Review: "New" Emirates First Class Airbus A380 (DXB-IAH)

Great review Ben! Any thoughts on whether it's worth to take a positioning flight to a city with these new A380's? Is the difference large enough?

I'm in Toronto (YYZ), which gets the old A380s, but thinking of doing a positioning flight to JFK just to experience the new A380s.

"The rest of the first class crowd was a bit different than I was expecting, but perhaps that’s Houston specific."

Oh, do tell!

This is not the refurbished 380. This is the old version. Still amazing, but it’s not their new first class.

I'm curious if you would have paid ~$4000 pp on a paid ticket for EK F since that's roughly the valuation of the miles you redeemed. Seems quite steep.

I've been thinking that Emirates first class is kinda basic nowadays, but now that I've seen your latest experience, it seems like >I was wrong; they're keep improving their product (both soft and hard) and thus getting better over the time, which is (sadly) not the most common case in any companies in these days, even outside the aviation industry. Emirates first class experience might not be the best, but it really is at a different league.

Thanks for the detaild review, really enjoyed this one.

And then there's Spirit.

Why do people pay a lot for anything? Sometimes it's about the subjective value to that person rather than the objective value to everyone else.

"The rest of the first class crowd was a bit different than I was expecting, but perhaps that’s Houston specific." -- lol I'm curious... how exactly were they different?

As previously commented, the tote bag is also available in 777 first.

Typo — the Don Perignon is 2013, not 2017.

Hot take...? Emirates First is excellent. Business is far from great - cabin too big, FA not attentive (meal service and done), and maybe it's just my luck the last two flights but lots of loud and obnoxious passengers. Etihad business any day over Emirates

I do not understand the purpose of the onboard shower. Do you not bathe before leaving to go to the airport? If you have not, well I find that disgusting.
After using the onboard shower do people put on the same outfit? If affirmative, then what's the point of showering in the first place?

And I would take Qatar's business any day over both.

I've used the shower a few times arriving into Sydney late afternoon, change out of the PJs into fresh clothes and straight to dinner with friends or something social. It's totally unnecessary but they have been clever in using a part of the aircraft where seats cannot go and it is so nice feeling fresh after what is usually a 14-15 hour flight from Dubai. Don't knock it until you've tried it, there is something about having a shower onboard that just feels super luxurious and you can go straight out after arriving at your destination / social / work function etc.

Ben would if a one way fare were 4k (He recently paid quite a lot to upgrade on Swiss to F from J on a pretty short hop to ZRH for example), but Ben doesn't fly traditional itineraries even for leisure, often flying odd city pairings and on effectively 2 one way flights, so what would be a normal roundtrip one one carrier for most people is a very different scenario for Ben, it all comes down to reviewing as many different products so we have fresh content to enjoy!

I’m wondering the same thing… this is very coded language.

That's correct. Emirates business is very lacking both from the seats and the lounges. QR provides much better seats as long as they're not the dated 2-2-2 config, which are the minority, whereas Emirates still has 2-3-2 on many routes.

QR lounge is probably better quality imo than Emirates, while you do get to board from the lounge for most Emirates flights though.

I see the Bvlgari eau de parfum has changed. I eventually finished my Bvlgari Tygar I got on Emirates in 2022 but it did go bad . It lost its citrus tone and less projection. It was still a nice scent just not as fresh.

The Houstonian crowd I would guess diverse. It could be UAE families going for treatment at Texas Medical Center ; #1 in the world for cancer treatment and up there with the best childrens hospitals. An African population rich and diverse. Or oil and gas employees.

Most, if not all perfumes eventually go bad. They lose their scent and they won't smell the same forever. That is why you need to use your perfumes, instead of storing them for long periods of time.

If the Emirates perfume went bad that quickly, I am assuming it likely had some fresh herbs/elements inside. The perfume also may not have had alcohol inside, which acts as a preservative in fragrances. Since alcohol is haram in Islam (not allowed), some people in the Middle East don't like to use fragrances containing alcohol, which is why you will find many locally produced fragrances to not have it. In the eyes of the religion, it is forbidden to consume alcohol as far as I know, so the position on using fragrances with alcohol doesn't have a hard guideline agreed upon by all Muslims.

