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Asiana A380 First Class – My First World Problems

July 21, 2016 By Trevor 1 Comment





I just ended a whirlwind round the world trip with my father and brother, which was awesome. Our last long haul flight was in Asiana A380 First Class, a flight I was very much looking forward to. Unfortunately, I encountered some of those pesky first world problems.

In Flight Entertainment (IFE)

Asiana In Flight Entertainment

Asiana In Flight Entertainment – when it worked.

Of the three of us traveling, my father  in 1E got the worst experience. In the first 3 hours of the flight, the crew attempted to reset his IFE system ~20 times. My brother, sitting next to him in 1F had his system reset a number of times as collateral damage.

The crew, trying their hardest, even resetting the entire plane wide IFE system multiple times.

Asiana In Flight Entertainment

Asiana In Flight Entertainment when it wasn’t working

As far as the usability of the system itself, it was nice to have a touch screen controller however it didn’t have the functionality to do two things at once, e.g. Watch the airshow on the handset and a movie on the beautiful 32″ screen.

Service

Maybe I’ve been lucky, but this trip and most recently have for the most part had fast post-departure service.

My Asiana A380 First Class flight on the other hand didn’t follow suit. It was a half hour or longer before I had my first beverage in the air. Lunch took more than 2.5 hours, and I only had 4 courses. Part of this was no doubt due to the fact that I didn’t have the opportunity to order my entrée until at least a half hour in.

Later in the flight, I requested a refill of Ice Wine, the flight attendant first came with an empty bottle, disappeared and returned 5-8 minutes later with an alternative bottle. Apparently 7 hours in, Asiana had run out of the first class ice wine. I didn’t ask how many bottles they had been provisioned with. In general, however I found the white wine and champagne to be not as chilled as I would have like.

My father–you’ll recall that his IFE didn’t work quite well–had a different but similarly lackluster experience. You see, since the  flight attendant call button is on the IFE controller, that didn’t work either. As a result, he made a handful of trips to the galley to request coffee and other beverages. You would think, the crew–who tried what they could to fix the issue–would realize the lack of a call button and check in with him every so often. But alas, they did not.

Galley Noise

Asiana’s first class cabin is 3 rows. I was seated in 3E, and thus closest to the galley. Multiple times I was awoken with rather loud clanging of dishes.

Perhaps providing on-ear (not over ear) Bose Noise-cancelling headphones means that you don’t have to attempt to be quiet, perhaps not. But I just felt the overall noise level in the cabin was quite high. I think this was primarily because of the location of the galley, which was right behind First Class — and it was a pretty big galley. I didn’t want to impose, so I only got a small snap of it.

Asiana Galley aft of First Class

Asiana Galley aft of First Class

Wrapping up – First World Problems

I realize these are true first world problems, and in reality, only one of these might have been acceptable, but the collection of them together is unacceptable for a world class first class product. We did post request a gesture of goodwill from Asiana, given the inconvenience of the non-functional In Flight Entertainment. The initial offer was 5,000 miles, either Asiana miles or United miles. This was double what they offered for economy. I kindly informed the agent I spoke with that had I paid market value ($4,700 US), I would have been much less pleased, and asked her to go back for additional consideration. She returned with an offer for 7,000 miles. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but is 7,000 miles really a sufficient compensation when a major component of the hard product is nonfunctional?

Again, this was a bit of a rant, but I want to stress: these are small things in the big scheme of life. Of course, writing trip reports means that you highlight the minutiae at times. The fact remains, this trip — which I’ll get around to writing soon — was truly special for all of us. But I could not go without sharing our experience, for fear of others redeeming 130,000 or more of their miles for a product that lacks some of the refinement that you would find on other airlines.

