On an Emirates 777-200 From Dubai To Tunis

i wasn’t sure what to expect from a non-A380 Emirates flight, but as it turns out, it’s pretty much standard international service (Emirates or not), very similar to the A380. this was a morning flight, about 6 hours long.

at the airport

i luckily had a boarding pass for this Tunis flight from when i checked in at SFO, which was great because no one was going to weigh my carry-on, which was overweight by 3kg (it was 10) and had to be checked at SFO to Dubai (i made her short check it to Dubai instead of Tunis since i was overnighting at a hotel outside of the airport). there are self-service kiosks at DXB for you to check in, though, so you could definitely get away with an overweight bag in any case departing from there.

passport control and security were relatively quick; the bottleneck is the former, no lines at the latter.

i should note that the Priority Pass app doesn’t list the Marhaba Lounge in Terminal 3C (only A and B), but there a) is one, and b) it accepts PP. the lounge was nice enough, with hot food available. it was mostly western breakfast items at that hour (7 AM), but there was a lentil soup also available, which i highly recommend, along with the date danish.

the flight

there aren’t many Emirates 777s with wifi, and alas, this wasn’t one of them. the entertainment system is an older model, but the selection was still quite good. the seats were very similar to the A380 in that the seat pan sliding forward does most of the reclining versus the back tilting. note that in the row behind the bulkhead and exit rows the leg room under the seat in front is very tight due to the IFE equipment and the monitor stowage for those seats. the middle two seats in the center section have real power outlets, as do the outer two in the window sections (no USB power).

No amenity kits 🙁

A peek into business class

A pretty typical entertainment system

Leg room shot

As you can see, not a lot of room for your feet especially if you’re behind the bulkhead or exit rows — you can see in front of my feet where the monitor is stowed for those rows.

I haven’t been on too many 777s with external cameras (there’s a forward and a downward); you can also see the bulkhead seats for reference.

Yep, flying west after flying east. Definitely took the long way ’round.

The booklet for this IFE system is thinner than the A380s (it has much fewer channels), but it has a bookmark! Also, my towel from the first hot towel service.

No “Silence Channel” 🙁

You definitely are still spoiled for choice when it comes to music, though. 10 points to the first person who can identify the typo. (I may have been singing along to these songs; I heart Nena.)

service seemed friendlier on this flight than the one from San Francsico to Dubai — and was better, too. we got real cloth hot towels after takeoff and before landing, and there were two people per food cart making meal service much faster. i’m always skeptical of eating fish on a plane, but this was tasty and so far (about 8 hours after the fact), i’m ok!

my only complaint was that it was SO HOT during the flight i had to pull out my shorts from my carry-on (good thing i didn’t check it) and change in the lavatory.

Apologies if you get snow blindness from the glare off the white of my legs.

on the whole, nothing extraordinary on this flight — i’d say it’s about the same as any other mid/long-haul on other (non-US) airlines.