EY J redemption quick report

[rtyuiop]

Hi folks,

I recently got back from burning off 250,000 odd points on a J redemption on EY. I can't do a full blown trip report, but thought I'd post some quick impressions. Trip was in two separate bookings, one done before the Sabre switchover and one after - BNE-AUH-DUS and LHR-AUH-BNE.

• EY J seat overall very, very comfy! The old blue seats are kind of stupidly designed (if that designer hasn't been fired, someone's not doing their job!) with no storage space, incredibly bad foot space, and the IFE screen a mile away... But still fundamentally pretty good.
• The EY limo service is great, but the booking process is kind of horrible. I was never able to confirm it in Dusseldorf despite trying to contact both EY and VA, but the car was there anyway so no harm done!
• Seat selection was doable after calling, and essential - EY J window seats are excellent, but aisle seats would be less desirable, and the 'inner' middle seats would absolutely terrible if stuck next to a stranger.
• The Singapore stopover on EY470/EY473 is an absolute pain - aside from adding a couple of hours to the trip, there's quite a bit of extra unreclined/no PED time, a lack of uninterrupted possible sleep time, and they try to stuff you full of even more food. Another way BNE flyers get screwed over I guess .
• The stopover itself isn't really long enough to go do anything in Changi, and all passengers have to collect all their gear, deboard fully, and come back through security.
• LHR lounge pretty good, although the a la carte food was a bit underwhelming. AUH first lounge (as a VA plat) really nice, and not overly full which I was worried about.

Anyone have any questions, let me know!

Danny

 

[day-heg]

I'd concur with much of what you've said above... we recently did BNE-SIN and LHR-AUH-MEL in J. We were lucky to get the refitted cabins on all 3 legs - the beige & browns rather than the blue.

Across all three legs the service was good, food was great, seats comfortable etc. We were travelling as a couple and took the middle seats which were great.

I dropped into the EY office in MEL to confirm the chauffeur as I'd made the booking prior to the EY switch to Sabre, so that was all good. Merc S Class in SIN, E Class in London... and a Holden in MEL!

 

[Danger UXB]

Hi folks,

I recently got back from burning off 250,000 odd points on a J redemption on EY. I can't do a full blown trip report, but thought I'd post some quick impressions. Trip was in two separate bookings, one done before the Sabre switchover and one after - BNE-AUH-DUS and LHR-AUH-BNE.

• EY J seat overall very, very comfy! The old blue seats are kind of stupidly designed (if that designer hasn't been fired, someone's not doing their job!) with no storage space, incredibly bad foot space, and the IFE screen a mile away... But still fundamentally pretty good.
• The EY limo service is great, but the booking process is kind of horrible. I was never able to confirm it in Dusseldorf despite trying to contact both EY and VA, but the car was there anyway so no harm done!
• Seat selection was doable after calling, and essential - EY J window seats are excellent, but aisle seats would be less desirable, and the 'inner' middle seats would absolutely terrible if stuck next to a stranger.
• The Singapore stopover on EY470/EY473 is an absolute pain - aside from adding a couple of hours to the trip, there's quite a bit of extra unreclined/no PED time, a lack of uninterrupted possible sleep time, and they try to stuff you full of even more food. Another way BNE flyers get screwed over I guess .
• The stopover itself isn't really long enough to go do anything in Changi, and all passengers have to collect all their gear, deboard fully, and come back through security.
• LHR lounge pretty good, although the a la carte food was a bit underwhelming. AUH first lounge (as a VA plat) really nice, and not overly full which I was worried about.

Anyone have any questions, let me know!

Danny

How was the booking process
-how far in advance did you book?
-1 seat or more than one?
-did you get your chosen days of travel or were you flexible?
-online search for availability or on the phone?

I have a friend who is quizzing me about EY redemptions thru velocity

Many thanks Danger UXB

 

[rtyuiop]

Booked about 7 months in advance I think - I got the dates I wanted, but I had some flexibility because EY doesn't fly to the cities I actually needed - I looked for any availability to/from Europe, and then booked separate flights to get to Venice and out of Madrid.

1 seat only, which made things easier - online search, although I did call to check availability for cities that wouldn't show up online. Note that for some reason if you call they kept telling me they had to make separate bookings for Oz-UAE and UAE-Europe, which would have cost more points and had major implications for baggage check through, any issues resulting from delays, etc. etc. - I was glad I ended up booking online.

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention - even though there was a month between my flights, only a few movies and very little TV was changed on the EY IFE, which didn't have a huge selection to begin with. Strongly recommend bringing your own entertainment!

 

[rtyuiop]

I dropped into the EY office in MEL to confirm the chauffeur as I'd made the booking prior to the EY switch to Sabre, so that was all good. Merc S Class in SIN, E Class in London... and a Holden in MEL!

Same here - a Merc in Dusseldorf... And Holdens in both directions in BNE. Nice Holdens, with excellent drivers, but still!