Filed Under: Airline Programs, Editorial, The Brass Ring, Travel Tagged With: A380

Review: Emirates A380 First Class Dubai to Washington, DC (Dulles)

July 12, 2016 By Trevor 5 Comments

  • Introduction
  • Starting Out and American Airlines’ Flagship Lounge – Chicago
  • Review: Japan Airlines First Class 777-300ER Chicago-Narita
  • Review: Japan Airlines First Class Lounge – Haneda
  • Review: Japan Airlines Business Class 777-200 Haneda to Bangkok
  • Review: Thai Airways Orchid Spa and Royal Orchid Lounge
  • Review: Thai Airways 787-8 Business Class – Bangkok to Denpasar-Bali
  • Review: Grand Hyatt Bali
  • Review: Denpasar-Bali Airport and Premier Lounge
  • Review: Singapore A330 Business Class Denpasar-Bali to Singapore
  • Review: Grand Hyatt Singapore
  • Review: Singapore Airlines Private Room
  • Review: Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Singapore to Hong Kong
  • Review: Emirates Lounge – Hong Kong
  • Review: Emirates A380 First Class Hong Kong to Dubai
  • Review: Emirates First Class Terminal – Dubai
  • Review: Emirates A380 First Class Dubai to Washington, DC (Dulles)

We boarded our A380 bound for home (Dulles) after last call had already been announced via the monitors. As you can see below, last call wasn’t truly last call. You’ll also see below that we were on an older A380, with lower walls.

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The Emirates A380 First Class Seat

The seat was comfortable, and just like our previous flight. Hopefully some of these angles are different, to give you a better view of the seat.

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Since we had an older variation of the A380, you can see the older seat / flatscreen control.

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We were provided pajama’s and amenities. Below are those offered to my wife.

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The Meal Service

We couldn’t start off an Emirates A380 First Class experience any way other than with caviar. There is just no other option.

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Following that, we had entrees, here is the beef entree:

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My wife attempted to go healthy with some vegetables and cheese.

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There was also a pre-arrival meal:

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The On board First Class Bar

The bar at the back of the plane was quite crowded but the front bar was very nice. This is of course the same bar that gets converted into a tranquil waterfall after the shower. Note the Henessey Paradis on the left.

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The Emirates A380 First Class Shower

Of course, I couldn’t pass up the shower.

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You’ll note below the different shampoos and soap amenities. Personally, I was disappointed with this change.

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Wrapping Up

Overall, the flight was wonderful. Further, it was nice to arrive at one of our home airports on an A380. It was our first time with that wonderful option! Emirates’ upgauge of their flight to Washington-Dulles is certainly a great benefit. The service, as always, was wonderful.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: A380, Emirates, First Class, Premium Travel

Review: Emirates A380 First Class Hong Kong to Dubai

July 7, 2016 By Trevor 2 Comments

  • Introduction
  • Starting Out and American Airlines’ Flagship Lounge – Chicago
  • Review: Japan Airlines First Class 777-300ER Chicago-Narita
  • Review: Japan Airlines First Class Lounge – Haneda
  • Review: Japan Airlines Business Class 777-200 Haneda to Bangkok
  • Review: Thai Airways Orchid Spa and Royal Orchid Lounge
  • Review: Thai Airways 787-8 Business Class – Bangkok to Denpasar-Bali
  • Review: Grand Hyatt Bali
  • Review: Denpasar-Bali Airport and Premier Lounge
  • Review: Singapore A330 Business Class Denpasar-Bali to Singapore
  • Review: Grand Hyatt Singapore
  • Review: Singapore Airlines Private Room
  • Review: Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Singapore to Hong Kong
  • Review: Emirates Lounge – Hong Kong
  • Review: Emirates A380 First Class Hong Kong to Dubai
  • Review: Emirates First Class Terminal – Dubai
  • Review: Emirates A380 First Class Dubai to Washington, DC (Dulles)

After our visit to the lounge, we were more than anxious to get onboard our Emirates A380 to Dubai.

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The aircraft interior was noticeably newer, with the walls of the suites going higher than the older version. There was also the noticeable difference in the LCD for controlling the seat.

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The seat itself was just like usual.

