Review of Emirates flight from Dubai to New York in Economy

Hello and welcome back to this set of Flight Reports covering my trip to Southern Africa!
A reminder of the routing:

6/30/16 7/1/16 - EK204, JFK-DXB, A380, Economy (Here)
7/1/16 7/2/16 - EK775, DXB-DUR, B777-300ER, Economy (Here)
7/21/16 - EK764, JNB-DXB, B777-300ER, Economy + Tourist Bonus (Here)
7/22/16 - EK201, DXB-JFK, A380, Economy (You are Here)

Where I left off, I had just gotten off the flight from Johannesburg. I followed the familiar red connections signs I had seen three weeks beforehand.

I found the FIDS and confirmed my gate was B17, just a short walk away.

After a quick security check, I went up the escalators into the terminal. What was the first sign I saw? B17! That was easy.

Touchdown to my next gate took a staggering 25 minutes. That's what I call efficiency!

This was A6-EED, which I thought was my plane, but turns out, my plane was A6-EDB, the second A380 delivered to Emirates 8.3 years ago. I knew this would mean the old screens, but I guess it's cool to be on the second of a type delivered to an airline.

After finding some breakfast, I decided I wanted to explore the terminal. I hadn't seen anything on the way in, and I had a lot of time to kill. I walked to one end of the concourse, and started my stopwatch, wanting to time how long it would take to walk the entire distance.
Some sights along the way.

I made a quick stop at the gate I left from 3 weeks ago, and waiting there was A6-ENC, the exact plane I had been on - what are the chances of that?

That's a strange aircraft to pull…

Stop the clock! Shows you the sheer size of DXB…

Back at gate B17, it was getting lighter.

At 7:15, the 'gate open' text appeared, and I made my way into the cordoned off area. I tried to use my mobile boarding pass again, but the agent told me I needed the printed one. Why offer it if you can't even use it at the hub airport?? I dug for my printed one I got in JNB, but it had been ripped. He said it wasn't a problem, asked for my passport, and printed me off a new one (on Emirates cardstock).
Down the escalator, there was another security check. One officer asked if I had any liquids (no), and sent me to another officer to have my bag hand searched. There was a big scanner for those who did have liquids in their bags. I'm pretty sure this was a US regulation, as I didn't have it on the way out.
I found myself a seat, and waited for boarding to begin.

At 7:55, boarding started with families with children. Half the plane got on, I swear.

Next were zones C and F. I was in the furthest forward area of the plane, which has it's own jetway, for some reason. On I went!

I was on board at 8:03.

Hello from seat 49A! Old screens would have to do.

Oh, what a lovely view of the jetway.

I looked down to plug in my headphones, and there was the AC power! What an interesting place to put it.

About 5 minutes after I had sat down, the person in the row in front of me reclined their seat ALL the way back. Ugh.

Still at the gate, menus were distributed. (Sorry - I know these are sideways but can't seem to fix it).

And…an amenity kit? What? This was my fourth flight and the first time I had gotten one - but I'll take it. Inside was a toothbrush and toothpaste, an eyemask, earplugs, socks, and a refreshing towel.

The captain came on and announced our flying time to be 12h40m. He also said that we would be delayed because of late connections and issues with baggage. However, the main reason for our delay was a family a few rows in front of me who refused to sit down because they weren't seated together. Multiple FAs tried to explain to them that the flight was full, but they didn't seem to understand. Watching the FAs, I could already tell that this was a much better crew. The family finally sat down, and we pushed back at 9:02.

And as soon as pushback had finished, the family stood right back up again. After more arguing with the FAs, the captain came on and said, "Would the passengers standing in the cabin please sit down, we're losing fuel and will have to go back to the stand soon,". That seemed to convince them. Taxi began at 9:15.

Shooting down runway 30R, we were in the air at 9:30, exactly an hour late.

Goodbye Dubai!

One perk of sitting at the front is that you get your meals very early. The meal cart rolled past at 10:50, and I chose the mushroom omelet option. This was the best meal I had on all four flights.

