Emirates offers one of my favorite first class experiences in the world, and I’d say their new 777-300ER first class is perhaps the best in the world.
Continue reading: Emirates Is Upgrading Their First Class Champagne (For A Limited Time)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
To further clarify what sets this wine apart from a process standpoint: lees refer to the dead yeast cells that precipitate out of a wine during aging. Aging "on the lees" (as opposed to filtering the wine prior to aging) in the case of Champagne contributes to the bready/toasty flavors in the wine. Disgorgement refers to the process of removing the lees from the bottle in which the Champagne was aging so that it is not opaque when it reaches the customer.
DC_nomad,
Sure will!!! in July YYZ-DXB-MXP (rt), snatched one of great deals (advertised in December)
Lucky,
We are ready for trip reports and substantial stuff.
Minor variations on the champagne offered, or how a credit card bonus will run out in 3 hours, gets tiring.
Flying Emirates First Class to Dubai on 4/17 for my birthday and noticed this on their online menu. Happy Birthday to Me!!!! (They also list Hennessy Paradis...wasn’t that to have been discontinued? Not that I’m complaining...)
Lucky, when will you be posting your Africa-GRU-LAX trip report????? Im so excited.
I'm not a massive fan of Dom Perignon. I found some of their recent batches rather disappointing (and a massive let-down if you consider price/taste). The last Dom Perignon that I absolutely loved was a bottle I found in the wine cellar. Over 25 years old, from the late 80s. What a taste!
Dom P2 2000 is one of my favorite Champagnes. I enjoy it far more than the P2 1998.
I don't think the explanation you quoted is a great one. It is unnecessarily muddled and would have meant almost nothing to me before I started learning about wine. It is simple as this: to make Champagne, you take a low-alcohol still wine and then add some sugar and yeast to initiate a second fermentation once the wine is in a closed bottle. The results of fermentation are alcohol and carbon dioxide (bubbles)--so the result is a sparkling wine! Instead of immediately removing the dead yeast post-fermentation, producers will allow the wine to sit on the dead yeast ("on the lees") giving it additional complexity. The laws in Champagne actually require this, with longer time on the lees required for a vintage as opposed to non-vintage Champagne. A poster above correctly noted this as giving the wine some bready and toasty notes. The difference between Dom and Dom P2 is that P2 has spent much more time aging on the lees. Dom 2000 initially was taken off the lees and sold in 2008. Dom P2 2000 has spent an additional 9 years on the lees developing additional complexity, and so is a more intricate wine.
This is the same relationship as between Bollinger La Grande Annee and Bollinger R.D.
What’s the best way to get an Emirates F award? I understand Alaska and JAL aren’t good any more?
P2 2000 got an average critics score of 90/100, while Dom 2006 a 95/100. Indeed, price not always equals quality.
Also, I have to agree with other posters. The blog is becoming less and less about trip reports and more and more about ailine and credit card news. While I always thought OMAAT was great because it focused so much on first-hand reviews, today it’s steering towards a more mediocre approach used by Points Guy and the likes. Surely more lucrative in the short run, but I am not sure will be good in the long run.
Who cares!!!! My god, it’s champagne. Maybe you should drink less if that’s all you are about.
"Starting April 1, 2018, Emirates will be serving the just released Dom Perignon 2000 P2 (second plentitude) on Europe, US, and some Far East routes for a limited time. "
It's plénitude (at least plenitude), not plentitude.
I am ashamed that I clicked this lame link...is this really a 1st World need to know. I would almost rather see card hype than this TOTAL NONSENSE
Didn’t you fly SQ new suites about 6 weeks ago? Any chance of a review? (You can include champagne in it)
To everyone berating Ben about the speed with which he posts his trip reports, I would encourage you to seek some perspective. Ben works SO hard on this blog day in and day out. I have been a reader every single day for 4 years and cannot remember a single day when there weren't multiple posts. Even on weekends and holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't know of anyone else that works that hard all the time. It is truly remarkable. Moreover, there is no one out there in the world that has trip reports to Ben's level of detail and charm that has anywhere near his level of experience. Ben knows people are excited about his trip reports, and gets them to us as soon as he can. Can you imagine how much time each one takes with all of the resizing of photos and ordering, etc.?
So I'd humbly suggest that you appreciate the blog for the marvelous thing that it is! Ben has always been gracious about constructive feedback, but telling him to "hurry up" isn't constructive!
"today it’s steering towards a more mediocre approach used by Points Guy and the likes. Surely more lucrative in the short run, but I am not sure will be good in the long run."
This reader wholeheartedly disagrees. You will dramatically broaden your reader base by posting a breadth of content, including economy flight reviews because most people I know have families and can't fly 3-5 people in business or first on points. The business and first reviews are for a comparatively small group of readers.
Yeah, no. People aren't just telling him to hurry up, but to at least space out the trip reports better in-between the click-bait, the referral pimping, the frivolous fluff, etc.
Different people enjoy different things. Some people enjoy the fluff stories the most. Others the credit card stuff. But a good chunk of the people following this site do come for the trip reports.
"there is no one out there in the world that has trip reports to Ben’s level of detail and charm that has anywhere near his level of experience"
That simply isn't true. There are dozens of sites out there that offer the same. This site is just one of many people visit to get a more balanced world-view about different products being offered. And there is nothing wrong with following both this site and others.
But there does come a point where one has to wonder why there is this an excess of referral and click bait articles.
To each their own.
What about some BC trip reports? Those are relevant and interesting. Forget the CC junk and champagne reports.
