The other Michael recently completed a trip to Europe from Australia (he has now moved to Australia), which reminded him that a few years ago, he flew Emirates back from Australia to Europe and got a free operational upgrade from Melbourne to Dubai. He ended up with a (very) expensive economy ticket back from Australia because he caught COVID, which that he was stuck buying a full fare economy ticket. However, he lucked out a bit because he got an operational upgrade to Business Class, but only on the Melbourne to Dubai portion of the trip. However, the upgrade came at check-in and explicitly did not include the lounge, so he only had the on-board part of the experience.
At the time, Emirates didn’t offer Premium Economy, so a one class upgrade from Economy to Business really was a massive jump in terms of on-board experience. The lucky part as well is that this was the longer of his two flights.
Emirates has a staggered 1-2-1 configuration in business class on the A380, with seats alternating between being closer to the aisle and closer to the window. In Michael’s case on this flight, he was in an aisle seat. I’d argue these are the worst seats in the cabin, but they are still hugely better than an economy seat. I also find the faux wood a bit gaudy, but I guess that’s to be expected for an airline based in Dubai.
Emirates is known for having one of the best in-flight entertainment systems throughout the plane, and it does deserve the title.
Michael was kind enough to provide us with pictures of the menu for that evening. It’s pretty cool that the menu even says, “Melbourne – Dubai”. I don’t think I’ve seen that on other flights before.
The menu covers not only breakfast and lunch but also the light bites available any time and the food available in the on-board lounge. He definitely wasn’t going to go hungry!
Separately, there was also the drink menu, which was also very extensive:
At the seat waiting for him was also an extensive amenity kit:
Michael started off his flight with a glass of champagne as one does.
Michael’s seat was on the upper deck of the A380, which is common for business class on an A380. Universally (as far as I’m aware) on the A380, there is a console that runs under the windows that is generally used as additional storage. On the British Airways A380 upper deck Club World seats, this storage compartment is a game-changer for those seats because usually they severely lack storage. However, with Emirates’ seat configuration, the storage console does not seem to be nearly as useful due to the positioning.
One very cool feature of this seat is that it contains a mini-bar! But maybe that’s just so the flight attendants don’t have to come around as often for non-alcoholic drinks.
Shortly after take-off, Michael was served breakfast. He selected the French toast, which was served with fresh fruit and a croissant.
After the breakfast service, Michael reclined into bed mode and took a short nap. Even though it was bright out, there’s not really much else to do on such long flights.
Eventually, it was time for the second meal service, which they dubbed lunch. This meal service came a full four hours after breakfast. Michael (correctly) selected the Arabic Mezze as his starter, which consisted of hummus, muhamara, baba ganoush, and stuffed vine leaves. It was served with a salad and some Arabic bread.
For his main course, he selected the seared beef filet, which came with broccoli and potatoes, which are pretty standard accompaniments.
In summary, Michael was very pleased with his upgrade to business class (especially given the $0 upgrade free). The upgrade didn’t come with an upgraded ground experience, but at least the airport is efficient (1/5). This was Michael’s first business class seat, and he gives it a 4/5 for comfort. The soft product is where Emirates usually shines, and the food and service get good marks at 4/5 and 4/5, but there was no dine-on-demand. Emirates also has a great in-flight entertainment system that offers over 1 000 movies and tv shows, and he got an hour of free WiFi (4/5). He, therefore, gives his first flight in business class a 17/25 on this blog’s scoring scale.
Though he greatly enjoyed the experience, as of yet, he has not been convinced to pay the (often very high) upgrade fee to Business on a flight to/from Australia but he has from Kuala Lumpur to London.
Michael's travel blog 