GTHQ Jaunt Journal – Flight: Emirates A380 – First Suites
Route: Houston (IAH) – Dubai (DXB) – 15H05M
Showers while flying through the air at 800 km/hour… need I say more! If you must, keep reading about the Emirates A380 – First Suites.
The Experience
The Emirates lounge in Houston is not dedicated and is a decent lounge but nothing impressive. One positive aspect was the good old Texas brisket that was served. However, this wasn’t the main attraction that I was waiting for. We left 45 minutes before our flight departed and headed to our gate.
Upon boarding the upper deck of the A380 we turned left towards the first class cabin and found our seats. The crew helped with our coats, brought our pajamas and amenity kits and brought the pre-departure drinks. The service was very good and any special requests were handled promptly. One of the crew members seemed new and a bit nervous but did a fine job.
The amenity kits are fantastic although I believe the men’s was better than the ladies kit. The men’s leather and women’s kit are full of Bulgari perfumes. The men’s also contains a razor, shaving cream, facial tissues, deodorant, brush/comb, toothbrush and toothpaste whereas the woman’s has a refreshing towel and mirror.
Eye shades and slippers are provided separately. An additional amenity that Emirates provides is a tote bag to fill up with all the goodies.
The Interior
There are 14 first class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration but there were only 6 first class passengers on our flight. We picked seats 2E and 2F as they are in the middle of the cabin and the divider between them could be lowered.
Each seat is a closed suite and completely blinged out. Each one lies a flat 180 degrees and was quite comfortable. I slept like a baby for about 5 hours. There is a minibar on one side with an entertainment control tablet next to it. On the other side you have the seat and suite door control. The AVOD or IFE system includes a good selection of a thousand+ movies and tv channels and series.
There are power and USB outlets to charge your electronics near the front of the seat. A side cubby space allows you to store quite a bit of stuff. The dining tray table is quite large and folds in nicely. Any luggage will be stored by your feet as there is enough room.
Which leads us to the showers… There’s a shower brochure to explain the whole process. Quick recap: 30 minute bathroom time allotment with 5 minutes of water which can be paused.
Keep in mind that the shower door needs to be closed for the water to start. The bathroom is big with a large area to change, relax, stretch, etc. and the other half with the shower and sink. I’ve never felt more refreshed when arriving! There are two attendants whose sole job is to maintain the cleanliness and prepare the showers. That’s service.
The Food and Beverages
The food was not fantastic. Don’t get me wrong, it was varied and the selection was fantastic but the taste wasn’t great. The initial mezze was massive and more than I could eat but the steak was good but not great.
Breakfast as shown below.
You can order anything off of the menu at anytime but the initial meal followed by breakfast was enough for us.
The drink selection was quite impressive. I enjoyed a nice Hennessy Paradis which with the bottle priced between $850 and $2500 is probably the most expensive cognag I’ve had. Unfortunately, Ben @ onemileatatime says it won’t be around much longer on Emirates. The bar in the back of the upper deck was a nice touch and filled with a good mix of drinks.
As far as luxury flights go, Emirates first class is hard to beat. If you can pay or accumulate enough miles to redeem for this type of flight then it makes for a great experience.
The Good: Shower! Great service and variety of meals
The Bad: Steak lacked a bit of taste
The Ugly: None
