October 24, 2013
Emirates Airlines Dubai – Seattle 940a – 100p 777-200 First Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Fairbanks 755p – 1050p 737-800 Economy Class

8:00am sure comes early - especially when you’ve only managed about three hours of sleep. (A noisy family briefly invaded the Quiet Room with all the raucous unruliness of a herd of baboons until I read them the riot act, up to and including getting the lounge management to deal with them. Then they left. Thank goodness.)

After breaking camp I headed across the lounge to the shower room. Once I’d finished there I began the long walk down to gate B32, located at the very end of the terminal building, the farthest possible distance one could walk from the lounge. Aside from one instance of direct boarding from the Emirates lounge, all of my gates have been most inconveniently located on this trip. Back home I enjoy much longer walks along the dirt road or through the woods around my place but when it comes to airports, I’m all about convenience. What I’d give for a flight out of Kansas City or Dallas (Other than American) about now...

On the walk down to my gate I passed by a duty free store with a bunch of DVD movies prominently displayed. I don’t really do any shopping in airports, even at duty free prices, but this was the first time I’d ever seen DVDs for sale at a duty free store and so I decided to check out the selection and prices. Nothing really stood out except for Season 2 of the television series Homeland. Had the price been right and the discs playable in North America I would have bought it but when I did the math on the conversion rate ($229.00 AED) my eyes about popped out of my head! They wanted over $60.00 USD for what I could buy back home in Alaska for $29.95. Without taxes.

Emirates expect its passengers to be at the gate and ready to board not less than 20 minutes before the scheduled departure of their flight. Evidently they mean it, too. I’ve heard stories of passengers showing up after the gate’s been closed but with the aircraft at the gate with jet bridge attached and they’ve still been denied boarding. Though I’d love to spend a day in Dubai sometime, right now I’m really looking forward to getting home to Alaska. They were just making the last and final call for boarding of EK 229 to Seattle when I arrived at the gate. A quick check of my watch showed I was almost thirty minutes out but what the heck – a seat in the suite certainly beats anywhere in the airport except for maybe the spa which unfortunately I never had time to enjoy on this trip.

Emirates 777-300s are configured for eight First Class suites but only two of us were occupying them on the fourteen hour and five minute flight to Seattle this morning. I can only imagine the First Class cabin crew was feeling severely underutilized and perhaps even a bit desperate for something to do because the ground service was relentless with everything from newspapers to hot towels to amenity kits to slippers and pajamas continually being delivered to my seat. And some Champagne for you perhaps, Mr. 2A? Oh no, thanks. I’ll take one of those mango and lime smoothies though. Let’s save the Champagne for lunch!

This flight presented an interesting challenge on how best to combat the effects of jet lag (sleeping) versus remaining conscious through enough of the flight to take advantage of all the indulgences that make Emirates’ First Class such a special treat. Consider for a moment that the time zone variation on this flight is no simple little five or six hour difference such as one would experience on a flight between Europe and the U.S. East Coast. Dubai is exactly eleven hours different from Seattle – essentially twice that! How many nonstop flights can you think of (or have you personally flown) that traverse eleven time zones? Only Dubai to the US West Coast and New York to Singapore come to mind…

I only got about three hours of sleep last night and although I’ve got a good second wind right now, I know I’m going to need a few more hours of sleep to be at my best. I’ve learned from past experience that regardless of how nice and extravagant a First Class service may, it does take a lot of the shine off it if you’re draggin’ tail.

So – here’s my plan for this fourteen hour flight:

Step 1: Have a proper breakfast – something I haven’t done on any of my three previous Emirates flights

Step 2: Catch three or four hours of additional sleep

Step 3: Relax for a while and then have a full lunch, complete with mezze presentation

Step 4: Catch another couple hours of sleep – but not too much! I still want to be ready for bed when I get home

Step 5: Enjoy the rest of the flight in whatever fashion makes sense at the time. Have a light dinner (just the main course and maybe some cheese) about an hour and a half out of Seattle.

