In October 2018, I flew the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER featuring the carrier’s newest Business Class seats from Brussels (BRU) to Dubai (DXB).
Emirates has installed a different Business Class seat on their Boeing 777-300ER from their Airbus A380.
Emirates’ Boeing 777 Business Class is excellent, but its 2-3-2 layout is inferior to Business Class on its Airbus A380 fleet. Business Class on the A380 features direct aisle access for all passengers and a brilliant bar on the upper deck. Read our review of Emirates’ A380 Business Class to see more.
Emirates Chauffeur Service
If you are flying Business (or First) Class with Emirates, you get complimentary chauffeur-driven airport transfers. This has value in the hundreds of pounds, so make sure you take the transfers into account when you calculate the cost of the flight.
Emirates will drive you to and from the airport at both ends of your journey. Chauffeur-drive must be requested online up to 48 hours prior to your flight.
If the Chauffeur-drive service requested exceeds the mileage limits specified for that city, passengers must pay for the excess mileage at locally applicable rates. For London Heathrow and London Gatwick, the mileage limit is 70 meters. I am located 93 miles from Heathrow, so I always have to pay excess mileage.
Of note: Effective 1 March 2019, new Chauffeur-drive service reservations are unavailable in conjunction with Skywards Business and First Class Classic Rewards and Economy to Business Class Upgrades. It is also not available on reward tickets booked via Emirates Skywards airline partners for travel on Emirates.
I was flying out from Brussels airport, which gave me access to the Brussels Airlines lounge in Terminal B, which I reviewed separately. Emirates doesn’t have its own lounge at Brussels Airport.
Emirates has the largest Boeing 777 & Airbus A380 fleet in the world. They currently have a vast 105 Airbus A380s in their fleet and an order for 57 additional aircraft.
All Emirates A380s are fitted at the Airbus factory in Hamburg, with cabin interior work and final livery being delivered from Hamburg. Airbus estimates that Emirates’ A380 orders alone support 41,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in Europe, including some 14,500 in Germany alone. Emirates currently operates the A380 to 48 global destinations.
Emirates has 165 Boeing 777s in its fleet, one of the most popular and advanced wide-bodied aircraft in commercial operation today. It also has a further 164 B777s on firm order, including 150 of the next-generation Boeing 777x aircraft. Emirates is the only airline that operates all the variants of the B777 aircraft. Today, Emirates operates the Boeing 777 to over 140 cities on six continents from its hub in Dubai.
Business Class Cabin
Business Class on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER is located between First and Economy Class and spread over 2 cabins. The front Business Class mini-cabin contains 2 rows of 14 seats and feels quite intimate, while a second and larger cabin contains 28 Business Class seats spread over 4 rows. The two Business Class cabins are separated by a galley kitchen, the lavatories, and the main exit doors.
The layout of Emirates’ new B777-300ER Business Class cabin is identical to the carrier’s old Business Class product. The seats are still arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration, which means that not everyone has direct aisle access. Passengers in the center and window seats will have to climb over their neighbor’s legs to reach the aisle.
If you are traveling with a group of friends or family, this layout isn’t too bad, as you won’t mind being close to and climbing over your friends.
In comparison, Emirates’ A380 aircraft feature a staggered 1-2-1 configuration, which is much better for solo travelers and overall better design.
Of note, Emirates is also in the process of refurbishing its B777-200LR aircraft (used for its longest B777 routes) with a 2-2-2 layout (instead of 2-3-2 abreast).
Emirates’ new B777 Business Class cabin has a more refined and sleek-looking interior than the old B777 cabin. The design and shape of the new Business Class seat is inspired by Mercedez-Benz, with a diamond stitch pattern on the full leather cover and ergonomically designed headrest.
The rest of the B777 Business Class cabin still retains Emirates’ signature airplane decor with classy burled walnut veneer, gold trim, and pearlized plastic framing the seats.
All of Emirates B777s feature excellent mood lighting, with the colors of the ceiling changing according to the local time. Stars on the ceiling – called StarLight – a cool technical feature unique to Emirates; it is pretty amazing lying down in your bed at 35,000 feet, opening your eyes, and seeing stars.
Here is the seating plan of Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER.
Best & Worst Emirates Business Class Seats
I selected seat 10A for the 6-hour flight from Brussels to Dubai. The new B777 Business Class seat was almost identical to the old B777 Business Class seat with a width of 20.5 inches (52 cm) and features touchscreen controls for the seat and in-flight entertainment system, several personal lighting options, privacy panels between seats, and a shoe storage area.
