Emirates announced today that they’ll be launching daily service between Dubai and Chicago as of August 5, 2014.
This will be Emirates’ ninth US destination, after Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington.
The new service will be operated by a three cabin 777-200LR, featuring first, business, and economy class. The 777-200LR features eight fully enclosed suites, 42 angled flat business class seats, and 216 economy class seats.
Emirates first class suite, found on the 777-200LR
The flight will operate with the following schedule:
EK235 Dubai to Chicago departing 9:45AM arriving 3:25PM
EK236 Chicago to Dubai departing 8:35PM arriving 7:10PM (+1 day)
Among the three big Middle Eastern carriers Emirates is usually the leader when it comes to new destinations, though interestingly they’re the last of the three carriers to fly to Chicago — Etihad and Qatar already have nonstop service to Chicago from their hubs. Heck, even Royal Jordanian flies to Chicago.
Anyway, I doubt I’ll be taking the flight anytime soon. While I do love redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles for travel on Emirates, I’ll do whatever I can to get on their A380 service out of New York or Los Angeles, given the onboard shower and bar, which is half of the fun of the Emirates experience, in my experience.
Emirates A380 onboard shower
That being said, theoretically the more routes they have, the more award space there will be, so that’s always good news.
While the new Chicago flight is now for sale, it appears as if Emirates has only loaded economy award availability so far. Every single date has at least nine economy class award seats, though I don’t see a single date with first or business class award space. I’m sure they’ll get around to loading space eventually.
Admittedly Emirates isn’t quite as generous as they used to be with releasing first class award space, though availability is still quite good last minute.
@ Travel Sister -- Nope, it's totally style over substance. It's room temperature and actually warmer than that, since it has a light which warms it up.
This is great news for me since I live in Chicago. Always wanted to try Emirates but didn't really want to have to take a positioning flight to do so. I am most intrigued by the personal fridge-does it keep drinks cool?
@ Meegabroad -- They do for all their other US destinations, so I assume they will as well for Chicago.
Dare we hope for chauffeur service?
As a Chicagoan, I'll take a direct, even without a shower. After all, I can take a shower when I get home.
The angled flat seats are awful and inferior to the state of the art horizontal now found even on most US long haul flights including DL, UA and AA. Also the food is awful on Emirates unless you like only spicy entrees. Finally the "free" limo fails to show up on 2 of 4 flights. I won't be flying EK again.
Emirates is pretty disappointing in both economy and business on the 777. In coach, its 10 abreast. Ouch. In business its angled flat seats.
If you are going to redeem miles for an Emirates flight its a huge difference in coach/business on the Airbus 380. In coach it just feels roomier. In business the seats are flat and there is an excellent bar area to get drinks/snacks throughout the flight.
So unless you are flying...
Emirates is pretty disappointing in both economy and business on the 777. In coach, its 10 abreast. Ouch. In business its angled flat seats.
If you are going to redeem miles for an Emirates flight its a huge difference in coach/business on the Airbus 380. In coach it just feels roomier. In business the seats are flat and there is an excellent bar area to get drinks/snacks throughout the flight.
So unless you are flying in first, I would try to avoid the 777 and route yourself through either New York or Los Angeles to get the Airbus a380.
@ Ted -- Embarrassingly enough they haven't announced any plans to update their business class on those planes, as far as I know.
Sorry, the seats looked so nice I thought they where lie flat as I was in First Class i only walked past them during boarding. It is surprising that they only have lie flat on there a380 considering what a great airline Emirates is. Is Emirates planning to update those seats to fully flat though?
@ Ted -- Hmm, every report I've seen indicates that the business class seats are angled:
http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Emirates_Airlines/Emirates_Airlines_Boeing_777-300ER_3class_private.php
http://www.ausbt.com.au/the-best-seats-in-business-class-on-emirates-boeing-777-300er
Are you positive?
Lucky,
I been on Emirates 777-300 before and first and business both where lie flat with 8 first class suits and standard forward facing business class seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. Does the 777-200lr have there old angled business class seats from the a330 or do they have the same seats and the 777-300?
@ AD -- American Express Membership Rewards partners directly with Emirates, though the redemption rates are rather high. The best option for using Emirates miles is actually for upgrades as opposed to outright awards.
The two best programs for Emirates redemptions are Alaska and Japan Airlines:
https://onemileatatime.com/alaska-airlines-publishes-emirates-award-chart/
https://onemileatatime.com/emirates-award-tickets-using-starwood-points-get-cheaper-on-october-1-2012/
Sadly neither partner with Membership Rewards.
@ AD -- American Express Membership Rewards partners directly with Emirates, though the redemption rates are rather high. The best option for using Emirates miles is actually for upgrades as opposed to outright awards.
The two best programs for Emirates redemptions are Alaska and Japan Airlines:
https://onemileatatime.com/alaska-airlines-publishes-emirates-award-chart/
https://onemileatatime.com/emirates-award-tickets-using-starwood-points-get-cheaper-on-october-1-2012/
Sadly neither partner with Membership Rewards.
@ wwk5d -- Hah, I mean while it's a blinged out product, to be honest it's not an especially spacious suite and in bed position almost feels a bit claustrophobic. Still love it for all the frills, though.
@ caveman -- As AG notes, they'll be getting these planes from Air India, so don't have any in their fleet yet.
@ michael -- It's a direct flight.
@ Justin -- Yep, sadly aside from the A380 Emirates has angled flat business class seats. Pretty disappointing, eh?
EK is solid in F to/from USA. They do not have the seat like Cathay or SQ but the food is better in my opinion. I still believe nobody beats Cathay in seat and service. That said Lucky is correct that if I was going to burn Alaska miles it would be for the EK A-380. Shower and stand up bar go a long way on a 14+ hour flight.
@AdamH Maybe not liking it is strong...but from Lucky's post, I always felt that the main reason he liked the Emirates suite experience was the shower. Take out the shower, and other airlines suite's products are preferable. Certainly, as a seat, Eithad, Singapore, and others offer a better product.
@wwk5d I don't think it's that he doesn't like them, I think he realizes that if you have to position to get on the flight you might as well try to position to an A380 route that has even better amenities.
Lucky - can you post on the best way to get an emirates award? I only have AA miles and Amex points. thanks!!
Lucky, so I guess this answers how much you actually like Emirates' Suite product...not much, if there is no shower involved, apparently lol
@cavemen
Etihad will probably buy the 777-200LR from Air India and will be fitted with 8 Diamond First Class suites, 40 Pearl Business Class flatbed seats, and 189 Coral Economy Class seats
Etihad is supposed to fly 777-200LR to LAX but I do not see any seat map for that airline for that particular plane. Surprisingly even Etihad's web site does not show any details for this type of aircraft. Does any one know where will I find Etihad 777-200LR seat plans?
Sorry is this direct or via milan?
They really have angled flat seats on aircraft designed for ultra long haul routes? How do they expect to compete with QR/EY?