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Including the mini-bar

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As we settled in, we were offered the standard pre-departure champagne.

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Then a few minutes later, we were offered Arabic coffee and dates. I really do enjoy the arabic coffee.

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A few minutes later one of the cabin crew came around to schedule shower appointments. I chose 2 hours before arrival, as I like to arrive refreshed.

Before long, boarding was complete and we were on our way.

The Meal Service

We started the meal service off with some sort of seafood option. I ended up skipping it, but my wife took one for the team. I think she ended up enjoying it.

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Then there was Caviar

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For my entree, I had a teriyaki beef dish, it was good, not terribly amazing, but certainly was good.

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My wife selected a beef dish, she enjoyed it more than I enjoyed mine.

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Desert was sweet, but not terribly memorable.

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My wife on the other hand, had a chocolate cake / lava cake type thing, which she enjoyed.

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The On board Bar

Despite the short flight, we still found time to make a trip back to the onboard bar. Its really a great amenity, in that it gives you an opportunity to stretch your legs, and mingle with others. I also had the chance to chat with the purser, who at one point stepped behind the bar–a bit uncomfortably so. An interesting point came up in the conversation, was that Emirates doesn’t give their flight attendants crew rest on flights under 8 hours. I guess I can understand that, but 8 hours of constant work in addition to all the pre-departure prep seems like a long time without a break.

Emirates A380 On Board Bar

Emirates A380 On Board Bar

The Emirates A380 First Class Shower

Perhaps the biggest deal about flying Emirates First Class is being able to shower at 40,000 feet. It really is that nice. Each A380 has two shower spas, located on the upper deck, in the nose of the aircraft (or as far forward as is possible on the upper deck).

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They are pretty roomy, have heated floors, and a monitor that shows the airshow–because who doesn’t want to know where they are, when they’re in the shower?

Of particular note on this flight was that Emirates is moving to different soaps / shampoos amenities. Previously Emirates offered two types of soaps / shampoos. One for energizing, and one for relaxing. They are now shifting to only one. This for me, was kind of a shame because I enjoyed the two types. I also enjoyed the extras they had like the exfoliating body wash. Prior to flying Emirates, I didn’t even know that exfoliating body wash existed, but its certainly a nice perk.

Wrapping Up

Overall, the flight was wonderful. If only it was a bit longer.

 

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: A380, Emirates, First Class, Premium Travel

The 787 is really King for the post-flight Passenger Experience #PaxEx

November 9, 2015 By Trevor 2 Comments

Photo via Boeing

Photo via Boeing

I just returned from a pretty awesome trip to Australia with my wife. I’ll be putting together a trip report, but if you don’t want to wait, you can see some highlights by searching #OzAnniversary on Twitter. To make the trip even more epic (since it was our anniversary after all), we decided to take the long way home. We splurged. The way home was two AAdvantage Saver awards on Etihad Airways, from Sydney to Abu Dhabi, we burned 60k AAdvantage miles per person, then from Abu Dhabi to Washington-Dulles, it was 90k AAdvantage miles per person (that one really hurts). But the cost isn’t my point for this post.

I’ll review each flight separately as part of the trip report, but wanted to share my initial thoughts after flying back to back 14 hour flights.

Etihad’s A380

I shared my thoughts from a 5 hour flight back in March, and my impression of the A380 has improved after my most recent flight. There is absolutely no question that Etihad knocked it out of the park with their A380, with regards to the hard product for First Apartments. They specifically have made their A380 a single aisle cabin for First Apartments (and the Residence). That means that each Apartment has roughly 7 feet of depth. I’m a tall guy. I stretched and could touch both walls of my Apartment, but had to do so intentionally. In addition to the 7 foot bench that turns into a bed, you have a nice roomy “Captain’s Chair” like seat. Captain Picard would be jealous of this seat.