Of course, nothing’s cast in stone. The above seems like a good guideline but ultimately I’ll go with how I feel at the time. Well alrighty then, let’s check out that breakfast menu!


A la Carte Dining

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Fruit Juices
Refreshing choice of freshly squeezed orange or grapefruit juice, or enjoy the healthy option of our special detox drink combining beetroot and orange, or a mango and lime smoothie

Breakfast Fruits
A palette of ripe tropical and seasonal fresh cut fruits

Yoghurt
Natural or flavored with fruit

Assorted Cereals
Choice of crunchy Cornflakes or nutritious muesli

Breakfast Bread Basket
A variety of soft and crusty fresh baked breads, butter croissants and freshly baked breakfast pastries,
Served with butter and preserves

Delicatessen’s Cold Meats and Cheese
Offering a gourmet selection of Swiss Emmenthal and creamy French Brie cheese,
With thinly sliced smoked chicken and strips of prime beef, dressed with an array of garnishes

HOT BREAKFAST

Plain Omelette
Farmhouse fresh egg omelette, served with roasted plum tomato, sautéed leaf spinach,
Baked beans, corn cakes and freshly grated cheese

Breakfast Mixed Grill
Selection of succulent grilled chicken medallion, sizzling turkey sausage, tender lamb pepper kabob,
Sautéed woodland mushrooms, roasted cherry tomatoes and creamy Lyonnais potatoes marbled with herbs

Masala Uthappam
Traditional masala uthappam served with Banarasi aloo and coconut chutney


* * * ----------------------------------------------------------- * * *

When it comes to breakfast in First Class, I always go for the hot breakfast. I mean honestly, I suppose I could do the sensible thing for a guy of my age and cholesterol level and order a healthy fruit plate and some yogurt but the way I see it, anyone - even the U.S. airlines - can put some fruit on a plate and give me a bowl of yogurt. And besides, I eat enough of that at home. No, if I’m going to put out the money or miles to sit up in the pointy end of the plane on an airline of Emirates’ repute, I’m looking to enjoy the fruits of their catering department at its finest and the best way to do that is to order something that the chefs have actually created.

So yes, I’ll start with a fruit plate but for my main I’ll order the Plain Omelette. Truth be known, what really caught my eye was the Breakfast Mixed Grill but when I asked if I could accompany that with some eggs, surprisingly the answer was no. The breakfast mains are pre-plated and unlike say – Cathay Pacific - the crew does not have the means to actually cook eggs onboard. In my book that’s really something Emirates ought to address someday but alright then, let’s go with that omelette.

When I think back to the best omelet I’ve ever been served on an airplane, the hands down winner was a wonderful Asiago Cheese Omelet served up by Alaska Airlines on a Seattle to Miami flight back in 2003. I still have the menu. That omelet was of good size, fluffy (not flat like most airlines) and topped with sliced mushrooms and green onions. It was presented with roasted potatoes, sautéed spinach and turkey sausage. In both presentation and taste it was an awesome meal from back in the days when Alaska still had some of the finest catering to be found over North American skies.

Alas, the omelet I was served today fell quite a bit short of that benchmark omelet of ten years ago but overall the breakfast was still pretty good. Starting with good strong coffee served in an impressively sized bodum, I moved on to an assortment of sliced fruit that looked every bit as good as it tasted. A large breakfast basket brimming with variety provided a flaky croissant and the main course accompaniments of tomato, baked beans, spinach and corn cakes added plenty of flavor to the otherwise plain omelet.



Now THAT’s a Coffee Service!



Fruit Plate Starter



Omelette and Accompaniments

By the time the last of my plates had been cleared, we were about an hour and forty minutes into the flight. I lowered my electronic window shades, reclined my seat to almost completely flat and read for a while until sleep overtook me. I didn’t bother with having the mattress laid because I was planning to sleep off and on throughout the flight and it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth to have the flight attendants continually coming back and forth to deal with mattress removal. Yeah, yeah I know – that’s what they’re there for but in all honesty, it’s me who really appreciates not having to deal with it. When I’m ready to sleep or get up, I just do it. No help or imposition on others required.

