Cabin-Check: Business Class at Emirates
Route: Dubai - Bangkok - Dubai
Flight Time: 6:30
Airplane: Airbus 380-800
Seat: 25E (quite good seats next to the bar)
Check-in: 9/10
Lounge: 10/10
Service: 8/10
Seat: 10/10
Food: 8/10
Beverages: 9/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Total: 9/10
Well, lets face the facts: Emirates is one of the world's most famous airlines and nearly everybody was already sitting in an Emirates plane, even if not like Jennifer Aniston. No matter if you're going to Australia, Asia or the Middle East, Emirates developed to one of the world's leading airlines. My first time with Emirates was in 2009 during my first trip to Asia where we flew in the old Business Class from Dubai to Malé. To be honest, this product was nothing to write home about and therefore it wasn't my biggest dream to fly Emirates again one day. However things came different and with one of the world's biggest fleets of A380s, Emirates also features some of the world's best cabin products, at least in their high-end segment.
We were fortunate enough to experience the true luxury of flying Emirates from Cairo (I would not say that departing in Cairo was glamorous, tough as soon as we were seated in our Business Class chairs at the B777-300 and leaving for Dubai, one could really feel the glamour of this Middle Eastern Airline). However I would say the highlight of this trip was the Airbus 380, so that's why we focussed on the Dubai-Bangkok-Dubai flights. When we landed in Dubai International, we headed towards the Emirates Buisness Lounge, which in fact did catch our breaths in each and every way. Nearly as big as a normal airport, this lounge was really something exclusive and different. While I was amazed by the food and beverage selection they offered at 1am (we had truffle pasta and another glass of Moet & Chandon), I have to admit that I fell in love with the Spa area. You could sign for taking a shower and within the next 20 minutes you got a private room with rain shower, toilet and vanity desk. All amenities were provided and the toilet was also cleaner than at the main toilet area next to the restaurants of the Lounge. Another highlight was that we could board our flight directly from the Lounge and therefore were some of the first to sit in the Airbus 380 to Bangkok!
As luck would have it, we had one of the best and most funny crew members to Bangkok and it was even more funny and luck that the same crew was flying back to Dubai with us again. They were simply outstanding, unfortunately we don't remember all names of them beside Angela and Mohammed (the guy from Tunisia). I have to admit that we are not easy to convince when it comes to service (Austrian Airlines was outstanding in some parts), but this crew made our experience so personal that we felt like we already flew Emirates for our whole life. Other passengers were quite shocked as they saw that we were greeting the staff by first names and so did they - it must have seemed to them like we take this flight ever week :).
As soon as we took in our seats, staff arrived with champagne and of course we had another round of Moet & Chandon. Once after three glasses we also changed to juice but anyhow champagne was the drink of the day. Interestingly I did not experience any kind of head ache after we landed in Bangkok, which was a good sign. To be honest, we managed to even get a bit of sleep on our flight - normally it would be impossible for me to sleep on a plane due to the vibrations, the noise and the fact of wearing your jeans and polo (well I am also aware of the fact that I would eventually also sleep in First Class without problems, but we have to postpone a review for that). Well, I think that in addition of being very tired, having had a few glasses of bubbles and having had a wonderful dinner, I also slept in such a baby-like way because of the special topper the Emirates staff put on your seats when you go to bed. It's nothing special but in fact turns your seat into a bed and therefore was simply perfect. Other airlines should start offering that as well!
Actually, we decided to sleep for one or two hours as soon as we reached our flight altitude and it was my colleague Lukas who promised to set a timer for us so that we can enjoy the in-flight bar. As you can imagine it ended up with us oversleeping, as the iPhone of my colleague fell off his seat, in one of the many boxes. So there were we sleeping like babies and not sitting at that on-board bar, where champagne flows on unlimited basis. After a while I was awake and so was my colleague Niklas. So we both decided to check out the bar and after a gin tonic and a few more kilometres, our colleague Lukas joined us. We were sitting on the cool benches and enjoyed the conversation we had with the lovely crew members. They let us try their special whiskey, and we had another glass of Port - which we began to love in flight from Cairo du Dubai.
Honestly, the on-board bar makes Emirates one of the best airlines in the world and together with these amazing business class seats, it is definitely my number one airline. As we were sitting in the lounge and enjoying our drinks, one staff member arrived with a polaroid camera and asked if we wanted some pictures. We accepted the offer and in addition to the amazing memories we took from this experience, we even got them set onto paper with Emirates. Isn't that amazing?
Unfortunately we were not flying out to Sydney so we had to go back to our seats to at least have another hour of sleep before Angela brought us breakfast. Breakfast was quite good, however the scrambled eggs were one of the best I ever had on a flight and the orange juice was a nice contrast to the many, many glasses of champagne we had in the last 10 hours.
As soon as we landed in Bangkok, the staff waived good bye and we were ready to explore one of the most exciting cities in the world in a relaxed and refreshed way. To be honest, you could have done even more if you would have used the whole flight sleeping, but we decided to also enjoy the flight, that's why we went to bed earlier instead. Limousine service worked a little bit chaotic once we exited the airport, however we arrived at the W Bangkok on time and had another unforgettable, yet amazing experience.
A very special thanks to Emirates for providing us with this personal flights and the outrageous service. Nevertheless all above written expresses our own opinion and has not been influenced.
