Emirates: Worth the price?

Recently booked two first class refundable tickets on Emirates from Chicago to Tokyo with a 4 hour layover in Dubai. Is all the hype about this airline valid? We have other options; however, I was told that this is a five star airline with impeccable service. I have checked with Skytrax; however, I would appreciate any comments from those who have used this airline. Thanks.

Yes and No.

Be aware of a couple of points. Your flight from ORD to DXB will be on a 777. Depending on the model, you may have the private suites or you may have an older flat seat. There is no onboard bar area on the 777.

From DXB to NRT, you will be on an A380. All private suites. Onboard bar is the one at the back of the upper deck, for both first and business. First allows use of the onboard shower - you get five minutes of water. General strategy is to wet yourself down and turn off the water. Soap up all over, then turn the water back for the rinse. There is a meter showing time left.

Lounge in DXB is quite good.

Have you also checked the offerings from Etihad? Many prefer their onboard product to Emirates, thinking that Emirates is running more on reputation than cutting edge F. Lots of online trip reports that you can read to see what you prefer. If flying direct from ORD to AUH, it would be a 777. If you route through JFK, you get the A380 with the Residence or the Apartment. Both would connect to a 787 to Tokyo.

I would also look at the business class product of both and see if there is enough of a difference to justify the price differential to F. The Emirates A380 is quite good in business, so so on the 777 (IMO). I have personally routed domestically to a different gateway just to avoid the 777 and get the EK 380. That business product is one of the better ones out there.

I guess it comes down to what you are looking for in your "first class experience", who can deliver it, and at what price/value point. I can't justify the F pricing, even using FF points - I feel I get much better value in business IF I can get the right equipment.

I don't understand these kinds of questions about whether something is "worth it".

What something is worth to someone is completely subjective, and how you expect strangers to answer that on your behalf doesn't make sense to me.

From a purely statistical basis the fact that FC is maybe a dozen seats whereas business class and economy comprise another 300+ seats suggests that maybe 97% of people don't think it is worth it. Whether you're in the 97% or not...I've no idea.

The 777 is the 300ER from U.S. to Dubai and the 380 from Dubai to Tokyo. Did not mean to offend; however, there are other airlines that offer first class flights from US to Japan; some offer more amenities than others in this class, I am not asking for a value judgment between coach, business, and first. Appreciate your responses.

One more thought: Going via DXB almost doubles your flight distance. If the goal is to maximize the first class experience, that might fit, but at what cost. ORD-DXB is 7247 miles, DXB-NRT is 4968, for a total of 12,214. ORD-NRT non-stop is 6275 miles. (Distances via the Great Circle Mapper). Four different airlines fly ORD-NRT non-stop - United, ANA, American and JAL. Many others via connections.

The 777 is the 300ER from U.S. to Dubai and the 380 from Dubai to Tokyo. Did not mean to offend; however, there are other airlines that offer first class flights from US to Japan; some offer more amenities than others in this class

Understandable, I still think it comes down to an individual's subjective opinion.

Personally I'd fly JAL or ANA and be done with it, they're both top carriers with decent hard and soft product in F. Emirates do offer a decent product in F but you're adding a huge amount of distance. So therefore you have to decide whether or not the fare difference for Emirates makes it more worthwhile, so again it comes back to personal subjective opinion.

I don't understand these kinds of questions about whether something is "worth it".

 

What something is worth to someone is completely subjective, and how you expect strangers to answer that on your behalf doesn't make sense to me.

 

From a purely statistical basis the fact that FC is maybe a dozen seats whereas business class and economy comprise another 300+ seats suggests that maybe 97% of people don't think it is worth it. Whether you're in the 97% or not...I've no idea.

I am not asking for a value judgment between coach, business, and first. Appreciate your responses.

Actually you are. The title of your thread asks if it's "worth" it. To consider whether something is worth it, one must compare it to alternatives. In this case the alternatives are two-fold: 1. other airlines and 2. classes of service.

Of course the "worth it" airline/flight threads beg for comparisons - in terms of flight amenities, which plane, etc., and above all benefit/cost evaluations.

Nobody can tell you if the Emirates first class experience is worth the money you'd pay for it - you can easily research trip reports and Youtube videos people have posted covering their experience in EK suites or similar, and probably have a much bigger selection of opinions and stories than you're likely to get on a cruise forum where - what? 1 in 100 people? have flown international FC, never mind uber-FC like Emirates or Etihad or Singapore et al?

But we CAN tell you what some of the alternatives might be for someone willing to shell out $15K or so for a plane ticket.

