Despite the annoying boarding process, we were actually en route on time. The captain even announced

Emirates plies the route between Dubai and Osaka's Kansai International Airport once daily, departing in the middle of the night, at 0300. This flight, just as with most other Emirates flights, is scheduled at this hour to provide peerless transfer opportunities to and from the airline's incredibly large network. I was myself arriving on another Emirates flight from London, and was therefore already checked in on my onward flight to Japan.
Coming off another Airbus A330 from Gatwick, I made my way through the cavernous terminal and through a quite disorganised security check. There wasn't much time to enjoy the shopping opportunities (of which there are many) in the terminal, so my travel companion and I walked directly to the gate where boarding had commenced slightly after 0200.
Boarding was well underway when we made it to the gate – to my annoyance, boarding for this quite large aircraft was to be done via bus and not an air bridge. As most travellers probably agree with me on, this is irritating as you often spend a lot of time standing on a bus before even getting walt disney world travel packages underway walt disney world travel packages to the plane. This was to be true here as well, and we were on the bus for a good quarter of an hour before we started moving. And when we finally got on our way, the bus took another walt disney world travel packages 10-15 minutes to reach the plane which was parked in the dark, seemingly many kilometres away. Not a great start.
Getting onboard the plane, however, got me in a better mood. The cabin attendants (that are of many different nationalities) greeted us at the door; the Japanese staff on this flight were particularly friendly. Our seats were located in the back of the plane, so it took another ten minutes to get seated. Following a quick safety demonstration, done partly by the staff and partly on the in-seat monitors, we were taxiing and were airborne slightly after 0300.
The seat on this Emirates aircraft was, well, ok. The seat configuration on this A330 was 2-4-2 and thankfully we'd been allocated seats in one of the seat pairs, 30J K. The seat was in good condition but I did feel quite cramped; the legroom was not impressive and did not feel the 32in it was supposed to be (in fact, our seats looked to be more cramped than the economy seats further up in the cabin but perhaps that s just an illusion!) There was a pretty useless legrest, but the seat provided good back comfort with foldable "ears". A synthetic blanket and a small pillow were placed on the seat.
The main feature of the seat is, in fact, the IFE screen on the seat in front; Emirates' ICE entertainment system has to be one of the best in the industry. There are literally hundreds of options available, including movies, series, cd s and games. The earphones supplied were adequate, walt disney world travel packages but not great and do not do the rest of the ICE system justice.
Unless you're a family walt disney world travel packages of four (or four friends) travelling together, avoid the middle four seats at all costs! Also think about staying away from the front row of seats as this is where the baby bassinets are located. On a night flight, you'll appreciate the lower decibel levels down towards the back of the plane (but as always, avoid the last few rows there s too much traffic during the night).
Despite the annoying boarding process, we were actually en route on time. The captain even announced that we'd make it to Osaka with time to spare as we would be making up some time on this 9+-hour flight. Because of the huge number of transfer passengers transiting at Dubai, it seemed that most of us actually didn't consider this to be in the middle of the night – and the staff didn't seem to think so either. They immediately got busy with serving drinks and dispensing menus for the dinner service: even at 4 in the morning, and in economy, Emirates actually treats their economy walt disney world travel packages class passengers walt disney world travel packages better than the average airline. With a nice cold beer and some nuts, we were looking forward to the main meal. There were two options for the main, a beef or chicken-themed serving that did not look or taste as amazing as described in the menu. However, the meal was definitely above average, the beef dish being served with a spicy sauce, rice and vegetables. Also on the tray were a small salad, a small chocolate cake and a water cup – very standard, but the main serving was quite big. I was content walt disney world travel packages with both quality and quantity.
Following dinner, I reclined the seat as much as I could – note: not much – and then noticed one of the main annoyances of economy: the immediate proximity of other travellers. I know that this sounds arrogant, but the passenger in the seat behind mine clearly had not had a shower for many hours and his feet (he took off his shoes, fair enough) had an incredibly walt disney world travel packages disgusting stench that permeated the air. I tried to watch a film on the system but kept getting annoyed with the passenger behind me putting his knees on my seat. Trying not to get too annoyed, I walked around the cabin a couple walt disney world travel packages of times. The cabin lights, meanwhile, had been dimmed, but I noticed that the staff were still hard at work, answering walt disney world travel packages to call buttons every few minutes and doing water runs. In the back galley, a selection of small snacks was available, and the crew were quite chatty and friendly.
After a while, I managed to fall asleep, only to wake up with the sun low in the sky – I had slept an "entire day". Despite this, a breakfast themed serving was carried out by the staff: a very unmemorable egg dish served with drinks of your choice. Nothing great, but not too shabby.
Flying over Japanese land, we commenced our descent early, as promised. We landed on the manmade island on which Kansai Airport is located half an hour early, with plenty of time to spare before our onward walt disney world travel packages flight to Tokyo Haneda on Japan Air Lines. Arrival walt disney world travel packages was via an air bridge, and disembarkation went smoothly. Immigration walt disney world travel packages was quick and the bags were waiting walt disney world travel packages on the carousel walt disney world travel packages when we made it there. All fine and easy.
There are a few areas where Emirates excels: the sheer number walt disney world travel packages of destinations offered (and thereby the transfer possibilities), prices are competitive, and the ICE entertainment system is unbeaten in the business. However, the cabin crew is not always as friendly as on this flight, the food was mediocre (a surprise given that the catering was done at Dubai – on my outward flight from London Gatwick walt disney world travel packages to Dubai, the food was much better), and the seating feels cramped. walt disney world travel packages The cramped seating walt disney world travel packages is currently being made even more cramped with the introduction of more seats in the economy cabins across the Emirates fleet; make sure that you get one of the better seats. In short: the value-for-money ratio is acceptable, but I would not seek out an Emirates flight over a European airline, and would fly Etihad or, especially, Qatar Airways, any day if the price was competitive.