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In addition to your apartment (which, really, you have few reasons to leave), there is a “Lobby” lounge, just aft of the Galley (which is an area that spans probably 6-10 feet aft of the first upper level door (1UL I believe it is called), its a circular seating area, with a non-self serve bar behind it. There are games. I spent a whole 30 seconds in the area, just enough time to snap photos. I had spent more time on my first flight, but, really, didn’t see the need this time.

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Oh, and you have a shower. This is a great concept, however, having flown Emirates, I feel like Etihad could’ve executed the shower better. That said, a shower at 40,000 feet is still cool.

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Etihad’s 787-9

This was my first time flying on the 787-9. It would be an understatement to say that I was excited. Even better, the crew were still excited. Our In-Flight Chef, Rohinton, even knew that the particular aircraft we were on was only with Etihad a month, he specifically mentioned, that we were flying on Etihad’s newest 787-9. That’s pretty cool.

As far as the cabin, I really felt surprised. I shouldn’t have been, I should’ve looked at the seatmap, but I got lazy. I’ll admit it. I figured, flying Etihad’s 787-9 regardless of seat should be a wonderful experience, and it truly was. But usually, I research my flights more. My wife was awesome to get me my favorite seat (1K), and for me, it was a very pleasant surprise to find that 1K was a backward facing seat (I love flying backwards!)

Overall, the seat again, Captain Picard would be jealous to have. The seat is nearly the same as the seat on the a380. Controls, In Flight Entertainment, everything, at least to me looked very similar.

Of course, the other parts that the A380 has, are lacking on the 787-9. There is no shower, there is no lounge. There are 2 spacious restrooms to be shared by the 8 first class passengers. Both are more than spacious enough to comfortably change into your Etihad pajamas (infact, more spacious than the Etihad A380’s shower spa).

What ended up being the true discriminator?

Longtime (all 18 months!) readers of the blog will know that I enjoy comfortable seats, and have had the chance to fly a whole bunch of them. But one aspect of aircraft that I haven’t really explored so much, was the impact of cabin pressure. In fact, even after researching it for this flight, I’m not sure I fully understand it. But here goes anyway:

Wikipedia defines Cabin Pressurization as:

The process in which conditioned air is pumped into the cabin of an aircraft or spacecraft, in order to create a safe and comfortable environment for passengers and crew flying at high altitudes.

This is needed for a variety of reasons, comfort, avoiding hypoxia, altitude sickness, etc.

But lets go a bit further, because cabin pressurization results in a Cabin Altitude, which typically is normally 8,000 feet or less. 8,000 seems to be the cutoff between whether or not you need your personal oxygen tank to be included as part of your in seat mini-bar.

Looking at the study that Boeing seems to reference (via Seth Miller — Thanks Seth!), Effect of Aircraft-Cabin Altitude on Passenger Discomfort points to 6,000 feetor less as a cabin pressure for greatest passenger comfort.

The 787 is specifically cited as having a cabin pressure / cabin altitude equivalent to 6,000 feet. The figure for the A380 is interestingly inconsistent based on my research today and last night.

What am I really getting at?

All of this is to say, that when I compared how I felt getting off of a 14 hour flight on an Airbus A380, and how I felt after flying a second 14 hour flight on a Boeing 787-9 (with less than 8 hours in between), in a non-scientific way, I felt largely better following the Boeing 787-9 flight.

I attribute that, to the lower cabin pressure / cabin altitude. Because, as I’ve outlined above, for the most part, the A380 clearly has greater onboard passenger amenities. This of course is an interesting and challenging question for airlines, as they work to provide the best passenger experience (#PaxEx).

I never really gave the difference in cabin pressure a whole lot of credibility in my previous flights, like when I flew Japan Airlines’ 787-8, however that was just a 4 hour flight. But, after my flight this past weekend, boy am I sold, especially being able to compare 2 14 hour flights, separated by less than 8 hours on the ground.

Can you feel the difference of the cabin pressure on the 787, as compared to the A380 or any other modern aircraft? Is it work going out of your way, for you to fly the 787?

