Having benefited so often and so well from the FT forums and advice, here’s my contribution by way of a trip report on my recent flights on Emirates in the new first suites on the A340-500 from Zurich to Dubai and back.

Thanks to these forums, I took care to book my flights on the A340-500 to take advantage of these unusual suites. The look and feel is a bit like an overnight train, with very narrow aisles lines with wood paneled partitions up to about shoulder height. The entry to the seat is via an open doorway which closes with two sliding doors. Since I was on two day flights, I didn’t ever close the doors, but I can see where it would be pleasant to have total privacy when one is sleeping and possibly drooling or snoring (or both). The seat itself is comfortable but nothing special as compared with other first products I’ve tried (BA, LX, LH). It has a massage function, which I liked the idea of, but in practice wasn’t all that great. There is loads of leg room. I didn’t try the lie flat function, but it looked reasonable for a night’s sleep. Across from the seat is a shelf which contains a rather silly vanity mirror set up – the mirror pops up at the push of a button and has lighting around it. Reasonable, I suppose, if you want to primp and preen, but had more the feel of a gimmick. Inside the vanity were a number of nice lotions and two “sniff” boxes with either energizing or relaxing scents. The packaging of these items to fit inside the vanity was also quite silly, and I’d rather have an amenity kit handed to me. To the side of the seat is another gimmick: a little pop up mini bar. Like the vanity, it does cause you a small “wow, cool” moment, but then you kind of forget about it. It was nice to have some bottled water and juice on hand without having to summon anyone, but not to the extent worth including. Everything was nicely paneled and had a very tidy and efficient train/ship feel to it. The storage spaces were a bit odd, and as there are no overhead lockers, there is no easy place to stow a standard carry on. There was enough room for small bags and even a private locker for jackets.

The seats are set up 1-2-1, and I can imagine that the internal seats could feel a bit claustrophopic with the doors closed and the privacy screen between them put up, but probably quite nice if you are two people traveling together and can keep that screen down.

I was offered slippers and an eye shade, along with a “personal towel” which is a large washcloth in a plastic zip bag. Since hot towels were offered regularly during the flight, and cloth washcloths available in the lavatories, I didn’t really see the need here. Nice touch though is that the zip bag is marked as being appropriate for airport security, so I guess it’s a nice alternative to sandwich bags. The vanity table also contains a drawer which holds a stationary kit (stationary, a writing pad and nice pen). At the end of the vanity table and along the far “wall” of the cabin is a nice sized screen for the inflight system called “ICE”.

The ICE entertainment is extremely comprehensive and gets an “A” rating from me. You’d really be hard pressed not to find several hours of entertainment among the many offerings, which range from current movies to tv comedies/dramas to documentaries, to thousands of music choices, books on tape, updated news and flight details and books on tape. Comfortable noise cancelling headsets were available. The way to use the system is via one of two control panels, which were ok. The main control panel also covers seat and lighting adjustments.

The cabin service (after multiple handouts of goodies by the crew) is on call, and the few times I pressed the room service button it was responded to promptly. Dining is on demand, and the menu was impressive, but the food didn’t live up to expectations, in my opinion. Iranian caviar is offered and provided in a reasonable portion with all the trimmings, but the quality was only so-so. There are nice hot and cold canapés and a good range of choices. I just wasn’t wowed by any of it, although I appreciated the cheese selection and the fresh bread baskets. In addition to the minibar at the seat, you are also provided with a basket of chococlate bars and chips. Nice touch, although a bit more creativity into the snack choice would be appropriate – it was essentially Snickers and Pringles and could have been a bit more imaginative and upscale. There is a reasonably sized table for dining/working, and the seat slides back and forth so you can easily adjust it for a comfortable position to the table.

The Bellevue Lounge in Zurich is more than adequate, although not especially premium. Still, a comfortable place to sit and have a coffee while waiting for the flight. This is compared with the Emirates first lounge in Dubai, which was nothing special by way of décor, but had an enormous breakfast buffet out with a great selection of hot and cold items. There were no escorts through security or to/from the plane at either end, although there were priority pass cards given in Dubai for security. We boarded a bus in Dubai to get to the plane which was quite a far ride (more than 10 minutes) - I suppose this will be fixed when the new terminal is up and running. Given the distance, though, a private car to the plane for F pax would have been a good move.

The crew were all very pleasant, if sometimes a bit bumbling.

Free limo transfers are on offer, which I didn’t need in Zurich but would have appreciated more in Dubai had it been easier to book and confirm. My secretary contacted the airline a couple of times to try to confirm bookings and they said they would contact me on my mobile 24 hours in advance to confirm, but they never did. In the end, I didn’t use one in Dubai on the outbound as I shared a ride with a colleague, and had never received confirmation of our attempting booking on the return, so I assumed I should take a hotel car. I was somewhat taken aback to have an Emirates driver on the verge of leaving as I emerged from the hotel, saying he had already waited 30 minutes and my transfer had been cancelled. I apologized, he relented, and I got a “free” ride in a slightly aging Volvo station wagon. This should be a simpler process, but maybe I missed some steps in it (first time on EK).

All in all, a very nice experience, and I appreciated the chance to try this product. I think I’d appreciate it even more on an overnight, although I certainly enjoyed the many hours of playing around with movies, tv and music while munching chocolate. It’s certainly a fun product for a first timer, since there are all those little, if gimmicky, touches which come as a bit of a surprise.