There are six major differences that make this product a welcome upgrade as compared to the old B777 seats:
- The seats are fully flat beds (and not angled flatbeds) and move into a fully flat sleeping position, which is a huge improvement
- Each seat comes with an ottoman or footrest, covered in soft white leather
- The seat has a more sleek look and also feels more comfortable
- There’s a personal mini-bar in the armrest (similar to what you find on Emirates’ A380s). The bar is at room temperature, though (it’s not cooled) and only contains non-alcoholic drinks (e.g., Pepsi, Seven Up, fruit juice, and Perrier)
- The new seat has a pitch of 72 inches or 183 cm (compared to 60 inch or 150 cm of the old seat), making it more comfortable to get in and out of the seat when you are not seated next to the aisle
- The new seats feature the industry’s largest personal in-flight entertainment (IFE) screens at 23 inches wide, which is considerably larger than the TVs of the old seats. In addition, there’s a small storage compartment located below the screen that contains a bottle of water and a bag with socks & eyeshades upon boarding (but that can easily be used to stow away small personal items during the flight)
The best Business Class seats on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER
Seats in row 6: at the front of the small first cabin, immediately behind First Class, have a little extra legroom for maneuvering. Also, the smaller cabin is quieter and further away from the noise and bustle of Economy Class.
Seats in row 8 at the front of the larger second cabin are also very good. These bulkheads again have a little more legroom. But they are also bassinet crib seats, so business travelers are slightly more likely to be moved for a passenger with an infant.
The worst Business Class seats on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER
Seats 7A & 7K: these window seats are missing a window, so if you lean back, you’re just looking at a wall.
Seats in row 11, at the back of Business Class and separated from Economy by only a thin wall and curtain, are right in front of the Economy Class bassinet crib spots. In addition, these seats also lack a window.
Other seats on both sides flank middle seats (‘E’ on the seat map), so avoid them if flying alone, and if traveling with a partner, aim for the window pairs (A& B or J& K) instead.
Amenity Kit
Amenities were offered during the 6 hour flight from Brussels to Dubai. These included a thin but comfortable blanket, a single decently sized pillow, a duvet, flight socks, earplugs, and Emirates-branded noise-canceling headphones (you cannot keep these as they can only be powered within an aircraft).
Unfortunately, no amenity kits or pajamas are offered by Emirates on medium-haul flights. The carrier has phenomenal Business Class amenity kits but only provides them on long-haul flights of more than 8 hours. On a positive note, the lavatories are stocked with toiletries and Bvlgari perfumes.
Food & Drink Menu
One meal was offered shortly after takeoff. The menu read as follows:
- Appetizers
- Roasted tomato soup with herb ravioli
- Poached prawns with seared scallop and smoky aubergine dip
- Bresaola served with creamy mustard sauce, green bean salad, and parmesan
- A seasonal side salad and freshly baked bread
- Main
- Slow-braised beef brisket served with braising juices, snow peas, and mashed potatoes with carrots and onions
- Roasted duck with balsamic honey glaze, served with spätzle and sautéed Mediterranean vegetables
- Pan-fried cod with saffron sauce, caramelized fennel, herbed potatoes, and seasonal vegetables
- Dessert
- Tapioca citrus crémeux served with raspberry compote
- Chocolate and hazelnut tart served with caramel sauce seasonal fruit
- An assortment of fresh-cut fruit
- Cheeseboard, with Garcia Manchego (hard, textured Spanish ewe’s milk cheese, matured for six months). Cantal Jeune PDO (young, semi-soft French cheese) and Colston Bassett Stilton (classic creamy English stilton)
- Fine luxury chocolates
The food on Emirates is excellent. While I found my starter (prawns) rather uninspiring, my main dish (beef) tasted excellent. The tapioca citrus crémeux served with raspberry compote was an interesting but flavorful dessert.
About ninety minutes before landing, all Business Class passengers were served ice cream.
Entertainment
Emirate’s entertainment system is the best in the industry. You have three options on how to control the system: touching the screen (problematic given the seat pitch), using a small wired remote, or using a touch-screen monitor that is about the size of a small tablet.
ICE has an extensive range of new-release and classic films, television shows, box sets, and audio options to choose from. You can choose from up to 1,800 channels of the latest and greatest movies and must-see TV shows on-demand and in multiple languages. You can also relax to music or play a range of games.
My favorite ICE feature is the outside camera that you can access on your screen. Emirates’ B777s are equipped with two cameras: one facing forward and one facing straight down (no tail camera like on the A380).
Internet
Emirates offers 20MB of free Wi-Fi within the first two hours of log-in across all your devices onboard most of its flights. That’s enough data to browse your favorite social networks and send messages.
If you like to use onboard Wi-Fi for longer or need more data, you can choose from one of Emirates’ data plans, with pricing dependent on whether you are a member of Emirates’ loyalty program ‘Skywards’ or not.
Crew
#CREW: The Emirates crew on this particular flight did an excellent job: they addressed me by name on every single occasion during the flight, presented themselves individually before takeoff, thanked me in person for choosing Emirates, and explained the features of the cabin and seat to all passengers individually. They were doing all they could to make the flight as enjoyable as possible.
Toilets
there are two decently sized lavatories for Business Class passengers in the galley between the 2 Business Class cabins. All lavatories were kept very clean during the flight.
Review by our friends at The TheLuxuryTravelExpert.
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