Been around the world

To say I have had a hectic schedule over the last ten days or so would probably be a fair statement. Early November saw my parents visit Dubai for a week followed by a trip to Los Angeles for an IT show namely VMworld held at the LA Convention Center.

Through my travels I have typically been flying with Emirates and on the whole have found their service to be good. This time I found myself flying on my old adversary British Airways. I posted a little while back that I found the BA Executive Club hard to get any "status" with - and sure enough after 34 hours flying with them I had earned exactly zero "tier" points. Whereas a similar journey with Emirates would give enough a substantial boost toward the next tier level.

It was also hard not to compare the travelling experience between BA and Emirates:

Pre-Flight
- Emirates always provide a pre-assigned seat which I can change when I check in on-line
- BA no pre-assigned seat despite having all details registered with their Exec Club - remedied when I checked in online.

Emirates wins

Check-In
- Emirates - as a Silver card holder I can move quick through check in and security
- BA - fast Baggage drop was quick and efficient

Draw

On-board (Economy)
- Emirates - seats only OK, in-flight entertainment great, food is reasonable
- BA - seats slightly better than Emirates, in-flight entertainment average, food - main meal is good, the second meal they give you is truly horrible

Emirates win

In-flight Service
- Emirates - typically friendly, staff young and pre-dominantly female
- BA - staff courteous, average age much older and an even split between male and females

Draw

Overall - I prefer the service that Emirates offers over BA. Emirates wins alone for its excellent entertainment system and more modern cabins though their seats could be improved. They also edge BA on the food side of things i.e. the breakfast option on Emirates at least tastes like food unlike the BA cardboard "lunch boxes" which I am sure taste better than the food within them.

As a side note - the recent changes in Security have caused utter confusion with the travelling public. For a start their is simply no standard for the security check in this instance between DXB/LAX/LHR

1. Shoes on or off?
2. Belt on or off?
3. Coat on or off?
4. Mobile phone goes through scanner? (It doesn't at Dubai)
5. Laptop in or out?
6. Liquids/gels - none - but now "some" which must be <100ml in a clear plastic bag
7. One piece of hand luggage or two? at Heathrow people they have a special section when you can re-pack your hand luggage if you have two pieces and check the extra one in

All this led to huge queues for Security check - the worse one being at Heathrow when I transited from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1 which took over two hours. I don't think anyone minds adhering to security requests it would just be nice if they were all the same.