Emirates First Class Overload: KUL-DXB-MEL-MEL-SIN-DXB-KUL
 

This would be my second mistake fare on Emirates – the first being the CMB-MLE mistake for our "second honeymoon". Emirates had a global sale with first class tickets form Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne going for about 7500 ringgit or ~$2500 USD. The mistake in the fare was that instead of a direct Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne, I was able to route the flight via Dubai for the same price. This routing itself would give me Gold status on Emirates.

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The Long Way to Melbourne

The best part was that Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to be operated by the Airbus A380. Being a “partial plane geek”, it was somewhat embarrassing that I have yet to fly on the A380 despite the A380 being operated already for a number of years. This would be an over the top way for my first A380 flight!

The original plan just was to do a “mileage run” and just fly the all the segments over a long weekend. A couple of weeks before the scheduled departure, the A380 was pulled off the Dubai to Kuala Lumpur route due to A380 wing cracks incident. I did however, manage to get my flights changed without any charges to a month later where the A380 was back on the route. Better still, I actually had to fly to Melbourne for a friend’s wedding and made me less guilty for the splurge.

The price of $2500 USD for the flights itself wasn’t cheap and not something I would splurge on usually. I just couldn’t give up the opportunity to lose my A380 virginity with a flight and shower on Emirates first class. Furthermore, the flights itself would give me enough miles for Gold status on Emirates Skywards that might come in handy in the future.

Hope you guys enjoy this trip report but it's going to be pretty much Emirates, Emirates and more Emirates first class, not that is such a a bad thing.

As usual, the full trip report will be on my blog with installments below:

• Introduction
• Losing my A380 Virginity: KUL-DXB
• DXB-KUL
• KUL-MEL
• MEL-DXB via SIN
• Dubai Layover
• Heading home: DXB-KUL

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur straight after our Seychelles trip way early at noon for my evening flight to Dubai. The Emirates counter was opened for the earlier flight to Melbourne. There were no lines in first class counter where I managed to check-in and drop off my luggage for both my Kuala Lumpur to Dubai and subsequent Dubai to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur flight.

Instead of heading straight airside and to the lounge, I decided to have some lunch landside for some Malaysian food. I was missing Malaysian food after being on the road for the last couple of weeks. Once I did get to the lounge, I tried to get a quick nap on the one available massage chair. I think I did snooze off for a couple of minutes but couldn’t really fall asleep. I eventually gave up, took a shower and caught up on some work.

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The lounge stayed relatively empty the entire I was there which was not a surprise considering how large the lounge was. It was furnished similarly to other Emirates lounges.

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View form the lounge

There was a wide selection of food with made to order satay. Being a satay fan, I had to sample Emirates’ satay but I’m sad to say that it was severely disappointing. The meat was dry and the peanut sauce resembled peanut butter.

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After half a day of spending more time than I would want in the lounge, boarding was eventually announced in the lounge. Woohoo - time to lose my A380 virginity! There was a dedicated aerobridge to the upper deck at Kuala Lumpur.

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The Big Boy

I was warmly greeted by the Emirates crew at the door which them escorting to my seat. WOW WOW WOW! The first class suits were so much more impressive than my first time on Emirates first class. Sure, it’s kind of a bit over the top with the bling but I love it.

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A stewardess came over asking for my choice of pre-departure drink. I obviously went with champagne but was disappointed that they were serving the cheap stuff from business class. I made a comment asking where the good stuff was and was assured that the Dom would be available after take-off. The stewardess came around again offering slippers, Arabic coffee and dates.

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Very nice start to the report. And excellent photos. I would agree with you re the quality of food in the lounge at KL. Very average. EK are aware of the issues and are striving to fix but it all comes down to the team on the ground.

We need to get to the bottom of why some crew will open the Dom pre-departure and some won't. Someone mentioned on here a while ago that it was a duty/tax issue but I think that's a lot of Bravo Sierra.

Looking forward to reading the rest...

Thanks Eightblack! Means a lot coming from the TR master himself ;)

DXB-KUL

Emirates operates three daily flights to Melbourne from Dubai with one non-stop flight, one via Singapore an one via Kuala Lumpur. Although I would normally have gone with the non-stop, I opted for the option via Kuala Lumpur as it would get me into Melbourne just in time for the wedding I needed to attend.

I spent my ~4 hour layover in Dubai with first, a nap on one of the sofas before a shower followed by the complimentary fifteen minute back massage and a light late night supper/snack in the sit down restaurant in the first class lounge.

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First Class Lounge Restaurant

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Bread Basket

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Started off with some foie gras

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Selection from the buffet

It was way past bed time when I got to the plane. After another couple of pre-departure Doms, all I wanted after take off was to hit the sack. My seat was promptly made into a bed right after changing into the pajamas. It did take a while to go to sleep as I struggled to find a comfortable position while some of the passengers in first class decided to get a bite.

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thanks for the pics. I love your photos of the KUl lounge, much better then the ones I took! What lens did you use to get the wide angle shots?

A Panasonic 7-14mm f/4.0. Cost a bomb but totally worth it..

Now that my negative point is no longer needed, I can change this post to happily read, great photos, great read as always.

Emirates First Class Overload: KUL-DXB-MEL-MEL-SIN-DXB-KUL
 

Enjoying your report and photos are great.

thats a purrrrty F seat...

No offense taken. Always appreciate the feedback :)

Thanks for changing it, I changed my post too.

KUL to MEL
 

I was the first off the plane feeling pretty refreshed after a couple of hours of good sleep on the flight. The only thing I needed now was a shower which I promptly got to once I got to the lounge. I tried to keep to myself and not give eye contact with the lounge staff after I got some weird stares and looks figuring they just saw me in the lounge yesterday. Was too lazy to answer a bunch of questions if asked.

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I felt slightly peckish and decided to nibble on some of the lounge food while catching up on email and giving the wife a call. Overall, the food didn't taste as good as it looked.

As usual, I was the last to board with the pursuer warmly welcoming me on-board and and showing me to my seat. We made some small talk and she was curious on my flight routing via Dubai to Melbourne which I made up some BS on needing to fly to Dubai for some business meetings. Lol.

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Front camera already turned on

There was only another passenger in first on this flight with her seating on the opposite side. With the partitions up from the middle row, the flight was really private as we had both a side of the first class to ourselves.

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I delayed the main meal until a a couple of hours before arrival into Melbourne. In the meantime, I continue to load up on the Dom while snacking on some soup, nuts, cheeses and chips from the snack basket. I don't know why but this bottle of Dom 2003 was the best tasting bottle throughout the whole trip. Maybe it was just chilled enough?

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KUL to MEL (cont)
 

It was about two and a half hours before I finished watching all the Pan-Am episodes on this flight and another movie, which I can't remember what by now. Time for more food! I started off with some satays which were pretty good and definitely much better than those served in the lounge. I followed that which the usual caviar and cold seafood starter. As usual, I opted for the asian options which was a beef curry with extra helpings of the vegetables. I skipped the dessert but did try the cheeses while trying a bit of the red and white wine.

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