EK First Suite - awesome!
 

Recently did the very long BNE-DXB-LHR route straight through, but thanks to Emirates' preferred timings I was able to enjoy their phenomenal First Suite, on both the 777 BNE-DXB, as well as EK #1, the A380 from DXB-LHR. I'm usually fairly happy with BA's upper-deck Business seat, given its privacy with the screen up, and the width and roominess of Singapore's Business class on the A380 is also quite nice (both are far superior to the angled lie-flats like Qantas). But EK's First was a whole different league - tons of personal space, a very comfortable seat/bed, huge TV screen, lots of (to me) unnecessary but still cool built-in features like the vanity/makeup mirror, stationary drawer, retracting minibar, etc. And I loved how you could electronically close the doors to your "room" and lower the window shades at the touch of a button (or several, depending on how much light you wanted to let in).

I wish Emirates would line up with Star Alliance or One World, but they explained to me that they were staying independent because of their huge growth plans and desire to compete in all markets around the world. Which is a shame, as it makes it somewhat of a disincentive to fly them on the Kangaroo route or whatever, if it means missing out on ~10,000 mileage credits on one of my preferred airlines like BA or UA.

But the service and suite itself were absolutely top-rank, in my view, and I'll have to find ways to take EK more often if I can get up to First again. A terrific product offering.

It is always nice to hear such great feedback from first time fliers on EK. Glad you enjoyed it and hope to see you on-board again soon.

Kid in a sweetie shop (after reading this).

Can't wait for my 4 sectors to Oz and back in the suites.

Never done F, but my dad has done a fair bit of J travel over the years on various carriers.

The company he works for has a J Int policy (nice if you can get it).
Anyways, they put him on EK J recently (long haul). He praised EK and said it topped QF. I can only imagine what a EK F suite would be like (or even SQ F suite for that matter).

I think the idea is that EK should become a preferred carrier. Why anyone would prefer UA (as an airline, not as a FFP) is beyond me.

And it's a whole lot more than 10k miles. I hope you set up a Skywards account!

My first post on this forum :)

Fully agree with you. It is a great product - and at least on the routes between Singapore and Australia, about half the price of SQ.

Didn't think that highly of the 'classic' 1st class given that business class is quite good enough. Then, one beautiful day (thank you QF for filling the planes of other carriers to/from Australia) EK was kind enough to upgrade me from business to a suite. Went and booked my next trip in a suite, too, just didn't want to go back to business class. Can't wait to get to test the product on some of the 16 hour routes.

With the suites and the relatively small price hike between business and first, IMHO it's now a choice between economy and first.

I don't miss an alliance membership that much, but those of us in SE Asia would probably benefit of EK routes to the US West Coast via SIN (just like there are Australian routes direct and via SIN). Via DBX, flying to the West Coast becomes a huge detour.

And then I went and checked how long it is to fly non-stop from SIN to SFO/LAX. Note to self: think before posting. Strangely, I saw SEA on the Emirates route map but seems there is no EK flight to SEA until March or so. Starbucks, here I come!

I read this thread with excitement. This is my first post in this forum...normally fly exclusively SQ (been Solitaire PPS for 10 consecutive years). Over the next week I'm flying EK SIN-DXB-CPT-DXB-SIN, all in Suites on the 77W and A345. Really looking forward to it. My company pays for J tickets and I paid to upgrade the whole trip to F - around US$1600. Fantastic value!

+1 to the OP, my sentiments exactly :)
have only been on the 77W suites, I can only imagine how much nicer the A380 suites are, what with the shower and bar area...

The suites are pretty close to being the same; there is little, if any difference between the A380 suite and the 777 suite; personally I prefer travelling on the 777 since there is only a maximum of 8 passengers

The shower is however a nice feature but doesn't make the suite any better

I agree.The shower loses it's novelty after a few trips. It's really not that essential for a shorter flight like MAN to DXB. The suites are almost the same on the 777 anyway. In fact I can't think of anything different. Ill try to get a A380 suite guide and post it here.

hmm good point Dave Noble. in your opinion do the extra F pax (double the number of suites IIRC!) affect the service, etc?

it seems to me, from looking at TR pics, that the 77W suites are ever-so-slightly wider than the A380 suites - though probably not enough to make a noticeable difference.

It's more the feeling of privacy and general crowd/ noise that would be affected when you have 14 instead of 8 pax.

And yes, the 777 cabin is wider than the A380 UD.

in my experience a full 380 service is not as good as a full 777 service

On the SYD-DXB run, the other difference that really makes it far better on this route is that ime the 380 service is generally v busy whilst the 06:00 777 service is a lot les busy; combining the better service on a 777 with the added benefit of it being a lot less busy ime makes the 777 run better imo; that it is a daytime service just adds to its betterness :)

Dave

I haven't found much difference in service in F, between the 380 and the 777. Business class on the 380 is a complete joke though. In business the 777 is loads better.