To kick off our trip to the Maldives, we flew Emirates’ spectacular ”new” first class from Washington to Dubai. While the product was introduced in late 2017 (over four years ago), only nine planes feature these cabins, and they fly a very limited number of routes.
Continue reading: Review: New Emirates Boeing 777 First Class (IAD-DXB)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Nice review.
Two thoughts. First the virtual windows are kinda a gimmick to me. The camera tends to be pointed slightly downward so it really impacts watching other aircraft during the taxi, etc. But the extra space in the middle seat is worth not having actual windows. It's incredible how spacious it is.
Also, that A380 you were behind is the morning departure JFK-DXB flight. IAD and JFK are typically nose to nose the the entire way and often follow the exact same flight path.
the 4:20AM departure on 4/20 (and that also happens to be my birthday)
No wonder you are lucky.
You can report the purser - if you haven’t received any survey, there is a submit complaint page on Emirates.
The FA telling you to move because she put her own belongings in your suite deserves to be reported as well!
Good review! Hope to be able to fly the new suites soon, but disappointing about the overall food and the service :/
Were there any issues with a US vaccination card when entering Dubai, or is that process quite easy these days?
Great review. Maybe a small point but that looks like the Darkest Turkey slice I've seen, I thought it was foie gras.
Interesting wine list how, of the four white wines offered, two were Meursault and two were Bordeaux. I'm not complaining, as I would have thoroughly enjoyed that Meursault 1er Cru.
Per your comments about the quality of the food and presentation, I find that Dulles has some of the worst outstation premium catering I've ever seen. I've always been underwhelmed with the quality and presentation when flying on a foreign carrier in First/Biz ex-Dulles. Such a pity given the size and scope of the operations at that airport.
Im sure Emirates has already looked into based on the initial flight report he posted last week. I think Lucky did a good job here being fair to not completely throw them under the bus but also being fair and truthful to the readers. This is what happens though when flight crews arent told that VIPs like lucky are traveling with them, so many times when bloggers travel the airlines already know and we never get a real look at what the service is actually like. So nice to see Ben getting treated like everyone else haha.
I actually flew this same route and aircraft, A6-EQI, back in March and had a much more professional, yet still fun and personable flight crew. I chose the middle Suite 1E. Thirteen hours wasn't long enough for my avgeek heart lol.
It seems kinda odd for the flight attendant to leave her stuff in one of the suite. I’m surprised they don’t have a storage area where they can store their stuff?! Obviously it’s not a big deal if she choose to put her stuff in one of the cabinet where no one is sitting but odd that she knew the seat had been assigned but decided to put her stuff there anyways? What was she thinking? Feels unprofessional say the least when she’s trying to convince you to sit at other suite so she doesn’t have to move her stuff. Part of her job is service and she’s thinking about herself instead of client which is antithesis of service. She just seems off. Maybe her mind is somewhere else due to family issues or other distractions? Hopefully she will do better next time.
Strikes me they missed an opportunity with the virtual windows. While I guess it's cool you can see what's actually happening outside during the flight it would be even more fun to pick themed animations so that what's actually happening is replaced or augmented with dragons, sea monsters, etc.
I’m not sure how EK determines who receives this service, but I was met at the gate in DXB by a man holding a sign with my name who drove me in a buggy to security, accompanied me through, and escorted me to the ginormous first class lounge in the A380 terminal. It was a godsend. We had 5/6 people in 1st on our flight, and the flight had one other FC pax being met; this was a woman whose trip ended in DXB.
It could be that those on full revenue tickets receive this service(?), much like only those on revenue tickets get the limo service included, but I don’t have any data to back this up.
My crew earlier in the month IAD-DXB was phe-freaking-nominal, and it’s too bad your crew on thus flight was so…lethargic. I’ve *always* had great crews IAD-DXB.
Sam - you bring up a really good point that I think many times gets lost or forgotten about. The catering origin has a lot to do with the food quality and isn't necessarily a reflection of the airline in general. Catering options are limited and airlines have to take what they can get.
