I don’t think I’ve ever had a flight that I’ve anticipated as intensely as this one. Part of it was probably that I only had two hours notice about the flight, so my anticipation was naturally more intense than if I had 10 months to look forward to it. But beyond that, Emirates is an…
Continue reading: Bling it on: Emirates First Class London Heathrow to Dubai
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Love reading your trip reports!
Emirates' shower spa looks bigger than my bathroom!
stars on the ceiling in Asiana F ORD-ICN too. i didn't know about the stars before my flight so I was definitely wow'ed when i woke up from my nap.
If you ever fly into Or out of any of the other terminals, they are sh!t. The emirates terminal is very nice, with palm trees and waterfalls to boot.
Great report,Ben!
What did you think of the seat itself, bling aside? For actually sleeping on a long haul, or in terms of overall comfort relaxing and watching TV?
Compared to, say, CX?
Thanks, guys!
@ Gary -- Ah, it occurred to me that in the process of dishing out every little detail I may have missed some of the "big picture" details. The seat was comfortable for sleeping. Not the most comfortable in the sky, but comfortable. I'd say it was a bit better than Singapore's first on the 777, and a bit worse than Cathay's first on the 777 (which I still find to be among the most comfortable).
I have to wait 17 more days, and only have half the flight (AKL-SYD), but posts like this are guaranteeing that I will be annoying to talk to in the interim with only showers on the brain.
Great report. And just think, you were considering not even using that companion pass and going somewhere!
For me this is almost like reading a fictional story...In a far away land there was a...
Wow, Great pictures. My wife & I just flew Asiana's new First Class Suite last week from ICN to ORD & I thought it couldn't get much better until seeing that!
I didn't know about the storage bin at the back. Are the window seats the same? I felt like there was a real lack of storage space. And if you don't put your stuff at the front of the suite in the little corral it will get crushed when you turn the seat into a bed.
@ RakSiam -- Yeah, window seats definitely had them as well. Wasn't a huge fan of storing the stuff in front of the seat, simply because I had a hard time getting the bag out of the "seatbelt."
Brilliant article Ben
I couldn't agree more. My experience of EK 1st is identical to what you've written 🙂
Regarding the shower, did her explanation really say "...that the floors were headed." ... as opposed to "heated"? 🙂
Thanks for the report Lucky. One question: many say 14 seats in BA FIRST is cramped at least in the 747. Is first class a larger piece of real estate on a 380? At least an Emirates 380? Thank you
Typo: "t0" with a zero and not an o. Look at the fourth to the last word here:
Typically this service has to be booked in advance, though I explained we had been rebooked, and they gladly arranged a limo for us (free of charge) t0 the Grosvenor House.
Wow great trip report. I still can't figure out a way to enjoy Emirates first... damn all those Avios/star alliance miles....
How was the width of the seat for sleeping? It looks kind of narrow...
And, what's the deal with airline serving Woodford Reserve as the premium bourbon in First class... it's definitely not in the same class as Chivas Royal Salute/Johnny Walker Blue/or Glenfiddich.... they got to get a supply of Pappy van Winkle or something else. America's got to represent...
Curious about your ride to the hotel. You mentioned a limo ride and I didn't realize EK was doing limo service. As far as I know Chauffeur Drive was provided with (very nice) sedans, wagons, and minivans -- but if they're using limos this is a change from my four EK flights this year.
Lol. Love the stars on the ceiling. Awesome touch. Is there any way to actually book this award though? I know AS is suppose to open up so,e space eventually.
Awesome report!!!
And yes, if I were you, I would be giggling non-stop all the way during the trip.
@ jon -- Absolutely, the first cabin on the Emirates Airbus 380 is substantially larger than the first cabin on the British Airways 747.
@ BBTBphile -- Thanks, fixed. That happens once in a while and I'm not sure why. I typed it correctly and when I go back to the draft it also shows it correct, but for whatever reason it displays it as a "0" instead of an "o." Going back and typing it again seems to fix the problem.
Great TR. Need to get me some Alaska miles, I guess.
Another mistake is that, while I'm sure the writing supplies didn't move, the correct noun is stationery.
@ FlyingDoctorWu -- It was decent. Not amazing, but not anything to complain about either. The armrests do go down a bit, which increases the seat width.
@ Rob -- Sorry, I guess I misused the word. You're correct, it's not a limo in the sense that it's a limousine, but rather towncars, sedans, etc.
@ AdamH -- There actually are a couple of ways, which I summarized at the end of this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/alaska-mileage-plan-announces-delay-in-emirates-award-redemptions/
So it's definitely not off limits!
