I just finished flying an Emirates first class ticket from Vancouver to Milan, which I booked late last year when Emirates had an incredible fare sale. Essentially I could route from Vancouver to Los Angeles to Dubai to Milan and back, with the Vancouver to Los Angeles flight on WestJet, and the Los Angeles to…
Continue reading: 50 Hours Of Emirates First Class: Too Much Of A Good Thing?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
This was great sale AMD I am kicking myself for not partaking.
But the point is you used funny math to rationalize. Like rationalizing getting your paycheck in grocery coupons because you have to eat anyway? The coupons have value only when you have money.
Similarly the miles have value if/ when you travel. Easy for someone that travels pointlessly anyway not for others
Anything else is just rationalization.
I was getting antsy the last two hours of my DXB-SEA flight in Emirates First Class. It's a nice experience but it really is hard to sit there that long. NRT-LHR or SFO-HKG are about my upper limit even in First/Business Class...
I will be flying the same route for the very first time on Emirates in September. Hopefully the first class cabin won't be as full! I so look forward to this trip.
Yes, I felt the same on SQ first class suites 22 hour flight Singapore-Frankfurt-NewYork.
It was while on that plane I decided to fly economy class on a direct flight with the shortest flight time, if I cannot afford or find availability on the fastest available flight (give-or-take 1-2 hours).
Time is the ultimate luxury, and I'll never do anything like positioning flights, crazy long routings etc just for the sake of getting on a business/first cabin, if a direct flight exists that I can only afford in economy.
lol on the Jennifer Aniston reference. You know, you could have swapped your First Class seat with someone in economy the same way Jennifer did --- even if it's only for an hour. 😉
I'm more curious about the person who ordered one of everything on the menu. That's ridiculous.
How many of the 50 hours were on WestJet? Do you have a separate review of those flights?
@Miklo and @B:
Same exact sentiments on nearly the exact same flights.: SQ SIN-FRA-JFK and EK JNB-DXB-SFO. I only watch movies on planes anymore yet I still find I run out of options that actually appeal to me. And you can only drink yourself drunk so many times or take so many showers or eat so many meals or sleep for so many hours. It truly is an embarrassment of riches. I find myself so eager to deplane just to be on the ground again.
You guys probably can't relate but when I was younger I loved flying Emirates economy on long haul from the U.S. to Asia (I rarely traveled outside the country). I would always stay up the entire time and watch movies and eat food and by the end of the trip I would be so tired but it was worth it for me.
Fast forward to my fifth trip and I was out of movies I wanted to watch and I was just too tired to enjoy it and was waiting for the 16 hour flight to Dallas to be over. I never thaught I'd feel this way until this.
I am interested in if I'm going to experience this on an upcoming trip I have. I'm flying J from DOH to IST (TK), IST to SIN (SQ), SIN to NRT (NH) and HND to SYD (NH). I have an 8-hour daytime layover in Tokyo, which will give me time to refresh, but the total travel time is 44 hours (including the 8-hour layover). It seems like it will get old quickly.
Lucky, did you throw away (i.e. not fly) the last leg LAX-YVR?
I booked YYC-JFK-DXB-MXP-DXB-JFK-YYC, and I am worried that if I don't fly the last leg (JFK-YYC), I would not be getting those Alaska miles, as this might be considered a breach of the purchase contract.
There also seem to be a no-show fee written on the ticket. Would they charge me the fee if I ditch the last flight?
I routinely fly 16-17 hour flights and outbound I’m fine with everything. Coming back (flying West), the last two to three hours drag on endlessly - tired, restless, bored and unable to sleep. And food and wine taste “off” as the trip progresses. Long haul isn’t for sissies!
The picture of the Arabic mezze brings up a question I had on a recent Emirates flight: How in the hell do you people eat so much on a plane?? After the mezze course I was STUFFED, and I only ate like half of it. And mind you I'm a 185-pound man with a very large appetite. But holy cow, after the mezze I told the flight attendant to delay the rest of my food for a couple hours.
Airlines serve so much food in business and first, not to mention all the liquid calories you get if you order drinks. Lucky, I'm genuinely impressed that you make it through all these courses. Usually after the appetizer, I'm ready to recline and sleep it off.
I haven't had the "too much of a good thing" experience in flight, but I once spent 9 hours in the Sydney Qantas F lounge. As nice as that lounge is, 9 hours was too much.
“We had no interest in drinking or over-indulging in food at this point, given that we had so much of the Dom Perignon and other drinks on previous flights”
...dude, this comment is ridiculous. You sound like an ass.
