Emirates Twin Seat Review – Recently, we reviewed Rixos the Palm in Dubai (we stayed in their Junior Suite) and sampled the afternoon tea at the top of the Burj Khalifa (follow the links for the reviews).
We travelled to Dubai from Newcastle with Emirates on a Boeing 777-300ER. I chose to upgrade to the ‘twin seats’ (we had 48J and 48K). Now if you are wondering what I mean by this, then I will explain. At the back of the plane, there are five rows of twin seats (ie just two seats on their own in a row). Otherwise in economy the configuration is 3 – 4 – 3.
We were provided with a blanket, pillow and headphones.
My reasoning for upgrading to the twin seats was that there were only two of us on this trip. This way neither of us would need to sit next to someone we didn’t know. I think this is ideal if you are a parent travelling with a single child, want a bit more privacy or are a plus size passenger.
On that note I have to say I was expecting Emirates economy seat sizes to be more generous than they were. We travel to Greece with easyJet a lot so I am familiar with their seat size and Emirates was no more spacious (unfortunately for my behind!).
Flying to Dubai with Emirates Twin Seat Review
A benefit of the twin seats is that you can lift the armrest between you for a bit more comfort (this is true of any seats next to each other of course – NOTE – I believe that the very first row of twin seats, you can’t lift the middle armrest so bear this in mind!). Also on the aisle seat you can lift that armrest too – there is a hidden button set in to the armrest right underneath towards the back of the seat. Press that in and lift the armrest. Because the third seat is missing in the row, the aisle is much wider. So you can feel more comfortable doing this and stretching out more into the aisle. You can put your leg out to the side without tripping people up or getting whacked by the food and drinks trolley.
One downside is that the twin seats are right at the back of the plane which does mean you are last getting off the plane in Dubai and also it’s a long way to walk down to them if the rest of the plane is full. In Dubai they only opened the front doors to disembark passengers, whereas on the return leg to Newcastle the back doors were also opened which meant a swift getaway.
The Emirates entertainment app ICE is excellent. You can choose which movies you would like to watch before you even get on the plane via the Emirates app. You can even save a playlist, then, when you are in your seat, you can pair your app with your entertainment console and it will upload your playlist for easy viewing. It also calculates the length of the films you have chosen to see how much entertainment you have racked up.
You can see in the photo below that there is a USB for charging your phone as well as a UK plug socket (perhaps for charging laptops?).
There is a hand held remote with a screen as you can see. I didn’t use this as the large screen was touch screen. I wonder whether the control is a hangover from days when the screen was not touch screen. I am conjecturing there though! The trays fold out in two parts – again, great for the plus size passenger if you struggle with space to lower it. The round looking thing in the middle is also a cup holder!
Another good tip is to take your own Bluetooth headphones as you can pair these with the entertainment system. Emirates do provide headphones but if you have good ones, bring these instead. (As a caveat to this – on our plane going out to Dubai, we could do this, but could not on our return trip. I asked one of the flight attendants and she explained that some of the planes were yet to be upgraded in order to do this). Oh, also the return trip with the not-updated-entertainment-equipment didn’t have all the films I had chosen on the app. They did still have lots of films and TV shows to watch though.
Another feature of the app is that you can also check what the menu on your journey will be before you travel. We had lunch provided and then a cake and drink later on, on our early flight from Newcastle. I think because we were on the back of the plane we were the last to be served. Our plane departed at 2:05 and we received ‘lunch’ at 4:45. Fortunately, we bought and ate a sandwich in the airport before we boarded the plane, or I think I might have become a bit grumpy!
When the meal did come it was very good. We had potato salad followed by butter chicken curry with rice, a bread bun and butter, cookie, cheesecake and cheese and crackers. Oh and a small square of chocolate.
I would also recommend buying drinks to take on board in the airport. The first drink we were offered was with lunch, which was 3 hours after boarding. I had a small glass of orange juice while my son ordered a diet Coke which was the tiny mixer cans rather than a full can. Tea and coffee were offered afterwards. Before we landed a small piece of cake with served with another offer of tea or coffee. Extra drinks and possibly a few snacks would have been beneficial.
Also see our review of Rixos the Palm, the junior suite at Rixos the Palm and Afternoon Tea at At.mosphere.