TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published.
Right now, just about every post I seem to write about Emirates involves the Middle East carrier adding yet more A380 service to one of its routes….and this post is no different. In July the airline announced an A380 service to Auckland and more A380 service for both Kuala Lumpur and Milan and it seems to have a developed a taste for turning some of its routes “all A380” (Düsseldorf and Munich being the latest beneficiaries of this). Now it’s Manchester’s turn.
Emirates has announced that, From 1 January 2017, it will replace the Boeing 777-300ER that operates EK21/22 between Dubai and Manchester with an Airbus A380 leaving Manchester will three daily A380 flights to the Emirate.
As things stand, the full Dubai – Manchester schedule will look like this:
EK21 DXB 03:00 – 07:00 MAN (Daily A380 service)
EK17 DXB 07:20 – 11:20 MAN (Daily A380 service)
EK19 DXB 14:40 – 18:40 MAN (Daily A380 service)
EK21 MAN 08:45 – 19:45 DXB (Daily A380 service)
EK17 MAN 13:10 – 00:25+1 day DXB (Daily A380 service)
EK19 MAN 22:35 – 07:45+1 day DXB (Daily A380 service)
Emirates hasn’t specifically said what configuration the new flight will feature (and at the time of writing the flights aren’t loaded in to the reservations system) but the way the press release is worded suggests that the new A380 will still feature a First Class cabin.
Of the two A380 aircraft that Emirates currently flys on its Dubai – Manchester route one is set out in a 2-Class configuration while the other offers the full 3-class layout.
Assuming the new A380 sports First Class cabin as suggested by the press release I would expect it to offer 14 First Class Suites, 76 Business Class seats and 427 Economy Class seats.
Great News For Manchester
This is a huge boost to premium cabin travelers on the Dubai – Manchester route as, not only will this significantly increase the number of Business Class seats on the route (up by 34 in either direction), but the Emirates A380 Business Class offering is light years ahead of its equivalent on the 777-300ER.
Emirates A380 Business Class – courtesy of Luke Lai via Flickr
Marketing can be an amazing thing and Emirates is proof of this. Because the airline has worked so hard to promote itself as a luxury airline (at least in its forward cabins) people tend to assume that all of the airlines premium cabin offerings are fantastic – they’re not.
Emirates 777-300ER business Class
The Business Class seat in the Emirates 777-300ER is way behind what many other airlines offer in their Business Class cabins – it has 3-across seating in the middle section and the seats don’t even lie flat! – and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon.
Emirates has announced a new Business Class seat for its 777 fleet and the commonly held view is that it won’t be much of an improvement on the existing offering – that’s why moving Manchester to an all-A380 service is such a big plus for flyers in the UK’s north-west.
Emirates Birmingham Service Changes
Don’t worry Birmingham, you’re not losing A380 service to Manchester 🙂
Emirates has just decided that it needs to make its Birmingham – Dubai A380 service more convenient for travelers wishing to connect in Dubai to the airline’s other A380 services.
As of 1 January 2017 the airline will be swapping around the aircraft that operate flights EK37/38 & EK39/40.
The new schedule will look like this:
EK41 DXB 02:25 – 06:25 BHX (Daily 777-300ER service)
EK39 DXB 07:30 – 11:25 BHX (Daily 777-300ER service) **was A380 service**
EK37 DXB 14:50 – 18:45 BHX (Daily A380 service)
EK42 BHX 08:15 – 19:10 DXB (Daily 777-300ER service)
EK40 BHX 13:30 – 00:35+1 day DXB (Daily 777-300ER service) **was A380 service**
EK38 BHX 20:45 – 07:40+1 day DXB (Daily A380 service)
The A80 on the Birmingham route will continue to offer a 2-class cabin configuration.
BE CAREFUL
Aircraft swaps normally change seating arrangements quite a bit and this one takes that to new heights – there are almost no similarities between the 777-300 and A380 cabin layouts so, if you’re booked on one of these flights and you have an assigned seat, I’d check your reservation to make sure you’re still sitting in a seat you’re happy with.
For Business Class travelers this swap will be either good or bad news depending on which aircraft you now find yourself on. As I explained earlier, the 777 Business Class cabin is noticeably inferior to the cabin on the A380 so, if you already have a reservation on one of these flights, you’ve either just scored an upgrade or have just seen your seat take a turn for the worse.
If you have a flexible reservation and if you have some wiggle-room with your flight times you should definitely consider swapping on to the A380 flight if you’re not already on it.
If you haven’t got a flexible reservation then you can plead your case to Emirates (it can’t hurt) but don’t expect much – airlines protect themselves in their conditions of carriage by specifically saying that they do not guarantee the aircraft you will be flying on so they don’t owe you anything.
Emirates A380 Business Class Cabin
Bottom Line
More A380 service to Manchester is fantastic for the UK’s North West and may even make award availability from there that little bit easier. Better yet there’s no difference in the quality of the Business Class offering on the Emirates flights now – they’re all very good.
Birmingham doesn’t see much of a change although those with existing reservation will probably beg to differ with me on that one – just make sure you check your seat assignments and make sure you get in touch with Emirates asap if anything needs addressing.