Sam, I agree with you that there are certainly certain airports where the catering is better than others. I haven't flown much out of Dulles, generally leaving the US out of ATL/DTW/JFK/BOS (can you tell that I'm team SkyTeam?). I generally find food on AF/KLM out of ATL inferior to the food coming back from CDG/AMS which makes sense b/c of home stations, but I also find DL has superior food coming back form CDG/AMS than from flights originating at ATL. It makes me think it has more to do with the caterer than the airline's "recipes." I haven't flown them yet but I'm curious what food will be like on Qatar and BA from ATL.
Lucky, I know you do your rankings of best First and Biz seats, but I'd be curious to see your top 5 best meals (carrier and airport). I'm wondering if they'd all be in First or if an airline like Turkish might sneak in with phenomenal food in Biz.
This doesn't sound like a very appealing flight, to be honest. The crew delivered unprofessional service and the food was not up to first class standards. Although this is masked by the fact that you had an empty cabin, the seat was good and you had an enjoyable time with Ford.
You can only spend money one time, I rather spend it with an airline that delivers consistency than playing a lottery with crew and food. I would rather fly AF First.
Queue liters, etc. Ben are you an American or are you a foreigner American use terms like lines and gallons or quarts pints ounces etc etc etc we don't use the word queue and we use very little leaders although you can buy a 2 l at the grocery store which is basically half a gallon
When I went JFK->DXB, they only checked the vax card, once, during check in. Quite painless in my experience
"single-use soap bars"
It reminds me the Air Inter's soap in the eighties before liquid soap. I liked them soo much. I do not know if the first class emirates are more special but single-use soap bars are fun.
I can see you were given news about France on the ICE.
You may not have understand what the raise of the "smic" means and the raise without "coup de pouce" (typical from Macron).
And of course about the demonstrations in the street against Le Pen. Funny inside a washington originating flight.
Ben, the virtual windows are quite fuzzy in a lot of the pictures. Is that just an affect from taking a photo of them, or do they in fact get fuzzy/blurry? That would give me a mega headache if it's the case.
Yah, it's interesting for sure. Some airports (like Heathrow) have multiple catering companies and will work hard to get an airline catering contract, with folks from the corporate office flying in often to review upcoming menu's (I saw a documentary recently about the company that does catering for ANA at Heathrow). Then there are airports where there are no options (I speculate this may be the case at many airports with international flights here in the USA).
I dont care how first class the food or drink is on an airline, there is not a single airline in the world that can beat a nice meal at a decent restaurant in any city. If food is such a top priority just make a reservation before flying at a good spot. Yes the food in this photo looks underwhelming buts lets be honest, the most important thing is the seat here. Again i can get better food and wine on the ground, the seat is the difference and this is no doubt the best F seat.
Agreed, flew the same route the end of March in the same seat as Ben. Service and food was exceptional and very polished. Interestingly, the cabin was full on my flight. I swear service levels get lax when a Cabin is virtually empty. It's like everyone lets their guard down.
Great review- ultimately the total experience matters and the Emirates hard product has made their proposition a winner.
Yet Emirates should be worried. Granted there is always an element of variability and subjectivity in such personalised service environments however the incidents described seem to be red flags.
It seems that the crew managed had the pizzazz to cover it up and moreover the passengers would be in a good mood. I could have seen the seat drama playing out quite differently with a high strung business passenger.
It sounded like the purser is on notice. However knowing emirates they would probably be all over it by now.
The best food can be had on the ground, everyone in the comments seems to obsess over food, if you care that much about food wouldnt you rather have a better meal on the ground anyways. I think the seat should make up most if not all of a rating. No steak in the air will be as good as the 10th best steakhouse in any city you are flying from but the champagne and caviar will be and emirates does this right.
@ben have you noticed any outage in booking business & first class tickets today on various sites. For example on Amex Travel and Expedia. They both can ticket economy but not business or first.
Has Emirates food ever been a show stopper? Other than caviar and the mezze spread - it’s generally at best forgettable! Frankly shocked to see lobster - in 15 years of flying them I have never seen it , although it features wildly in their promo pics. Not surprised by service snafus, exceptional service while it does exist, is unfortunately the exception.
Do you remember which kind of caviar they served and from which origin? For instance AF does not serve caviar on flights departing the US citing problems to obtain (Iranian?) caviar in the US.
