Incredible Emirates First Class Dubai to Singapore

There is First class, and then there is Emirates First class.

It is the essence of inspirational travel. Boy was I excited! The anticipation was mounting and the day finally arrived, like a child at Christmas and birthday all rolled into one!

Emirates First Class Flight Details

Route: DXB- SIN
Flight no: EK404
Aircraft: A380-800
Departure time: 09:25am
Seat: 3A
Cabin layout: 1-2-1

Check-in

I was arriving via Athens, so did not experience the full ground service in DXB. After landing I had just over 2 hours layover so headed straight to the First class lounge.

Lounge

Emirates has different First Class lounges in Dubai International, depending on where you fly from. And the lounges have a straight connection to the boarding brides. I have reviewed the lounge here.

Boarding & Cabin

I proceeded to board about 30 minutes to departure time. It took about 5 minutes straight down from lounge into the gate for the A380 upper deck. I could not see any other passengers yet. Once at the aircraft door, I was escorted to my suite, 3A.

And the impression of the suite was exactly as I had imagined and expected after reading countless reviews of it.  I should have been rather tired, given I only slept about 1 hour of my overnight flight in on an angle flat business product. This was on another league. The cabin manager promptly followed to welcome me with a drink and ask if I had any special requirements for the flight today and if I needed introducing to the suite. Even though this was actually my first time in the product, I felt like I already knew it.

Amenities

As I was settling into my seat, I was offered the amenity kit, the famous hydro active pyjamas, slippers. There was a handy writing pad and pen tucked away in a draw in front.

Service

Pre and post departure I chose to go for the Dom 2009, when in First! Shortly afterwards followed by some Arabic coffee, dates and nuts.

I decided to eat straight after take off, starting with a canapes with grilled venison with cranberries. I had already started eating before I remembered to take a pic..

followed by caviar

As evident a great deal of attention is paid to presentation… and quality was just as good!

For main, I ordered the coconut braised beef short ribs, with star anise and ginger, creamed potato and sauted grilled veg.

After I ordered a pistachio cake!

The bed

I rested for about an hour watching few episodes of comedies. When I was ready to sleep the crew to made my bed. Meanwhile, I changed into the pyjamas (they were super comfortable). It actually felt like I was in a swanky hotel bed, with premium bedding.

Off course the bed can be fully enclosed at a touch of a button..

I napped for about an hour and half. I got real cosy in the bed, and could have easily slept longer, but was too excited too for my pre-booked shower call.

Plane Shower at 38000 feet?!

As I was awaken for my shower, I think I pretty much skipped into it.

This shower and spa is double the size of my en-suite at home!! With added extras and special touches!

Each first passenger get a 30 minute slot, which was more than enough for me to get changed, shower (you can stop and start the shower as you like, so you maximise the running water time) There is something so satisfying about getting out of a shower and stepping onto a heated floor (at 40000 feet) I took my time getting dressed and tried out a few products. I really didn’t want to leave!

 

Outside I was greeted with a lovely smiling crew with some refreshing tea at hand, and I found some fruits left in my suite.

The bar

Finally, after the shower, with about 90 min left of the flight, I headed to the bar. I ordered a couple of cocktails, and met and conversed with a few of the first and business crew ( most business passengers appeared to be sleeping so it wasn’t busy.) It comes as no surprise, that many of the crews working on airlines are avgeeks themselves! I spoke to a gent from Hungry working Business on the flight, who was all too keen to tell me about the features of the A380!

The crew were very proactive and happy to take pictures of me.

As I headed back to the suite, I was proactively asked if I needed anything or would like to order any other food. I was not quite ready for another full meal but opted for a quick bite

All to quickly, it was time to land.

I was out of immigration within 20 minutes of landing with my pre-booked chauffeur waiting to whisk me to my hotel.

Want to fly this yourself? The best prices for Emirates First class seem to be out of Colombo at the moment, where you can book directly from Emirates.com

Final thoughts

This experience was genuinely a treat, a celebration if you will. The flight, the service and crew all met or exceeded my expectations of flying Emirates First. It was a real pleasure from the moment I stepped in. While the suite itself is now quite a few years old, and may not be the swankiest First product in the skies (Emirates itself now has a new updated First, currently only on a handful of 777 aircrafts without showers I should add), Singapore Airlines also have a new First suite, the combination of the shower spa, bar, and outstanding service still makes this one of the best First class experiences around.

You may say, why would you need a shower in a middle of a flight or an in-suite bar when there is an actual bar? These things provide options for travellers, just in case they would like to. And that’s what First class should be about, having the options and little conveniences to make your journey as best as possible.