In my case, I'll just mention that you can buy a Oneworld first-class three-continent round the world ticket good for up to 16 flights over a year and have around $1500 in change compared to the EK ticket; $4000 in change if you started your trip in Toronto or Montreal instead of Chicago.

Or it would be almost $5000 less if you flew on miles to Tokyo and started and ended a 4-continent RTW trip there, something like this:

Now, to me, a year's flying in first class - on carriers like Cathay Pacific, Qatar, JAL, British Airways etc. would be more "worth it" than a round trip in an EK suite to Japan and back. But that's me. YMMV as they say.

To me, it might only be "worth it" if all legs were on 380s. The 777 leg changes the equation, imo, against it.

Emirates is worth it in First and Business class, by and large. I still prefer airlines like Cathay Pacific more, but Emirates is very good and you'll enjoy it.

Emirates in economy class, however, is just another airline.

Love Emirates!!!!

Mrs. Afeez Usman (Jennifer)

I've flown international economy:

United economy plus

Emirates

American

Delta

Mrs. Afeez Usman (Jennifer)

I've flown international economy:

United economy plus

Emirates

American

Delta

Economy and First Class are light years apart....and just because an airline has the best economy class it doesn't mean they are the best in the other cabins.

Economy and First Class are light years apart....and just because an airline has the best economy class it doesn't mean they are the best in the other cabins.

And vice versa.

Also, even within an airline it can be maybe millions of miles (not quite a light year). The Emirates A380 in business has quite private and spacious areas for each passenger. On the 777, it's a dated product, being 2-3-2 without aisle access for all, and with a middle seat (yikes!). Limited storage and work areas as well. Other carriers have much better 777 products.

EK is changing out their 777 interiors, but it will be a while before that happens fleet-wide.

Yes and No.

 

Be aware of a couple of points. Your flight from ORD to DXB will be on a 777. Depending on the model, you may have the private suites or you may have an older flat seat. There is no onboard bar area on the 777.

 

From DXB to NRT, you will be on an A380. All private suites. Onboard bar is the one at the back of the upper deck, for both first and business. First allows use of the onboard shower - you get five minutes of water. General strategy is to wet yourself down and turn off the water. Soap up all over, then turn the water back for the rinse. There is a meter showing time left.

 

Lounge in DXB is quite good.

 

Have you also checked the offerings from Etihad? Many prefer their onboard product to Emirates, thinking that Emirates is running more on reputation than cutting edge F. Lots of online trip reports that you can read to see what you prefer. If flying direct from ORD to AUH, it would be a 777. If you route through JFK, you get the A380 with the Residence or the Apartment. Both would connect to a 787 to Tokyo.

 

I would also look at the business class product of both and see if there is enough of a difference to justify the price differential to F. The Emirates A380 is quite good in business, so so on the 777 (IMO). I have personally routed domestically to a different gateway just to avoid the 777 and get the EK 380. That business product is one of the better ones out there.

 

I guess it comes down to what you are looking for in your "first class experience", who can deliver it, and at what price/value point. I can't justify the F pricing, even using FF points - I feel I get much better value in business IF I can get the right equipment.

Thanks for sharing the info.

Economy and First Class are light years apart....and just because an airline has the best economy class it doesn't mean they are the best in the other cabins.

And??

Your reply is lacking.

And??

 

Your reply is lacking.

:rolleyes:

Says the person who didn't read the initial post where the OP said they had booked first class tickets and were only considering first class on Emirates or other carriers in their other posts. Your opinion of economy class is therefore irrelevant.

:rolleyes:

 

Says the person who didn't read the initial post where the OP said they had booked first class tickets and were only considering first class on Emirates or other carriers in their other posts. Your opinion of economy class is therefore irrelevant.

OK, us po folks will get out of your thread. Lol 😉

OK, us po folks will get out of your thread. Lol

It's not about that. It's about giving an opinion that's appropriate for the question asked. If someone had asked how, say, American's coach product was, and the response was about American's first class, it wouldn't really give the necessary information. It would be like someone asking "Hey, what's the new Porsche like?", and a response saying "the new Ford Focus is great!".

The issue with Emirates (in my opinion, but also the opinion of many others I've spoken to) is that they dump all of their money in to making sure First and Business class are phenomenal (and what they're known for), and as a result their Economy class is only slightly above average compared to many other great airlines of the world (Cathay, BA, Qantas, Lufthansa, etc.).

OK, us po folks will get out of your thread. Lol 😉

It's just a little confusing that you said someone else's post was lacking, yet you had posted a reply to say nothing other than what airlines you've flown in economy. Not only was that completely irrelevant to the thread at hand, but you didn't even offer an opinion of your experiences. ;)

Of course the "worth it" airline/flight threads beg for comparisons - in terms of flight amenities, which plane, etc., and above all benefit/cost evaluations.