With the arrival of the 747SP back in the late seventies, the 13 ½ hour flight between Los Angeles and Sydney was considered the ultimate marathon flight. Ironically, the only time I flew that route aboard an SP, headwinds forced us to make a quick pit stop in Nadi, Fiji before continuing on. These days there are so many ultra-long flights operating around the globe that many of us have become rather inured to the concept, much less the reality of it.

But think about it - regardless of whether you’re on an airplane or not, fourteen hours is a lonnnnng time. Put into the context of an average work day it is interesting to contemplate. You wake up at seven, shower, have some breakfast and off to work you go. Figure an eight hour day with an hour break for lunch and ideally you’re back home by six or six-thirty. Wind down with a cocktail (or two) and then dinner and by now it’s about eight-thirty. If this were that fourteen hour flight you’d only just now be commencing your descent to land.

So, having awoken after a three hour nap, I still had a lot of time in this flight to look forward to.

“Look forward to, you say? Don’t you mean endure or even suffer through?”

Well I suppose if I were sat just eighty feet back, where the Economy Class seats are arranged in a tight 3-4-3 configuration and meals are served when the cabin crew is ready to serve them, I might be thinking along those lines. Up here in First Class however, I’m in my own comfortable little cocoon with massaging seat function where service of any kind – be it a drink or a plate of caviar is just a call button away.

And hey – speaking of caviar, let’s check out the rest of the menu offerings:


LUNCHEON AND DINNER

Canapés
A selection of hot and cold savouries including Asian-style prime beef cake, spiced chicken tikka skewer, flaky woodland mushroom vol au vent, marinated Italian buffalo mozzarella cheese, baby bell pepper filled with cheese, jumbo olives with sundried tomato and marinated Kalamata olives

APPETIZERS

Caviar
Perfectly prepared chilled caviar presented with a traditional selection of finely chopped onion, chopped boiled egg, sour cream and lemon, served with crisp melba toast and soft blini pancakes

Traditional Local Arabic Mezze
The flavors of our home, presented as a generous spread of traditional Arabic savory dishes including artichoke and mushroom salad, creamy hommous, loubieh bil zeit, tabouleh, baba ghannouj, seafood salad and stuffed vine leaves, accompanied by warm potato kibbeh, beef and cheese fatayer, complimented by local garnishes and breads

Seared Tuna
Fresh tuna steak, marinated in a vibrant oriental soya ginger and wasabi sauce, served with crisp green papaya salad with piquant ginger and chilli, accompanied by marinated asparagus tips and oven-roasted cherry tomato

Air-dried Beef
Wafer-thin slices of air-dried beef, served with basil marinated buffalo mozzarella cheese, roasted cherry tomato, baby leaf spinach, marrow, aubergine, peppers and a rich olive salsa


MAIN COURSES

Pan-fried Beef Pepper Steak
Prime beef steak pan fried and flavored with pepper, served with steamed carrots and turnips, seasoned Kenyan beans, roasted cherry tomatoes and crisp golden roasted potatoes

Seafood Machbous
Seafood marinated in distinctive aromatic spices and slow cooked with rice, garnished with roasted pine nuts

Chicken Tawa Fry
Succulent griddle fried chicken, served with mildly spiced vegetable korma and saffron infused pulao rice

Ravioli Pasta
Fresh pasta cases generously filled with leek and woodland mushrooms, served with wild mushroom and parmesan velouté, topped with freshly shaved parmesan cheese

Grilled Herb Marinated Chicken
Succulent chicken steeped in fine herb marinade, browned on the grill and dressed with an aromatic tarragon sauce, served with vegetable ratatouille and a mix of white and wild rice