@lucky
that's a bummer since singapore only releases 1 suite per flight... i was hoping emirates would release 2... but i guess it doesn't matter anyway.
Wow looks awesome! I am though surprised that Internet wasn't free given you were in First Class. Seems odd.
Was thinking 110,000 Starpoints had better value elsewhere. I'm really starting to have a hard time justifying that. Hello Dubai!
Great trip report!
How does the inflight service compared to Singapore airlines?
"When you ask the average person what the world’s best airline is, chances are they’ll say Emirates or Singapore". Uh, Ben, I'm pretty sure that the average person has never even heard of Emeriates...
I'm surprised that with a ticket probably costing $10,000 they make you pay for Internet use. Is that common in international first class?
Old bf of mine signed a two-year contract to teach in Saudi Arabia. His main flight was Seattle-Dubai on Emirates. He'd been given a coach ticket with the contract and was bumped up, without asking, to business for the flight. I guess it was either because he had a full-fare ticket or the ticket agent somehow picked up that he'd had the worst decade ever and just NEEDED this. Anyway, it was his first business class ever and it may have spoiled him for other airlines!
@ Frequent Flyer University -- It's run by an independent company (On Air), so unfortunately isn't free.
@ TG -- Service overall wasn't as good as Singapore, but they made up for it in other departments.
@ Frequent Miler -- Guess we know different people, then. Even my non-FF friends have heard of Emirates!
@ Dan ray -- Yes, I don't know of any airline that comps internet for any class of service.
Color scheme looks pretty awful to me, give me a SWISS first cabin with a shower 😀
What really struck my eye was not the gold trim but the glossy wood panels in the suites and doors. It's like they modeled the suites after the interior of a high-end Bentley. The wood in the showers area struck me as well but not as much since the color appears a lot more subdued and looks more like a matte finish...
The B777 actually has even more wood trimming (around the windows and whatnot). The mini-bar is a nice idea, if you like your drinks at room temperature. You're still going to have to ask the FA for a glass and ice, so while nice, it seems rather pointless. As does the vanity mirror. I'm curious to see how this compares to the Singapore suites service.
This is the best trip report I've ever read--and I've read a lot! I really felt like I was there with you. Amazing job!
5 min of running water at a time or that's all you got during the shower? the shower time came on for the last 1 min countdown?
@ dave -- It's a total of five minutes of running water, but you can start and stop it as you please.
Seriously, this is the forst class flight of Emirates Airline? WOW! You must be very lucky to fly on a first class. I envy you! Excellent review!
Are you from the future? I've never seen anything that beautiful. Although, I normally take the cheapest possible routes and the cheapest possible seats to get from Point A to Point B, but I guess that I had never really thought about using first class because I thought it couldn't possibly be worth that much money, I was severely proven wrong.
"For the 20 or so minutes I was in the shower spa, I was giggling almost nonstop."
that was the highlight of the TR lol.
I may be fuzzy on this... but I am pretty sure an additional 20MB at the .073/100K rate would have been just under $15... am I wrong?
Absolutely the first class cabin of emirates airway & Qatar airway is very good. And very good presenting for this blog. Image clearly very clean and information is really awesome. Love reading these trip reports!
When it comes to free internet a LCC in Europe called Norwegian Air Shuttle offers it.
http://www.norwegian.com/uk/about-norwegian/our-company/fleet/in-flight-wifi/
Said to be a bit slow because of all the users.
Read a post on a Scandi board claiming Sas is also installing it in some of their planes, so guess it will end up the same way it has in hotels with almost everybody offering it for free.
The Scandi board also said that the reason the Norwegian/DY installed it was for fleet management and customer use was just a happy side effect. Which might explain a bit slow speed.
Lucky - from Expert Flyer, it looks as though Emirates at times releases 2 First class tix on a flight. But Singapore only releases 1 Suite seat per flight. Is this correct? If so, is Emirates First the best product available for a 2-person redemption?
@ DrewBird -- Singapore does often release two Suites Class seats per flight, just not on their routes to the US. However, to Australia and Europe they sure do.
I love how they pay attention to details, looks pretty amazing. However was there enough seating around the "bar/lounge" where people there hanging out or mingling or is the bar mostly for show?
@ Ak -- I found most of the time a few people were standing around the bar, though rarely did anyone stay for an extended period of time or sit.
I just tried Emirates first for the first time, and I should note the most amazing benefit on offer seems to have been overlooked by most, the Hennesy Paradis cognac. That stuff retails for about 750USD per bottle (750ml), which makes it by volume much more valuable a benefit than even Dom Perignon. And it was super tasty!