3 ms·

I fly Emirates A380 from time to time, I have to say the business class is better than the first class of most carriers. Very quiet, masses of space, and the ba

I fly Emirates A380 from time to time, I have to say the business class is better than the first class of most carriers. Very quiet, masses of space, and the bar is not bad at all when you want to stretch your legs. And when you get bumped up to first... having a shower on a flight is very nice :) The only problem is the godawful stopover in Dubai - If there is one advantage that the non-gulf carriers have, it's that they can offer short+long haul to get from Europe to Asia, as opposed to medium+medium/long. Sometimes I'll fly on BA, which is far inferior on every point, just to have a bit of uninterrupted sleep.

vinay427 9y ago
This makes sense about the stopover, but is why these airlines have gained a lot of traction with travelers from the Americas to Asia. Particularly from the eastern part of the Americas to non-eastern Asia, an approximately 10-15h flight followed by a 0-8h is relatively nice for getting sleep. However, I am definitely not a fan of the DXB terminal that Emirates flies into with its dim lighting and incredibly high number of very expensive shops. A high-end mall is not what I am looking for after hours of sitting on a plane.
chimeracoder 9y ago
> The only problem is the godawful stopover in Dubai - If there is one advantage that the non-gulf carriers have, it's that they can offer short+long haul to get from Europe to Asia, as opposed to medium+medium/long. Emirates does offer at least one of these flights (NYC to Milan). Though I'm not sure if it's an A380 - I suspect it's not. I wish I had the spare cash to fly their business class on the A380 before it gets discontinued!
- namdnay 9y ago
  Apparently it is: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAE206 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAE206 I did not know about this flight, very interesting!
- mapgrep 9y ago
  It is indeed a 380. Even in economy, the Italian food (and wine) was very respectable.
- kylehotchkiss 9y ago
  They'll "offer" it to coach passengers for $1000 during check in sometimes. It's worth the splurge just once.
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> The only problem is the godawful stopover in Dubai This is why the A380 has been a failure. It is only economical when it is full. Airlines must cram demand into a few routes, e.g. London --> Dubai, to ensure they fill their planes. That's fine if you're flying from London to Dubai. But if you're flying to Asia, a competing flight going directly to your destination is preferable. That route has too little demand to profitably fill an A380. It might be just right, though, for a 787.
- isostatic 9y ago
  With the time difference I prefer two 8ish hour trips from Manchester to singapore than a 1 hour flight to London and 14 to singapore. I find the stopover in the Middle East really helps with the time difference
l8again 9y ago
>> If there is one advantage that the non-gulf carriers have, it's that they can offer short+long haul to get from Europe to Asia, as opposed to medium+medium/long. The only place it would be medium + medium/long going to Asia on a gulf airlines is if you are going to far east. In which case, european airlines wouldn't fare any better, and the best route would be to go pacific with Singapore Airlines. For me, gulf carriers always seem better route going to India as it translates to one long and one short (4 hours at most) flight.

vinay427 9y ago

This makes sense about the stopover, but is why these airlines have gained a lot of traction with travelers from the Americas to Asia. Particularly from the eastern part of the Americas to non-eastern Asia, an approximately 10-15h flight followed by a 0-8h is relatively nice for getting sleep. However, I am definitely not a fan of the DXB terminal that Emirates flies into with its dim lighting and incredibly high number of very expensive shops. A high-end mall is not what I am looking for after hours of sitting on a plane.

chimeracoder 9y ago

> The only problem is the godawful stopover in Dubai - If there is one advantage that the non-gulf carriers have, it's that they can offer short+long haul to get from Europe to Asia, as opposed to medium+medium/long. Emirates does offer at least one of these flights (NYC to Milan). Though I'm not sure if it's an A380 - I suspect it's not. I wish I had the spare cash to fly their business class on the A380 before it gets discontinued!

namdnay 9y ago
Apparently it is: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAE206 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAE206 I did not know about this flight, very interesting!
mapgrep 9y ago
It is indeed a 380. Even in economy, the Italian food (and wine) was very respectable.
kylehotchkiss 9y ago
They'll "offer" it to coach passengers for $1000 during check in sometimes. It's worth the splurge just once.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago

> The only problem is the godawful stopover in Dubai This is why the A380 has been a failure. It is only economical when it is full. Airlines must cram demand into a few routes, e.g. London --> Dubai, to ensure they fill their planes. That's fine if you're flying from London to Dubai. But if you're flying to Asia, a competing flight going directly to your destination is preferable. That route has too little demand to profitably fill an A380. It might be just right, though, for a 787.

isostatic 9y ago
With the time difference I prefer two 8ish hour trips from Manchester to singapore than a 1 hour flight to London and 14 to singapore. I find the stopover in the Middle East really helps with the time difference

l8again 9y ago

>> If there is one advantage that the non-gulf carriers have, it's that they can offer short+long haul to get from Europe to Asia, as opposed to medium+medium/long. The only place it would be medium + medium/long going to Asia on a gulf airlines is if you are going to far east. In which case, european airlines wouldn't fare any better, and the best route would be to go pacific with Singapore Airlines. For me, gulf carriers always seem better route going to India as it translates to one long and one short (4 hours at most) flight.