The most expensive ticket from Prague. We tested the first class Emirates
Caviar, champagne and shower at 11 kilometers above the ground. We tried first class on board the Emirates, the greatest luxury you can experience on a plane when flying from Prague. And this is waiting for you.
This is the only place in the world where it meets you with desires and needs that you didn’t even know you had. Seriously. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to do a glass of the best champagne on a plane. Or the second dinner I can talk about whenever I want. And showers 11 kilometers above the ground.
After this first class experience on a plane from Prague to Dubai, nothing will be the same as before. And quite possibly not only for me.
The photo from the flight I gave to my Instagram evoked a response I had never experienced before. “Wow! Ooo, watch out! What was it like? Enjoy it,” a lot of friends wrote curiously.
The Emirates carried 59 million passengers last year, but only a fraction of them were in first class. Just a reminder: the Airbus A380 has a capacity of 517 seats in Emirates colors, but only 14 of them are first class. It’s like being a member of the Brotherhood of Cat Practice. Elite club for the chosen ones. In short, a secret dream for everyone who is not for everyone – a return ticket to Dubai will cost 130,000 crowns.
It will be an even more elite experience in the future, as airlines generally suffer from first-class seats for a long time. Firstly, to increase space and improve services, but also to make room for more business-class seats, which is the most economically interesting for them.
So if you finally want to indulge in the greatest luxury in the clouds, now is the time. The best experience will be in the iconic A380, which Emirates operates the most in the world. They currently have 104 double-decker aircraft in their fleet, flying to 49 cities across six continents. And since May 2016, Prague has been among them. So welcome aboard!
In front of the house I am picked up by a driver in a black Mercedes and I look forward to an exceptional experience. I fly from Prague to Dubai and I have a return first class ticket from Emirates in my pocket, which confirms the greatest luxury you can currently experience on a plane from Prague. However, this cannot be said of the Menzies Airport Lounge, where you will receive a sandwich with a crab stick spread, coffee from a vending machine and Czech sparkling wine with the ticket at the price of four average salaries.
I wonder for a moment if I’m not in the wrong place, but I’m not. The first and finally the last disappointment that awaits me. True, the Emirates in Prague do not have their own lounge, although they could at least send you across the aisle, which is better after all. But even so, compared to First Class Loungi in Dubai, where this photo is from, it’s an intergalactic difference.
So on the way back, arrive at the airport in advance – the lounge occupies the entire floor, the price includes massage, and most importantly a great a la carte restaurant with top service.
LUXURY OF THE WORLD EMIRATES, which regularly occupy the leading positions in the rankings of the best airlines in the world, simply starts in Prague by plane. A flight attendant greets me at the entrance, addresses me by name and leads me to my place. Emirates has the 14th Airbus A380 in the first class.
Compared to business class, the main difference is privacy, because all places here have sliding doors, so you can close yourself in your own bubble. The funny thing is that you also have a view from the window of the middle two seats – except that the windows are actually LCD displays on which a real view is projected. In front of me is a 55-inch touch screen (the offer of the ice entertainment system is the same throughout the plane), on the right is a minibar with soft drinks and a tablet, which controls the lighting or the position of a leather seat, which of course includes massage.
FIRST QUARTER HOUR one flight attendant takes turns after another.
Coffee, Arabian dates, a wet napkin, anything else, sir? If you’re afraid to fly, you’ll say goodbye to your phobia in first class. You don’t feel like you’re on a plane at all, and you don’t even notice that you’re flying. I have the first glass of Dom Pérignon champagne, vintage 2009, which I will drink the most in my life in the next five hours. In addition, there are many great wines from Bordeaux on the wine list, including Château Mouton Rothschild, and you can also enjoy Hennessy Paradis cognac, the most expensive alcohol served in the world on a plane.
5.5 million bottles of wine were drunk on board Emirates last year, airlines have invested over $ 700 million in wine since 2006, and last year they bought $ 100 million worth of wine and champagne in France. In Burgundy, it even owns a cellar with seven million bottles, some of which will not open until 2035. This is the first meaningful reason to pay extra for business class (the difference on the same line is about 50 thousand crowns) – a greater selection of more exclusive alcohol. And if you don’t like to drink alone, you can of course go to the bar, which shares business and first class.
