Emirates Business Class Review: Athens to Newark on the Boeing 777

Airline: Emirates
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Flight Number: EK209
Route: Athens, Greece (ATH) – Newark (EWR)
Duration: 10 hours and 45 minutes
Seat: 10J (also 10K, 11J and 11K)

We capped off a great family trip to Greece with a flight home in Emirates Business Class.

Emirates has two direct flights between Europe and the U.S., called fifth-freedom flights. One is between Athens and Newark, and the other is between Rome and JFK. The Rome to JFK route uses an Airbus A380 (which is nicer), and the Athens to Newark route uses a Boeing 777.

While some people complain that the Emirates 777 business class is not that great and a bit dated, we thoroughly enjoyed our flight and could not have been happier.

Here is a summary of our experience booking and flying Emirates Business Class from Athens to Newark.

Emirates Business Class Booking

I booked this flight using Emirates Skywards miles, which I transferred over from my Chase Ultimate Rewards account. I bought four one-way seats at a price of 87,000 miles per seat. The cash fare for this flight varies anywhere from $2,500 to $3,000 for a one-way ticket, so this was a good use of my Chase Ultimate Rewards points!

The fact that I was able to easily find four business class awards seats together was a huge win. Finding one or two or normally is not a problem, but finding four business class award seats from the U.S. to Europe normally takes a lot of planning. I found these on the exact date I wanted, without much effort at all!

Check-In and Boarding

The check-in process was no different from any other airline, and the boarding process was fast and efficient. At this point, everything was business as usual.

The business class cabin was only about 1/2 full, so we could quickly get to our seats, store our carry-on luggage, and settle in for a long flight.

Once seated, the flight attendant offered us a glass of champagne or a non-alcoholic beverage. We all opted for the champagne!

Seats

The 777 Business Class seats are in a 2-3-2 configuration, which is the biggest complaint about this product. If you are going to fly business class, you don’t want to be stuck in a middle seat.

The First Class cabin has 8 seats across 2 rows. The Business Class cabin has 42 seats across six rows, with the Galley and restrooms between rows 7 and 8. Economy Class has an additional 330 seats across 33 rows.

We had 4 seats on the right side of the plan (10J, 10K, 11J, 11K), so we didn’t have to worry about a middle seat.

The seats have plenty of privacy, in the event you are traveling alone, with a partition that can be moved up or down. The seats also have entertainment controls, seat controls, power outlets and a touchscreen that controls different seat functions.

If you need to get some sleep, there are window shades that can be closed and a nice lie flat bed with a very comfortable mattress pad, blanket and pillow.

I slept for a couple of hours, which was just what I needed to feel great when I landed.

Food and Drinks

The food and beverage service was great. I loved having a martini at 30,000 feet served in an actual Martini glass!

When it came time to have dinner, there was a nice menu to choose from, with multiple options for your appetizer, main course and dessert.

I went with the Traditional Arabic Mezze (Houmuos, Baba Ghanouj, Grap Leaves and Mohamara salad), for my appetizer, the Greek Style Beef for my Entree and Cheesecake for Dessert. All of which tasted great!

Entertainment

The Emirates In-Flight Entertainment system is called “I.C.E.”, which stands for Information, Connectivity and Entertainment, and is known to be one of the most comprehensive entertainment offerings in the sky.

They offer 6,500 channels of movies, TV shows, music, and games, on demand and in multiple languages.

I watched a little bit of TV, but spent more time using the WiFi, catching up on email and work from being gone so long. The WiFi speeds were very good and allowed me to get some important work done in the air.

In addition to the wide variety of movies and TV shows, the size of the screen is huge and the headphones provide great audio quality.

Amenity Kits

We were given his and hers amenity kits (with Bulgari lotion and a variety of other personal care items) as well as slippers, socks and pajamas.

Emirates Business Class Review – Is it Worth it?

In summary, Emirates 777-300 Business Class offers a luxurious and comfortable flying experience. It doesn’t have the stellar reputation that the Emirates A380 does, but we had a very memorable and enjoyable flight.

My family had not flown a business-class product like this before and were beyond thrilled with the experience.

On top of the experience itself, the availability of business class seats with Skywards miles is a huge plus. First Class and Business Class seats can be very difficult to book with points, but finding 4 available on this flight was easy and did not require us to build an iterinary around the flight schedule.

Given the chance to go to Greece again, flying this route in Emirates business class will be a top priority for me!!