I was booked on the second of the two daily Flydubai flights from Belgrade to Dubai earlier this month - the red-eye which departs at 22:20 and arrives after 6AM the following morning into Dubai. A few days earlier I placed a bid to upgrade from economy to business class and was successful. I arrived at the airport just after 20:00, at which point it was still very quiet. Flydubai still does its check-in procedures at Terminal 1.
After checking in, I headed through passport control, security and duty free to the lounge. Flydubai uses the Air Serbia lounge, however, I was told at the entrance that upgraded passengers did not have lounge access, which wasn’t the case a few years ago when I last flew Flydubai.
I walked around the airport a bit instead. I still don’t understand that an airport that markets itself as a regional hub has almost all of its stores and cafes closed from 21:00, especially considering the amount of traffic it has after midnight. On that night there were flights to Guangzhou and many other destinations just before and after midnight.
Boarding for the flight began on time. It wasn’t particularly full that evening. I would say the load was at around 70% although there were seven out of ten business class seats occupied on the 737 MAX 8.
When I was upgraded, I selected the seat in row 2 which is a so-called “throne seat”. Flydubai configuration in business is 2-2, 1-1, 2-2. The seats are fully lie flat and have a lot of storage space, including on both sides of the seat. There’s a personal TV screen, USB port and a power port. Each seat had a pillow, blanket, water bottle and headphones. The second row seats are private and you can’t actually see the passengers around you.
Before departure, we were offered a welcome drink and were also given this card warning about our valuables, which was interesting, considering there is a lot of talk about theft onboard lately.
After we took off, the crew offered each passenger a hot towel, drink, as well as the option to choose between some salty and savoury snacks. They also handed out the menu and drinks cards. Afterwards, they took the meal and beverage preference, which was served quickly afterwards, within fifteen minutes of the choices being taken. There were three main course options, and I opted for the third one.
After that, I slept for the remainder of the flight, waking up around an hour before landing. While there is no pre-arrival meal service on such a short flight, coffee, tea, juices, and some snacks are offered prior to landing in Dubai. I didn’t spend too much time using the IFE, but it had a lot of movie and TV options.
We parked at a remote stand at Terminal 1 in Dubai and were deplaned by bus to reach the Emirates Terminal 3. There is a dedicated bus for business class passengers, but it takes a good 15 minutes to get from the plane to the terminal.
Overall, the upgrade on this flight was worth it considering it was a red-eye and the overall experience was good.
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I am surprised they don't offer a snack before landing since the flight lasts 05.30.
ReplyDeleteShame it wasn't a better load. I did hear that most of their flights are quite full.
Night flights have different menu food categories - since this is actually a short flight, one full meal option is more than enough for this flight category.
DeleteMajority of paxs actually sleep on this flights since it’s a night time departure, so putting a second service just before landing would mean a lot of food wastage.
Nice report, thanks.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask how much you paid for the upgrade?
ReplyDeleteI'm not the author but I typically pay around $425-450 for an upgrade to business class on this route and it works every single time. Quite decent if you ask me.
DeleteActually, I'm writing this comment from the merhaba lounge at DXB Terminal 3, time to go home :-)
My bid for this particular flight was $600. It was the minimum they were offering on this occasion.
DeleteMaybe it’s got something to do with my post above, but in a quite remarkable turn of events, I got upgraded to business class just now. This has never happened to me before, on any airline anywhere.
DeleteI don’t know what’s the criteria, the only “special” thing I did was book the flight in Economy back in January during their double miles promotion for flights up until today.
Amazing, nevertheless.
Wow, 600$ is really excessive for such a short flight. I've upgraded on 10+ hour routes for less.
DeleteNot just Europe that closes shops early. I was in Miami recently and well before (sunset around 6pm) a load of heavy East bound flights left, the food court closed and we were left with a kiosk and hundreds of passengers. Same happened later in Tokyo. Before all West bound evening Middle East and European heavies left all was closed at 9pm. No food and hundreds of passengers around. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteThis is what one calls business class and not what JU and most other European clowns are offering.
ReplyDeleteThis is called having billions of dollars to spent because of oil and natural gas revenues.
DeleteAh yes, because comparing JU's cramped seats to actual lie-flat business class is like comparing a bicycle to a private jet. Totally the same thing, right? 😆 Well, let's not just mix frogs and grandmas! It's a totally different concept, since most of their flights are pretty long.
DeleteJU doesn't have any mid-haul routes, so I'm not sure what you're comparing it against...?
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