Trip Report: Emirates A380 First Class Perth Dubai

Today I'm going to be flying in the Suite Spot, of Emirates First.

Coming up, all the detail of that larger, wider, First Class seat.

So just how good is it?

Join me as I fly from Perth to Dubai in Emirates First Class, trying out two lounges in Perth, including the Perth Emirates Lounge, then enjoy the seat, the best food there is, and the inflight showers.

It is after all eleven hours to Dubai, and I've determined to enjoy them in the larger wide Emirates First Class Seat.

I start in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, both one of the most liveable cities on the planet, and also one of the most remote - with sunshine, beaches amazing food, and architecture that looks like medieval London. Actually closer to East Timor than it is to the bright lights of Sydney. That being said, there are few reasons to leave Perth if you love sunshine, sand and amazing food. But I've got to catch the brand new airport train, which is unique by being narrow gauge and runs directly under the terminal.

I should, of course, have used the complementary chauffer driven car that emirates offer their First Class passengers, except they don't any more if you book under the Qantas codeshare.

Check in took less than a minute giving me five hours to kill, so I had a quick glance at the airport viewing deck, and then decided to try out the newest lounge at Perth Airport.

Aspire lounge Perth Airport

Entry costs 80 dollars for the new Aspire lounge which is built into the airport's former control centre, however it is one of the best Airport pay in Lounges. It is Inspired by Western Australian nature and culture, and much more importantly it has a great cocktail bar, amazing views, lots of small nooks,

And a giant wooden rat.

Or rather a quokka (Setonix brachyurus), a herbivorous and mainly nocturnal marsupials in the macropod family: rare with isolated, scattered populations and restricted to Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany.

I have already extensively review of the Aspire lounge Perth Airport and it's extensive Western Australian Winelist, which adds to the feeling of a boutique hotel located in a control tower.

Perth airport is wonderfully empty, and finally the Emirates lounge opened, three hours before the flight

Emirates Lounge Perth Airport

Again I have already completed an extensive review of the Emirates lounge Perth Airport.

The Emirates lounge in Perth is a delight, with a large central seating area. There are a huge number of the classic Emirates beige seats, on a deep blue carpet.

But it's remarkable that in the most remote city on the planet, Emirates have created a lounge that could be anywhere on the planet. The Perth lounge is identical to every other Emirates outstation lounge, with a bit of Dubai Bling, and the deepest beige this side of mediocre 4 star hotel. It was innovative, when Emirates cracked open this design in Brisbane 20 years ago, but now it's hard to work out if you are in WA or Gatwick.

Its great e that Emirates maintain such a large well equipped lounge - it was designed when Emirates has three A380s a day going to this small outpost. That was before Qantas started it's direct flights from Perth to London, Rome and Paris. Now Emirates struggles to fill its sole A380 a day. There is a separate dining area, with buffet dining, and two small walk up bars. But, get this - there are no extra facilities for those in First.

There is a great restaurant - but dining is strictly a buffet only affair. But what a buffet - with cottage pie, rissoles, or beef wellington. There are lovely little canapes too.

I was trying everything Local - I went for a Kolsch beer.

The Eagle Bay brewery - just a short four hour hop down the WA coast - a light and bright handcrafted beer. Golden straw in colour and well balanced with subtle fruity characters from the hops it has all the atmosphere of the Margaret River wine region, with a soupson of Cologne.

There are other local beers to try, such as Cage Roads single Fin. More refreshing than a face full of Freo Doctor (a Western Australian vernacular term for the cooling afternoon sea breeze that occurs during summer months), its chock full of aromatic Aussie. Which means to say, it is quite refreshing.

If only I had time to nip down to the iconic container port in Fremantle and watch the ships coming in from this amazing brewery.

The bathrooms are both bland yet blingy - at least they come with showers to get rid of the red dust from the outback out of your hair.

If you're in economy you can actually buy your way into the lounge for a mere 200 dollars for two hours.

There is one further delight: a boarding gate in the lounge, so you can walk straight on board the aircraft and not meet anyone from the back of the bus.

Emirates A380 First Class Seat

From Perth to Duabi is nine thousand kilometres - five and a half thousand miles - and almost all of it over the Indian ocean except for clipping a bit of Sri Lanka and Oman. Pretty much all in the dark too, so you need a good seat.

