Emirates Business Class Review: Is it Worth It?

This was my first ever flight with Emirates. I can’t believe after all my years of flying between Australia and the UK that I had never taken flown with Emirates in any class.

As I am a big fan of Middle Eastern airlines like Qatar and Etihad I was really looking forward to flying business class with Emirates. And I was going to be spending quite a bit of time with Emirates as this was for a return flight London to Sydney coming back via a 3 night stopover in Dubai.

So here is my Emirates Business Class Review.

Emirates Business Class Review – London to Dubai

Another first for me was flying to Australia from Gatwick airport rather than my usual Heathrow. Check-in at Gatwick was very fast and easy. I do love fast track.

Another unusual feature of the Emirates flight to Australia is that it departs in the morning. Most international flights to Australia depart at night out of London. This means that they get into Australia early morning local time.

Personally, I am not a fan of this as it then requires passengers to try to stay awake for the entire day in order to adjust to the local time. By 4pm I would gladly sell my soul to sleep on these oh so long days.

So I really enjoyed the fact that the Emirates flight would land in Sydney early evening. This meant I would get to my brother’s whilst everyone was awake and we could have a chat. Then I could pop a sleeping pill and head onto local time without the hideous effort of trying to stay awake all day. Much more civilised.

The lounge at Gatwick was decent but did feel like it was starting to get a bit tired. There was a good breakfast spread and the lounge was very spacious.

Let’s face it – lounges are really at their best early evening when you can get stuck into the wine and champagne on tap and people are buzzy. They are never quite as fun in the morning so I am perhaps being a touch harsh.

My Emirates business class flight between Gatwick and Dubai was an a380 which generally makes me very happy. Strangely the configuration required me walking through economy to get to business class which was unusual.

The Emirates a380 business class seat is huge. I had chosen a K seat which had me on the aisle which I like. What I also liked about the K sear on the a380 Emirates business class flight was that it had two large storage lockers underneath the window.

Whilst this is not a major point I do prefer being able to stash all of my things in a locker to my side rather than having to put them in the overhead locker. The lockers under the windows offer much easier access to items whilst in flight.

The inflight entertainment screen on the Emirates a380 was huge. And there was an excellent choice of relatively recent film and tv show options. I was able to watch all of Succession season 2 on this flight (including the Dubai to Sydney leg).

I was also impressed by my in seat “fridge”. A small area had not just the usual still water but also sparkling water and soft drinks and a glass.

It was easy to gain access to the in-seat charging on the a380-800 Emirates flight. So often accessing the power socket and USB charger on any plane seat involves acrobatics and a torch so this was nice.

In addition to the impressively large entertainment screen in the back of the seat in front there was also an ipad to my side in case I preferred to use that option.

The first meal on the flight was lunch. There were 3 appetiser options: Potato and lee soup, Traditional Arabic mezze and smoked halibut.

Main courses were lamb kofta, roasted guinea fowl, samundari khazana (a seafood curry) or chicken focaccia.

Dessert options were raspberry and rose water cake, double chocolate torte, seasonal fruit or a cheese board.

I enjoyed the very photogenic cheese board below. I was also delighted to discover that the fine luxury chocolates which were to be served with coffee were from Hotel Chocolat, a personal favourite.

The light bites menu had options for afternoon tea, hot snacks and in the lounge. Afternoon tea offered sandwiches, scones and fruit tartlets. Hot snacks were slow-braised beef, balti chicken pie or mushroom barley risotto. Dessert was apple and almond cream slice.

⇒ Check out my reviews of Qatar Airways Business Class Review, Thai Airways Business Class Review, Air France a380 Business Class Review, Iberia Business Class Review, Malaysia Airlines Business Class Review, British Airways World Traveller Plus Review, Swiss Air Business Class Review, American Airlines Premium Economy 777, Alaska Airlines First Class and Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy Review.

The onboard lounge was very impressive. The bar below was very well stocked. There was quite a large open area and the above bench for seating.

In the lounge cold snacks were on offfer including pretzels, bresaola with parmesan, vegetable rice paper rolls and skewers of seasonal fruit.

A range of sandwiches were available as well as orange and lemon bundt cake and a selection of mini pastries. Plus of course some terrific wines and spirits.

Emirates Business Class Lounge at Dubai Airport

I was very excited about visiting the Emirates business class lounge at Dubai airport. There are normally few things better than the business class lounge in an airline’s hub city. The Qatar lounge in Doha for example is stunning.

The Emirates business class lounge at Dubai airport was huge. I think it could be the largest business class lounge that I have ever visited. There are multiple food areas thoughout the lounge including a costa coffee stand, play areas and everything you could possibly imagine being in a business class airport lounge.