 

 

Filed Under: #Avgeek, Travel Tagged With: #Paxex, 787, 787-9, A380, airbus, Avgeek, Boeing, Etihad

Emirates unveils United for Wildlife livery to stop illegal wildlife trade

November 4, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

EmiratesWildlifeLivery

Source: Emirates

Emirates is now flying 2 A380’s in United for Wildlife liveries. United for Wildlife focuses on stopping illegal wildlife trade. In the airlines press statement, they state that the goal of flying these liveries is:

The beautiful livery, featuring some of the planet’s wildlife threatened by poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, aims to raise awareness of the illegal wildlife trade and communicate the need for urgent action.

Emirates also shared a time-lapsed video of one of the A380’s being painted:

Filed Under: #Avgeek Tagged With: A380, Emirates, Livery

Singapore Airlines’ newest special livery

May 28, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Courtesy of Singapore Airlines / Business Traveller

Courtesy of Singapore Airlines / Business Traveller

Courtesy of Business Traveller, Singapore Airlines has unveiled a very cool and colorful looking livery (on not one, but two A380s!), meant to celebrate Singapore’s “Golden Jubilee” (which, if like me, you didn’t know off hand, celebrates the country’s 50th anniversary).

It’s not a surprise when you think of how tied Singapore Airlines is to its home country of Singapore — if you’ve ever flown on them, you may recall that your boarding pass got you a few discounts and other benefits.

Of course, I suppose no livery will match ANA’s R2-D2 livery for me.

What do you think? What are your thoughts of the new livery?

 

Filed Under: #Avgeek Tagged With: #avgeek, A380, Livery, Singapore Airlines

Review: Etihad Airways A380 Apartments Abu Dhabi to London

May 13, 2015 By Trevor 2 Comments

From the outset, I want to be clear: I was quite giddy about this flight. I got even more excited when I boarded. And the flight was great compared to most every other flight I’ve taken – but. There is always a but.

As my wife or my friend Saianel would say: I can be a diva sometimes. Perhaps it’s ironic that I was watching a Sir Elton John concert on In Flight Entertainment (IFE) as I wrote my notes (over breakfast, still on the A380).

Let me start from the beginning:

Boarding the flight was marvelous-and I don’t use that word lightly- it was amazing to board the plane, and be shown to the largest seat/suite/apartment in the sky that I’ve ever had.

In fact, I found myself standing through most of boarding, because it was so roomy. There was so much to explore, and, maybe even get a peak at the Residence.

First Apartment

First apartment seat

First apartment seat

Of course one of my first questions was if there was a Residence passenger-there wasn’t.  But it was kept closed the entire flight. That’s ok though- I totally get that they want to keep it fresh.

Boarding consisted of three or so glasses of Bollinger Champagne-certainly a favorite, much more so than Krug. Enrico, our onboard chef informed us that Etihad had just changed the champagne the day before. Now *that* is a change I like!

Pre-takeoff champagne

The amenity kit was in the powder/make up area, with the different things taken out and put into a variety of slots. It just so happened that I ended up in my wife’s seat, and she in mine. The three glasses of Bollinger meant it took a moment for me to realize the differences–they are kind’ve subtle after all. For the purists that like to save their amenity kits in the plastic wrap, this might’ve been a problem.

We were provided pajamas-I’ll note that they were different from the PJs I got even last month flying an A340.

I provided my order for the flight to Enrico, it consisted of a grass fed beef tenderloin after take off, and a breakfast taster before landing.

Once we were in the air, my beef tenderloin was served quickly, I will say it was one of the better I have had in the sky

Beef Tenderloin

Beef Tenderloin

After a few short minutes my wife and I decided we should check out the “lobby,” en route we chatted with the Cabin Manager and the Cabin Butler-Roberto. The Cabin Manager-his name escapes me-was only on his first or second flight. He was specifically on board to test some improvements for the day flight back to Abu Dhabi.