My house and my hotel are both nicer than Emirates. Better shower, better wine (house at least), better bed, etc. Service might not be as good.
9 hours in Emirates first vs 9 hours on BA first - awesome. 48 hours on Emirates first vs. 24 hours and another 24 at home or in hotel or in the fresh air? The extra time on the plane seems like punishment.
Same answer for the route you took vs a direct one stop routing. (Triple punishment if there was a positioning flight to YVR)
But it’s your job.
I’ve got a similar itinerary coming up and fully expect the last long haul to feel looong. A while ago I stopped flying first class on the way home since by then the vacation is over and I’m getting anxious so first is wasted. The EK route I’m flying isn’t as busy as Los Angeles so hopefully first isn’t full.
I dont know...I think you need another crack at this.
Why?
Consider - from what you describe, this is your first time in an Emirates first class cabin that was full. Thats a step change from what you are used to. You are also feeling the effects of recent staffing changes at Emiratess. Thats another step change. And you are coming off a whirlwind trip, meaning you were probably more fatigured than normal.
I think you need a few more data points before you declare the law of diminishing returns is in effect. 🙂
i didn't jump on this fare even though it was a great price for EK F. I'm trying to re-qualify for AS 75k again, so when I book premium deals, i focus more on the amount of EQMs earned and the EQM cpm. When doing the math, the elite cpm on this itinerary was way too high for me to feel comfortable enough to pull the trigger. I wish the earning rates when flying EK were the same as BA. I mean, i think offering just a 50% COS when flying F (or 25% when flying J) is pretty pathetic. If EK had a COS of 150% like BA....i would have jumped on this fare faster than you can say Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkung!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll never forgive myself for doing:
LAX-DOH-SIN QR J
Work 1 day in Singapore, fly at night SIN-HKG
Work one day in Hong Kong, fly at night HKG-TPE
Work one day in Taipei, train to Kaohsiung
Work one and a half days in Kaohsiung
KHH-HKG-SIN-DOH-JFK CX / QR J
The outbound as awesome. The return was nice at first - the new CX F lounge in HKG was beautiful. The rest was just so tiring. Once night arrived in SIN, the next 24+ hours were spent in almost total darkness (flying west at night time). That and the insane work schedule caught up with me and I was sleeping in fits and starts on the long haul legs. It took me a couple weeks to fully recover from that one!
Two questions:
First, how have you not already gotten tired of EK F given how ridiculous and gaudy everything looks?? 😉 I’m gonna come out and say it—it’s ugly and I can never bring myself to get excited about it, solely for aesthetic reasons.
Second, have you ever considered a sleep aid like Ambien or even just melatonin? Easy to fix the problem of not being able to sleep!
I love reading all the travel hacks and experiences, it gives me as a commoner something to aspire to on my once a year splurge on long haul biz travel (always saver or off peak). But to whine that the first class cabin was full? Really, that's your complaint? Sometimes I wonder if the aristocrat royalty has lost touch with reality
Lucky, up next is 50 hours in the Etibad Residence, I'd like to see a report on that.
Ideas for future posts:
- 50+ hours in economy basic
- 50+ hours of ordering one of everything on the menu (does not need to be on a flight!)
- 50+ hours of reading OMAAT "themed" comments (i.e. comments need to be a particular theme... e.g. Politics, "This article is clickbait", specific commenters
- 50+ hours of slow WiFi
- 50+ hours in a seat without an individual air nozzle
- 50+ hours listening to the same Sean Mendez (spelling?) song
- 50+ hours on a tarmac waiting for a gate (no compensation)
Others?
@Jeff: Alaska will honor all flights you did actually fly on. I'm in San Francisco and recently booked ORD-HKG-CMB, CMB-HKG-SFO-ORD on Cathay, throwing away the last SFO-ORD leg. I got all the miles I was due.
(Although CMB-HKG-SFO didn't show up for 10 days. I emailed Alaska, sent in boarding passes and a copy of my itinerary to get the miles credited. So that's a good reminder to always save your boarding passes!)
A valuable lesson in life.
Too much if anything becomes boring. Or at least mundane
Ask anyone who has been affluent for a long time. After a while what others think of as extravagant becomes your baseline.
Heck. Everyone reading this blog is in this situation. You just might not realize it
How many of you think, “wow, I have such an amazing house” or “wow my car is so breathtaking?”
