Around the World in 100 Hours: Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai

Introduction
United Club San Francisco, International Terminal
United Business Class San Francisco to Seoul
Asiana Airlines Business Class Lounge Seoul
Korean Air Lounge and Singapore SilverKris Lounge Seoul
Singapore Business Class Seoul to Singapore
Ambassador Transit Lounge Singapore
Singapore SilverKris Lounge Singapore
Changi Airport Free Singapore Tour
Singapore Business Class Singapore to Colombo
Transiting Colombo
Lotus and Araliya Lounges Colombo
Qatar Airways Business Class Colombo to Doha
Qatar Airways First Class Premium Terminal Doha
Qatar Airways First Class Doha to Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates First Class Dubai to London Heathrow
British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow
British Airways Galleries First Lounge and Club World Lounge London Heathrow
British Airways First Class London Heathrow to San Francisco

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The Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai is one of the most ridiculous things that I’ve ever experienced in my life.

We arrived in Dubai at Terminal 1, and we decided to head to the lounge first before heading out into the city since we had a very long layover. So we made the very long trek to Terminal 3, which is technically accessible by walking.

I’m not sure if we ever made it to Terminal 3, since we wound up finding a First Class Lounge that wasn’t the lounge that we wound up in later. But not knowing this at the time, we were still astounded by the size of the lounge, the services offered, and the multitude of people just waiting to serve someone.

There were maybe fewer than 10 passengers in the lounge at the time, so there were absolutely no problems finding seating or flagging someone down to bring you something. Before heading out into the city, we decided to sample some of the many food offerings.

The sheer number of things offered in the buffet was pretty incredible. It ranged from sushi to Balik salmon to Arabic food to a giant round of parmesan. They also offered a full menu of foods to order.

After grabbing some food, we headed out to the city since our continuing flight wasn’t until late at night. This involved going the wrong way through a security checkpoint, walking outside on the tarmac briefly, worrying that we might get arrested, and eventually finding our way to the arrivals exit.

Upon arrival back at the airport, we ended up going through the first class check-in for Terminal 3. It’s an unnecessarily large check-in hall and a long walk to actually get into the terminal.

Once in the terminal, we again made our way to what we thought was the First Class Lounge.

After entering the lounge and walking around, we started getting really confused. Since the lounge we had been in earlier was so large, we thought we had to be in the same lounge as this morning. Things looked pretty similar as well, so we just thought that we were maybe in a different section of the same lounge.

But then we realized that we were in a completely new lounge. And this one was even more massive than the one we had been in earlier. This lounge spanned the entirety of the terminal, complete with its own duty free shops.

At this point, we just started laughing. Emirates has at least two giant lounges in Dubai, this one having multiple duty free shops, multiple dining areas, multiple shower rooms, etc. We couldn’t believe that they would devote so much space to first class passengers, but it was true.

And this time around, we were actually the only two passengers in the entire lounge. So essentially, it was like we had an entire airport terminal to ourselves. Of course we had to take advantage of the service and ate a five-course meal.

If this were a restaurant, the meal would’ve easily cost at least $100 a head just due to service, especially since we had our own personal waiter who doted on us, and the ingredients were generally of high quality. Some things were quite good, including the soup, salmon, and desserts. But the burger was cooked well done even though I specifically told them to err on the rare side of medium rare and that I wouldn’t hold it against them if my burger were a little bloody. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper burger outside of the US.

After dinner, there was more time to explore the lounge, including the shower rooms, relaxation room, and game room.

Overall, the lounge is somewhere I could easily live, even if there aren’t proper beds. The lounge is so big that it feels empty even at its most crowded. Good food and drinks abound, and there are people waiting at every corner to serve you. Any special requests that I had were quickly addressed (including asking for a non-dairy fruit smoothie with no tropical fruits), and service was impeccable.

Everyone talks a lot about Emirates First Class for the shower in the A380, but I think the First Class Lounge is something that should also not be missed.