A la Carte Vegetables
Our chefs have paired each meal with their ideal accompaniments, but we offer a variety of alternative vegetables to your tastes, including rich vegetable ratatouille, creamy mashed potatoes, steamed rice, broccoli florets, asparagus spears and squash

Bread Basket
Choose soft, crusty, granary, garlic or Arabic from our variety of freshly baked rolls and breads


LIGHT BITES

Seasonal Salad
Crisp fresh garden salad leaves topped with your choice of ripe red and yellow cherry tomatoes, marinated crumbly feta cubes with pesto, celery moons, and roasted pumpkin and sun flower seeds, tossed in your favorite dressing

Classic Mulligatawny Soup
Indian-inspired curry spiced soup, served with roasted lentils, garnished with fresh coriander

Double Beef Consommé
Rich seasoned beef bouillon, served with finely cut carrot, courgette and leek

Selection of Sandwiches
An assortment of tempting reception sandwiches, including premium smoked salmon with cream cheese, mustard mayonnaise and spinach in a whole meal roll, creamy French brie cheese with fresh fig and fruit chutney in Kraft corn finger, and prime roasted beef with potato chive salad in French stick slice

Creamy Vegetable Pie
Rich stew of creamy mixed vegetables in a light crunchy puff pastry case, served with sautéed leaf spinach and chunky salsa

Shrimp Crab Cake
Fresh shrimp and crabmeat patty, cooked until golden and served with vibrant Thai chilli sauce and blanched asparagus

Chicken Lababdar
Indian dish of tender chicken pieces cooked in a delicately spiced sauce, served with steamed basmati rice

Oven-Baked Potatoes
Baked potato shells filled with your choice of baked beans, chunky tomato and basil salsa, chilli con carne or a creamy cheese sauce


SWEET DELIGHTS

Almond Financier
Light, moist French tea cake, served with poached rhubarb and almond wafer

Lemon Cheesecake
Smooth creamy citrus infused cheesecake, served with orange zests and fresh cherry compote

Selection of Fruit
A seasonal assortment of the finest fresh cut fruits

Selection of Petits Fours
Tempting assortment of delicate small pastries and sweets, including mini fruit tart, chocolate chiffon triangle, pistachio cake, coconut macaroon, four nougat, and mini lemon meringue tart


INTERNATIONAL CHEESE SELECTION

A carefully chosen assortment of the finest boutique cheese from around the world, served with a selection of crudités, crackers, dried fruits and nuts

Vintage Reserve Cheddar Cheese

Capricorn Somerset Goat’s Cheese

Simon Weaver Organic Cotswold Blue Veined Cheese

Chaumes

Yarra Valley Persian Feta Cheese


HOT BEVERAGES

Tea
Black and herbal teas from around the world, featuring Ceylon, China, Earl Grey and Chamomile

Coffee
Brewed to order, your choice of decaffeinated, espresso and cappuccino finale

Chocolates
A luxurious rich chocolate selection provides the perfect finale


I don’t know of any other airline except for maybe ANA (All Nippon) that stocks this much food onboard for its First Class passengers. I asked Bren, my principal flight attendant, whether or not everything had been catered given that there were only two of us up front today. He assured me that if it’s on the menu, it’s been catered. However, there was only one of most main courses and wouldn’t you know it, the one that I wanted – the Seafood Machbous - had already been spoken for by the passenger in front of me.

Well now… let’s see what I can come up with from the rest of the menu…

It’s cocktail hour somewhere in the world so I think I’ll start with a glass of Woodford Reserve and a plate of canapés. Let’s follow that up with some caviar, a presentation of mezze, a bowl of Mulligitawny soup and for the main course… gosh, there are so many delicious sounding choices… I hadn’t had any beef main courses yet on Emirates and so, in the interests of bringing you all a more well-rounded report, let’s go with the Pan-fried Beef Pepper Steak.