 

Nobody can tell you if the Emirates first class experience is worth the money you'd pay for it - you can easily research trip reports and Youtube videos people have posted covering their experience in EK suites or similar, and probably have a much bigger selection of opinions and stories than you're likely to get on a cruise forum where - what? 1 in 100 people? have flown international FC, never mind uber-FC like Emirates or Etihad or Singapore et al?

 

But we CAN tell you what some of the alternatives might be for someone willing to shell out $15K or so for a plane ticket.

 

In my case, I'll just mention that you can buy a Oneworld first-class three-continent round the world ticket good for up to 16 flights over a year and have around $1500 in change compared to the EK ticket; $4000 in change if you started your trip in Toronto or Montreal instead of Chicago.

 

Or it would be almost $5000 less if you flew on miles to Tokyo and started and ended a 4-continent RTW trip there, something like this:

 

 

Now, to me, a year's flying in first class - on carriers like Cathay Pacific, Qatar, JAL, British Airways etc. would be more "worth it" than a round trip in an EK suite to Japan and back. But that's me. YMMV as they say.

We REALLY need to start thinking about something like this!

As for OP... we've not been on Emirates or Etihad F, but we recently flew from East Coast USA to NRT via JFK on JL, and returned via Hong Kong on CX F.

Cathay F from Hong Kong was *amazing*, in both size/comfort of the bed, and also the service. Other than a "bar" and shower, for a regular "pod" [not a fair description!], this would be hard to beat.

However, the Apartment in the other (not referring to the larger "Residence") would certainly give a lot of space!

On our list is Singapore Suites with that double bed in the middle.

That's definitely worth a photo, champagne in hand :)

For us, we are definitely making the "travel to destination" a major part of the experience these days. (So different from when we were younger in economy...)

OP, we understand if you are purposefully taking the "long way" to experience the flight. We've done that a bit, and plan to do it much more, including making the luxe flight much longer than needed, or in some cases, to get the luxe flight of choice (as we did for Cathay;originally, we didn't even have time for a stopover in Hong Kong, although we managed to make that work).

If we run out of "awards" points/miles, we'll start buying some when on sale at AAdvantage. The "value" (in $$ per point) is phenomenal when used for long-haul F travel.

Downside is it can be easy or difficult to actually get those sets confirmed.

Gardyloo, what's the best resource (other that "you"!) you could recommend for looking into multi-trips using the around the world routing this way?

Thanks!

"worth it" is in the eye of the beholder..

I just had 2 friends of mine do a all "best class offered, be it First or Business" RTW trip - did it in 13 days!!! All on points. All were one-way fares because they wanted to try different airlines not in the same alliances and they had points in various forms (AMEX, CITI, DL, etc.). They spent 3 years planning this. The prime thing they wanted: the Singapore Suite on the A-380. They got to do it Singapore-Frankfurt-JFK! The photos they posted were amazing. Oh - the "double bed" isn't really a double - it's the two seats done into beds next to each other, but still maybe 3-4 inches between them. With seatbelts for both to keep you from falling out of bed in unexpected turbulence!

So, if you want to try Emirates in 1st Class - go for it! You only live once...

"worth it" is in the eye of the beholder..

 

I just had 2 friends of mine do a all "best class offered, be it First or Business" RTW trip - did it in 13 days!!! All on points. All were one-way fares because they wanted to try different airlines not in the same alliances and they had points in various forms (AMEX, CITI, DL, etc.). They spent 3 years planning this. The prime thing they wanted: the Singapore Suite on the A-380. They got to do it Singapore-Frankfurt-JFK! The photos they posted were amazing. Oh - the "double bed" isn't really a double - it's the two seats done into beds next to each other, but still maybe 3-4 inches between them. With seatbelts for both to keep you from falling out of bed in unexpected turbulence!

 

So, if you want to try Emirates in 1st Class - go for it! You only live once...

Thanks.

And yes, we know it's not "really" a double bed. But it's close enough, with the divider all the way down.

(As wonderful as CX F was - and we want to do that again! - the 6 seats were arranged so that there was pretty much total privacy, even on the side with the "opening" facing each other. So if we wanted to talk or share a comment or such, we couldn't just "lean over", the way one can with the regular "pair" in some F cabins, such as JL. NOT COMPLAINING :D)

But you raise a good point... about doing it as some separate flights rather than a true "round the world", so as to get the choice airlines and routes.

