Flying First Class
Like It Ought To Be

          There’s a little cabin in the sky, Mister.
           A heavenly hue, of beautiful blue to fly.
      The 1943 movie “Cabin in the Sky” may have a few too many stereotypes for some, but the words and music by Ellington and Arlen endure regardless.
     It’s funny how a tune can pop up and rattle around inside your head from time to time.
     Aboard the new A380-800 Airbus that Emirates is flying from New York to Dubai, you are flying high, mister.
     In fact, from first view to first seating, there doesn’t appear to be an uncomfortable moment in the whole experience.
     The EK long distance A380s are anything but typical. These high fliers are like no others.
     Coach chairs appear over-stuffed – a trait unknown to anyone who’s ever ridden coach. Business Class has kicked it up a notch with seats that combine comfort and robotic techno-seating involving remote control touch-screens with varying angles, in-chair massages (including a whole body position that is best described as producing a rippling rhythm within the body), and an energy driving foot massage, all while allowing the traveler to select 500 channels of entertainment. As if it weren’t enough, said entertainment is delivered via huge backseat screens with sound delivered through noise canceling headphones.
     It is also worth mentioning that those expensive noise canceling headphones may not be necessary aboard the A380, since the cabin is quiet enough to be branded the A380 Whisperliner.
     Despite the ever deepening financial mess, this is the time of year most people in this business are anticipating flights to different conferences, and if you have to do it, our advice is to try and get on an Emirates A380 right away.
     The seating and service is better than great, easily the best in the sky.
     What Emirates did for all flying travelers is deliver a better Business Class through every imagined gadget made possible by the advancements of technology.
     That translates to a feeling of privacy, whether you are traveling alone, with someone you love, or, at least, with someone you can stand to be next to for a dozen hours. The two by two seating configuration offers a dynamic that is close, but comfortable.
Business Class seating cocoons the traveler in a concise cube with lighting and other adjustable comfort choices right at your fingertips.
     The service is sensational, onboard meals plentiful, and the airplane is stocked with beautiful flight personnel that are eager to help you in any way they can.
     Anywhere you have wandered, nothing has prepared you for Emirates A380 First Class.
     Up front in the long range Airbus are a series of "suites", which are actually small rooms that offer comfort, privacy and unmatched service.
     The experience begins when you enter your suite and are handed a canvas tote bag containing a leisure suit with the gentle suggestion to change from street clothes to sleep wear. There is even a small closet provided in every suite in which to hang up your jacket, slacks and tie.
     Of course, the seat goes flat, but it appears to be a deluxe version of the Business Class opus, with far more bells and whistles.
     The "suite" is large and not unlike a room offered in a small camper, with all kinds of nooks and crannies and cubbies stocked with magazines and the very fancy noise canceling headphones mentioned previously. Everything is dressed in muted earth tones and burled walnut with lots of gold accent trim, as if you're meant to carry a bit of earth while taking your visit to the sky.
     Quite the suite of rooms, we thought, as we heard the music playing in our heads:
          That is why my heart is flying high, Mister
          Cause I know we’ve found a cabin in the sky.
     After a delicious meal, a small built in work desk can be reached by piloting your seat forward, and sleep is just a snap away via a powered platform that reveals a horizontal flat bed. The work desk is complete with a half moon makeup mirror that doubles for shaving.
     Under the pop-up mirror are a variety of skin creams and other luxuries to drive the ladies wild and allow travelers to smooth away the rigors of long distance travel.
     Of course, the blanket is sized extra large with a sheeted side for comfort.
     The bed, when fully extended, is equipped with a flannel wrapped comfort pad to ease any in-flight bump.
     The suite is lit by a battery of three lamps that offer the range of bright light to soft glow.
          We will be oh so gay
          Eat fried chicken every day
          As the angels go sailing by.
     In a small, darkened corner of our memory, two words all but lost in every other experience aloft are fondly recalled:
"Room Service."
     The A380 has rewritten the rules.
     First new rule: There is no such thing as a schedule.
     Once aboard and safely ensconced in your suite, how you spend the next half of your day is up to you.
     Would you like to just lie there and daydream?
     Emirates has reproduced the heavens above the desert in Dubai in the ceiling of the A380. Like a scene out of Arabian Nights you can slowly drift off under a blanket of stars if that is your desire. There is even a "Do Not Disturb" button that sends a lit message twinkling on the aisle should you wish the utmost privacy. Another push of a button allows the louvered doors to come together.
     Privacy is complete.
     No, the doors are not floor to ceiling, but rather curved and shuttered, allowing some light and total privacy.
     Onboard flight attendants respond dutifully to "Room Service" requests and tactfully feel you out as you board to be sure their instructions are clear.
     And nobody every peeks over the top of the closed doors, either.
     Unless they think you are choking or in a state of emergency, there seems to be an unwritten rule of "no peeking" not unlike the numerous "no fly" zones scattered over certain areas of the world.
     At the front of the upper deck where all the Business and First Class boarding of the A380 takes place are the oft spoken of shower spas.