A little off topic but that business class cabin’s awful seating density/arrangement is exceeded only by the tackiness of the gold and faux wood finishes. And they’re going forward with this same concept for future aircraft? It’s pathetic.
Mostly excellent flight. Double caviar certainly doesn't hurt with bottles of Dom P to wash it all down. Hope y'all had some of that Hen dawg Paradis lol. Very disappointed by the service & attitude pre flight and onboard. Food didn't look great either, certainly not what I would expect to see in Emirates first class on their most premier plane on an extremely high cost route.
I guess we won't get more details on the service then ;).
About the virtual windows, something I wonder is if they generate a lot of heat? That could potentially be the deal breaker for me vs a real window seat.
With the virtual windows could you just replicate this as a hotel on the ground. Have a bit of turbulence and some movement for takeoff and landing. Flight attendants bring 3-4star restaurant food. Would be a $300 a night hotel at least! 🙂
Yeah but the seat is worse than a Ramada inn room for the night so what’s the difference ?! It’s all the same thing. The bling of having it while you travel.
Great review. One typo: you were served biscotti/cantuccini with your cappuccino, not biscoff.
I can't stand hot cabins while flying. I can certainly say that after a 14 hour flight in the new F (in that very seat) it was always very comfortable temperature wise. Never felt anything being generated heat wise from it.
Yeah am not sure how it warrants 5 stars. Can you imagine paying full price for this? Maybe 4 stars for a reward redemption and at best 3 if you paid full price!
This is not a restaurant blog but an aviation blog so yes the food / wine quality served on board a $10,000 flight is relevant.What part of this is so bewildering to you?
@Ben
Happy Birthday Ben !
The FA in your suite during boarding seemed “pushy” but well intentioned many passengers would indeed prefer a window seat. Next time she should know who she’s dealing with. 🙂
How good is that Bvulgari eau de parfum ?I’m afraid to use it anymore knowing how expensive it is. Hehe.
I had the 2012 Dom Perignon and Poulliac French wine.
On a similar note, Lucky, you should really go to Anthony's Runway 84 in Fort Lauderdale before it gets renovated in late May. It's a legendary spot in the area for huge portions of amazing Italian food. The name comes from its location on SR-84 and being near FLL. Best part: the old school, aviation themed interior. Google it and check out photos. I feel like you'll love a visit there just for the decor, great food is a bonus.
"I would rather fly AF First"
Absolutely. My experience over the past several decades has been that Air France flight attendants & pursers are friendlier and more professional than those of Emirates.
Taking a photo of a screen is always going to look weird and not reflective of real life. Think of it as lining up a lattice of pixels over another lattice of pixels. They'll never line up perfectly and can't have the same resolution as your eyes.
The crew in EK first class is hit or miss. On my A380 flight this past Jan from DXB to JFK, the crew was utterly abysmal! Wasn't met by any at the door. Never showed me to my seat. Never responded to the crew call button. In other news I'm a huge bvlgari fun @Lucky let me know if you need someone to take that amenity kit off your hands.
That’s a lot of miles and a lot of dollars for OK food and apathetic service. How you can give that a five star review, given the price point, is beyond me.
I have been lucky enough to have flown in Emirates first class (upgraded due to business class being full) and it is truly an unforgettable experience.. but there is something very tacky about their somewhat "Trump hotel" style. Too much bling squashed into such a small space.
On another note, given this review, people should be warned that the past few days EK has been using an older 777 with the original F cabin on the IAD flights. They will soon transition to an A380 for IAD so this must be a shifting of aircraft in preperation. This means there is no "regular" scheduled new F now to the U.S. Curious which city the new F was shifted to.
Well if the FA loading her stuff in your suite and the Purser not introducing herself, being the initial issues you had on this flight which were not revealed in an earlier post and which you asked everyone if you should make it known, then we can sigh with relief it was not much worse. You made it sound like something horrible happened, not that the actions above are acceptable. You could have mentioned all this in a post like this without even asking us lol. You are too nice, I think!!
Regarding those windows, I'd take the real things any day. How were you not nauseated considering the view in the window furtherest away from you kind of tilts upwards. Even the one closest to you and the middle don't even align in the view outside. 14 hours + of that and I'd have a migraine.