Canapés and caviar… yeah, yeah, we know what those are all about by now so after 30000 words worth of reporting so far I won’t take up any more of your time telling you what you already know: They were delicious! In fact, I never did get around to requesting that Dom with the caviar because the Woodford Reserve was washing it down so nicely. Speaking of which – Bren, would you be so kind as to top off my glass with more ice and Woodfords?



Woodford and Canapés – By now a time honored tradition

Next up was the mezze and I say “presentation” of mezze because honestly, as laid out on my table per Emirates’ standards, it really is a thing of beauty. I can also tell you on good authority that it’s every bit as delicious as it looks.



The Mezze Presentation

Awright – bring on the Mulligatawny! I had heard of this soup many times but never really knew exactly what it was. Indeed if you’d asked me before this flight what it was I would have guessed it was like a bean soup. Well the menu pretty much describes it perfectly: It’s an Indian-inspired curry spiced soup, served with roasted lentils. It was tasty enough that I could eat it all day, especially over rice with some chicken or lamb. As it is however, I’m already starting to feel a bit full. I hope that pepper steak isn’t too large…



Mulligatawny Soup



Pan-fried Beef Pepper Steak

It wasn’t. Though slightly overcooked per my tastes, the meat was flavorful and the sauce nicely peppered. The asparagus and potatoes were perfect accompaniments and over all the size was just about right even though afterwards I felt a bit like Joey Chestnut halfway through a hotdog eating contest. Cheese and dessert were not a consideration after this meal.

Honestly, only in international First Class do I ever eat this much. I’m sure I’ve said it before but allow me to say it again: On a long flight, nicely prepared and presented food is my favorite form of inflight entertainment. The presentation is really half the fun, too. I read recently that it’s a seventeen week training course just to become a Singapore Airlines flight attendant and another eighteen months minimum of experience before one can be allowed to train for First Class. Compare this to our U.S. carriers where many of the flight attendants are clearly out of their league when it comes to providing a top flight First Class service. Training is a huge part of Singapore’s success inflight and yet I suspect many of those Singapore Girls wouldn’t have even been hired by the airline unless they’d demonstrated some clue as to gracious service learned beforehand in their own homes. I mention all this because I had heard that if Emirates had a weak link, it was in their cabin crew who were still learning the nuances of world class inflight service. From my experience on the four flights I’ve just logged with Emirates, the Emirates flight attendants working the First Class cabin have all been very friendly, engaging and professional. Are they on the same plane as the First Class Singapore Girls? Well I’ve only flown Singapore First Class one time and that was quite a few years ago, so I may not be the best qualified to offer that assessment. That said however, all of the Emirates crew that I’ve been served by are very, very good and contribute greatly to the success and outstanding reputation that Emirates enjoy today.



Flying Over The Polar Regions

Out my window the dark and frozen landscape of the northern Polar Regions passed silently beneath us. Although we’d taken off in the bright morning sun of a new day in Dubai, our northern trajectory had taken us over the top of the planet where this time of year daylight is in increasingly short supply. So, with six more hours left in this flight I watched “42”, an entertaining biography on the baseball life of Jackie Robinson. Good movie, though through a combination of the big lunch and only intermittent sleep of late I was starting to nod off towards the end. I reclined my seat and picked up another hour of sleep. Lie flat seat or not, it sure will be nice to get home to my own bed. Truth be known, the best sleep I ever got on an airplane was back in the eighties aboard a United 747SP with the old First Class cradle seats. I slept for about eight hours without interruption, which is pretty darned good for an airplane. I remember a similar quality rest – again in a cradle seat – in Business Class on a United 777 between Miami and Buenos Aires back in the late nineties.

When I awoke we were speeding southward over the Beaufort Sea, about twenty minutes from crossing over the North American coastline between Alaska and Canada. The Sky Map indicated that our route of flight had taken us directly over the North Pole. Outside it was still dark but a thin veneer of daylight colored the southern horizon.