As soon as I boarded I was shown to my seat: you don't get that if you're slumming it in business. Then I was immediately offered Arabic coffee which is very strong.

So what do you get for a sticker price of 12 thousand dollars - or over a thousand dollars an hour?

Well, Emirates' Airbus A380s have some of the most dense first class cabins among the airlines fleet, as there are 14 seats. They're spread across four rows in a 1-2-1 configuration, with there being four rows along the windows and three rows in the centre section.

And that means the seats are just a bit on the small side. For example, Singapore Airlines A380s have six first class seats in roughly the same floor area.

However, Emirates add in a lot of bling: after all, it has a motorised mini bar. Sadly the minibar is a pure gimmick - because it just contains water. And at the seat is a bowl of snacks just in case you get peckish.

However the seat has amazing fully closing doors, turning the seat into a cabin.

Emirates' A380 first cabin alas have a dire lack of storage. There are no overhead bins, which makes the cabin feel more spacious. But it does have a wardrobe, but it's far too small to accommodate even a small backpack, so everyone has to store carry-ons in front of their seat.

The seat itself comes with two air vents, and three lights. There is also a matching stationery set with a notebook for jotting down your journals. Of course it comes with an amazing and most vital thing you need on an airplane: a pen.

Emirates First Class Amenity Kit

Emirates have built a moisturising kit and mirror into the console.

But that's not the amenity kit - oh no, there is a special BVLGARI one in first - and these are really good.

The perfume alone retails for north of 450 dollars. This LE GEMME Desiria is a rich and sophisticated floral rose scent. There is a matching face and body emulsion. The kit also includes a dental kit, refreshing cleansing towel, deodorant, tissues and foldaway hairbrush.

You also get a set of Emirates pyjamas that it says are moisturising: they are pretty comfortable.

Emirates First Class Champagne

The hallmark emirates service springs into action with pre-flight Champagne.

Emirates serve up Dom Perignon 2013. The sticker price is 400 dollars a bottle. It's named after a Benedictine monk who was an important quality pioneer. And it a vintage champagne, meaning that all grapes used to make the wine were harvested in the same year.

Sleek and sophisticated it amplifies and blossoms on the tongue, before ceding to an ineffable sensation of chalk and biscuit notes.

Emirates First Class Food

Dinner is amazing, and as good as you would get in a top restaurant.

As soon as I sat down, I made it snack time - and it's great to see that in First the Emirates snack bowl contains a tube of hangover reducing tablets. I do love the way the crew keep a fresh flower at the seat too, with lovely orchids - it really is a nice touch.

However the crew suggested a bowl of mixed olives.

My tray table was released with the touch of a gold button, and it was swiftly laid.

There's a lovely selection of bread rolls, plus olive oil and balsamic vinegar, which unusually for an airline come in two different bottles.

I kicked off with the Amuse Booce, which was a cube of melon with tuna and cream cheese, accompanied by crab in a whisky glass and slices of apricot.

Then I moved onto the caviar, with all the trimmings.

Presented with a traditional selection of finely chopped onion, chives, grated egg, sour cream and lemon, served with melba toast and blinis.

Emirates serve Gourmet House caviar on Royal Doulton fine bone china. Furthermore, Emirates has now changed its caviar policy for first class passengers - and it says you can now savour unlimited portions of Persian caviar as part of the dine on demand service. There are now typically three tins of caviar loaded per first class passenger.

And it even comes with a mother of Pearl spoon. Once caviar interacts with a metal spoon, the material oxidizes and alters the flavour of the caviar on a chemical level.

So, Emirates avoids using metal or silver spoons for caviar consumption at all costs and opt for alternatives, like the lovely mother of pearl spoon.

I had still on starter on starters, and there is seared tuna with pickled shallots, red radish and caramelised onion mayonnaise. Penfolds Red RWT goes perfectly with the Tuna which is crispy golden on the outside and rare on the inside. Healthy, delicious, full of flavour.

The Mains are as good as the starters, with seared beef fillet served with mustard and tarragon jus, potato gratin and steamed broccolini.

