Emirates Business class AKL-SYD

[Princess Fiona]

Nice TR and pictures

 

[AV8]

There was one more surprise in store after landing in Sydney. I happened to know one of the passengers in first class, and they arranged to let me have a look around the first cabin after we landed. Now, I thought that business class looked amazing. But first was in another league of its own!

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Testing out seat 2A...

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And the private suite wouldn't be complete without a minibar...

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I also got to check out the onboard shower. It's very impressive, although I did have a bit of a laugh at the sign outside saying "Max. 2 occupants in shower".

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A most enjoyable flight across the Tasman!

I was also on this flight in F - (1A) - yes it was as good as the photos indicate as was the service. Earlier in the day did SYD - AKL on EK 412 in J (9K) - excellent as well. Will do this again when EK & QF have sales to boost the sc's.

 

[Mattg]

What is in that drink, it looks intriguing? What's the dominate flavour, coffee?

I think the main ingredients are vodka and coffee liqueur. The dominant flavour was coffee, and it was a little bit sweet.

 

[craven morehead]

Here's a photo of the seat across the aisle:

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After boarding, a range of different things came around. Pre-departure champagne, juice and water was offered, as were express immigration cards and hot towels. Post take-off drink and dinner orders were also taken.

Every time something new came around, I was served by a different flight attendant. While the service from all of the crew was friendly, it did feel just a little bit like you were on an assembly line!

My ordered drink, along with a plate of warm nuts was served promptly after take-off.

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This was followed by dinner. This was the menu for the flight:

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For the main course, I chose the salmon curry which was delicious.

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And the cheese plate for dessert...

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The cabin crew came around during and after the meal service to offer wine refills. But there was plenty more on offer at the on-board bar, located at the rear of the upper deck. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, but that bar is a very cool space and the crew on this flight were lots of fun.

I really enjoyed the flight. Emirates has an excellent hard product on the A380. And, although I've found the Emirates soft product to be hit & miss in the past, it was outstanding on this flight. The crew were all warm and professional.

mattg a couple of pics of the bar on EK433 a fortnight back , great concept :mrgreen:

 

[mushez]

mattg a couple of pics of the bar on EK433 a fortnight back , great concept :mrgreen:

Looks like EK435 to me, AKL-BNE - moving map in background and A380 bar in J.

EK433 is BNE-SIN-DXB and is B777

 

[craven morehead]

Looks like EK435 to me, AKL-BNE - moving map in background and A380 bar in J.

EK433 is BNE-SIN-DXB and is B777

Oops typo !!!

 

[mushez]

My next flight - EK432 on Thursday as well as EK434 on Friday both have zero chance of an op-up looking at all the factors right now.

Time to eat my words - EK432 for me on Thursday went from zero chance, to 30% chance 24 hours ago, and would be 90% chance now of Y-J op up's

However I took up, for my first time ever - the $$$ offer to upgrade I was emailed for the flight for $500 SGD, so already self upgraded. Here is hoping that they oversell Y enough to overflow J, and some J-F upgrades happen - and get to pop my F Cherry.

Getting back on point - and one of my main points - it is rare to have an certainty about op up's being on the cards, and it is not at times until 48 hours prior to the flight that you can truly gauge. 48 hours out they seem to go in and pre-allocate everyone a seat who has not already pre-allocated themselves a seat - and if there is 20 or less seats left un allocated in Y - you can have some certainty there will be op ups. See no seats un-allocated - then it is a certainty.

I tend to start looking daily on Expert Flyer a week out, and look at how the flights on the days prior have panned out to be, and then experience fills in the rest of the gaps. Also you can normally see everything being updated if you refresh the seat map on all flights right out to the time they close the flight 60 minutes out from departure time assuming it isn't a 5th freedom flight - for example EK432 will not display seat map after the flight is closed in DXB for the SIN-BNE leg. So I also tend to time when I log in to see around 90 minutes before the departure time of the flight I am checking up on if and when I can for the proceeding days flights to see how they worked.

In my current EK432, none have got close to being over 60% full in Y all week, but with Monday next week being kids back at School in QLD - it seems Thursday onwards is when demand is ramping up with people heading home with the kids.