Japan Airlines first class on their new Airbus A350-1000 is better.

I would have gone for the Montrachet Grand-Cru, which is a far more premium wine than the Dom. I’m surprised to see it on the wine list.

I was just in the QR Al Mourjan Garden Lounge in Doha. It was indeed a trek from lounge to my gate. It would have been great if it was possible to have a similar set up a la EK as you have just described.

I don't get this weird "caviar" obsession with some people. It's not even food *eye roll*

IMHO, Etihad Residence and First Class, JAL First Class > Emirates ~ AF La Premiere (overall)

Agree! Both Qatar's and JAL's 350-1000's business class are far superior.
But you have to make sure it's a Qsuite in Qatar. They are notorious in changing body at the last moment.

@Lucky - I think you have a typo... "sheet"
"There are many things to love about the shower spas. For one, the sheet amount of space you have makes it easy to change, shave, or whatever. "

Also - no mention of HDMI use in any reviews. For some of us, plugging in my laptop to the screen with an HDMI cable is a huge plus. (I have only used the one on Qatar... and it is awesome!)

I use it when I am flying back from Asia- via Dubai- to Houston and then Austin- yes I shower before I leave that day, but after 5-8 hours in a plane, a layover and then another 16 hour flight, taking a shower and putting on fresh clothes before getting off the plane to transit and then another 1 hour flight is amazing. I feel like a human being. Think of it this way- on such a long flight, you've slept and are awake in a new day and want a shower like you normally would upon getting up, and on this plane- you can have one and not wait for the transit lounge or till you get home. It is amazing and I was fully prepared for it to be a gimmick, but it really isn't.

It is the refurbished A380. You mean the 777 with the Gamechanger suites.

Have you ever heard about the "preferences"?

And no, just because some people like it and you don't, doesn't mean you can call it "obsession".

"The sheet amount of space you have makes it easy to change, shave, or whatever"

Whatever? Lol.

"An African population"

Except it isn't in Africa...

I agree, hence my question. If he's willing to pay that amount in miles presumably he'd pay that in cash?

I would agree if it were a novel review but he's reviewed EK a million times. I guess the slightly refreshed cabin is worth something.

Great Circle Mapper says DXB-IAH is 8168 miles but DXB-LAX is 8339?

I presume it's Oil & Gas industry passengers? If you fly between the key oil capitals (e.g. Houston, Aberdeen, Stavanger), you'll be standing in line with people who look like manual workers, but they all have the highest elite FFP status because of their frequent travel,

Good to hear. Last I flew Emirates first 380 from Dubai to DC frankly it was disappointing...Cabin service was terrible and more fitting to a business class crew. Maybe its improved because I was considering a different airline frankly.

@Sean: true, never underestimate your fellow passengers!
Also funny: you'll often see airlines run out of beer/wine on ABZ flights; witnessed this numerous times on KL's ABZ runs. It appears that if you return from an oil rig, there's some catching up to do.

Did you miss the word "some"?
And yes, the word "obsession" could be used for some people in this context.

Did you not review JNB-DXB?

Love love LOVE that you didn't get the fish!!!!!

This good deed has not gone unnoticed!!! 🙂

Three cheers!!!

Hey hey - you didn't order the fish. Looks delicious. That is a bit too much caviar for my liking, though lol.

I hope you have a great flight, and pleasant time in my homeland.

I’m surprised to see that the A380 didn’t upgrade to "game changer" first class cabins as they have done on some B777s.

Flying palace.

Emirates F class (seat 2K) on the A380 really is a delight - I’ve flown it many times from LAX-DXB-JED. My only ‘complaint’ is that the window pods feel a little claustrophobic because of the curvature of the aircraft — there’s no way overhead compartments would work. I prefer F class window pods on the first level because the walls are vertical.

Are you always this insufferable?

If you've travelling on an aircraft for ~14+ hours, a shower is a very desirable thing in terms of arriving refreshed.