Hi everyone! I've been a daily visitor to this site for a while, finally decided to bite the bullet and post a TR. This report covers 2 flights on Emirates in First Class between MEL-SIN (EK405) in Jun 2012 and SIN-MEL (EK404) in Feb 2013.
I've been flying Emirates for most medium to long haul flights since 2010, and have actually developed a strong liking for this airline, despite its numerous shortcomings when compared to heavyweights like SQ. The main reason for this is my frankly absurd operational upgrade record on this city pair. Both flights in this report started out as paid economy tickets, and as the title would suggest, I was nowhere near the economy cabin on both. As an added note, at the time of these flights, I was only a Silver member of Skywards.
I am currently in the final year of my undergraduate studies in Melbourne, and all my travel between my home in Singapore and Melbourne has been exclusively on EK, probably the wisest decision I've made in hindsight, not just for the higher baggage allowance, but for other reasons such as that mentioned above.
The end of June in Melbourne is normally cold and damp, being well into the first month on the southern winter. It is also around the time when the examination period for the first semester of university concludes, and thus there are a large number of university students travelling home for the winter vacation. Most people familiar with Australian universities would know of the large number of Singaporean and Malaysian students attending university here, and therefore flights from MEL to SIN, KUL and numerous other Asian destinations tend to depart with full loads during this period.
For my school, the winter vacation is only 3 weeks long, and I did not have plans to fly home for this break. But my family decided to hold an early 60th birthday celebration for my mother in Bali, and with both my sisters flying in from London, I didn't really have any excuse to not be present. My existing itinerary that brought me to Melbourne in February had a return booked in November, and changing it to secure a return at the end of June was next to impossible when I was informed of the birthday plans in May. My only option was to book an ex-MEL return itinerary, which at that point was going for AUD1085. Beggars can't be choosers, so I booked my flights and packed my bags. I don't mind paying a bit more to fly EK, since I was upgraded on my February flight from Y to J, and one could only hope that these things happen.
A few days before my flight home, a close friend of mine who was also flying on EK405, but on a different date, had informed me that he had received the 'exclusive' Emirates upgrade email, which offered an upgrade to J for AUD219. This grants increased baggage allowance, priority check-in and baggage handling and lounge access and of course the seat and service on the flight. Well worth it for a 7 hour flight. I received a similar email a few days before my flight, and promptly paid the fee without batting an eyelid. First step complete - Economy to Business.
Tullamarine Airport is probably the most inaccessible airport in this part of the world if one is not driving, but since this trip home was only for 2 weeks, I decided to drive to Tullamarine and park my car at an off-site long term carpark and then catch their courtesy shuttle to the terminal.
I had done my online checkin 24 hours prior to departure, and it clearly said Business Class on the self-printed boarding pass when I initially did so. In my rush to pack, I misplaced that BP and decided to print another in case the checkin staff gave any problems (The EK check-in staff at MEL then were quite possibly the rudest counter staff I've ever had the pleasure of encountering) . This was 10am on the day of the flight, and when I printed it out, it now said First Class, 1K. I thought it may have been a glitch, but didn't think much of it at the time. Second step complete – Business to First.
Rocking up to the check-in desks, I walked over to the First Class desk just to see what they would say. The lady welcomed me with a smile (It still astounds me how differently they treat you when you're standing on a red carpet), and when I enquired as to my seat, she said that economy and business were overbooked, and hence the bump to First. She handed me a proper boarding pass, an Express Path Card and informed me of the lounge facility, tagged my bags with Priority First tags, and sent them on their way. The ISS rent-a-cop guarding the entrance to airside took a look at my BP and Express card and directed me through the express path (I have been harrassed by them previously when flying Y) Security was quick and immigration was empty, and then I was straight to the lounge via the unavoidable duty free corridor.
The Emirates Lounge in Melbourne is located one floor above the waiting lounges for gates 9 and 11. It is quite a large lounge, which was empty when I arrived. Decent selection of food (which hasn’t changed in the last 2 years) and good selection of drinks. I had a glass of Veuve Cliquot and some light food whilst enjoying the sight of SQ228 and QF9 departing for Singapore.
Some photos before the flight (I do apologise for the poor quality, these were taken on my Blackberry Torch)
First time holding a F boarding pass
Excellent view overlooking the apron and the runways
Interesting being higher up than an A380 (SQ228 to SIN)
It was quiet for a while after both A380s departed, and then the 77W that was to fly me home was towed into view and parked at Gate 9. I decided to leave the lounge early and board the aircraft.
Gate 9 at Melbourne sits below the main departure floor, and there is only a single escalator to head down. As soon as general boarding was called, the entire planeload surged for the escalator, with the ground staff (the same folk at check-in) screaming trying to maintain order. They wanted to check every person’s boarding pass, and was cleared to go down when I flashed my First Class BP. The gate splits into 2 zones at the lower level, with J and Y pax using the right lane, and F pax using the left lane, which later go into separate aerobridges. The queue for the right lane was long, and I walked up to the agent manning the left lane confidently, all whilst getting death glares from the queue of Y pax alongside – I understand their sentiments seeing that I’m a youngish guy wearing a threadless t-shirt and jeans in F (don’t judge me… I’ve flown QR J in t-shirt, shorts and sandals, granted that was from DPS) My BP was scanned, a short walk down the aerobridge, and I was the first person on board the plane.