A couple of notes about this flight. First, there’s pre-clearance at Abu Dhabi, which means that you essentially clear immigration in Abu Dhabi and land as a “domestic” flight in the US. This unfortunately means that you have to leave the wonderful first class lounge much earlier than you normally would. Past pre-clearance, there’s a…
My flight from Guangzhou to Doha was delayed due to traffic at Guangzhou. There were some bad thunderstorms that day, which also delayed the incoming flight. At the gate, there was a large antsy crowd of passengers ready to board. Qatar puts their first class cabin on the upper deck, so I climbed the stairs…
On my second Emirates first class flight on this trip from Dubai to Singapore, I was the only passenger in first class. This flight departed at around 3am, and we were delayed a bit due to congestion. Funny how 3am is a congested time at DXB! Only in the Middle East. Based on the first interaction,…
This was my second flight in Emirates Airlines First Class on their A380. Emirates was actually the first airline that I ever flew in international first class, so it has a special place in my heart. Boarding was a bit delayed due to a late-arriving aircraft, but I was welcomed warmly on board once boarding…
I’ve got a trip to Southeast Asia planned for later this summer, and I was planning on flying Qatar’s and Etihad’s A380s in first class on the way back. I’d fly BKK-DOH-AUH-JFK, giving me a chance to hit up Qatar’s and Etihad’s new first class lounges as well. But Qatar keeps changing the aircraft for…
QF 94 Los Angeles (LAX) to Melbourne (MEL) Depart: 11:30pm Arrive: 8:20am +2 days Duration: 15h 50m Aircraft: A380 (Phyllis Arnott) Seat: 2A After leaving the new oneworld lounge, I walked to the gate and admired both the new TBIT terminal and all of the A380s sitting at LAX. I think I saw China Southern,…
I wasn’t super impressed after the first leg of my Singapore Suites journey, but I could immediately tell after boarding that this flight was going to be a lot better. Just from the warmth of the greeting, I knew that I was in for a treat. While the load from SIN to NRT was 10/12, there…
My flight was departing from the B gates, which was a decently long walk from the Private Room and other T3 lounges. At Changi Airport, security screening takes place at the gate. In theory, this should mean that security shouldn’t take as much time, but the cluster of gates for my flight had a number…
I love Thai Airways. I don’t understand which blogger started the meme that Thai doesn’t have great service in the air, since I’ve only had superlative service experiences on Thai in first class. Or maybe it’s like a reverse racism thing where Asian people get better service on Thai than white people, similar to how white people get…
I’m sitting in the Qantas Domestic Business Class Lounge at Melbourne, having just got off QF 94 LAX to MEL in first class on the A380. Here are some of my first impressions. 1) The A380 is still my favorite aircraft. There’s something so magical and impressive about the beast, and there are SO many…