You wait for the crew to slowly pour your tarragon jus over your steak and mash while they describe how the beef was fattened, the farm it came from and the vintage of the broccoli.

The steak was one of the best steaks I've had on a plane. They are notoriously hard to get right, and many airlines end up with a kind of heard rubbery mass, but on Emirates the steak is a brilliant achievement, Medium rare, it's lovely and tender.

Meringue next, served with Chantilly cream and mango and passion fruit compote.

Lastly, the cheese, and this was a major disappointment, and although Emirates made an effort no one could tell me what the cheeses actually were. The menu just listed them as boutique cheeses, which was a shame and a wasted opportunity.

Emirates First Class Wine

Emirates will offer wine by the half carafe at your seat, and by transferring it to a carafe you can discover the qualities of a young wine and to enhance the flavour by aerating the wine during pouring, which frees the aromas and will make the wine more supple so you can discover the tannins.

And the carafe means you can keep on pouring without asking the crew for another glass.

The first wine I tried was the Cháteau de Fieuzal blanc 2014. The rejuvenated estate in Bordeaux produced an excellent grape in 2014. With the fragrance of freshly peeled grapefruit, and lemon rind. It is only 60GBP a bottle if you can find it in the UK. The Fieuzal blanc mean the miles keeps on flowing: It's got a full body, tightly-knit, long and intense.

Next up, Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc is a true star in the field of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. Pale lime to pale straw. Vibrant fresh lemon zest gives way to distinctive freshly opened passion fruit aroma. The finish is long and multi-dimensional.

For the red, the Penfolds RWT Shiraz is the embodiment of Barossa Valley Shiraz. Aged in French oak, it offers hints of vanilla and cedar. Penfolds RWT It's not quite the Poor Man's Grange of bin 389, but it's actually drinkable.

I also tried the Chateau Clinet 2011. It has exceptional ripeness and a hint of truffle at 300 dollars a bottle. If you can get through two bottles, you've almost made your money back on the flight.

The Chateaux Prieure Lichine 2011 is a rare chance to secure a magnificent wine from a top producer that's in seriously short supply.

The Beechworth Savaterre Shiraz 2018 was also great, from Beechworth in Victoria is highly perfumed with distinct red fruit preserve and floral character. Smooth, seamless and almost pinot-like in its vibrant and weightless character. Discreet fine tannins and acid frame this wine.

And for dessert, what better wine to try it with than the 2014 Chateau Suduraut from Sauternes is harvested at a lime late in the season that enhances the effete of the noble rot on the grapes, it may well be one of the best Sauternes of the vintage. Rich and fresh flavours of pineapple, honey, and lemon - and so thick and treacly you can feel it peel the enamel off your teeth.

There are also some excellent cocktails.

Emirates First Class IFE

Alas, one of the weakest elements about the Emirates experience is the inflight entertainment program, which is called ICE (information, communications, entertainment). There are dozens of films and TV boxed series listed, but it must be said finding anything worthwhile among that lot can be a struggle.

There are also three cameras installed in the tail, nose and belly of the A380, so you can see where you are.

Headphones are in the zipped up pouch at the front of the seat. Noise reducing headsets are by Bowers and Wilkins. They have the best of British audio. Made in Worthing in west Sussex, with a lovely balanced sound profile they grace Abbey Road Studios among many, and these are the top of the range headsets at a grand a pop.

There is a remote under the armrest incase it's just too much trouble to reach the ipad by the window.

All three have screens, and you can play a different channel on each, although I tend to watch a film on the big screen, the moving map on the ipad and the outside camera on the remote.

One of the stand out features of the Emirates seat is that right in front of the seat there is a mains power socket: this may seem like a trivial point to note, but it's easy to get at and not so badly hidden away.

Emirates First Class Bathrooms, Showers & Spa

I needed to check out the bathroom. Aviation has come a long way over the years, and airlines have introduced some pretty unbelievable perks in first, and of course Emirates famously installed showers.

Emirates has three bathrooms in A380 first class, including these two massive shower suites at the front of the cabin, there is also a smaller bathroom at the back.

Behind the silver door there is a huge amount of space, and like any civilised airplane bathroom, there are heated floors, and you can even adjust the temperature of the floor.

