wakesetter93

It's made up, notice the defunct airlines on the board like "Swissair" "Olympic" and "TWA"

krispy84

With your scotch egg I hope 😁

Apologies, I meant any additional criteria to gain entry to the speakeasy bar, over and above those to enter the lounge in the first place.

SFO777

No additional requirements. It's open to anyone (Platinum or Centurion member) that can access the main lounge.

sonomawine

Yay! Another SFO777 trip report in the usual style. Curious as to where you planned to have lunch in Melbourne and dinner in Sydney had your plans not changed?

HiAperture

They loaded bedding in the PE seats sold as MCE on the AA 772, that must have been a nice surprise for some! JFK Centurion looks excellent.

EK Suites look fantastic, great to see the service is still top notch.

757

As always, SFO777, and amazing report and photos of your travels. I would love to check out the TWA Hotel next time I'm passing through JFK, and your food photos make me so hungry from the restaurants in Dubai - what a trip!

Looking forward to the rest of your round the world adventure.

Matthew

worldtraveller73

It's great to see some normalcy in Dubai on the other side of the world from the Americas despite the health crisis.

I would be wanting to stay a little longer under that UAE sun as compared to the rain we've been getting up in Vancouver!!

Travel safe...

Short hair Francis

SFO777 is Back
That AA Breakfast didn't look half bad either
Ok that TWA Hotel Rooftop Pool is Cool

antebellum

Excellent report as usual, sfo777.
Dubai seemed pretty good right now, since it wasn't as busy as usual. By the way, those destinations are simply impossible for me, given Australia continues to ban its citizens from leaving the country (and vice versa, given near 0 case numbers here).

SFO777

Thanks very much sonomawine. I know we picked a great resto in Melbourne but sadly I tossed that from the file once we knew we weren't going.

Indeed, a very nice surprise for those in MCE. Thank you HiAperture.

Thank you so much Matthew. This was a thoroughly enjoyable 4 days.

Thanks worldtraveller73. Dubai was refreshingly normal and a far cry from most of the rest of the world. Hotels, bars, restaurants, shopping all open. Pretty much everyone wore masks even outdoors and practiced social distancing. Tourists are welcome if you test Negative. What a concept... apparently lost most elsewhere.

Thank you Short hair Francis. At least AA served food, unlike Delta None on the same route.

Thanks very much antebellum. Dubai was wonderful. Hope you're able to travel again in the not too distant future.

SFCAmom

Thank you for ‘taking’ us all along so we can live vicariously through another fantastic trip (report)! Especially during these dreary times.

Question on leaving/flying out of CA... we’re slated to fly out of SFO right before Xmas for 2 weeks of skiing in Vail/Beaver Creek... has CA implemented a ‘travel ban’ or quarantine with it’s recent (stupid) stay-at-home order? We figure they’re not enforcing any travel restrictions if you want to LEAVE the state for personal reasons, that they can only order hotels IN CA not to allow personal travel? As long as CO still allows its hotels to operate and accept out of state visitors for skiing, I figure our trip is a go? I’m not TOO worried overall, but if was also wondering if we might experience any roadblocks at SFO with our flight to CO as well. Thanks in advance for any insight you might have!

SFO777

Emirates First Class to Dubai

After the Centurion Lounge closed, I walked landside to get my boarding pass and do the doc check dance, Looks like a pretty full flight tonight.





And the usual non Fiirst pax in the First Class line. Yeah, you know this is not going to be fast tonight. After a couple of minutes, I gave up and used a Business Class line.



Back airside with batmandds, we had 90 minutes to kill with no lounge. Most EK outstation lounges have been closed including JFK. (although the Emirates JFK Lounge did reopen December 1st). As are all bars and sit down restaurants, despite websites claiming they were open until 11pm. We walked to the Delta concourse to 1) kill time, 2) see if there was anuthing open, or 3) buy a day pass at the Delta Club. We struck out with all three including the Delta Club. So we headed over to A6 and wait. The wheelchair brigade lined up and ready.







New York JFK to Dubai DXB
Emirates EK 202
777-300ER
11:00p-8:20p +1 (sked)
11:45p-9:05p +1 (actual)
November 29, 2020
First Class Suite 2K
Departed 6/6

Boarding started around 10:15pm with the wheel chair brigade followed by Emirates usual not very First Class boarding. "...First Class, Business Class, Skywards Platinum and Gold..." But once on board, all is forgiven. OMG. This is gorgeous. Simply spectacular.





My home for the next 14 hours.











Great space and legroom.









On the ground, our pre-departure champagne was money-saving Veuve.









On board, lots of COVID precautions... a PPE kit in each suite, with all staff wear masks and plastic coveralls and gloves.



Arabic coffee prior to departure.



Lots of cool electronics and control in the suite.



And the suite control panel.









Today's menu.







And wine list.





​

Not that we cared in our luxurious suites, but we were delayed for some 45 minutes for reasons unknown. Once in the air, outstanding service, starting with Dom.



Delicious canapés.





The only COVID-catering change is wrapped bread.



But unwrapped, as good as ever.





The Vitello Tonnato was excellent.



The Beringer is a solid cab, but sadly today's was undrinkable. I'm guessing corked. Switched to the Léoville-Poyferré.



For my main, the beef fillet wiith sesame jus, potato terrine, asparagus, cipollini onions and red pepper coulis.



It was excellent, despite being well done.



For dessert, the Sticky banana pudding with warm caramel sauce was fabulous. With a glass of Paradis. Heaven.



By 3am Easterrn time, I was ready for bed. Very cool.



But before, checked out the cool light show.















I slept for a solid 5 hours.



Gorgeous sunset over Iraq.





The lights of Baghdad





Great IFE options.







Dubai on our approach to DXB.





We arrived at the gate just after 9pm local. What an incredible flight. IMO, Emirates new 77W First Suites are the best First Class product in the skies. Add in exceptional service, and this was a flight for the ages. And in an added F perk, we were fast track escorted to immigration by an Emirates First Class agent.



And we were in the beautiful arrivals lobby a few minutes later.

SFO777

Thank you SFCAmom. Personally, I wouldn't worry about any CA travel ban or quarantine, or indeed anything coming from that massive hypocrite Governor French Laundry at least in Southern California where most county sheriffs have told Newsom to pound sand. San Francisco City/County is another animal entirely, so no idea what they may be planning. Just before boarding our JFK-LAX flight, gate agent and flight attendants were passing out QR codes for pax to scan for a LA County travel online form for travelers to fill out. The requested info was so unspecific as to be useless. Can't imagine many people completed it, or if they did, actually provided correct information. There was no National Guard or any other official greeting party meeting our plane to check on the form compliance on arrival at LAX.

$500 fine. LOL.

krazykanuck

A great report as always. EK F from DFW-DXB still ranks as probably my favorite commercial flight, and glad I did that before AS obliterated that award chart! Love that they aren't pinching pennies unlike TK, BA (well that's SOP), and the litany of North American carriers.

SFCAmom

Thanks so much!! Very helpful to know that the ‘enforcement’ is what I expected (at LAX). Yes, (unfortunately) SF is a different animal with the CV restrictions compared to the rest of the state, even though we have our own Mayor French Laundry too.. LOL