I started with the main - mushroom omelet, chicken sausages, creamy spinach, and a hashbrown. Holy moly, everything was SO good. Tons of flavor and everything was cooked perfectly. Something I'd expect at a restaurant. 10/10

Trusty pineapple juice. 5/5

I was hesitant to try the fruit, but it was actually really good. Tasted like it was fresh. Only complaint was that it was cut into really big pieces (yeah, I know, that's what a knife is for, but I'm lazy). 8/10

I liked that the crackers were whole wheat, and I had one with each spread on it. Pretty good. 4/5

Like the fruit, I was hesitant to try the croissant as well, but it tasted like it had come straight out of a bakery. 5/5

The wreckage afterward.

Total meal score: 32/35 - A stellar first meal, at or above the standards I was expecting from Emirates.
Mood lighting in full swing.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I hate the windows on the A380. It's so frustrating when you're trying to take pictures and always end up with part of the wall in the picture.

I conked out for a bit, and woke up somewhere around here.

It was then time for the second meal service, somewhere around 15:30. Having not gotten to try it on DXB-DUR, I decided to choose the lamb option.

First up was the main - lamb, mashed potatoes, and some veggies. The potatoes and veggies were good and cooked properly. The lamb was also cooked very well, but the sauce had full peppercorns in it, which wasn't to my liking. Pepper sauce is fine, I was just expecting it to be crushed up. 8/10

I had had the couscous salad on the way out, and it wasn't particularly good. This time, however, it had lots of flavor and wasn't stone cold. 8/10

Typical airline food. I'd had all three things at one point or another before, and they were all pretty good. 12/15

The raspberry cake with whipped cream. This was so good, really nice texture and flavor throughout. 10/10

When the drink cart came around, I decided to try my luck and asked for a mango and a pineapple juice. Much to my surprise, she asked if I wanted them mixed or separate. Ask and you shall receive! 5/5

Total meal score: 43/50 - Another great meal.

I went back to sleep, and when I woke up, I decided to walk through the cabin. I found some snacks in the galley, my first time seeing this on all four flights.

Counting to the best of my ability there was five, MAYBE 10 open seats in all of economy.

Stairway to heaven.

And stairway to…the bathroom (and the cockpit)? Cool!

Inside (you can see the mars bar I grabbed from the galley haha).

The Emirates logo is displayed throughout the plane.

I had been pacing up and down the aisles for a while when I started to see the FAs moving carts around, so I figured it was time for the third meal. At 20:20, I received my final meal on Emirates (for now, anyways).

I had had the pizza on the way out, and it wasn't particularly good, but this was much better. 9/10

Now that I knew I could be greedy, I ordered two drinks again. 5/5

Total meal score: 14/15 - A nice snack to finish off the flight.
Total score for meals on this flight: 89/100 - The best food I had on all four flights, I guess they were saving the best for last!
Getting closer to New York - land!!

Before descent, I'll sum up Crew and IFE.
For the first time, the crew on this flight was really great. They came from 22 countries and spoke 19 languages. Every meal was delivered with a smile, and they were super professional about everything. On the ground in Dubai, one especially friendly male FA went around taking pictures of people in their seats with a polaroid camera, and putting it in a small Emirates frame for them! What a nice idea.
On the contrary, my experience with the IFE was mediocre compared to my previous flights. Yes, the system is amazing, but my screen was unresponsive and the remote continuously glitched out and wouldn't work properly. I guess this was just due to the fact that it was an older plane.
We begun our descent into New York at 21:42.

FRG airport.

Touchdown on runway 22L at 14:13 local time - 2 minutes ahead of schedule despite the one hour delay.

Taxi to T4 took about 20 minutes.

I got off the plane quickly and headed to immigration, baggage claim, and customs. Immigration and customs took a combined 10 minutes, and I waited about 10 minutes for my bag. I guess JFK is pretty dead at that hour.
That wraps up this report and this series! Thanks so much for reading, and leave a comment if you feel inclined - I love reading and responding to them!
-Daniel
P.S. Lots of reports coming up soon - I'm taking 8 flights in the month of August! I leave for Madrid tomorrow (at the time of writing), then to Dakar via Brussels, back to New York, then to Chicago, and back to New York from Indianapolis, then down to Northern Florida and back. Stay on the lookout!