The bathrooms come equipped with a range of Voya amenities. These lovely creams and oils are inspired by the Atlantic Ocean and the ancient Irish tradition of seaweed bathing created by a couple of brothers from Sligo on the West Coast of Ireland who initially created a retail seaweed bath called Lazy Days.

Now other airlines do have showers in First, but it's only Emirates who have a dedicated shower assistant who will time your visit and clean the shower before you.

Indeed when you are in this bathroom it's hard to realise that you are in an aircraft at 38 thousand feet.

And yet the shower is just like a conventional shower.

Emirates call it a shower spa - yes, you hear correctly - and even give you a little tote bag so you can carry all the accoutrements into the spa.

You get a grand total of 5 minutes of hot water, which operates rather like a camping shower in a caravan where the water is heated with a little 12 volt heater as it goes to the shower head. That means the water is never really hot, and the water is more a fine sprinkle - but it is a shower. The five minute limit means you'll need to stop and start if you want to wash your hair though.

Completing the spa like experience a tray of fruit and a cup of green tea awaits me at the bar, which has now changed into a spa with a tinkling fountain.

Emirates A380 First Class bar

Right at the front of the plane is the first class bar. Some of these spirits have a price tag in the hundreds. Hennessy Paradis cognac ($1,500 a bottle).

However, for a real post dinner pub experience you need to take a quick walk through the cheap seats.

This was an older style A380 with only side benches, rather than the newer drinking booth.

Emirates A380 First Class bed

I slept amazing well. It's hard to sleep on a bed, but I got a solid six hours sleep.

Emirates offers a plush, faux sheep-skin blanket in First Class. The soft and luxurious comforter is on board and also sold at the Emirates Official Store - if you really want to blow 40 quid on it or 13 thousand miles on it.

Emirates A380 First Class breakfast

It's just possible I have room for a full breakfast.

Five options, with omelette, pumpkin, pancakes, muesli and cereal.

Normally I avoid eggs on a plane. Omelettes are notoriously hard to get right on a plane - or even on the ground..

But they were done superbly. Despite being frozen and reconstituted, it's amazing as is the tomato ragout.

Sadly the same can't be said about the chicken sausages.

A capochino is also one of the hardest things to get right on a plane. However with Emirates great crew, it was equally amazing.

There was a lovely basket of pasties too, with the odd combination of a croissant, a fairy cake, and a bread roll from school lunchtime.

Emirates A380 wifi

Wi-Fi is free for first & business class passengers, but only if you're a Skywards member with a Skywards number attached to your booking, and not on a Qantas codeshare.

Emirates offer free onboard wifi, if you a member at any level of Skywards, and even those without status can enjoy free messenger services, in Business Class. As a Gold this worked quickly, and well. There is also a paid service at $20 for the flight, works.

Emirates A380 First Class review

I hadn't originally planned to fly in First, and wanted to book Business, but Business Class was totally sold out, so I was quite simply forced to fly in First Class.

On this flight the crew just couldn't do enough. They went the extra mile, suggesting dishes to try, and offering cocktails and a trip to the bar throughout the flight. It really was amazing seeing the difference between Business and First.

Only now do I appreciate just how much Emirates have poured cash into the wine list. It really was superb.

However, it should be, as the cost of this amazing flight has a sticker price of nearly $12,000AUD. One way, just from Perth to Dubai.

But there is a cheaper way. You can buy a seat on Emirates using Qantas points. A first class reward ticket is between 120 and 170 thousand Qantas points from Australia to Dubai. Or from Dubai to Europe in First for only 60 to 70 thousand points if you just want to try First.

You can also buy wine from Qantas with a side serving of up to 30 thousand points from Qantas, and with a Qantas credit card you also earn extra bonus points.

That reduces the price for a First Class Emirates flight to less than a thousand dollars.

It is well worth it.

See the full Trip Report: Emirates A380 First Class Perth Dubai video:

Trip Report: Emirates A380 First Class Perth Dubai
Lux-traveller.com rating:9 out of10
Seats:	8 - Excellent First seats although a little cosy
Food:	10 - Absolutely top notch
Service:	10 - Totally exceptional
IFE:	6 - Not the best, but passable

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