Regarding service I think they are reserving the best for those who pay full price lol. Like I mentioned in another comment nice to see you in front of the camera, as like me you prefer to be behind it. Ford is missing though.
I agree with Steve's thoughts and appreciate your honesty always - including your recent flights to southern Oman; happy to follow you Lucky and safe travels
So much for first class and business class "subsidizing" economy.
The only pax in FC were flying free.
Rich people trying to feel less guilty.....
I'm curious if it would be forbidden, noticed, or reported if a married couple were to sleep in one suite, and or spend time in a suite together for another reason with the door totally closed and the DND on? I'm not married, but if I was, and I was flying with my wife, I would think that I would want to be able to truly enjoy the privacy of the suite. You only live - and for many of us - fly this product once.
What does being married have to do with anything?
There is no way two people are going to be sleeping in one suite; not enough room for anything other than making whoopee.
I felt a little let down after reading this. It was unconscionable that the Flight Attendant had all of her crap in your seat and then tried to make you move?, and do a hard sell on dutyfree - seriously !! the food looked very unappealing except for the caviar set- up which is easy to do - let’s face it. Imagine having parted with cash - no thanks
Thank you for a thoughtful review. Dom Perignon, Caviar and Mezze with an excellent ICE system has overcome many an apathetic F EK crew but crew consistency does appear to be a problem. I have experienced both horrendous and excellent Emirates service in F (including one incident of standing in the aisle during descent and imploring a crew member to take my bedding so that I could prepare for landing, having eaten nothing and only consuming one bottle of water on a fourteen hour flight as, and I quote, 'we are busy tonight!'). Complacency in any F product should be addressed immediately and this review is an important tool for all airlines.
I had that lobster first course on my flight a few weeks ago and was told it is a new addition. The purser was curious as to my opinion. Like Jon O it was the first time I saw lobster on EK. And it was actually, for me, the highlight of the meal. Very tasty.
As always, enjoyed reading your insightful review. After reading your “China Southern+” service level on Emirates F, I am going to stick with SQ A380 suite and AF F as my bucket list flights.
Flew this route in Jan in F and unfortunately had a crew closer to Lucky's than EK "norms". No canapes, no chilled vodka (first world problems), no proactive service. We were 2 of the 3 people in F and had to constantly ask for things. Additionally, agree that the food was average at best. Have had better food in B6 Mint, TK Y, even Polaris. Cherry on top was forgetting my passport somewhere in the Suite and not have it be found
Flying first on emirates end of next month. I was already unhappy about the 1200+ in fees for an awards redemption. Based on this review and others I've seen on youtube, my expectations are LOW. First class roulette, yikes.
With the virtual windows, can you select which side of the plane they are showing? That would be a huge improvement over a regular window seat, never having to worry about missing something visible from the other side.
As a citizen of the world and a multi-million mile flyer, I see nothing wrong with speaking the language of the world. Queue, litres, (or, as you so eloquently call it "leaders"), is how the rest of the world speaks. I would not even pay the slightest attention to a fellow American who thinks everyone should adhere to their standards.
Question: in order to book the stopover in Dubai did you have to call or were you able to do it online?
Thanks
I avoid EK now because the service is not consistent. When you strip away the bling there are better carriers with similar route networks.
food is seldom even acceptible. I flew 100+ flights F with EK and for reference get it served, try it and send it back
I fly EK just because timing is convenient and I do about 20 F flights a year. Food is better avoided. Turkish and Aegean offer better food in Business
EWR TO ATH BEWARE. 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!
Lovely presentation for the caviar & coffee. Somehow the other food looked rather unappetizing. As in perhaps it was plated not as it should have been, but in an uncaring manner. And your bed! Uncaring presentation again. You hinted there were some minor infractions. You had every right for a complaint! And why are they allowing the FA to use the valuable cabin real estate! And no discussion about why her stuff was in your assigned space!
Cabin temperature too warm. It was 23c and not conducive to good nights sleep in first class. After several requests, Purser reduced it to 22c which is still too warm and ideally should be 20/21c for sleeping.
Travelled on A380 first class long haul. Seat quite narrow and seat controls confusing to use. Food excellent. It was
a bit warm and dropping the temperature a bit more would have helped. Pillows not firm enough. Helpful crew