It’s never fun to leave a place as beautiful as Greece. Well, unless you’re lucky enough to be flying Emirates first class, enjoying what’s easily one of the most comfortable and fun ways to cross the Atlantic.
Continue reading: Review: Emirates 777 First Class Athens To Newark
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Wow nice review. I’m wondering if this route will be flown by the new 777 in the future or will these cabins be retrofitted.? Thanks.
Lol you're so right about dirty martinis. Very much just a US thing. Even ordering a regular martini is usually a fun experience as in ex-US world martini just means vermouth and is consumed as is. Saying "I want what James Bond drinks" isn't usually helpful either. And trying to get a bartender to pour olive juice in it just adds a whole other layer of hilarious.
Lucky,
Hope you are reviewing comments. Can you clarify how many meals? Just the lunch and then access to the snack bar set-up?
@ EC2 -- It's a dine on demand menu, so you can have as many meals as you want when you want. I would assume most people have two meals (lunch and dinner), but you can have one meal (like I did), or three meals, or whatever.
@ Sam -- Unfortunately there are only about a dozen 777s featuring the new first class, and they're already consistently on other routes. Emirates doesn't have concrete plans to retrofit existing planes, but future delivery 777Xs should feature the new cabins (don't expect those planes for at least a couple more years). However, I wouldn't expect this to be among the first routes to get a 777X.
"To kick off the meal we had some more Dom Perignon, accompanied my warm mixed nuts"
The 8 year old in me couldn't help but laugh
How amazing to see a 1st class int’l flight review again! Is this your first since 2020?
So there is no second meal service before landinh other than self serve snacks?
Also do you know why EK is operating this flight to EWR instead of JFK?
@ Jawn -- Thanks! Yep, it is indeed my first international first class flight since early 2020. Was so nice to experience this again.
@ Kair -- It's a dine on demand menu, so you can order as much as you want. There's one huge menu, and then you can mix and match options for your meals.
"From there we walked across the street to the Marriott Newark Airport..." What an unglamorous decampment after all that luxury. Just giving you a hard time. Totally understand the practicality of it all.
Nice review. A bit surprising the flight was so empty, as demand to Greece has been fairly strong this summer, albeit in a pandemic adjusted lens, but there is much more capacity in the market now, with UA at EWR (an established route that has run seasonally for years) and DL going 2 x daily and AA now flying daily, both out JFK. Will be interesting to see if EK maintains this service or if DL, which plans to run it year round at JFK capitulates first. Greece is VFR for the most part, and little in the way of meaningful business demand, certainly not in a pandemic.
Haha had exact same thought. Perhaps more fitting albeit not that convenient would be "afterwards we took a uber black to our executive suite at the st regis or park hyatt ny!"
Speaking of which the airports where I most don't mind "decamping" is DFW or SFO for its attached grand hyatts. Can't think of better airport hotels in the us!
Anyone understand why the plastic wrapping of food persists in spite of the very clear science on this point? It’s so wasteful and tedious.
I agree. I am very surprised it was that empty. My flight to EU was almost full and the return was ~75% full. Greece is a very popular tourist destination in the summer.
would appreciate the answer to this as well since i'll have a overnight connection in newark later this year. would certainly be nice to not have to wait for a shuttle.
Hi Lucky, thanks for this awesome review. Small question: what was the facemask policy given that the cabin was quite empty? Always on except when eating? Or also off while sleeping? Thanks! Great to see reviews in First class coming back to OMAAT.
From Terminal B cross a very busy traffic road then cross a BIG parking lot then cross a not busy traffic road.
Better wait for the shuttle if you have suitcase.
Nice review. While I absolutely love EK First on any aircraft I am finding lately that Skywards is a nightmare for redemptions during pandemic uncertainties. Two trips in the past six months had to be canceled due to new restrictions at the arrival country. One I had to cancel, the other EK did, as they halted flights there for a period. Instead of just being able to cancel and return the points in a matter of minutes (like on most other carriers) you have to fill out a clunky online refund form and wait two weeks for the processing to be done and points returned. Even if you speak to an agent they refuse to do anything and say, "you have to wait." Not a good system for nimble needs during Covid changes. At this point I will use EK award bookings for last minute stuff only to avoid this. Just a heads up for others who imagine ease should their flights be canceled and you can't rebook to the same location. Expect 15 working days to see your points again for other bookings.