THE SECOND REASON IS FOOD. Shortly after the start, a plate of caviar lands on my table, after which I order mushroom soup and from five main dishes I choose roast chicken with spinach pancakes and beans. The taste and quality are top-notch, almost like in a restaurant, so the memory of a sandwich from Prague Airport is gone. Thank God. Unfortunately, the flight to Dubai is too short for a gastronomic feast, but just before landing I will at least have time to taste a selection of French cheeses.
The menu is similar to business class, but there are a few important differences – only in the first class you get caviar, the food is served on quality porcelain, and most importantly you can order it whenever and as many times as you want. The only limitation is the half hour needed for preparation. By the way, catering Emirates is officially the largest flying restaurant in the world. A few numbers: 1,200 chefs have to serve 590 years a day, which means that they deliver an average of 190 meals each minute of the flight. They need three million eggs, 70 tons of strawberries or 110 tons of hummus a year. Pretty decent numbers, what do you say?
I NEVER UNDERSTAND ENTHUSIASM travel bloggers from the cosmetics you get in first class when you could buy her a whole car with that money. But well, I admit that when a flight attendant makes me a big cloth bag with the Emirates logo, it’s similar to unpacking a gift for Christmas that you have no idea what will happen. Emirates has been working with the Bulgari brand for years, so inside is a cosmetic bag with everything I could need as a man – from a razor to a cologne. However, I am much more interested in pajamas, which are intended only for first-class passengers and which Emirates claims that it is gradually releasing seaweed extracts, which should protect the skin and at the same time support blood circulation. So I’m going to try it.
BUT THE TOP OF THE WHOLE FLIGHT Awaits ME BEFORE. Something you can only experience if you buy the most expensive ticket. Shower 11 kilometers above the ground! Hallelujah! The Airbus A380 has two bathrooms where you can spend half an hour and five minutes of running water. Usually you need to book your time slot, but by being first class alone, it’s up to me. It surprises me how spacious the bathroom is, no bending is needed in it, it has a pleasantly heated floor, so again you will completely forget that you are on a plane. And yes, the shower is great, although in my case a bit of a stressful experience, because a light came on during it signaling that I should return to the place. If you’re flying somewhere further, a shower is more help than I could have imagined. I got off the plane fresh and definitely less tired than I would have expected after a six-hour flight.
WHILE I AM IN THE SHOWER, the flight attendant turns my seat into a made bed, I prepare a fruit bowl and a pot of tea on the table, which I asked for. Similarly, you can stretch in business class, but here the bed is really completely flat, in addition, you still have a thin mattress under you and you are wearing a real duvet. At its height of 186 centimeters, it does not have to crouch in any way, so the only flaw in the beauty is the fuselage above me, because of which I do not see the night sky. I will definitely never fall asleep again. I watch a movie, put on Bowers & Wilkins headphones and try to fall asleep.
IN LESS THAN SIX HOURS is my extraterrestrial experience at the end. I get off the plane first, a first class bus with leather seats is waiting for me on the plane (each class has its own airport bus in Dubai), and before I get to the luggage belt, I can see my suitcase that came out first. While other passengers in the economy are just boarding the bus to the terminal, a BMW driver with the Emirates logo behind me is closing the door in front of the airport and heading to my hotel. This is another first class advantage – you don’t waste time on arrival and disappear from the airport as fast as you can.
The question is whether it all pays off. If flying is just a necessary evil for you, it makes no sense to you. But if you are used to pampering and money is not a problem for you, then it definitely pays off. You get quality from a private jet, just without worrying about aircraft maintenance and still cheaper. For me, the main argument is the shower on board, a quality bed, time savings on arrival and the quality of the food. You only need to consider whether you need first class for each flight – it will definitely pay off much more for a flight from Dubai to Sydney, which lasts 13 hours (and costs only about 60 thousand crowns more) than for a short route Prague-Dubai , where you can’t even enjoy a lot of benefits.