However, the unexpected highlight for me was the Moet Chandon bar at the Dubai Emirates business class lounge. I was thrilled. There were multiple types of Moet open and ready for free sampling and I absolutely tucked in.

Emirates Business Class Dubai to Sydney

The second leg of my London to Sydney business class flight with Emirates was also on an a380. However, this one had a different configuration. The seats were only four across eg those sitting on the window seat have to climb over the person next to them to get to the aisle and bathroom.

I had an aisle seat so no access to the storage lockers under the window.

The toiletries on this leg were very impressive – Bulgari! There was body and face lotion both in big sizes as well as a proper toothbrush.

The appetizer options for dinner with traditional arabic mezze and prawn cocktail. This was followed by the choice of seared beef tenderloin, roast turkey or strozzapreti napoli for main.

Dessert was raspberry yoghurt delice, festive ginger cake, seasonal fruit or a cheese board.

There were some particularly good wines on this leg – an outstanding pouilly fume and the famous New Zealand Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc.

⇒ Heading to Sydney? Check out my posts on the best Barangaroo Restaurants, the perfect Sydney Itinerary, a day trip to Watsons Bay Sydney and the best weekend getaways from Sydney.

The Emirates Business Class Car Service

One of the highlights of flying Emirates Business Class for me was the car pick up. I flew London to Sydney and then my return was from Perth with a stopover in Dubai.

This means I had pick ups in London, at Sydney airport, to Perth airport, from Dubai airport to my hotel, from my Dubai hotel to the airport and then from Stansted airport in London to my home in West London (this is a long way).

That is a lot of car trips and they were all part of my ticket prices – great value. It was also very easy to organise all of this on the Emirates website. Every car was on time, clean and very professional.

Another highlight of the Emirates car service was their preferred parking at the airports. My first flight was from Gatwick Airport and I don’t think I have ever been dropped so close to the check-in desk.

Emirates Business Class Review – Perth to Dubai

I was surprised that Perth had an Emirates lounge as I thought it would have been too small an airport. The Emirates lounge at Perth airport is small but it was very nice.

More importantly, the Emirates Business Class lounge in Perth had some fantastic food on offer. They also had an extensive selection of Western Australian wines plus both Veuve Clicquot and Moet.

This leg of my journey had me on another a380 which was terrific. I was also able to enjoy the January selection of inflight entertainment (the previous leg had been in December) so I had a whole new extensive range of film and tv options.

Perth-Dubai was an overnight flight. Dinner appetiser options were parsnip and shallot soup, traditional arabic mezze (of course) and chilli and lime prawns.

Main course options were braised beef short ribs, chicken tagine and roasted salmon fillet. Dessert was chocolate clairefontaine, white cholate and green tea mousse, seasonal fruit or a cheese board.

Breakfast in the morning was a choice of an egg white omelette, scrambled egg with truffle, gingerbread french toast or yoghurt and granola.

There were also cold snacks, sandwiches, hot snacks and pastries and sweets available in the lounge area through out the flight.

I found the exit set up for business class passengers at Dubai airport a bit confusing. I was told to head out of customs to the right to access my car service. However, I wasn’t told that the process should start with a visit to the desk in the area and a presentation of your boarding pass. Without this it is not possible to go outside and claim your driver.

I got it the wrong way around which is just annoying when it is early in the morning.

Dubai to London Emirates Business Class

As you would expect, the business class check in area at Dubai airport for Emirates is huge. It was actually quite a walk to get to an open check in guest.

I returned to the giant Emirates Dubai business class in lounge. Alas there was no access to the Moet lounge as it was early in the morning so I had to make do with the large volume of pastries on offer.

Unusually the business class cabin configuration between Dubai and London had 3 seats in the middle section. I would not have been happy if I had paid for business class and ended up in a centre seat.

Unusually, this flight landed into London Stansted. This was a first for me on such a long flight. I was particularly delighted that I had the Emirates car waiting for me as I would not have been in the mood to hop on the Stansted Express and then take the central line across London after an overnight flight.

Emirates Business Class Review: The Verdict

I very much enjoyed this flight with Emirates. I have always been delighted with Qatar and Etihad and Emirates is certainly of a similar standard. It confirmed my view that I would virtually always prefer to take a business class flight with a Middle Eastern airline. I will certainly be keen to fly with Emirates business class again.

Who Paid for What in this Emirates Business Class Review Post?

I covered all of the costs involved in writing this Emirates business class review post eg I paid for these Emirates business class flights myself. However, this post includes affiliate links. That means if you click through and end up making a purchase I will receive a small commission. I wanted to make sure you were aware of this.