Most of us say “yeah, I have a car and house. They’re fine”
But if a poor rural kid from Uganda saw your house and car? They would be gobsmacked at the level of luxury, that you think is just “normal”
I’m reminded how “rich” I am every time we return from a developing nation. (I do not stay in Luxury Hotels when I travel)
As someone else said, as you age TIME often becomes your most precious commodity
I will go a LITTLE out of the way to fly J over Y if flights are >5 hours
But that’s because I have a neck issue and have issues with the seats in Y
I won’t detour at all for F
The old QF1, SYD-DXB-LHR. The same seat on the same aircraft for over 24 hours. We did get off for an hour in DXB. Thanks be that it was seat 2A, not 62A!
Haha, welcome to the world of the travelling Australian or New Zealander. Not the first class part but the long haul traveller part. Sleep never comes as easily as when you want it regardless of the Ambien as previously mentioned. First class is one thing but have a thought for the great majority travelling, or should that be crammed, in economy or even business. And this is our norm and I haven’t even mentioned babies, drunks etc to share the experience with!! Serious travel warriors down under!
"The ticket cost ~$3,170, which is a lot of cash" - uh....not really, especially for Emirates First, which a RT ticket from LAX can cost more than $20K!!! thats one hell of a deal you got there.
BTW LOVED ur drunk Ben instagram story videos....specially you bothering Ford while he was sleeping. Too funny!
Gotta agree with debit on this one. Value of points is highly subjective give especially in a case like this one where you had to pay out of pocket for a trip to nowhere. Of course it makes sense for you as this is your job, but with that much $$$ I could buy 10 bottles of DOM Perignon and have change to spare for a couple meals at Osteria Francescana (just voted best restaurant in the World again). Good for thought.
My feeling is this is in part due to your reason for travelling. Your life is mostly about the trip and not the destination. Flying is about positioning me to somewhere I really want or need to be so the anticipation is different. Flying for flying sake gives you an income but after a while you will question the point of it...
Two points: if you drink a lot i.e. more than two glasses of wine or more than a mixed drink, you will get sleepy but then you’ll detox and have insomnia!
Second, the Emirates first class seats are absolutely business class in appearance and cuisine, or at least seem so in a three cabin plane.
Did I miss something?
OMG! Emirates had a full cabin and so Lucky couldn’t keep his luggage at another seat! The horror!
Yah, kinda feel like this whole post falls into the ‘spoiled brat’ category. Many of us will never fly in Emirates First, way to rub it in that you grew tired of the opulence. These types of articles really border obnoxious and ‘pompous ass’ all too closely.
When I fly first class which is not so often now I am retired, I never get tired of it. Or business class !!
Maybe a few more flights in economy of LCCs like Ryanair or Easyjet will get you to appreciate first class more.
@Airways and Travels uhhh no.. unless you can find dom for less than $100 a bottle? and that meal would have to be free so...
@Evan M Torch, M.D. yes you must have missed a lot since no sane human would classify more than one drink or two glasses of wine as "a lot" and there is absolutely nothing about Emirates F that is business at all. Lastly, if you put letters after your name on a blog you are the pinnacle of douchebag and probably the doc (lol, like you actually are one) that prescribes a person as soon as they walk in... get that commission amirite
I travelled with Emirates last year from Sydney to London with a stop over in Dubai. On the Sydney to Dubai leg my entertainment system failed about 30 minutes out from Sydney, then the seat also failed. The purser was very good, tried resetting it all many times but to no avail. Then on the Dubai to London leg, it all failed again !! I was able to have a shower (intentional) at 44,000 feet though. The window blinds when coming into land had to be opened, but mine failed !!
So travelling that distance with nothing to look at other than a blank screen is incredibly boring. Emirates Customer Services were worse then useless, as they just did not want to know about my problems. Unfortunately I have accumulated quite a few points with Emirates, so it does mean that I will be flying with them again at some stage. That is when I can work up the enthusiasm to do so.
"one person apparently ordered one of everything on the menu (there are 27 things on the menu)" "... one passenger who was eating the entire flight" - Mr. Creosote?
please let us know when you are traveling on the LAX - YVR segment and that you will be finishing the terms of the ticketing contract when you bought your "positioning" flight
I know of some travellers who took a similar route who have not been able to receive the Alaska miles and others who have received legal notices from the airline for not honouring the terms and have been asked to pay the full amount of the ticket.
happy to have your thoughts - especially as you are encouraging this sort of "loophole"travel"....
I think he’s only blogged this so he could write off the ticket purchase cost as a business expense.