We chatted for a bit, then he excused himself, no sooner did Enrico join us, where we offered some suggested places to visit in Washington, DC, which ironically he would be in a few short weeks, and I ended up running into him and Roberto, at Aviation 15. He also offered some suggested places to visit in Italy-his native country.

A word about the Lobby: I’ve got to say, while the concept sounds cool, it really was wasted space. It just wasn’t clear what the point was. Yes there were some board games, like chess, but, I didn’t get the kind’ve feeling that I’ve gotten from some of the onboard bars, like Emirates’ or Korean’s A380.

Before long-since this was only a 7 hour flight- we excused ourselves to grab some shuteye. We were seated in 3K and 4K, which had the partition, which was stowed to let my wife and I see each other while we rested. It’s not a full double bed like Singapore Airlines but its still nice.

Beds made prior to takeoff.

Beds made prior to takeoff.

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Turn down service

A word about the bed:
Normally I sleep better in the air than I do on the ground. This was different. Because the bed is sideways to motion, it feels different. We had a good bit of turbulence,  and I found myself waking up throughout the flight because of it. Normally, turbulence would just put me into a deeper sleep.

Time for a shower:
My wife snuck in her shower request before me, so I “opted” to take my shower about two hours before arrival. Shortly after I woke up from the turbulence,  it was time to take my shower.

The shower room–by my perception–is the smaller of the two lavatories in the cabin. It felt very tight. I know, I shouldn’t complain, I’m showering at 40,000 feet after all. But as a man of 6’2″, and about 200 pounds, it was close quarters. Add to that, the actual shower area was quite slippery. I stepped in having an idea it might be, thanks to Lucky’s post. That said, I had a hand on the safety bar for probably half the shower. It didn’t help that we had turbulence the entire time-but luckily I didn’t need to return to my seat.

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Shower controls

Overall though, I have to say, I was not impressed with the shower. At first I thought that maybe the novelty was wearing off, but I sure enjoyed my two showers on the Emirates A380’s a few days later.

After my shower, I enjoyed a small breakfast taster.

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Other random thoughts:

The headphone connection is magnetic. While that is cool, it proved to be a bit of a nuisance, anytime I moved around I’d knock it out pretty easily.

The service, despite having 4 cabin staff for 9 people, was also a bit lackluster, I did use the flight attendant call button at least a few times.

Wrapping up:

Etihad definitely did amazing things with the Apartment. I really enjoyed the seat itself, but found some of the other aspects of the Etihad A380 to be confusing. Clearly, Emirates’ Shower spa and onboard bar work. I kind’ve look at Etihad’s shower/lav and the Lobby as if Etihad broke what didn’t need fixing.

That said, I’m currently scheduled to fly the Etihad A380 on a longer flight, from Sydney later this year, and despite my criticisms here, I am still quite looking forward to it.

Filed Under: #Avgeek, Awards, Travel Tagged With: A380, Etihad, First Apartments

Flying Korean Air’s A380

November 20, 2014 By Trevor 1 Comment

This is a continuation of my round the world trip in August/September 2014. You can read the other sections of this trip report as follows: Flying the Emirates A380 in First, The Grand Hyatt Dubai, The Grand Hyatt Singapore, Flying the Emirates A380 in First for a second time, The JW Khao Lak, Flying SilkAir Business Class- Phuket to Singapore and Flying Korean Air for the First Time – Part One .

 

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We arrived into Seoul on our first flight on Korean Air with plenty of time to enjoy the KAL First Class lounge.

Introduction

Prior to heading to the plane we grabbed a bite to eat and a quick shower at the KAL First Class lounge.  There wasn’t much to get really excited about but they do have a really cool A380 model. It is worth noting that the Grand Hyatt Incheon caters the KAL First Lounge. I’m not sure it really made sense.

Lounge

Lounge

The shower rooms were laid out nicely and there was a hair drier that only kind’ve worked.

