Tag Archives: Emirates

Let the fun begin

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It’s August and our Italian holiday has started. The lovely people at Cathay Pacific are transporting us from a cold and dark New Zealand to a warm inviting Italy. The flight was broken up by a 4 hour layover in Hong Kong which meant an 11 hour first leg skirting around Australia and then north over the Philipines and a 12 hour second leg across Asia and Europe.

There is no feeling quite like waking up to a sunrise over Kazakhstan as your plane zigzags between war zones.

This trip we flew Cathay Pacific. They are a great airline and their Premium Economy product is pretty good. For us the added legroom is the key attraction but priority boarding and an upgraded food offering is nothing to sneeze at.

But we still rate Emirates as having the best Premium Economy product in our experience. It just feels special and is more “business lite” rather than Cathay’s “economy plus”.

One more thing that Cathay does right is the electronic check in and automated baggage process at Auckland Airport. It is brilliant and removes all the queuing and angst of the traditional approach – plus they have enough helpers working the kiosks to make sure everyone who needs a bit of help gets it.

Flying High with Emirates

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Thank you Emirates. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in your business class cabin on route to Rome. It felt like the golden age of flying when it was more than just a way to get from A to B, but rather was an experience in it’s own right.

There was room to spread out, great food and drink, and service that was unmatched. Nothing was too much trouble for your wonderful staff and how you managed to produce my pan-fried beef tenderloin served with thyme jus, mashed potatoes and blanched broccoli in an aeroplane at 40,000 feet is a mystery to me.

Emirates pride themselves on their diversity of crew and our cabin was served by a team brought together from all corners of the globe. All with a single-minded focus to ensure our trip was as relaxed and enjoyable as possible.

And to top off the experience, there is the cocktail bar at the rear of their cabin. The ideal place to stretch you legs, meet fellow travellers, enjoy a quiet drink and, in Jean’s case, make new friends.

I said previously that we were Premium Economy travellers – and while that is a great experience, this was special. The chance to upgrade was well worth the extra cost and has made us rethink how we will travel in future.

And yes Emirates, this post is a shameless attempt to get the offer of an upgrade when we return home in September.

Jean making friends at 40,000 feet
There’s even a place for your hat
Champagne seemed to feature large in our trip
Me trying to look cool but failing dismally

Upgrade!

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We are Premium Economy flyers. The added legroom we get is worth the additional cost over economy. But the leap to business class is just too much for us to handle.

Unless, of course, Emirates email us and offer an upgrade at a great price – and that’s what happened yesterday. We had the chance to upgrade our Dubai to Rome leg. Clearly there were some seats upstairs that were unsold – now there are two less.

Lie flat beds and a bar – what more could you want?

Goodbye Cathay, hello Emirates

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Photo sourced from emirates.com

Prior to Covid our route to Italy was well trodden. Cathay Pacific to Rome via Hong Kong with a taste of Air New Zealand on the trip home – the last leg being a code share between the two airlines.

Given our combined height of 373 centimetres we like a bit of extra leg room – so when we have the opportunity we fly premium economy. Apart from the legroom, the bonus is a quieter cabin and nicer food and drink. All this for a price pitched midway between economy and business.

But when we came to book our trip this year things had changed.

Some routes weren’t being flown – so no Cathay leg from Hong Kong to Rome – and the prices of the alternatives had gone up – a lot. Some fares had almost doubled.

Enter Emirates and their new Premium Economy service which offered all we needed. The price also seemed reasonable when compared to the other options available.

We’ve read good things about it in various reviews so are looking forward to trying it – in two weeks time.