How many "hotel nights" did they need, and how many separate times through security? At least for a trip like this, there wouldn't be tons of luggage to schlep around!

But we'd probably decide to stop at least a few places to see some sights.

We are taking a Hurtigruten cruise late next winter, and it's still tempting to route ourselves through JFK only so that we can try to get Singapore Suites to FRA, and at least have the experience (and the photo :) ) on that relatively short leg. But doing that means two extra transfers in just one direction, plus an overnight... and that means needing to go back through security again. Aaargh. Too bad there aren't small hotels airside...

This has really whetted my appetite for more of this special travel. And who knows what new hardware will be coming up in future years...?

I just wish there were some truly luxe cross-country (USA) F seating. We managed to try JetBlue Mint home from Barbados last winter, and that was quite a nice surprise. Much nicer than we were expecting. Nothing super luxe or super wide, but definitely a flat bed for sleep.

We did end up on a very short leg of AA's domestic F "pod" seating, so now we know about that, but not from our airport. We'd have to make an extra stop at JFK. That's okay for ultra long haul (e.g., Japan), but not for a 5+ hour flight.

For OP, the time really "flew" (pun intended) in top airline F comfort. We honestly wished the flight had taken longer, crazy as that might seem.

Enjoy whichever airline F you take. You are obviously considering a few of the top choices.

We REALLY need to start thinking about something like this!

 

As for OP... we've not been on Emirates or Etihad F, but we recently flew from East Coast USA to NRT via JFK on JL, and returned via Hong Kong on CX F.

 

Cathay F from Hong Kong was *amazing*, in both size/comfort of the bed, and also the service. Other than a "bar" and shower, for a regular "pod" [not a fair description!], this would be hard to beat.

 

However, the Apartment in the other (not referring to the larger "Residence") would certainly give a lot of space!

 

On our list is Singapore Suites with that double bed in the middle.

That's definitely worth a photo, champagne in hand :)

 

For us, we are definitely making the "travel to destination" a major part of the experience these days. (So different from when we were younger in economy...)

OP, we understand if you are purposefully taking the "long way" to experience the flight. We've done that a bit, and plan to do it much more, including making the luxe flight much longer than needed, or in some cases, to get the luxe flight of choice (as we did for Cathay;originally, we didn't even have time for a stopover in Hong Kong, although we managed to make that work).

 

If we run out of "awards" points/miles, we'll start buying some when on sale at AAdvantage. The "value" (in $$ per point) is phenomenal when used for long-haul F travel.

Downside is it can be easy or difficult to actually get those sets confirmed.

 

Gardyloo, what's the best resource (other that "you"!) you could recommend for looking into multi-trips using the around the world routing this way?

 

Thanks!

International first class is an increasingly scarce thing as more and more airlines have chosen to ramp up their business class offerings to near-first class levels, and of course many airlines have eliminated international F altogether, while some, like Qantas, have restricted it to one or two of their routes. The so-called "ME3" (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar) offer F on many flights, but obviously that involves connecting somewhere on the Gulf, which isn't always that convenient for some trips.

So RTWs aren't going to get you double beds or suites for the most part, but they can deliver extremely comfortable business class accommodations, and if you're willing to limit your route to "big profit" long haul routes there's enough international F out there to satisfy a few caviar dreams.

For cruisers who can plan things out far in advance, an RTW can be a very efficient way to combine multiple trips comfortably and at reasonable cost. Take this imaginary route for example -

Because business class RTWs from Japan are much cheaper than from most places (around $6000 for the one shown) you fly to Tokyo (maybe use miles) sometime in the northern winter. Tour around Japan, then head south to Australia and New Zealand for a cruise somewhere in that neighborhood.

Then fly home (I chose NY because it's easy) and go about your business, but maybe with a late winter or spring break to San Juan for a Caribbean cruise. Come the summer, fly (on Cathay Pacific's nonstop) to Vancouver, cruise to Alaska, then return via Dallas to New York.

That fall or winter, fly to Santiago for a cruise around the Horn to Buenos Aires, then across the Atlantic to London, maybe a late winter stop in Israel, then another stop in Hong Kong or Singapore and back to Japan where you started.

The whole year's travel will be in business or first class (first class on 2-cabin aircraft on US domestic routes) and you'll have earned a whole bunch of miles and probably attained elite FF status in the process. And in that year you've had the opportunity (if you choose) to cruise in Australia/NZ, the Caribbean, Alaska, South America, maybe the Mediterranean or SE Asia. How many cruise vacations is that? And all of them comfortably and in style. See, to me, that's a helluva deal.