Bathroom

Bathroom

The Flight

Korean Airlines has their first class cabin in the nose of the main deck. I’m not sure whether I prefer sitting on the upper deck or the main deck, but that’s a post for another time. My wife and I both chose window seats since the cabin was only 3/12, and Incheon can be fun to planespot while taxiing through.  The seats weren’t opulent like Emirates, but were perfectly sufficient, although I had really hoped the silver looking thing on the left of the seat (on the right looking at the photo) would have been a in-seat beer tap, it was just a light. I do believe an in-seat beer tap would’ve been better than an in-seat mini-bar.

Seat 1

Seat

 

We were offered champagne after take off.

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Champainge

A Glass of Champagne

Dinner service was nice but I ended up having to send my steak back twice as it came out mooing. Given how long it took, I completely forgot to actually photograph it (I was getting pretty hungry).

Dinner

Dinner

Just forward of the first class cabin, the crew set up a selection of snacks, in addition to a la carte options.

First Class Snacks

First Class Snacks

This might have been the most empty A380 flight we had flown (and recall, the Emirates cabin crew noted we only had ~179 passengers from Dubai to Singapore). I’d say the business class cabin might’ve been a third full.

Business Class

Business Class

There’s a bar on the upper deck aft of the business class cabin that I found stylish, but in a completely different ballpark compared to the Emirates A380 bar we had lounged in earlier in the trip. I’m not saying that it wasn’t as nice, but it was certainly different.

Bar

Bar

On the lower deck there was Korean Airlines’ famed in-flight duty shop, at which my wife tested out some of perfumes with the cabin crew.

Shop

Shop

We both managed to get a fair bit of sleep on the flight. One of the things that stood out, aside from the wonderful service of the cabin crew (in fact, I may have insulted them when I put my table away myself, sorry!), was the weight of the duvet. I’m not a critic of bedding, but, in general I like a heavier weight, not necessarily warmer, but at least heavier. This duvet was perhaps the perfect balance of weight and lightness (e.g. not overly warm) if that makes sense.

Bed

Bed

 

Conclusion

While we ended up spending quite a bit of points on this (100,000 UR points transferred to Korean SkyPass), it was a great flight and well worth the time it took to book with miles.  While I can’t remember what I watched on the In Flight Entertainment (IFE), it was certainly enough to keep me busy, such that the ~13 hour flight passed quickly. I’d certainly fly Korean again, although I’m not sure that I’d go out of my way for the A380, even comparing it to the 777-200 seat. Candidly I think the staff sets the airline apart more than the amenities of the A380.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: A380, First Class, Korean Air

Flying the Emirates A380 in First Class a second time!

October 15, 2014 By Trevor 2 Comments

This is a continuation of my round the world trip in August/September 2014. The other components in this non-traditional trip include Flying Emirates A380 in First, Saturday Special: Grand Hyatt, Dubai, Saturday Special: Grand Hyatt Singapore.

Before the flight

Around midnight we decided it was time to leave the Grand Hyatt Dubai, to head to the airport for our 3:05am flight. For this flight, we ended up taking a taxi because we weren’t able to set up the pick-up.

Once we made it to the airport, we were air side in no time at all.

Airport

Airport

Since we were going out of Dubai’s “A380 Terminal” (Believe its Terminal A), we took an underground train (photos above), and wandered through some of the high end shops on the “main” level. We even stopped at the Emirates shop and bought a 1/200 scale A380 in Emirates Livery (word to the wise: it’s a pain carrying a 1/200 scale A380 through 4 countries, and 6 flights).

After a few minutes we decided it was time to head up to the First Class lounge level. Yep, an entire level, and yes, it was that cool.

lounge

Emirates Lounge

The Emirates First Class Lounge is on its own level. Its pretty awesome. First of all, it spans the entire terminal. There are also showers, “fine dining” restaurants, lounge areas with food laid out (buffet style), a cigar lounge, a children’s area, the list goes on. There are also a couple of duty free stores selling some of the nicest liquor that I’ve seen in an airport, oh, and a bathtub of Hendrick’s Gin.

