roll from earlier, and a main entree with pancakes and sausage. He only tried the fruit because his stomach was hurting.
I received my tray about an hour later. The flight attendant gave me the option of paneer or scrambled eggs, I went with the scrambled eggs because scrambled cottage cheese did not sound appetizing.
On second thought, neither were the scrambled eggs. I should have asked for kids’ meal with pancakes. After the meal, cabin clean up was in full swing. The crew picked up food trays, used blankets, used headphones, etc. I do not think I have ever seen it done on a domestic carrier in the United States. It was definitely impressive to say the least. The flight attendants were Japanese, Romanian, and Ethiopian. All of them spoke English and it was the main language used in the cabin until one found out my son was half Japanese. She spoke with him and he suddenly became too shy to talk with her.
After another 40 minutes or so, we began our descent into Dubai. The routing took us south of the city to turn into the headwind for landing. The landing was one of the smoothest I had experienced. Our taxi to the gate was less than five minutes. Deplaning, however, took 15 minutes.
Final Word
The journey to Dubai went just about as smooth as I could have hoped. Nicholas was not cranky nor any other adjective during the flight. I am thankful the Wifi worked most of the flight so ROblox could keep him entertained. The only I had was the smell from lavatory, if not for this, the flight would have been a 10 out of 10…as far as economy goes. Keep checking back for more from this trip report.
