Aydyn

Never flown first class (other then fake domestic first class), planning to do so for my honeymoon next year (Maldives).

I am in Detroit, but there seems to be no good options from here. What I have found is Emirates FC from YYZ to MLE via Dubai, I have found round trip FC for ~ $6,800/pp (14k total) via Orbitz. These same flights (in Oct 2021) do not show up on emirates.ca for direct booking.

My questions are given this is a personal booking is this the best option? Is booking via Orbitz acceptable? Would you do anything different? Thank you in advance!

minz56

Personally I would book direct with Emirates - ring Emirates if you can't find the flights on their website. Then you have full control of the booking and can deal with Emirates directly rather than having to go through an agent (Orbitz)

BadoRas

I agree, that's good advice.

IntrepidAfrican2

Fully agree.

ft101

Toronto looks to be changing to 2 Class A380 around April next year so no more First.

skimthetrees

I agree with the other posters. When paying cash it would be best to book with Emirates directly.

If you are having trouble getting the Emirates website to show your flights you can use Google Flights to search for and select your flights. After selecting your EK flights it will give you a choice to go to Emirates to book and that should populate everything on the Emirates website and allow you to book there.

steveholt

I tried plugging in the OP's route on GF and while I can click through to Emirates, when I select the flights from the calendar that pops up, it says "Sorry, we were unable to find flight options to match your search. Please try a different search, or try your original search again later." and kicks me back to the calendar.

MSPeconomist

Does Emirates have a published fare for this route? I'm wondering whether Orbitz is using a broken fare or some other "trick" that shouldn't be offered to a customer without full disclosure.

minz56

I agree - and this reinforces why the OP should call Emirates to see what they can offer. It may be necessary to depart from a different gateway city in the USA if First is being dropped on the YYZ/DXB route.

Metanoia

I can't imagine they'd use a non-ULR configuration (without crew rest) to fly to N. America... this might be a mis-load, does anyone know if EK has 2-class ULR A380?

ft101

Good point and I believe all 2 class are the same layout. Orbitz definitely shows a 3 Class layout at seat selection, so something odd with this.

steveholt

On the other hand, OP could try and lock in a YYZ routing while F is still (theoretically) available and then try to rebook to a US gateway if F is taken off of that route. Not sure how feasible that is - one for those who fly EK more maybe.

skimthetrees

I am not seeing that. YYZ A380 selling F on a couple of dates I checked in April and October (when OP is traveling). Where are you finding 2 class?

skimthetrees

After researching some more I take it back. I probably would book this through a an OTA like Orbitz unless you want a stopover and then you can probably book it online with EK's multi-city advanced search.

The fare you found appears to be a CMB fare which some sites are pulling up to MLE, possibly because some return flights go through CMB? But, if you are not going through CMB at least one way this fare does not seem to be offered direct to MLE.

The interesting thing I noticed in the fare rules for this fare, A45ESCA1, is that it allows unlimited stopovers, so you can, theoretically, stopover in CMB and/or DXB on your way there or back or both and would only have to pay additional taxes if any. I was able to price something like this on the EK website advanced search multi-city. Going YYZ-MLE (stop), MLE-CMB-DXB (stop), and DXB-YYZ. You must choose to route the return through CMB (MLE-CMB-DXB) or the price goes up. I priced up (on the EK website) YYZ-MLE on 10/8, MLE-CMB-DXB on 10/16 (16:30 departure), and DXB-YYZ on 10/20, all in F, and got a price of CAD 8,916.06 ($6,974.34) which gives you an almost free stopover in Dubai. Note that if you choose the direct MLE-DXB flight (not through CMB) the pricing goes up to CAD 10,597. Also note that the lowest price shown on EK website when you price out the above through CMB is also shown at the higher price but once you select the return flight through CMB the actual cost of the flights goes down to CAD 8,916.06 (even though the lowest price field still shows 10,597 which is incorrect) as shown at the top right of the screen and when you select the big red "Flight Summary" button at the top right of the screen next to the cost.

ft101

I was looking on ek.com but it seems to be back to normal now with 3 classes being offered