@Aaron - Could you please refer me to some of the other sites that are similar to Ben's where the authors have the same level of experience and provide as much detail in their reviews? I'm familiar with Sam Chui. I suppose SFO777 is a good contender, though he doesn't review anywhere near as broad a selection of airlines. TPG's recent reviews have been shockingly sparse in detail and effort, and there is a far greater portion of "fluff."
And as to the "referral-pimping," you do realize that Ben writes all these reports for free and has to earn a living somehow? Having to scroll through some of that is a small "price" to pay for the content he provides.
To those commenting about trip reports, let me do a little bit of explaining.
First of all, trust me when I say that I'm my own biggest enemy when it comes to getting trip reports done. They're the most fun to write, and left to my own devices I'd be writing those all day.
I've had less time than usual to dedicate to writing the past couple of weeks. As you guys know, we've been hiring, and that has been a priority (and time consuming). On top of that, my mom has had two surgeries in the past two weeks, and I've been spending every minute possible with her. One thing I think people like about this blog is that most posts are from the same person, and that's something I'm proud of. The flipside is that sometimes life gets in the way. I've worked on this blog every single day for more than the past decade, and I wake up every day grateful to do this for a living. While I wish there weren't times where I'm busier, at the end of the day I have little guilt having spent time with my mother the past week.
One detailed trip report installment probably takes me five hours all-in. It takes a couple of hours to edit the pictures, then a couple of hours to write the post, then an hour to proofread, make sure it looks good in WordPress, etc. Writing this post took me less than 30 minutes. This post wasn't in lieu of a trip report, but if you'd like to look at it differently, 10 of these posts are in lieu of a trip report. I find this stuff interesting, which is why I wrote about it.
This blog is also a business, at the end of the day. I'm fortunate that I love what I do and it's also my hobby, but I can promise you that this site wouldn't get nearly the amount of traffic if I exclusively wrote trip reports, and published 1-2 posts per day.
I respect that everyone comes to this site for different reasons (and some above acknowledge that), so I'm not sure why some call it "credit card pimping," and at the same time acknowledge that's why some people come to this site? I get emails every day from readers who share with me their success stories applying for cards and maximizing points for great trips. That's thanks to credit card advice, not thanks to trip reports. I understand those posts aren't useful for everyone, but arguably they're much more useful to the average person than a given airline trip report. Some people also tell me that my reviews are useless.
All of this is simply to say that I love writing trip reports, but it's also really time consuming, and the past couple of weeks have been rough. I appreciate the constructive feedback, but I find it ironic that those who call me out in a non-constructive way when I don't publish them fast enough also typically aren't the people who comment on the trip reports and say "great job" or "thanks," or anything. If it's something you really value, comment on it more and let me know!
Maybe I'm full of myself here, but I don't think there are many people who do trip reports quite in the way I do. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly other great trip reports out there individually, but I think I'm pretty unique in terms of the number of products I've reviewed, and my ability to do a side-by-side comparison. Sometimes I read other trip reports that are great, but I disagree with their conclusions, because I think context is lacking.
Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish writing my Singapore Suites trip report. I spent two hours yesterday editing the pictures, and will spend my afternoon writing the actual review.
As always, thanks to those who are so interested in the trip reports and are constructive and show genuine enthusiasm. I really do appreciate it.
Well said.
You’re the original, and the best, and a few filler posts to take up space while you spend time on what matters most doesn’t take away from the quality of this blog. You’ve mastered the art of turning what you’re passionate about into a business. I guess that’s going to attract some envy/negativity. For me it’s inspiring, and I couldn’t be happier that I found your blog so many years ago. Thank you.
@Lucky: I appreciate that you took your time to give explanations for some people who doesn't deserve it.
Also, I hope your mom recover well, and that you spend more time with her.
Family is irreplaceable, and as someone who lost his mother 7yrs ago, I have a lot of regrets for not having more often by her side.
Anyway, keep the good work, and don't mind if people don't fully understand your job and that you have a life outside planes and blog.
Lucky -- Thank you for explaining and for all you work on the blog.
I hope your mother gets well soon. Family is precious.
@lucky Thansk for taking the time to explain us what it takes to write trip reports. I write reports myself (just so I do not forget how trips were like) and I do not have any big aspiration of doing a great job, but I know how long it can take - especially the picture-editing part.
@Lucky Thank you for sharing, Lucky. I wish your mother a speedy recovery, I just love your trip reports as others do and share the excitement of you publishing them. Take the time you need to be with your family. 🙂
Perhaps all those who earned their miles by flying "the little airline that think they invented First Class" will use those miles to experience a true First Class experience.
@Lucky, first of all thank you for the reports and infos in all these years. I appreciate your posts and comments. I have been a quite reader for years now and decided from now on to comment on your site. Your doing a good job! And continue it with my full support and appreciation.
Regarding your Mom, please forward my sincere symphathy to her and to you as well. I wish her all the best and a speedy recovery.
Keep the passion in flying and writing those reports!
There will always be some here who are easy to judge you just for the sake of being right or smart. But most of your reader like me appreciate your efforts, so hold your head high and do what you do best....fly and share your experience!
Hi, sorry to go slightly off topic, but is there a list as to which Emirates routes are currently using the new first class? I've saved up a nice bunch of qantas points and want to use them to try the new first class. Thanks!
‘High Quality Airline’. Talk to Emirates staff about safety, legal time limits and other abusive matters in their personal operation. That champagne is paid somewhere down the line at your ‘High Quality Airline’.
@Lucky, we love you work but your family should always take priority. Take care of your mom and we'll enjoy the trip reports when they show up.