Thanks Mike thats good to know. We are flying with Emirates from Glasgow then onto Mumbai on 20 March. We are seated quite near the back of the plane, so depending on which way they serve their food, there might be nothing left for us either But we will follow your advise and fingers crossed

The travel agent has informed me thaT EMIRATES HAVE CHANGED MY RETURN FLIGHT FROM 20-40 HOURS TO 09-50 HOURS ON THE 10TH nOV losing me a day of my honeymonn.

As you can guessw Im not best pleased at this and what to know if I have any option- either flight change if another suitable one or cancel and fly with Qatar

I am planning a flight to Australia in November returning January 2011. I have flown with Qantas Singapore Airlines and Emirates.
I loved SIA and would prefer to fly with them but now there is no direct flight to Singapore but have to touch down in Munich. I understand I come off the Aircraft and reboard time between flight 80 minutes and it is the same aircraft.
I can fly with Emirates to Dubai and then change for Perth there. I found the last time I flew with them the flight was full to Dubai but not so onwards to Perth.
Returning from Dubai there were a lot of small children on the floor etc and once again the flight was full.
Not sure whether it is best to do the Emirates as only one change or whether to do the Singapore Airlines and put up with the Munich situation on the way out and return.

Views please?

Sue

Darren

Thanks for your advice. I have booked my flights with SIA and leave on the 25th November returning on the 18th January so will miss a good deal of the winter. I am only able to have 60 days max with my travel insurance ie extending the 31 days but only at a cost of £18.
My SIL and I intend to have a short holiday in WA whilst I am there. The flight goes via Munich but the times and the layovers are good so very acceptable.

Thanks again.

Sue

Emirates gears up for A380 Manchester take-off

Emirates' A380 will make its inaugural flight from Manchester next week.

It is due to touch down in Manchester at 12.25pm on 1 September, before taking off for Dubai a few hours later.

It will be the first time the world's largest airliner has operated a scheduled service from a regional airport.

The Emirates superjumbo, carrying up to 517 passengers, will be operating one of Emirates' two daily flights from Manchester non-stop to Dubai.

It will also introduce Emirates' First Class cabin, including on-board showers.

Return fares from Manchester to Dubai on the A380 start from £539 (Economy), £2309 (Business) and £3087 for First Class.

With permission from Travelmole

I have no doubt at all dazbo will be pulling every string he can to be there and photograph it and report for those of us who cannot make it.

Would love to see its first proper landing at Manchester.

Having been to the viewing park a few times I can imagine the wings nearly touching the fence.

Papa

Papa wrote:

I have no doubt at all dazbo will be pulling every string he can to be there and photograph it and report for those of us who cannot make it.

I can't make it next wednesday, work is getting in the way Police are expecting up to 15,000 visitors too so I'll be avoiding the area! I will, however be around the day or two afterwards

Darren

Expect a full report with pics dazbo.

15000 visitors says a lot for this aircraft.

It seems to be as big a draw as the 747 was when first launched.

Airbus can only hope it is as successful as the 747.

Time will tell

i will be there on wednesday, i can not wait!!! im lucky, i only live up the road in alderley edge, so i will be going down on my bike. i know a cracking little field at the end of the runway where i can get some great photos hopefully. and ill miss all the traffic too!!

bowmanor wrote:

i know a cracking little field at the end of the runway where i can get some great photos hopefully

That'll be Joe's field or the 23R theshold then (oposite the airport pub) Please post some photos. I wouldn't be so sure about the traffic, those spots will be as busy as anywhere as they are the places for photography when wanting approach / landing shots on 23R. I know at least a dozen who are heading that way! It's quite a historic occasion with Emirates sending the A380-800 to Manchester for the first time and a test for all the taxyway upgrades and new gate 12 facilities.

Darren

Even with this Darren I am still glad I booked Singapore Airlines due to the high occupancy of the Emirates. I don't mind not being on this new large Aircraft I prefer to fly the SIA one with the 34" seat pitch.
Good luck to all those who travel on the new Emirates aircraft and to all of you who are able to be there on that big day.

Sue

wow!! what an aircraft!! its amazing!! it wont let me post a link to my you tube web site but if you search for , the first ever airbus a380 to land at manchester airport, you will find it. a good close up side view of a fantastic looking emiarates a380!!!

Hi bowmanor ... you can if you wish add the video to our Media Galleries (link in navigation bar at top of page) and then post a link here to the clip.

David

We intend going to Manchester airport to see the plane land/take off in the next few days.
Can anyone tell me the flightpath in that it usually takes? Also we normally watch the planes from the pub (Airport hotel) at the end of the runway - will we see it from there either coming in or taking off again, or do we need to go to the aviation viewing area? Which runway and terminal does it use? Thanks.

Vivien-Marie,

Emirates now operate out of Manchesters Terminal 1, specifically gate 12 as that's currently the only A380 complient gate. Flight paths vary depending on weather / traffic. Assuming the winds are from the west and runway 23R is active, you'll see it land from the Airport pub and it'll taxi past the Runway Viewing Park. If the winds are from the east, it'll land on runway 05R so you won't see it from the airport pub. For take off, it'll use 23L if winds are from the west, and 05L if they are from the east. If 23L is active, the south side of the airfield is the best place to view it. If 05L is active, you'll see it from both areas.

Darren

Crumbs.... thanks very much.

Photos of Emirates A380-800 operating in to Manchester are posted on the Airbus A380 topic.

Darren

I am a Skywards Member and I am trying to upgrade one of my flights from economy to business class, the system keeps saying , not available at the moment please try nearer to departure, does anybody know if this is the usual thing with Emirates, so they can try and sell the Business class first? then if it is still available near the time they may let you upgrade ?

Thanks

Shirley,

What I can tell you is Emirates have a huge amount of requests for reward upgrades.

As you can imagine they have to generate income from business class sales.

However we have had a few mileage upgrades and also been able to purchase additional miles to get upgraded they really are quite amenable to this.

My best advice is to ring the Skywards service centre number on the website as my experience has been that the closer you get to a flight the less upgrades they have available.

So ring now!

So heres my favourite upgrade story.

We are in Sri Lanka in september 2009 and flew there with Emirates,we are due to fly home on our anniversary.

We have quite a lot of miles in the bank and I decide to surprise my OH.

From our hotel room in Sri Lanka 2 days before we fly home I attempt the impoosible, trying for an upgrade.

To my complete amazement they still had availabilty but I had to buy £400 of extra miles.

The experience was amazing and the lounge in DXB was something else and best of all a great anniversary present.

So I would ring them.

Good luck

Papa

Lete us know how you get on