SYD to BCN - QF/EK metal or all EK metal?

[bjm76]

Hi all
Starting to do some planning for a trip early in 2017, from SYD to BCN and then return from MAD or LIS back to SYD. Trip will be in whY.
Looking at schedules, best option is to fly EK all the way, departing SYD at 6am, and with minimal transfer time in DXB. Flying out on QF1 gives a 7 hour transit in DXB which is not ideal even with lounge access.
I will be QF SG by the time I do this trip, so just wondering what the forum thinks about EK vs QF in whY for the trip, and also what time does the EK lounge open in SYD as will probably get to the airport at 4am for this flight.
I have never flown EK in whY, but have flown EK in J on A380 and B777, and found the A380 J product, service and catering to be superior to QF J, so wondering if its the same when comparing whY.
Other left-field option is doing the trip on SQ in whY - have flown to Europe on SQ whY a few times and find it a good experience (in the purchased exit rows of course) but have no status or lounge access with SQ.
Looking forward to the opinions of everyone on this!
Thanks!

 

[kermatu]

It's been quite a while since I've done long-haul flights in Y but those I've done in this class, as well as lots of feedback from friends and family who have travelled recently to Europe on these carriers is that QF has a more consistent product in Y and is generally a safer bet for the long flights. Friendlier and good quality staff, food fine, toilets kept clean etc. not guaranteed on EK.

Other advantage of QF for you is chance to use points to upgrade?

7 hour transit would not be much fun, except in the F lounge (I have no experience of the J lounge though). But then again a 6am start ain't great (in my opinion).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Can you afford premY?
***Edit: I have just had a look, premY is a lot more expensive than I thought I saw a while back.***
A bit more space on the plane with not much extra $.
Given that you will be QF SG by then meaning you will get the majority of access to lounges.
Seeing the distance you have to travel, if not in J, why not premY at the least?

 

[jetpack]

If the flights are full and as SG you have some chance of getting an op up to J with EK. This reason alone will make me choose EK.

 

[ellen10]

My son just returned from Europe Flying Emirates Y on the way over and returning Qantas.
He said the flights (all on A380s) were very similar but the Emirates flights were not full so always managed to get a spare seat beside him.
He also said that on the Emirates flights there was no waiting for the toilets, however the Qantas flights always had people waiting. Not sure if the toilet ratio is different or because of less people.
Qantas had better inflight entertainment choices.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

My son just returned from Europe Flying Emirates Y on the way over and returning Qantas.
He said the flights (all on A380s) were very similar but the Emirates flights were not full so always managed to get a spare seat beside him.
He also said that on the Emirates flights there was no waiting for the toilets, however the Qantas flights always had people waiting. Not sure if the toilet ratio is different or because of less people.
Qantas had better inflight entertainment choices.

Emirates has a couple more restrooms than QF, but also if his flights weren't full on Emirates this would have lightened the load on lavatory usage.

Qantas IFE can be easier to use but in my vast experience on both airlines - EK beats Qantas in almost every department including IFE.

 

[bjm76]

Can you afford premY?
***Edit: I have just had a look, premY is a lot more expensive than I thought I saw a while back.***
A bit more space on the plane with not much extra $.
Given that you will be QF SG by then meaning you will get the majority of access to lounges.
Seeing the distance you have to travel, if not in J, why not premY at the least?

Yes cant quite stretch to premY for this trip, plus 2 of us travelling so makes quite a difference to the overall cost of the holiday. Although premY would only be for the SYD-DXB leg as EK don't do premY....

 

[bjm76]

7 hour transit would not be much fun, except in the F lounge (I have no experience of the J lounge though). But then again a 6am start ain't great (in my opinion).

The 7 hour transit isn't great - I have been in the J EK lounge in DXB before for a 3 hour transit and was underwhelmed when comparing to QF and CX lounges. 6am start also not great, I live near the airport so its only a 15 minute Uber ride, but would still mean getting up at 4am at the latest. Does anyone know what time the EK lounge opens in SYD? I have tried searching on the EK website but there isn't any information about opening times.

 

[downgraded]

Being a frequent traveler at the back of the bus I'd normally go QF over EK anytime on a wide bodied plane, but 7 hours in DXB is probably longer than the second sector flight and to me beyond the realms of reasonable - 7 hours in an airport is almost as bad as 7 hours in a Y seat (even with lounge access) - at least you've arrived and it's over if you take the shorter wait option.

Have just done qf9 in an almost full Y - i saw one spare seat and toilet queues were negligible to non existent.

QF catering seemed far better than EK's in Y. Their delivery style is unique but quality and quantity was way better on QF than the EK flight I did days earlier. Select on Q worked as intended and delivered an excellent 'exclusive' option, though sometimes the dinner options do make you wonder what they were thinking. EK IFE is huge but QF's you definitely exhaust.

Sounds like swings and roundabouts to me!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I flew on a Classic Award BCN EK x/DXB QF x/SYD QF BNE on a Classic award in whY and opted for a mid-arvo departure ex BCN on the 388 vs the later 77W evening departure. The EK186 was scheduled to arrive in DXB just after midnight and I'd pre-booked the DXB Airport terminal hotel before leaving on QF2 the next morning.