@ Stuart -- For what it's worth, the process seems to have recently been improved. If you go to emirates.com/refund and fill in the form correctly, Skywards miles are redeposited instantly. I've had luck with this several times now. So might be worth giving it another try. 🙂
@ GroeneMichel -- Thanks! The policy is officially that you're supposed to wear your face mask except when eating or drinking. That being said, you have a suite with a door, and the crew doesn't look over the door when it's closed, so...
@ James S -- You do have to dart across two streets without any sort of crosswalks. We walked, but most people take the shuttle.
These two cancelations were in the past month. Both took 15 days to see the points returned. Everything was filled in correctly. I guess that’s why you are called Lucky.
Nice. Great review. You may have reviewed their first class before but I’ve never seen it and loved it. Glad to see the ole Lucky back!
Taking this flight in september but was checking and its much fuller and i am glad i grabbed the seats when i did because they are no awards available.
We took this flight on Saturday, albeit in business — it was totally full! And we got a full lunch and dinner service. All around a great way to get to/from Europe
Really awesome to see a flight review. This (and other travel reviews) are why I keep coming to this site. Hopefully we'll be back to something approaching "business as usual" soon.
Emirates cabin designers sure have a fixation for curves. I've never seen so many curves inside a cabin. Shame it's aged like milk.
You might call it 'science theatre', it's more about creating a perception that you're 'safe'. Whether it is or not doesn't really matter. What matters is that your carrier has to be SEEN to be doing something to make you 'safe'. Hence the abundance of plastic wraps in many airlines.
On a related point, we've had 'security theatre' for years at airports. It's called TSA. A typical group of obese TSA agents likely can't stop even one determined terrorist. But because there are so many of them in quasi uniform, barking out orders to grandmothers and babies, the perception is that you're 'safe' having all these (obese) uniform wearers around you, because the Gov't has to be SEEN to be doing something to make you 'safe'.
I'm actually not trying to be cynical. I simply understand the point that perception is powerful, often more powerful than reality. Advertisers and politicians understand this point more than the average person.
Very nice and informative, easy and understandable English.
But I am really surprised why emirates is still using older version of 777-300 ER when they have newer one in air.
I am sure the seats were very luxurious, the beds don't look very comfy as in Singapore airlines.
Any how you have portrayed very nice picture of first class.
Stay in touch.
Has anyone experienced poor service in first class? I flew from JFK to Dubai this week (A380) and had the most bizarre experience. It took 40 minutes to get a drink and the meal service was sub par. Not a friendly crew in first at all. My first international flight back after the pandemic and it was a disappointment. Mind you, the service and friendliness of the crew in the bar was impeccable as always.
My wife and I fly Emirates first class every time we travel. It’s just a great experience, and a very enjoyable part of the holiday. However, when using the 777 we avoid booking seats on aircraft with the new cabin and always choose a flight with the old cabin.
The new First Class cabin is for bachelors and single ladies, and completely antisocial for couples. The one time we did experience the new game changing cabin was just a big disappointment, never again. The ‘honeymoon’ seats on the older aircraft are great for travelling together.
Anyone that has booked miles business class ticket and wants to upgrade to first using miles at check-in counter, beware. They denied us that option but wanted us to buy the upgrade instead for $2K a pop. Even though 2 seats were available they told us only one was and even then they didn’t let us upgrade with miles. Shortly after we made our way to the lounge, I saw that those last 2 first class seats were now occupied. Emirates/ticket agents greed!
I am looking to book this route in 1st class for two in Spring or Fall 2023. So far, I am unable to find any 1st class award seats from Jan 23 - Apr 23; cash seats are available. I've tried one way for one through round trip for 2. How far out do 1st class award seats become available? Any other strategies?
Just booked this flight for June 2023 and first flight with Emirates. Thanks for the thorough review and hope you get to Athens again soon!
Found this when searching for why I couldn't get a mobile boarding pass for tomorrow's EK209. "Emirates' check-in counter was deserted" scared me, but I guess you meant there was no wait. Hoping I'm not SSSS-ed! Thanks for the review.