EK18 & EK338 Manchester → Dubai → Cebu

Check-in and lounge

This trip is a significant one: it was the first time I managed to turn the points I’d been collecting on my Amex Platinum (my referral link) into something real. I’d booked Business, but an equipment swap put a three-class A380 on the route in place of one without First, and 39,000 points upgraded me to First. 2019 was the first year Emirates flew only A380s to Manchester, so the timing worked out.

It was also before I really documented my flights, so the photos are a little patchy in places. The day started with the Emirates chauffeur to the airport, then the Emirates lounge at Manchester, Emirates’ first iteration of its lounges: perfectly adequate, but nothing special. It was a wet day, with rain on the glass, an A380 tail waiting beyond the easyJets, lunch from the buffet and a BrewDog Punk IPA. Then the Champagne, and a First tag on the bag.

Boarding

EK18 pushed back at 14:04, four minutes behind schedule. With the tail camera on the suite’s screen, the take-off was a show of its own.

The seat

Suite 3K, on the A380’s upper deck: a private suite with sliding doors, a minibar, a snack basket and a screen that seemed as wide as the suite. With the tail camera on the screen and the doors closed, it felt more like a small room than a seat. First came with Bowers & Wilkins headphones, and one small thing I distinctly remember is enjoying Beck’s “Dear Life” on them.

I was one of only three passengers in First that day, and the other two were known to the crew, so I got some “special” treatment by association.

Food and drink

The Champagne on the ground was different from the Champagne in the air, down to tax. The UK taxes alcohol served on the ground, so back then Emirates poured its Business Class Champagne in First before departure at airports like Manchester (a vintage Veuve, as I remember it), and Dom Pérignon only once we were airborne. Emirates has since started serving Dom Pérignon on the ground at these airports too (One Mile at a Time).

Lunch was served properly at the table: a cloth, bread, olive oil and a sea bass main, with more Champagne at the window above the clouds. Caviar wasn’t an option at the time, but I maintain nobody actually likes caviar; it’s only there to make you look posh. Chocolate cake for dessert, and a snack later in the flight.

Shower spa and bar

The A380’s party pieces. The shower spa is exactly what it sounds like: a full shower at 40,000 feet, with a vanity, towels, amenities and even its own moving map. You book a slot of about half an hour in the room, with five minutes of water, and a meter on the wall counts it down. The two spas sit at the front of the upper deck, with orchids and candles in the space between them.

By the time my slot came round I was very well lubricated on Champagne and cocktails, and I fully expected the temperature and pressure to be naff on a plane. They weren’t at all: a proper hot shower, and a heated floor to step out onto.

Then the onboard bar at the back of the upper deck. At some point I smuggled a couple of old fashioneds, in paper cups, down to the rest of the team in economy. The evidence is suitably blurry.

Arrival

Dubai’s lights came up out of the dark on the approach, and we were on stand at 00:09, six minutes early, with a few hours to wait for the connection to Cebu.

As this was a daytime flight, there were no pyjamas, so I cheekily asked whether I could have some for my next flight, a night flight. The crew happily obliged with the PJs and a tote full of goodies, and I still use both to this day.

Dubai

From the A380’s suite to the Business lounge for the connection, its fountain and departure boards keeping us company in the small hours. Boarding straight from the lounge, and being separate from the main terminal, is a real bonus. The smell of so many food options at that time of night was rather too much, though.

It’s also a quiet lounge, with no audible announcements, and between that, the drink and the tiredness, I very nearly missed the connection. EK338 was due off the gate at 02:55.

The seat

I included this second leg to make a point. For all of Emirates’ image, its regional 777 Business product is like flying in a coffin: seven across in a 2-3-2, close quarters, and a world away from the suite I’d just left. Seat 3F did the job, but after First, and even compared with the A380’s Business seat on the way home, it was a let-down.

Food and drink

The soft product, though, is great, and it was this flight that introduced me to proper garlic bread on a plane. Garlic bread?! On a plane? It’s the future, as Peter Kay would say. The main was a curry with rice and broccoli.

Arrival

EK338 pulled up at Cebu at 16:32, 12 minutes late, at the start of a diving trip to Malapascua and Moalboal.