As we approached Dubai, I took these pictures out the window from my upper deck seat on Emirates A380 Business Class. This is a city to behold.
The plane landed as gracefully as it took off. Many ‘thank you’ and ‘good-bye’ all around.
Dubai Business Lounge
Dubai airport is huge. We disembarked, went through security, then I headed to the business lounge and the shower. Local time was early morning. I was not in the newest terminal with the newest business lounge, but either way the business lounge is above the main concourse and covers a huge area of the terminal I was in.
Even though the lounge was crowded with travellers, there are plenty of seats, tons of food and booze, and a great many employees. Unfortunately, the bathroom facilities and the shower facilities are oddly separate. Both were also packed. The lounge has resting pods plus fast WiFi.
And an abundance of all sorts of food.
All too soon it was time to board for Johannesburg.
Dubai to Johannesburg.
I got on the Boeing 777-300 2-class jet to Johannesburg. Much like the A380 it is very nice – but it is not an A380. (Great news is that Emirates has now added the A380 to the DXB – JNB route).
At this point I was so tired when we took off from Dubai being that my body thought it was around 3 am and I had slept very little,. I laid back and fell cold asleep for maybe 7 hours of the 8 hour flight.
I have seen a great many reviews criticizing Emirates angle flat seat, but tired or not, I found that it cradled me like a deep wonderful recliner. The seat is 20.5” wide (vs 18.5” on the A380) and that made a difference too.
When I awoke (feeling quite rested) I went to the bathroom. Another benefit of this plane is that the foreword bathrooms are more separated from the seats and especially the galley than in typical models. As I believe bathrooms should be.
My only criticism is both the two-class and three-class Boeing 777-300 are configured 2-3-2 in business class. That loser center seat is unfortunate. I had an inner-aisle seat 3F.
The attendant apologized that she could not offer me a full meal with the time remaining but suggested a snack. Of course I would not expect her to, and it shows the level of service that Emirates offers. I tried the cheese plate. The cheese was good (although served in large chunks).
We soon landed in Johannesburg, immigration was easy, and right outside was the Chauffeur-drive line. I saw my name on the whiteboard, and we headed to the Sunrock Guest House very near the airport for the night (sort of funky and very friendly – can’t beat the price – I recommend it).
Next post is about flying Johannesburg to Dulles with many more details about the Emirates Boeing 777-300 product and more about the A380, with final thoughts.
Though in the meantime, perhaps you want to explore the Zambia-Botswana safari before reading about the return flight to the United States.
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This is a continuation of a multi-part series about the Emirates Experience. The parts are:
Part 1 – Emirates Business Class – Emirates Overview and Chauffeur-drive
Part 2 – Emirates at Dulles International Airport featuring the Air France Dulles Lounge
Part 3 – The Amazing A380 Experience — Flying Dulles to Dubai
Part 4 – Dubai featuring City Views and the Business Lounge (this post)
Paul Sees the World 