Ok, I know what you are thinking. “There are cons to flying Emirates Business class?” Well, yes. While most of the cons surround the price tag and what you get for your precious, hard earned money, it is something to consider when you pony up that extra cash. The truth of the matter is that Emirates economy class is pretty nice, so is it really worth spending 3 -5 times more per ticket? Let me break it down for you below and you can be the judge.
Our Itinerary
We actually flew two legs on Emirates both in business class. We departed from Dubai direct to Hanoi at 3:30am on a Thursday. Our return flight was from Ho Chi Minh City direct to Dubai, departing at 11:55pm on a Saturday night. Both flights were overnight, the first being at a very random time.
Both flights were on a Boeing 777-300ER and the business class seat cost about 3.5 times more than an economy ticket. I decided to book the business class tickets for this trip because traveling in Vietnam is economical and I had money left in our budget after booking hotels. In other words, I spent my money to figure out if it’s worth flying Emirates business class so you don’t have to!
Post Booking
Once I booked our tickets I was able to select our seats. On the Boeing 777-300ER, the seats are arranged in 2 – 3 – 2 formation. I was a bit surprised that there was a middle seat option in business class. However, the Emirates website allowed for a 360 tour of all seats, and it looked fine. The seat tour shows the seat, the privacy screen between seats, a mini bar in the console, and the large entertainment screen.
After booking, I arranged my chauffer ride to the airport. This is available for departures and arrivals from DXB. Because I booked two tickets, I was entitled to two transfers. However, I booked our flight home with credit card points, so I was not eligible for a chauffer ride home from the airport. You must book direct to enjoy all of the perks!
Two weeks prior to the flight, I received an email to select my meal for the flight. You can opt to select it at this time, or you can choose a la carte on the flight. The link also allowed you to look at the menu for dinner, breakfast, cocktails, and the wine list. I decided to wait until on board for my selection.
Departure Day
About eight hours prior to our pick up time, I received a text confirmation for our chauffer ride and the drivers contact information. The driver picked us up on time in a clean, BMW 5 series touring edition wagon. At midnight, there wasn’t any traffic and about 20 minutes later, we were dropped off at the VIP entrance.
The VIP entrance is for business and first class passengers and is huge. There were people around, but there were not any lines for checking luggage. We didn’t have any luggage to check for our departure, so we made our way straight through the smart gates and security and headed up to the Emirates business class lounge. This process from our ride to the lounge took less than 10 minutes.
Departing Ho Chi Minh City, we were lucky to have business class tickets because the security line was super busy. And, this was after waiting in 30 minute line for immigration. The business class security lane is somewhat hidden, but we used it and saved ourselves probably 45 minutes.
The Emirates Business Class Lounge
Despite the fact that we arrived at the airport at nearly 12:30am, it was the busiest I have ever seen it. As we walked to the lounge, the duty free shops were packed and people were everywhere. DXB is truly a 24 hour place.
Inside the lounge, there were a fair number of people, but the lounge is so large that there is plenty of room for everyone. The Emirates lounge is on the second floor of terminal 2 and essentially stretches the entire length of the terminal. It’s open, so you can see the peasants below scrambling for a meal or a good deal at duty free. You can also see the gates for when it’s time to go and the lounge makes announcements for boarding.
Dining & Drink Options
It feels like there’s a mile of buffet options for food that runs the length of the lounge and ergo, the terminal. The options are vast ranging from Middle Eastern food, Indian food, Asian cuisine, salads, deserts, and even an ice cream cart and several other deserts. I mean, you name it, they probably have it. Despite the late hour, you could see the cooks hard at work and everything was fresh and tasty.
There are several bars available at nearly every buffet, but they are somewhat hidden and lines tend to form. We decided to go to the Moet Lounge which serves 4 different types of Moet and offers canapes. Surprisingly, this bar area was slightly quieter than the rest of the lounge. I thought the Moet name would be more of an attraction, but I guess that’s just me!
Seating & Comfort
The Lounge has abundant seating options from tables, conversation tables and chairs, counter height stools and bar tables, and also some big armchairs. The Moet Lounge had the bar height tables and the armchairs. In my opinion, the armchairs are the way to go and offer in seat charging options via USB.
There are also a few TVs scattered around the lounge playing everything from sports to the news to movies. We were lucky enough to catch the end of one of my favorites, Cast Away, while we enjoyed some snacks and drinks and waited to board our flight.
Just as an FYI, on our way home from Ho Chi Minh, there was no lounge access through Emirates. We did go to the priority pass lounge, which I have access through my credit card… It was better than nothing.
Boarding Process
If you have ever flown out of DXB, you know how huge and busy the airport is and sometimes, you are bussed to your plane. Our flight aboard the Boeing 777-300ER was large enough to warrant our own gate; no busses needed. In fact, we had our own boarding bridge for business class. We had 2 seats on the left side departing from Dubai and our seats were outfitted with a large pillow and blanket, bottle of water, slippers and eye mask, and noise cancelling head phones.
Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Business Class Seats
The seats were very spacious and lay completely flat. While we had the seats by the window on our departure, we were in the middle row on the way home, and even that seat was fine. There is enough leg room that you can get by your fellow passengers while they are seated. You could even hop over if they are laying down (if you are tall enough or if you have been practicing your high jump that is!).
There are privacy screens between seats and each seat is equipped with a tray table, a smaller ledge for a drink, in-seat charging, a remote, and a tablet. The screen is quite large and the remote came in handy because it is far enough away that leaning forward to select the entertainment is uncomfortable.
The seats have their own little alcove, so you do not share the seatback with other passengers and your recline does not effect anyone else. They also offered a mattress to top the seat for bedtime. However, buyer beware; they collect these when they serve breakfast which is two hours before landing. It didn’t make enough of a difference to be woken up for its removal.
Entertainment Options
There is no shortage of entertainment provided on your 23 inch HD TV. There are shows, movies, games, podcasts, and music. Several languages are offered and many new releases were available, including first run movies, HBO series, and more. You will not be bored with all of these choices.
Emirates Business Class Amenities
Business class passengers receive a Bulgari Amenity bag once seated. There is a version for men and one for women, but both have very similar items. The women’s kit comes in a vegan leather pouch with 5ml of Bulgari’s Omnia Coral scented eau de toilette, body lotion, face emulsion, and lip balm. The kit also includes a toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, deodorant, earplugs, hair elastic, and sustainable wheat straw produced foldaway hairbrush/comb, and vanity mirror.
The men’s kit is very similar, except the fragrance is Bulgari pour homme and the face emulsion is replaced with aftershave. It comes in a black canvas bag and instead of a hair elastic and vanity mirror, it includes shaving cream and razor for whatever psycho is shaving mid flight.
I should mention that while the 360 image of the seat online showed a mini bar at each seat, that did not really exist. Our flight to Hanoi clocked in at 6 hours and 45 minutes while the flight home was slated for 7 hours and 15 minutes. At first, I thought maybe the minibar was reserved for long haul flights (7 hours and more) but neither had this feature.
In Flight Service
On both flights, we were welcomed aboard with a glass of Moet champagne in a generous serving size. They also distributed menus for the meal services as well as a wine list. They collected our glasses prior to take off and once we were at 30,000 feet. Dinner service ensued.
On our first flight, I promptly feel sleep before dinner, but my man said this service was limited at 3am. On the way home, a full, gourmet 3 course meal was served. This took about 1.5 hours and began 30 minutes into the flight.
The Emirates Business Class Menu
The drink menus is extensive and there’s so much to choose from. But you know your girl had to try the martini, which was actually served in a martini glass. This seemed risky! I would have accepted a regular rocks glass, but I didn’t spill. I did see one guy running to the bathroom with red wine down the front of his shirt, so that makes one of us.
The food menu offered 3 choices of appetizer, 3 choices for the main course, and 3 desert choices. Olives were served prior to dinner and paired fabulously with my martini. Gourmet chocolates were served at the end of the meal, which paired fabulously with me wine.
All courses were served separately and the flight attendant recommended a wine pairing for each course. For my meal, I selected the pumpkin soup, chicken spring rolls, and a cheese plate. I never know what to expect from airline food, but the soup was great, the spring rolls were good (I was trying to save room for the cheese!), and the cheese was excellent.
Dinner was lengthy so, breakfast was served only 3 hours later. The breakfast was light after that extravagant meal and consisted of fruit, coffee , and muesli. The breakfast to Hanoi was a bit better and offered two selections; again muesli or a cheese omelet, both served with fruit. I was awake for this service and had the omelet and coffee. It was good, although I have had a very similar meal in economy class on Emirates.
Deplaning & Arrival
On both flights we had the pleasure of being the first ones off the plane. Security in Vietnam took about a half hour, but in Dubai, we went straight through the smart gates within a few minutes of getting off the plane.
We didn’t check luggage going but we did coming home. DXB is a huge airport, so we had to hop a train to get to baggage claim and the exit. Our bag was waiting for us by time we got there. We then went through security and we were on our way home in less than 45 minutes after landing.
So, is Emirates Business Class worth it?
Of course the list of pros outweigh the cons, but is the 3.5x price tag worth it? Yes, but only if you can enjoy the amenities. Originally, I thought having the lay flat seat for our 3am flight would be a god send. I did fall asleep (albeit sitting up) for a few hours, but I think I would have fallen asleep in economy this late at night. I also have access to the very nice Marhaba lounge at DXB with my credit card. And while the chauffer ride is a nice touch, a taxi or uber is cheap enough to negate that perk.
One the way home, I think it was a better value because I was able to enjoy the dining and then attempt to sleep. However, I have learned my lesson and will not accept a mattress for my seat next time. I still can’t believe they came to collect it 2 hours before landing, which woke everyone up. I slept after dinner until that time, so a grand total of 3 hours. So, next time I fly, I will carefully weigh the flight time with my choice to fly business or economy class.
What do think of my assessment? Let me know in the comments. Also, check out my review of the Emirates economy class. I have flown them for long haul flights for around 16 hours, so I break it down for you.
Be sure to check out my Vietnam itinerary and review of Vietnam Airlines Business Class!
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