| | My experience flying Emirates | | by Brian Kelly | |  | 🔥 Hot new credit card offer of the week: For a limited-time earn 180,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend $6,000 on the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire® Card within the first six months of card membership, and 170,000 Hilton Honors bonus points on the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. Offer ends Jan. 17, 2024.
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People always ask me what the best first class is. And just like the question of what the best credit card is, there's no one right answer.
However, Emirates first class consistently ranks at the top of most lists. It's certainly an experience on the A380 and one that I highly recommend; however, it's gotten more expensive over the years. Emirates has added more fuel charges, and partner redemptions — like on Alaska Airlines and Air Canada — have disappeared over the years or gotten astronomically expensive. Bottom line: You're going to shell out to fly it, even if you use points.
Last week, I flew first class on the A380 from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Dubai International Airport (DXB) for 163,500 Emirates Skywards miles and $838 in taxes and fees.
Here are my basic thoughts: It's a great experience, but Emirates' first class is far from being an across-the-board winner when it comes to first class. In my opinion, the best first-class experiences should have stellar ground service. This means you are met at the airport, escorted through security, ideally taken to an exclusive first-class lounge and then driven to the plane — as Air France does extremely well.
When I left JFK, the ground experience was worse than United Airlines' business-class Polaris experience at Newark, which has its own lounge dining service. Emirates' first- and business-class passengers have the same exact lounge experience, which is a big buffet of food that isn't that appetizing.
Emirates boasts the ability to board its planes from the lounges, but in all my recent experiences, that wasn't possible. We boarded through Gate 7 at JFK, so you had to leave the lounge. Basically, the lounge was extremely underwhelming; there was no shining feature or anything special about it.
But one of the chicest things about Emirates is that it now has unlimited caviar in first class. A lot of airlines will have caviar, but it's a dollop or a tiny tin. This is where Emirates really shines. I had about a tennis ball-size portion, along with a 2013 Dom Perignon — it also has a pretty great wine list.
However, the food has been really hit or miss. Personally, my main meal on this flight was a rigatoni bolognese that was overcooked with really dry beef. I would rate it a 2 out of 10. The breakfast service was an omelet, which was fine — I ordered caviar to put on it. The service was friendly, but a little bit slow — the A380 cabin is massive with 16 seats versus Air France's Le Premiere, which only has four seats and much more attentive service.
The A380 itself is the real highlight of the experience — with super-high ceilings and the smoothest, quietest ride of any jet, it's a true joy to fly on. The onboard lounge is a great place to pass the time (especially on the 11:20 a.m. JFK flight, which you're awake for most of). And, of course, being able to take a hot shower before landing is a great way to end the experience and is unparalleled these days (though Etihad Airways now does have showers on its A380 to London).
Emirates will pull the A380 on the JFK-Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) route starting Oct. 29 and run the 777 until March 31, 2024, which is a far inferior experience, especially in business class where there are middle seats and angled lie-flat seats a la 2013.
You can check out our guide on how to earn and redeem points for Emirates first class, and here are a few credit cards that earn transferable points and currently have juicy bonuses:
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is offering 120,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership.
The Platinum Card® from American Express is currently offering 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership. You can also check to see if you're targeted for a 150,000-point welcome offer on the Amex Platinum Card through CardMatch (offer is subject to change at any time).
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is currently offering 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
The Capital One Venture X Business just launched and is perfect for mid-to-large-size businesses. The current promotion is 150,000 bonus miles when you spend $30,000 in the first three months of account opening.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is currently offering 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
The Citi Premier® Card is currently offering 60,000 bonus ThankYou points after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Have a great weekend,
BK
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