If you’re flying an Emirates Boeing 777 to or from the United States this winter, you at least won’t get the carrier’s worst business class product… probably.
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Emirates’ Boeing 777 business class is uncompetitive
As much as Emirates has the reputation of being a world-class airline, a lot of that is marketing, at least in terms of hard product. The carrier’s Airbus A380s are quite nice, but the Boeing 777s are a different story. In particular, Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER business class consists of slightly angled seats, in a 2-3-2 configuration.
I’m not sure what’s worse — that Emirates has an angled middle seat in 2023 on its most common aircraft, or that the airline hasn’t actually announced any plans to upgrade this product. Now, in fairness, you can still have a great flight in Emirates business class, as the food, drinks, and entertainment, are good. But when you compare Emirates to the competition, the 777 product doesn’t really stack up.
To maximize your experience, I always recommend booking the A380 when flying Emirates in business class.
How Emirates is upgrading US routes with 777s
For the upcoming winter season, Emirates will be operating more routes than usual to the United States with the Boeing 777 rather than the Airbus A380, which isn’t good news. However, there are a couple of positive developments, at least.
Let’s start with the very best news — between December 1, 2023, and March 30, 2024, Emirates will fly its “game changer” Boeing 777 to Washington Dulles (IAD). Yes, this is Emirates’ newest Boeing 777 product, most notably featuring the carrier’s new first class product, which I consider to be the best in the world.
Emirates hasn’t operated any routes to the United States with its new first class for quite some time, so this is a great development. I flew this exact route in this product in early 2022, and it was an amazing experience, so if you have the chance, I can’t recommend it enough.
It’s sad how rare of a treat it is to experience these cabins, though. Even though Emirates introduced the new first class nearly six years ago, only nine aircraft have these cabins. It’s not expected that any more planes will get this product until at least 2025, when Emirates takes delivery of Boeing 777Xs.
For those in business class, there’s also some positive news for other routes to the United States, as flagged by a reliable source on FlyerTalk. As of December 1, 2023, Emirates will also offer its updated Boeing 777-300ER business class on most 777 routes to the United States, including flights to Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), and New York (JFK) via Milan (MXP).
The intent is to consistently operate the jets with these interiors on these routes, though of course they’re subject to change. To be clear, the “bones” of the seats are largely the same, but there’s some updated technology, and the design is Emirates’ new style, which is a bit less gaudy.
For context, here are the business class interiors you can expect on Emirates’ updated Boeing 777-300ERs.
While below are what the interiors look like on the older Boeing 777-300ERs.
The new business class seats you’ll find on the above routes are the same that you’ll find on the planes with the “game changer” first class, but they just don’t have the updated first class yet.
I should also mention that Emirates’ 777-200LRs feature a new business class that’s in a 2-2-2 configuration, eliminating the middle business class seat. Unfortunately that doesn’t apply on 777-300ERs, which retain the middle seat.
Bottom line
Emirates will be operating quite a few Boeing 777s to the United States this winter, which isn’t great news in terms of passenger experience. The good news is that as of December, Emirates is at least largely flying its updated Boeing 777s to the United States.
Emirates will fly the “game changer” 777 with the new first class to Washington, while the routes to Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and New York (via Milan) will get the updated business class (but not the new first class). This is better than nothing, but I’d still seek out an A380, if possible.
Have you flown Emirates’ “updated” 777 business class?
It doesn't matter what your hard product is if you have a mediocre soft product. Are the flight attendants solicitous, or do they sit in the galley and chat for hours? What about the films? Is there enough quality and variety to keep me entertained? Are the lavs kept clean and stocked the entire flight? Do I have immediate access to water and other drinks without asking for them? When I ask a question in...
It doesn't matter what your hard product is if you have a mediocre soft product. Are the flight attendants solicitous, or do they sit in the galley and chat for hours? What about the films? Is there enough quality and variety to keep me entertained? Are the lavs kept clean and stocked the entire flight? Do I have immediate access to water and other drinks without asking for them? When I ask a question in English, do I get a clear, thoughtful response back? There are so many aspects of the soft product that can go wrong that seat comfort is only a passing consideration unless it's phenomenal. I have yet to find a phenomenal seat that makes up for any problems with the soft product.
Six abreast of seven abreast, it's all shite.
Pass.
Worst business class seat ever. Totally unacceptable in 2023.
2-2-2 in J is shitty, but 2-3-2 AND ANGLED?!?
