This article will go over the second and final leg of my 19-hour journey from Boston, United States to Mumbai, India with Emirates. I will continue sharing my experience from where I left off in the review of my first flight. I was particularly looking forward to this flight because it meant getting another chance to travel onboard the mighty Airbus A380.

Emirates operates five daily nonstop flights to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) from its hub in Dubai International Airport (DXB), but only one of those services uses the A380. Thankfully for me, the A380 flight (EK 500) also happened to be the most convenient option with a layover of 2.5 hours.

Not that I wouldn’t select an itinerary with an 8-hour overnight layover if it meant flying on the jumbo jet again.

Connecting at Dubai

Emirates uses Terminal 3 at DXB for nearly all of its operations from the airport, which makes connecting to other flights operated by the carrier an absolute breeze. Upon exiting the Boeing 777 that brought me to Dubai from Boston, I found the security checkpoint for connecting passengers.

The time was just past 1900 hours and the airport was calm. Security check went smoothly and took a little over five minutes end-to-end. Next, connecting passengers are directed to go up a level to where all the departure gates are located. Flight EK 500 was posted at gate A10 that evening. Since I had more than an hour to kill before boarding started, I decided to explore Dubai Airport a bit after making sure my gate did in fact exist.

Photo: Devansh Mehta | Simple Flying

The Emirates app has a nice little map of Terminal 3 with all the coffee shops, bars, ATMs, and lounges efficiently located. Walking around the terminal you realize how big it really is. Tired and mostly bored, I came back to gate A10 and patiently waited for the boarding announcement.

Boarding and seat review

The gate on the main level opened at around 2035 only for us to be directed towards a holding area down the stairs. While in the holding area, there were numerous announcements notifying passengers that only one cabin bag would be allowed onto the aircraft.

This was a little confusing as I had two pieces of baggage: a small suitcase and a backpack, and no-one had a problem with that until then. I had to awkwardly make space for the backpack in my suitcase to comply with the repeated announcements.

Boarding commenced soon after and I was in my seat by 2125. The aircraft operating flight EK 500 that evening was an 9.6-year-old airframe registered as A6-EEQ. It was outfitted in a three-class configuration with a total of 489 seats: 399 of which were in economy, 76 in business, and 14 in first class.

I had selected seat 82A, a window seat on the port side of the aircraft. The seat itself was quite comfortable for a 5’5” individual like me. However, I can imagine slightly taller people experiencing mild discomfort on long journeys. Emirates’ A380 economy seats offer 32”-34” of pitch, which meant I had ample legroom for the short three-hour journey.

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The main aim of selecting a portside window seat was to witness the stunning Dubai skyline with the Burj Khalifa standing out from the rest, just after take-off. And I am happy to report, the view did not disappoint:

Meal service

One of my favourite things about flying Emirates is the meal service. The cabin crew began serving meals shortly after take-off and once again, I had pre-ordered the “Asian Vegetarian Meal” for my flight.

Flight EK 500 only serves dinner to economy passengers. For the main course, I had Paneer Handi Lazeez – a cottage cheese curry, served with steamed rice and dal Bukhara (a spiced lentil curry). A tangy potato chaat (salad) was served on the side along with a savory mix and some dry roasted salted cashews. The dessert menu included a delicious Kesar chum chum: a saffron flavored cottage cheese sweet, along with a small chocolate. There was some bread, butter, and mango pickle on the side.

Photo: Devansh Mehta | Simple Flying

The main course was just fine or perhaps I was spoilt by the scrambled cottage cheese on the flight before. Even the salad was sub-par. However, the saffron dessert was by far the best part of this meal, thanks to its rich, creamy texture and the ability to melt as soon as I took a bite.

Without fail, a drinks cart followed soon after the meal was served. Options included fruit juices, tea, or coffee. I settled for the water already present in my tray while the people sat next to me fancied some white wine.

Arrival into Mumbai

The approach to Mumbai was undeniably the highlight of this particular flight. The sheer awe of witnessing the magnificent Mumbai skyline drawing nearer with each passing second evoked a sense of exhilaration that sent shivers down my spine. It dawned on me that I was on the verge of returning home after spending eight months abroad.

Emirates’ jumbo landed on runway 27 at BOM at exactly 0200, a full 30 minutes before schedule. Taxiing to the gate took longer than normal since the jumbo had to use nearly all of the runway and taxi back to the Terminal 2 building.

Upon exiting the aircraft, there is a long walk to the immigration counters. Despite it being past midnight in Mumbai, there was a significant queue at all the desks. I got in line and was done with immigration within the next 20 minutes.

Photo: Devansh Mehta | Simple Flying

The next step was bag collection. There are plenty of carts available at Mumbai Airport, making it easy for passengers to handle their bags. My two checked bags were one of the last ones to arrive, which meant I could finally go through customs.

Mumbai customs has several queues: the green channel is for passengers with nothing to declare, while the red-marked lanes are for those carrying excessive precious metals into the country. I made my way to the green lane and after another 20 minutes, was finally out of the airport.

Overall view

Once again, Emirates did not fail to impress with a solid economy-class product with very few negative points. The only thing I can think of is the food not being to my liking and the cabin bag debacle at DXB. Other than that, my flight onboard the majestic A380 was hassle-free.

Have you ever traveled on the Emirates A380 before? Please share your experience in the comments.