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Emirates' superjumbo first class lets you work, dine, relax, and even shower on your schedule, while cruising at 40,000ft.
Introduction:
Tempting travellers with private suites, onboard showers and two social spaces for first class flyers to stretch their legs during the journey, Emirates' Airbus A380s take high-flying jetsetters from A to B in first class luxury.
Check-in:
Frequent flyer program: Emirates Skywards, or other partner programs including Qantas Frequent Flyer.
Carry-on baggage allowance: 2x7kg bags, one measuring up to 113cm and the other up to 100cm – or 20cm thick when folded, for a garment bag.
Checked baggage allowance (weight system) – 32kg limit per bag:
50kg: standard allowance on most itineraries
62kg: Skywards Silver, Qantas Silver
66kg: Skywards Gold, Qantas Gold
70kg: Skywards Platinum, Qantas Platinum & Platinum One
75kg: Qantas Chairman's Lounge
Itineraries using the 'piece system' when connecting to the Americas instead provide a base allowance of 2x32kg.
Priority airport services (Brisbane): Check-in and Express Path security screening are swift, although the boarding gate combined all 'priority boarding' guests into a single lane, spanning Silver frequent flyers booked in economy through to first class passengers, which made for a lengthy queue.
Priority airport services (Dubai): Present your boarding pass for access to Fast Track immigration on arrival, or better yet, zip through Dubai's Smart Gates if you've already registered. Priority-tagged bags were the first to arrive on the belt.
Chauffeur-drive: Complimentary airport transfers are provided for passengers booked on paid first class tickets and those who've upgraded from paid business class fares (but not on frequent flyer reward bookings).
A Mercedes-Benz GLE 250 was the chariot in Brisbane, with a Mercedes-Benz S 450 greeting the arrival in Dubai.
Lounge
Emirates operates a dedicated lounge at Brisbane Airport, offering buffet dining, shower facilities, and space to relax before departure.
Emirates also provides direct boarding from the lounge to the aircraft on selected flights, and while this is most often available for the airline's Airbus A380 departures, another aircraft was blocking the gate which made boarding via the terminal necessary.
As one of the oldest lounges in Emirates' network – and the first that the airline ever opened outside of Dubai – the space is due for a refurbishment, which Emirates has planned but not yet commenced.
Flight
Emirates operates daily Airbus A380 flights between Brisbane and Dubai, departing the Queensland capital at 8:55pm each evening to reach Dubai at 5:30am the next calendar day, after a journey of 14 hours 35 minutes.
The airline also has a daily non-stop Boeing 777 flight to Dubai – and until March 30 2020, a Brisbane-Singapore-Dubai route also served by the Boeing 777 – and whichever aircraft you take, you'll find similar first class suites at the very front.
However, only the Airbus A380 features shower spas in first class, giving you five minutes of running water at 40,000 feet to freshen up after dinner or closer to landing.
Out of Australia, Emirates also uses Airbus A380s on selected flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to Dubai, as well as from Sydney to Christchurch.
Seat
Nestled at the front of the upper deck, Emirates' superjumbos sport 14 first class suites in a 1-2-1 layout.
While there are no interconnected suites as some airlines offer in first class, passengers travelling with a companion may wish to select a pair of seats in the centre (the E+F duos), as a privacy divider can be lowered between them for conversation.
Wherever you're seated, the 1-2-1 layout provides direct access to the aisle for each passenger, with motorized privacy doors sliding closed at a press of a button.
The absence of overhead lockers in this part of the aircraft creates a bigger sense of space, with bags instead stored on the floor in front of you, beneath the TV screen.
Alternatively, laptop-sized bags can also be kept in the space next to your seat, with smaller items living underneath a fold-up hatch:
Separately, there's a nook down by your feet for thin items such as laptops and tablets, which is also where you'll find the supplied Bowers & Wilkins E1 noise-cancelling headphones.
That's not all: there's a writing kit in the drawer in front of you with a notebook and pen, both yours to keep. Just above, a lighted mirror which tilts open or can be closed to create a flat surface. When open, you'll be able to access a few toiletries for the journey, with separate Bvlgari amenity kits also provided.
