A380 615 passengers new Record

[Ansett]

Would be good to see how they fitted the `13 extra rows would they be where the current F seating is?

Air Travel Just Got More Packed On This Record-Setting Plane

And here it is

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Emirates_Airlines/Emirates_Airlines_Airbus_A380_Two_Class.php

I like the 2 4 2 layout rather than 3 4 3

 

[Dr Ralph]

What a great way to turn people off a magnificent plane.

 

[TomVexille]

Correct. And they are removing a few J seats as well.

Looks like this

 

[Ansett]

Correct. And they are removing a few J seats as well.

Looks like this

Wonder if they will be the first to operate single class A380 with 800 plus seats?

 

[Dr Ralph]

Wonder if they will be the first to operate single class A380 with 800 plus seats?

Shameful behaviour if they do.

 

[dajop]

I know people love a bit of drama and make things out to worse than what they are. But really, from an economy passenger point of view, other than taking an extra few minutes to embark and disembark, there will be no difference to current A380's (although IIRC the economy pax:economy toilet ratio is actually better in this arrangement), as the seats and the spacing are more or less the same.

Probably better than most carriers cramming an extra row or two into their narrowbody fleets. And certainly better than the standard 3-3-3 config for most carriers 787 economy cabins. But 6 extra pax on 737 or the number of seats they cram into 787's don't sound as dramatic, whereas in reality are worse in terms of economy passenger comfort than 615 seat A380's.

 

[gaz0303]

On the positive side, I no longer need to fly on an ATR to turn left on entry. Will business passengers have to walk through economy for entry and exit at most terminals?

 

[dajop]

Will business passengers have to walk through economy for entry and exit at most terminals?

Don't most terminals that are A380 capable have upstairs boarding airbridges? If that is the case, then no.

 

[Ansett]

On the positive side, I no longer need to fly on an ATR to turn left on entry. Will business passengers have to walk through economy for entry and exit at most terminals?

Interesting point one wonders how they will instigate priority disembarkation for J class passengers?

 

[TomVexille]

Don't most terminals that are A380 capable have upstairs boarding airbridges? If that is the case, then no.

I'm curious about the direct from lounge boarding at DXB. Are they going to make all upstairs Y pax climb the stairs?

 

[gaz0303]

Don't most terminals that are A380 capable have upstairs boarding airbridges? If that is the case, then no.

My experience of upstairs boarding is that it is though done from the front. This seat map will require upstairs loading from the rear.

 

[dajop]

My experience of upstairs boarding is that it is though done from the front. This seat map will require upstairs loading from the rear.

My experience with upstairs boarding (on SQ, MH and OZ) is always from the centre of the plane. There isn't even a door at the front of the second level. In this EK configuration, the seat map shows the entry door is between Y and J, so I imagine Y pax turn left and J pax turn right. Also easy to implement priority disembarkation for J.

Of course if there is no upstairs airbridge that complicates things.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

This is going to be the aircraft most hated by cabin crew.
They already hate EK high density economy.

 

[JohnK]

It's the thought of having 615 passengers or later 800+ passengers on an aircraft.

There are possibilities of not enough food loaded (as happened to dad and I on SYD-LAX flight) so more mouths to feed from the scraps they find.

Aircraft will feel more cramped. Extended waiting on board during delays or diversions.

Length of time to disembark. I'm sure they have it covered but from memory it take takes a long time to disembark from row Qantas row 80 with current config. If you get a few slow people it coukd take even longer. Don't care about boarding as I'll be one of the last to board.

 

[dajop]

IAircraft will feel more cramped. Extended waiting on board during delays or diversions.

Length of time to disembark. I'm sure they have it covered but from memory it take takes a long time to disembark from row Qantas row 80 with current config. If you get a few slow people it coukd take even longer. Don't care about boarding as I'll be one of the last to board.

If you think about - it sounds bad but these things will be barely noticeable. The A380, from a passenger point of view is virtually two aircraft, upstairs and downstairs.

Downstairs it is status quo - the same number of passengers as there is downstairs on the existing EK A380. It will be no more cramped than currently. It will take no longer to board or disembark than current A380 (provided there is no issues with the airbridges). If you are in row 80 on the two class A380, it will be no different from being in row 80 on EK's three class A380.

Upstairs will look and feel like an A330 (albeit with Y in the front instead of the back). Y pax upstairs will probably take no longer to board or disembark than downstairs Y pax, so won't notice the difference. The airline will notice additional disembarkation time, I suspect passengers won't.

As there's a greater chance of getting a seat upstairs in the 2-4-2 configuration on the 615 seat EK A380, I'd probably prefer it to the three class version - where all seats are downstairs in 3-4-3 configuration. and certainly preferable to their 3-4-3 configured 777-300's or most airlines 3-3-3 configured 787s.