Which luke-warm IQ morons are shelling out their cold-hard cash or miles for this warmed-up piece of shite on toast?
I don't understand the people who fly Emirates. They're not part of an alliance, so collecting points is useless unless you live in Dubai. And the product is from the 1990s. It's literally worse than even Lufthansa, the shittiest business class airline otherwise.
Their economy class keeps you fed, and you can use Emirates points to buy cool stuff in their store.
Ummmm like every other airline ON EARTH.
I avoid any flights that deploy a 10 across 777. It’s the s***iest experience any traveller can ever be subjected to
if the binoculars are used through the 'windows' of the interior seats, would one see a magnification of the view or just a more pixelated image when magnified? Asking for a friend...
Can anyone confirm that the A380 will return from Summer 2024 on the JFK to Milan route? I've heard comments that the 777 is just for the winter.
The seats look great to me!..can't be to picky..think about how 1st and business class was 20 30 years ago. Big improvements. The triple 7 and the 380 have proved to be champion aircraft..
We CAN be picky, because it's OUR cash or miles, mate. Also, the point is, it ISN'T 20 or 30 years ago (it isn't even TEN godamned years ago), it is 2023.
Unfortunately, there's no First availability from IAD to DXB.
I have a Maldives trip planned with Q-Suites booked, gonna try and get into Emirates first!
Oh thank god. When I booked JFK-MXP in J they were flying the A380...and then they switched it to the 777 *cries*
Glad to see we'll at least get a refreshed business seat. May still try to upgrade to F closer in though.
Same story here, booked the fifth freedom in large part to get the A380 experience, was very bummed by the swap!
The JFK to Milan A380 seems to be abandoned. I asked Emirates chat when it was coming back. They don't know.
Al least they got rid of that tacky gold and plastic honey colored burled wood in the new first class product. The new design scheme is sophisticated and professional.
And as of right now, between Dec 1 and Mar 30, there's only a single available F award on that route. Ugh.
The old 777 business class seat is terrible. Hard plastic and when in the "bed" position it feels like a coffin.
Bad news for me: I'm flying EK LAX-DXB-JNB in a couple of months, so that means A380.
Good news for me: I'm flying back EK JNB-DXB-IAD in a couple of months, so that means the new 777. Color me happy. :)
Flying in F? Why “bad news”? Do you mean it’s not as good as the game changer F? Of course it isn’t, but F on the 380 is pretty awesome so really not “bad news”.
Hi Joe,
I've been on the A380 in FC many times, and frankly I love it. That said, I was on the new game-changer in April of last year IAD-DXB on the way to JNB, and I have to confess that when I boarded the A380 for the DXB-JNB leg, I wondered why the F/A escorted me to a business class seat - that's how big the difference was. I actually thought for a second...
Hi Joe,
I've been on the A380 in FC many times, and frankly I love it. That said, I was on the new game-changer in April of last year IAD-DXB on the way to JNB, and I have to confess that when I boarded the A380 for the DXB-JNB leg, I wondered why the F/A escorted me to a business class seat - that's how big the difference was. I actually thought for a second that the old FC seat was business class.
That said, no, of course neither seat it "bad news" per se. I was just whining because that's how I roll. :)
So do any of EK's 777s feature a flat-bed business seat? Or all are angled?
I've flown the angled one once in the past and it was terrible.
All angle-flat.
I realize that the whole 5-star Allegris thing makes it easy to mock LH, but how EK gets away with a J product like this on the backbone of the longhaul fleet without heavy criticism from blogs like this is just striking. Even AF's 2-3-2 angle-flat NEV4 (down to either 1 or 2 planes: the odds are against getting this product unlike EK) seems to get more criticism than EK.
Pretty sure they have been flying the updated 777 on the Newark-Athens 5th freedom flight.
Yes, they have.
This is still a very disappointing move by Emirates...replacing A380s to B777s on several USA routes.
No matter how you put it, Emirates' B777 business class products are simply terrible (even the "refreshed" ones), and they should be avoided at all cost...there are so many other better options out there when it comes to business class products.
2-3-2 in Business Class is simply not competitive. EK carries plenty of connections which are the staple of its US routes, but from a premium experience perspective, you'll get a better, more private seat on AA from JFK to MXP, and a stellar one on AZ if they deploy the A339 on the route. Heck, even the old AZ Poltrona Frau seat is better on the A332s than the EK 777 business class configuration.
Still 2-3-2 compared to 1-2-1 in QATAR.No brainer and there is no First class in QATAR .