Fly Emirates

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Due to the long flight I had planned and my much needed real vacation time, I looked into flying Business Class... just on a whim. Lo and behold! I saw great deals on Emirates! Not only that, the deals were on the A380 - the largest passenger jet in the world! The price was just a little more than twice the price of Economy, so I went for it - 16 hour flight on Emirates in business? Yep - made total sense! (I've been unable to find the same deal for any time recently - I'd love to fly my parents in, but I can only splurge so much!)

Can I just say - wow! Wow. Wow. WOW! Was it totally worth it! From beginning to end. I was able to check in pretty quickly and I realized I could have checked a lot more baggage weight than I did. Then I was given access to the Business Class lounge (Oryx) in Doha airport. My flight was at 3:45am, so a lot of things had shut down for the evening, but you were still given choices of some good and basic arabic foods to snack on while you waited for your flight. We were given our own little shuttle to the plane and my seat was so nice! There was no one next to me, the seat was big, and so high I couldn't even touch the floor. I fell sound asleep.

When I arrived in Dubai, I first checked out some little souvenirs and then went straight to the business class lounge there. In Terminal 1, it is located in entirety on the second main level outside the gate areas. It is HUGE! I went to the breakfast buffet and got some eggs, fruit and bread with orange juice. YUM. Then I wandered around to see what all there was to offer - dozens of things. I finally settled in the lounge nearest my gate and curled up in a big comfy chair and dozed for an hour.

Since it was an American bound flight, there was slight increase in the level of security and the guard sent me over to the main waiting area. Yes, I am now elitist. No, really, since this is the A380, business and first classes are located entirely and solely upon the second deck of the plane, so I was supposed to be directed somewhere else, which meant I had to fight my through the large line waiting to board to the elevator. Walking down that upper jetway was the beginning of the real experience. I had to stop and take a photo of the plane as well.

I boarded and was seated in a window seat towards the back. A flight attendant said "My name is Mariana and I am here to assist you getting seated." She showed me where to put my bags (a whole overhead bin to myself), how the seat and remote worked, where the mattress was located my lie flat bed, and helped me stow some personal items that I might need during the flight (kindle, makeup, toothbrush, etc) in my arm rest storage. Then just before takeoff, another woman came up to me and said "Hi my name is Antonella and I will be assisting you during the flight." So, I guess she waits on a few people the whole time - so cool! She took my breakfast "order" which I decided on scrambled eggs, and gave me a choice of drinks. "Would you like orange juice, apple juice..." Me: "Is that champagne there? Yeah, that one please!"

The flight itself was incredible. The tv screen is huge and I was able to watch a wide variety of movies (Love Actually, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Jaws, The Hobbit). I was able to lie my bed flat and sleep pretty comfortably for a few hours. The area I sat was like it's own little cabin. I was right next to two windows, with the storage beneath my right arm. To my left was a little arm rest / countertop with upper level storage for drinks and small items as well as a charging station. This arm rest is above where the person behind me places their feet. And just in front of that is where the back of the person who sits in front of me is. But the seats are completely enclosed, so it feels like your own little pod.

The back of the upper level has a fully stocked bar where you could also get some snacks during the flight. I had a couple of vodka sodas (grey goose) and some little sandwiches. During the flight, you have breakfast to start and a large lunch to end, but you are able to request "light bites" at any point in the flight. I was starting to get hungry after 10 hours, so I ordered a Thai shrimp skewer - delicious. Lunch came about two hours before landing and consisted of three courses. The first course I selected seared tuna and it came with bread and salad. My main course I selected fish and prawns with rice - it was ok, but honestly was not the best (very salty!). And finally is a dessert course - I decided to be good and got some fresh fruit.

The bathrooms are also very nice, much bigger than economy and two of them were located on the outside so they had full windows. It was neat to be able to look out the window for a moment while we were flying over the Arctic. I had kept the shades at my seat mostly shut during the flight because it was completely day time flight patterns and we were flying over snow, plus there was a tiny little baby in the middle seat just next to me and he was being so good, so I didn't want to ever wake him up. But every now and then I would peek out - it was amazing to just see SNOW everywhere with nothing else in sight.

Honestly, I was content to stay on the flight forever. It felt like its own little vacation. You are so far from the engines and bottom that it is pretty quiet on the upper level. It was weird to take off from Dubai because I've been on countless flights, and I never remember having to travel so far down the run way and it felt so low when we finally did take off, I was somewhat concerned for a second - it was definitely weird. It was beautiful to fly over the Musandam peninsula and then over Iran - such incredible scenery! I'm looking forward for the return from NYC, where I purposely based my return flight from just so I could ride on the A380 again! 😊

Well done Emirates! Qatar Airways supposedly has the best business class in the world, but I honestly don't see how this experience can be topped!

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Photos

Flying over Santa Paula!
Of course, Ventura is completely covered...

Comments

[Home and Away]

And again...
wow!

[lexispence10]

another "wow"
still happy just thinking about it....