Emirates
Emirates

Emirates Business Class Experience

I’ve got to be up-front here, I’m a big fan of Emirates, have been for a good few years now, so I could be a bit biased. Their aircraft are some of the newest I’ve flown on, their crew are awesome, their flights are (mostly) on time and their food and on-board entertainment is excellent. Add in the airport lounges, that are in a class of their own, you have a package that’s hard to beat. Having had the good fortune of flying Business Class for the past couple of years, I can say with hand on heart that it makes flying a pleasure once again.[vc_single_image image=”4383″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”]

Emirates Airport Lounges

The business class experience starts with the chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz that collects you at your home or hotel for the trip to the airport, but the real pleasure begins when you’ve passed through the fast track checkin and enter the Emirates Business Class lounge. Lounges are opening at more airports around the world, and Cape Town is one of those cities that has one. If you’ve spent time at the generic airport lounges that come as a perk with your credit card, be prepared for a pleasant surprise. 

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[vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4373″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4374″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4384″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Food in the Emirates lounge is excellent with quality snacks and a full on meal if you are hungry, and the booze is quality stuff with good whisky and champagne. It’s all free, well included in the price of your ticket anyway, but keep some space for the on-board stuff though, which is equally excellent. You’ll also find comfortable seating and a place to charge your electronic devices, as well as shower facilities.

In Dubai everything will be taken up a notch, both in terms of size, service and quality of food and drink. Which is a good thing, most travellers are transiting through Dubai and layovers can be quite long, having access to an Emirates lounge makes it thoroughly bearable. You’ll even find sleeping areas with comfortable couches and dimmed lighting, a huge bonus when an 8 hour layover awaits.

Emirates Business Class Lounges
Dubai Lounges
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On Board

Stepping on board the aircraft the pleasure continues, starting with priority boarding, which means no queues, jostling for space or fighting for overhead luggage space. While everybody else squeezes into their seat you’ll be sipping chilled Moët champagne, enjoying a snack and checking out the menu. Once airborne you’ll have a choice of quality whisky, beers, wines and soft drinks and the opportunity to select your meal from a varied menu. Entertainment is pretty good, Emirates boasts that they have one of the largest selections of movies, news and television shows, although on recent trips I haven’t been completely blown away, the shows have been pretty much unchanged, room for improvement there.

If you are fortunate enough to be flying on an Airbus A380 you’ll be located on the upper deck and will have the opportunity to enjoy a drink or snacks at the bar. It’s very cool to be able to chill and socialise 40 000 feet up. All business class seats are lie flat, so when you are ready to sleep it’s going to be in relative comfort. I say relative because in reality sleeping on a plane will never be as comfortable as in your own bed, but it’s pretty good all round.

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Fancy First Class?

Emirates has a great rewards program that you can use to pay for accommodation in hotels, car hire, various gifts or to upgrade your seat. We did this on a recent trip and used accumulated miles to upgrade to First Class on an Airbus A380 from Amsterdam to Dubai. What an experience that was, I can truthfully say that it was the first, and so far only, time that I’ve wanted a flight to continue, I could have continued right round the world. From the food, to the Dom Pérignon champagne, private cabin, on board showers and personal cabin attendant catering to your every whim, it’s an experience not to be missed if the opportunity arises.

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The Emirates Experience

For me Emirates offers a great product, it’s the largest airline in the world and somehow has managed to retain the quality of service that they had in years gone by, and improved on it in many ways. If long layovers in Dubai don’t scare you and if budget allows for a business class trip, I can highly recommend it.

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