Emirates slips debut of new A350, won't be in Bologna on Dec. 1: Here's the new date
Yesterday a member of our community The Platinum Group "resurrected" the discussion about Emirates' new A350s, the [...]
Emirates
DXB
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Yesterday a member of our community The Platinum Group "resurrected" the discussion on i Emirates' new A350s, the first new model aircraft to enter the EK fleet in more than 15 years. A seemingly painless question and not even related to the route Bologna Dubai that I booked for December 1.
Too bad the route to Bahrain is the inaugural leg of the A350, the debut was announced in recent months along with other routes, including Bologna, starting September 15.
Today there is no longer any trace on the Emirates website of the A350 on Sunday, Sept. 15 from DXB to BAH nor the next day and those immediately following.
If at first check, via the EK app, nothing looked different on my Dec. 1 reservation, to get confirmation that the debut was skipped, all I had to do was log into my restricted area and note the change of aircraft, without any notice even of the change of the seat from seat 1A to seat 8 being sent by the company.
Of course the distracted reader might say "Bum what are you complaining about, you travel in business on a 777 not in economy on Wizzair", but here we are talking about Emirates and the jump from one of the worst business class seats in the skies, to the new "still top secret" product of the third best company in the world.
To understand the difference, one only needs to see the map of business class cabin seats. On the left in the image above is that of the A350 with only 4 passengers per row, where everyone has direct aisle access. On the right, on the other hand, there are as many as 7 seats per row in business class. In the old cabin all passengers have less space, IFE less modern and especially 3 passengers have no direct aisle access.
The new date is symbolic since the new A350 will debut in the city of towers on January 1, exactly one month late. Bologna will therefore have to wait an extra month to see the new Airbus jewel land.
More fortunate are the Scots who will have a delay of only 3 days, was scheduled to debut on November 1 and instead is now scheduled for the 4th of the same month. In the case of the route to Her Majesty's Island North, it is for all intents and purposes a return, since EK does not currently fly yet and the return will coincide with the launch of the new A350.
Fortunately, Skywards award tickets are changeable and just as fortunately there were still award seats available on January 1, so in less than 3 clicks I changed my reservation, and now hopefully January 1 will be the charm.
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