Vancouver is one of the major North American gateways that Emirates Airlines does not offer direct flights to/from Dubai. As a result, passengers originating from or completing their journeys in Vancouver rely mostly on connecting services.
According to RoutesOnline, Emirates appears to now be codesharing with Quick Shuttle for bus services between Vancouver and Seattle. The bus picks up at various hotels in downtown Vancouver on the outbound, and drops off at the Waterfront Station on the inbound. The 5-hour bus ride is operated by Quick Shuttle.
Quick Shuttle operates the bus service between Seattle and Vancouver. Source: Quick Shuttle
Quick Shuttle offers 4 daily trips from Seattle to Vancouver, and vice versa. Only 2 of the roundtrip services carry Emirates “flight” numbers.
- EK 7033: Seattle to Vancouver, 0930/1405
- EK 7035: Seattle to Vancouver, 1600/2100
- EK 7034: Vancouver to Seattle, 0845/1400
- EK 7036: Vancouver to Seattle, 1615/2130
The bus service is already appearing in some routing options online.
Emirates is codesharing with Quick Coach’s Quick Shuttle for services between Vancouver and Seattle
I am frankly a bit puzzled by this move, since there are actually tons of options that take far less time. For example, Emirates codeshares with Alaska Airlines’ service from Vancouver to Seattle, which is only a 50-minute flight. Emirates also offers options to fly between Vancouver and Toronto on WestJet or Air Canada; passengers can connect in Toronto, which has direct flights to Dubai.
There are also longer, alternative connections, like the WestJet flight between Vancouver and Los Angeles, another Emirates gateway. You can even fly Cathay Pacific between Vancouver to New York, and then connect in JFK for a flight to Dubai, all on the same ticket.
As far as I know, this is Emirates’ first bus service in North America. It’s nothing particularly new for Emirates though, since they offer similar bus transfer within Japan, within the UAE, and within Bangladesh. Additionally, they also have a bus transfer service between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (Dammam).
I can’t think of a solid reason why Emirates would be doing this, but please feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments! What do you make of this interesting, if not a bit strange, codeshare?
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
