Monday newsletters always feature top 10 travel lists to inspire.
Today (December 17,2018): Top 10 reasons why flying First Class with Emirates is an amazing experience.
Emirates is a mammoth airline: it has more than 240 widebody planes in its fleet, carrying more than 40 million passengers to more than 100 destinations in the world per year. According to Wikipedia, Emirates is currently the fourth-largest airline in the world in terms of international passengers carried, the world’s third largest airlines by scheduled passenger-kilometres flown, the seventh largest airline in the world in terms of revenue, and the largest airline in the Middle East in terms of revenue, fleet size, and passengers carried. The Dubai based airliner is also famous around the world for its outrageous offerings in its premium cabin. Here are 10 reasons why flying First Class with Emirates is a phenomenal experience!
Read my trip reports in Emirates’ First Class here:
- Review: Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Amsterdam
- Review: Emirates B777 First Class from Dubai to Brussels
Have you ever flown First Class with Emirates? What was your experience? Leave a comment below.
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10. FIRST CLASS LOUNGE AT DUBAI AIRPORT
The Emirates First Class lounge at Dubai Airport is one of the most spacious, unique and innovative lounges in the world. In fact’s, it’s more of an ultra-luxe concourse floating above the terminal’s ground floor rather than a defined space like you find in other First Class lounges around the world. The lounge is enormous as it spreads the entire length of the terminal, offering direct access to most gates with multi-level boarding. The First Class lounge features several seating areas (each one with its own food station), a spa facility (with complimentary treatments), a restaurant a business center, a stylish decorated cigar room, a wine cellar, and two sleeping rooms (each featuring a dozens of day beds).
9. MOISTURISING PYJAMAS
Emirates’ First Class passengers can relax in the world’s first moisturising sleepwear range to ever be developed for an airline. Designed to prevent skin dehydration, the pyjama’s fabric is crafted with the use of natural ingredients – Shea Buter and Argan Oil – which are released with every motion, keeping your skin moisturised and protected. The patented Microcapsule Technology locks in the natural benefits, allowing you to wash the pyjamas and use them again them again. Catering to female and male sizes – the pyjamas come in four sizes and in a jersey travel pack. The dark grey men’s pyjamas come with wide leg pant and ribbed collar, while the female’s pyjamas come in a light grey tapered pant and reverse darker colour collar.
8. COMPLIMENTARY CHAUFFEUR-DRIVEN AIRPORT TRANSFERS
One of the great perks about flying First Class with Emirates is the complimentary chauffeur-driven airport transfers. The carrier whisks you to and from the airport at both ends of your journey. Chauffeur-drive must be requested online, up to 48 hours prior to your flight. Within the United Arab Emirates (home base of Emirates), the chauffeur-drive services are provided in a fleet of BMW and Mercedes cars with free in-car Wi-Fi, so you can catch up on emails, browse your social feeds or send a message on route to your final destination. Complimentary chauffeur-driven airport transfers are also offered by Emirates to its Business Class passengers.
7. FULLY ENCLOSED FIRST CLASS SUITE (B777 AIRCRAFT ONLY)
Emirates’ new First Class private suites onboard its B777 planes are the first in the airline industry to be fully-enclosed with sliding doors that extend from the cathedral-like cabin ceiling to the floor. This creates a level of privacy otherwise experienced only on a private jet. There’s no need to panic though as you can still easily communicate with the cabin crew once the doors as closed without leaving the comfort of your suite. Using the video call function on the suite’s tablet, you can request room service (similar to a five-star hotel), and each suite also comes with a service window so you can be served drinks and canapes undisturbed.
6. ONBOARD LOUNGE & BAR (A380 AIRCRAFT ONLY)
The onboard lounge on the upper deck of Emirates’ A380 aircraft is hugely popular with its First and Business Class passengers, and has become an iconic feature of the airline’s A380 offering. Particularly on long-haul flights, it’s great to stretch your legs and mingle in the relaxed, yet classy lounge area. The lounge features a horseshoe-shaped bar with seating arrangement along the windows on both sides of the bar. Inspired by private yacht cabins, each seating area has a table and window view, accented by a glossy dark wood trim. The lounge also features a large TV screen where you can view the latest flight information, or enjoy live TV broadcasts of the latest news or sports updates.
5. EXCLUSIVE BULGARI AMENITY KITS
Emirates has partnered with luxury Italian brand Bulgari for the designs of the its exclusive kit bags, which rank among the best in the airline industry. The amenity kits for both First and Business Class feature Bulgari’s woody floral fragrance – Eau Parfumée au thé noir – and contain skincare essentials to you feel fresh and pampered throughout the flight. The First Class kit bags, made from fine leather, come in eight designs in charcoal grey for men and pale grey for women. To get even more comfortable, each First Class passenger also receives an “inspiration kit” featuring luxury Byredo skincare.
4. UNLIMITED DOM PERIGNON CHAMPAGNE AND WILD CAVIAR
Flying in First Class onboard Emirates, you can almost certainly expect caviar as an appetizer, the salt-cured roe of the Acipenseridae fish which is synonymous with indulgent luxury. On my recent Dubai to Brussels flight, for example, I was served “wild Iranian caviar presented with a traditional selection of finely chopped onion, grated egg, sour cream and lemon, served with melba toast and blinis”. Throughout its network Emirates has served its First Class passengers at least 2.5 million tins of caviar so far on its A380 aircraft alone. When you fly First Class with Emirates, you also can enjoy the very best wines and champagnes from the carrier’s cellar, including the latest vintage from Dom Pérignon, the 2009.
3. ONBOARD SHOWER (A380 AIRCRAFT ONLY)
One of the Emirates A380 most talked about features is the onboard shower in its First Class cabin. There are two showers (with heated floors!) at the front of the A380 upper deck, each one of them located in one of the two spacious First Class lavatories. It’s quite surreal indeed to indulge in a refreshing and rejuvenating shower at 40,000 ft, using Bulgari toiletries and Timeless Spa products. As a First Class passenger, you can shower once per flight, getting five minutes of water (although you can turn the shower on and off as often as you want). The First Class cabins in Emirates’ Boeing 777 aircraft do not have a shower.
2. BEDS WITH ZERO-GRAVITY POSITION (B777 AIRCRAFT ONLY)
The soft leather seat onboard Emirates’ newest First Class suites can be adjusted into dozens of custom positions for optimal comfort. When reclined into a fully flat-bed, the seat can be placed in a “zero-gravity” position inspired by NASA technology, giving a feeling of relaxation and weightlessness. In June 2016, NASA entered into an agreement with the UAE towards the peaceful exploration of space and the agreement included working together on aerodynamic technology. So, it is no surprise that NASA was involved in inspiring the re-design of the Boeing 777 suite allowing the introduction of awesome features for First Class travelers, such as the zero gravity bed, which aims to simulate the feeling of weightlessness that astronauts experience onboard spacecraft.
1. VIRTUAL WINDOWS (B777 AIRCRAFT ONLY)
Emirates new B777 First Class cabin features 6 suites, two on each side of the windows and two on the middle. To ensure all First Class customers have a view, Emirates introduced the industry’s first virtual windows for suites located in the middle aisle. These virtual windows project the view from outside the aircraft using real-time technology with fibre-optic cameras. In the other suites, binoculars are available for customers who want to explore the sky outside their windows. Some speculate that with the introduction of virtual windows, Emirates may move towards windowless aircraft, since removing windows from planes makes them lighter and thus reduces fuel costs; in addition, there are also large cost savings on construction. You can have a look at the virtual windows in my clip below (starting at 21’27”).
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