Approaching North America From The North

Three and a half more hours left in the flight…

A pretty young flight attendant stopped by to see if I needed anything and we got to talking. She was from Canada but had always wanted to go camping up in Alaska. We laughed because a lot of Canada extends even farther north than Alaska but she was from the Vancouver area, thus the “up” reference. She was really into hiking and backpacking (my kind of girl!) and asked my advice on places she could take her boyfriend on a good camping trip in Alaska. Well I’ve got plenty of suggestions on that front, but for my tastes some even better backpacking is closer to home just across the border in the Cascades, the Olympics and the Sierra Nevadas. I had plenty of pictures from past trips to support my recommendations and by the time we’d landed she was ready to quit her job and head for the hills! Just kidding of course, but I found it interesting that when I asked her if she planned on making a career out of flying for Emirates, the answer was a definitive no. Maybe three or four more years but then she wanted to move on with life, start a family and explore other opportunities.

The menu indicated that food could be ordered up to an hour and a half prior to landing. After the crew assured me that this was realistic and wouldn’t be an unreasonable imposition on their abilities to bring cabin service to a timely close, I ordered a plate of Grilled Herb Marinated Chicken. No appetizers, no soup or salad – just the chicken please. And a glass of that Charles Heintz Chardonnay. Topped with an aromatic tarragon sauce and served with vegetable ratatouille and wild rice, this dish brought to a delicious conclusion the food fest that is a flight in First Class on Emirates. While I don’t think I don’t think the amount of food I enjoyed on this flight sounds at all unreasonable, there are always a few smarmy types out there who will think me a glutton because I ate three meals on this flight. Well come down off your high horses and consider this fourteen hour flight once again from the context of a normal day, waking at 7:00 and lasting until 9:00pm. We’ll have breakfast at 7:30, a big lunch at 1:00pm and a light dinner about 8:00. No dessert was ever eaten and alcohol consumption was limited to a couple Woodfords and a glass of wine. Sounds pretty reasonable to me. And tasty, too.



Grilled Herb Marinated Chicken



After Dinner Coffee

The Sky Map indicated that we’d made a wide sweeping turn over Tacoma and lined up for our final into SeaTac, but looking out my window I saw nothing but clouds. In fact, I didn’t even see land until we were scant seconds from landing, maybe a hundred feet or even less above the runway. Thank goodness Category 3 landing technology has been around long enough to get any glitches out because visibility looked to be not much more than a couple hundred feet outside. We landed as if it were a sunny day in Tucson and taxied nonchalantly into gate S16. After a flight of fourteen hours and three minutes, my Emirates adventure had come to an end.

Overall, the four flights I flew on Emirates were every bit as good as advertised. From the comfort and privacy of the First Class suites to the skill and dedication of its cabin crews, Emirates is well deserving of its many accolades. Not many people have the good fortune to fly internationally in much better than an Economy Plus seat, much less to do so in the style I just did. What a wonderful experience it’s been! I paused briefly to thank my cabin crew and they wished me well as I deplaned out 2L. I hope we can all meet up again sooner than later.

Following a four hour layover in Seattle, I boarded an Alaska 737 for the three and a half hour nonstop flight up to Fairbanks. I slept through all but about fifteen minutes of it. We landed on a nice cool evening in Fairbanks. Despite the late date in October, there was still no snow on the ground. No complaints here though. I’ve got a few chores to do around the cabin that’ll be a lot easier without snow on the ground.

As I rode home from the airport with my friends, I couldn’t help but consider that for many people the trip I’d just completed would have been considered quite the grand adventure – both in the air and on the ground. Trips like this only happen once every couple of years (if that) for a fair segment of the population, and then often after they’re retired. In my case however, this is just the halfway point. In a few days I’m back at it again – headed for Africa and Asia.

For those of you who are still with me, now would be a great time for an intermission. Go get yourselves a bite to eat, take a nap, get back to work or just refill your drink and let’s continue on.