As it turned out we were over three and a half hours late leaving BCN due to a couple of defective exit doors however the Lufthansa Technik engineers applied an MEL so we could still depart but it meant the Swissport ground staff had to do a reshuffle of pax and move them away from those doors. It worked out well as a number of pax got upgraded to J, self iincluded. The cabin manager looked to be going off the manifest and looking for status pax not just random people.

As there wasn't enough catering in J due to the last minute op-ups we were served our whY meals but they offered us J beverages like Veuve which was appreciated. The crew seemed a little bit distracted as they'd bring you a champagne glass then about five minutes later come back with the champagne. As a lot of the crew are quite young so don't have the experience when compared to QF who IME work better as a team as the cabin service has more flow to it.

Besides the above J flight I also flew EK SYD/AKL in whY and AKL/BNE in F. On the SYD/AKL sector the F/A's just seemed to go through the motions of handing out the meals - there wasn't any engagement with the pax whatsoever. It was like you were just an annoyance and the flight was merely transportation between parties for the F/A's. As for the luke warm breakfast it was pretty inedible and I wouldn't call myself a fussy eater. The steward didn't even know what he was handing out and was calling it scrambled eggs when it was a frittata as indicated on the menu.

The AKL/BNE flight in F only had two pax in the F cabin but you almost had to send a search party to the galley to locate any F/A's. There was no quilt on the bed so after sticking my head out of the F suite and looking back down the aisle one of the F/A's came up and asked if I wanted anything. When I enquired about the quilt she said "um, I'll go and have a look" as if she didn't know whether they did have quilts or not. There's a flurry of activity prior to take-off offering champagne, Arabic coffee, dates etc but that quickly subsides after takeoff.

The took away the glass of champagne for take-off which they said they'd replenish after take-off but didn't. I wasn't offered any wine with dinner. As I was driving when I got to BNE it wasn't an issue and if I'd wanted something I would've made a point of asking for it but it's First Class and you'd expect to be offered drinks instead of having to flag someone down each time.

I found the QF service in whY on the upper deck on the 388 DXB/SYD was way better than any of the EK flights as the crew seemed to genuinely love their job from the CSM Emma Collins who dropped by for a chat to the young guy heating up the pizzas in the galley for the mid-flight snack to the other young chap delevering the duty free orders. I opted to fly via SYD rather than take the EK non-stop DXB/BE flight and had no regrets doing that.

 

[bjm76]

Thanks to everyone for your inputs. Comments on EK service is interesting, I found the service when I have flown EK J to be quite impersonal as well and the team just going through the motions. One of the FAs I had on QF to BKK in J last month was just brilliantly attentive and friendly - such a contrast actually. I did like the J food on EK more than QF though - was also nice to see the chicken schnitzel sandwich on the EK menu!

Looking like I will go with the EK metal on the way to BCN (6am SYD departure - GULP), and could end up on a mix of EK and QF metal coming home. Fares available for March next year at $1,600 return which is so cheap. Non-upgradeable tickets though. I wont have lounge access in BCN which is a bit disappointing but I am sure I can deal with that. Or just use Priority Pass.

 

[bjm76]

Hi again - just wondering what the consensus view is on the loadings on the EK flights - comparing QF8413/EK413 vs QF8415/EK415 (SYD to DXB)? Am thinking of departing SYD on a Friday so say if we could look at 23 September?

 

[YSSY]

7 hours in Dubai isn't that painful if you have J lounge access. There are actually three J lounges in Dubai, the best by far is the Concourse A one, so if you have a 7 hour stopover, regardless of which concourse/terminal you are departing from, you could hop across to that one. There is a quiet zone in the lounge, which can be absolutely blissful with comfy recliners and blankets which you can easily sleep on.
I'm doing a trip next month SYD-DXB-MAN and have purposely chosen a 7 hour stopover in Dubai (arrive 00:40, depart 07:20) despite their being an earlier DXB-MAN flight I could have taken. For various reasons this suits me.

If the stopover is during the day or evening it's really easy to do a little sightseeing.

As for EK vs QF; if it's in Y the difference is barely noticeable IMHO. I generally choose QF flight numbers for the points, and will try to fly QF where there is an option just because I like to support Australian businesses.

 

[Sdtravel]

Im thinking about doing this in J next year.
If you book EK metal with the QF code you still get the EK chauffeur drive right? Or do you need to be on the EK code?

Tossing up QF->BA or the EK QF codeshares with the overnight flights. The arrival difference is 1 hour although points slightly more with QF to BA.
The 6am start doesnt suite.

 

[aleksandrab]

I had this same conundrum only a few months ago - I flew SYD-DXB-MXP in mid-May on EK metal, and returned LHR-DXB-SYD in mid-June on QF metal. The EK trip was a far more enjoyable one as the rear 20% of the A380 was entirely unoccupied, so I snagged a row to myself after takeoff on both SYD-DXB and DXB-MXP. Only downside here was the 6am departure meant I was unable to make TRS tax refund claims in SYD - office wasn't open. The return leg on the QF A380 was completely full and unfortunately encountered difficulties with auxiliary power at the gate (no air con until takeoff, unpleasant on the Dubai tarmac!) and in-flight entertainment systems (no sound!). Snacks were definitely better on QF though - Mars Bars throughout the night were 10/10!