The Emirates First Class terminal takes bathtub gin to a whole new level.

The Emirates First Class terminal takes bathtub gin to a whole new level.

Oh, and they also have a spa, but I was looking forward to getting my 15 minute foot massage that I completely forgot to snap a photo.

Lounge dinner

Emirates Lounge Dinner

Since we had a late flight (like, you know, 3am, so maybe just early?), we decided to have dinner “fine dining” style at the sit down restaurant. I was still feeling conservative in my food choice, so I went with a Wegyu Beef Burger. It was a first for me, and boy did it taste amazing.

Before we knew it, it was time to go. As I consider the terminal as a whole, I dare say though that I like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal more, other than that phenomenal Wegyu Beef Burger.

Emirates A380 in First – Dubai to Singapore

As Emirates (and it seems all Middle Eastern Airlines) seem to do, they declare final boarding virtually immediately after they declare the flight is ready to board.

Boarding the Emirates A380 from the Emirates First Class Terminal.

Boarding the Emirates A380 from the Emirates First Class Terminal.

They do have elevators to take to the jetway, but its important to consider that the elevators first go straight up to the Business Class lounge, and seem to fill up when they make it to the First Class lounge level. We chose instead to go up to the Business Class lounge, then go down to the jetway. It was good because the elevator would’ve been completely full when it got to us, had we not.

Boarding the Emirates A380 via Door 1UL.

Boarding the Emirates A380 via Door 1UL.

You can check out a more thorough set of photos in the previous post (as this post is getting long). As we finished boarding, I chatted with the purser, who mentioned that it was a light flight. Don’t quote me on the number but I think it was in the realm of 159 passengers on board. Pretty light to be flying an A380 (if you ask me). I wasn’t complaining though.

Remember I mentioned that unweildy 1/200 A380 model? Well, the only “safe” place I could find for it was where the duvet was kept. Luckily the flight attendants were understanding… I even tried to hide it while I enjoyed my champagne.. What do you think? Did I succeed?

Toasting some Dom Perignon 2004 and trying to hide the huge 1/200 scale A380 behind me.

Toasting some Dom Perignon 2004 and trying to hide the huge 1/200 scale A380 behind me.

Before long it was time to take off. The meal service was kind’ve on the light side since it was an 8 or so hour flight, and we were still pretty tired. Here’s a selection of the food.

Plane food

Sampling of the food and drink on the flight

As is customary (it seems) on Emirates, I made sure to schedule my shower (as I recall, it was before we even took off). I wanted to shower about 2 hours outside of Singapore. I had been sleeping but the flight attendant was kind enough to wake me. I’m sure no photos of the Shower Spa do it justice (well, except a selfie, but, I passed).

Bathroom

Spa Bathroom

A few words on the Shower Spa. First, they give you two sets of toiletries, one to relax, one to refresh. They were both great, although the only thing I remember as striking was the body scrub (they also provide Loofah’s). You’re provided 5 minutes of water, and told the Shower Spa experience is expected to be about 20 minutes. There’s also a television with the airshow in the bathroom, lest you are curious where you happened to be showering at 40,000 feet. The floor is probably the first lavatory floor I didn’t mind walking around barefoot on, it was heated too. The shower area is roomier than some showers I’ve been in on the ground, there’s also a bench. Finally, the temperature is spot on, and it got better and more consistent water pressure than some hotels.

After the shower, you’re presented with some fruit and some tea.

Post-Shower Spa snack.

Post-Shower Spa snack.

Before landing, we were also offered a snack. I had Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice and Chicken). It was quite spicey, but, it took the edge off.

Pre-arrival snack.

Pre-arrival snack.

Arriving, we were among the first folks off, however we had made a strategic mis-step in the selection of our customs lane in Singapore. Lets just say, our driver was quite curious why we took so long. Eh, you win some you lose some.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: A380, Emirates, First Class

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