(Photo left)—Purser Ziad El Jammal with Senior Flight Supervisor Nicola McVittie. (Photo right)—Tony Banfield

     Aboard our particular flight was Tony Banfield, who very quickly had the floor of the spa warmed and the shower at the ready for an interlude of sumptuous languor offered to the parade of travelers who one after the other emerged refreshed and ready to deal with New York, New York, just over the horizon.
     Saying shower does not do it justice. At seven miles above Terra Firma, it is a truly unique spa experience.
     The twin lavs are bigger than any we have seen on any aircraft, offering the First Class traveler a padded settee for repose after the shower. There is also a sink, shaving mirror, lotions and sumptuous robes for après shower spa relaxation.
     The way up and out of the A380 is the usual air bridge from terminal to aircraft.
     But the most fun is getting upstairs once inside the A380. You can either use the front wide staircase from the main deck or, better yet, you can slip up through the floors on the cunning spiral staircase at the rear of the aircraft.
     Here is the wonderful return to the real world while up in the skies. Here we find a full service staffed bar that opens for business and carries on for the better part of ten hours during a typical 12 to 14 hour flight.
     The bar area is a smashing idea and a clear statement from Emirates that flying can be fun again and that Emirates gets it.
     Emirates has had the good sense to put the place in the hands of people like Graham Ryan, (right) who not only knew how to mix a drink but also offered the classic bartender sympathetic ear. He used it to connect with a kid who came looking for some ice cream and an old man who told the story of his life, all while serving up a mixologist's delight of specialty drinks and snacks.
Emirates' flying lounge recalls an era past, and reaffirms that there is one airline on this planet that connects to the soaring aspect of flying.
     Just when the world can use some happy times, here comes this wonderful enclave aloft where you can just hang out with a drink in one hand, your other hand gripping the steel rail that ovals around the bar for stability as you slice through the air at 540 miles an hour, saluting everyone from Eddie Rickenbacker to The Red Baron.
     Emirates A380 has brought a sense of fun back to flying. Everybody seems to be having an above average time on this airplane.
     The Purser Ziad El Jammal brings of his native Lebanon a sense of style and total comfort that was born by the likes of Salim Salaam, the legendary aviation icon of MEA.
     Nothing seems to be too much trouble for Mr. El Jammal. His soft, yet determined touch is always there.
     Sure, the downstairs coach is downstairs coach, but you are still traveling a cut above the rest with a feeling of style and class running from takeoff to arrival.
     But the experience for Business and First Class travel aboard Emirates A380 is just great and not to be missed.
     With more than 54 of these great airplanes still to be delivered to Emirates, you can figure that your day aboard one of these beauties is close enough to touch. Soon everyone can have that long lost sense of anticipation en route to the airport.
          So just pack off your cares, bid them goodbye, sister
          Cause I know we've found a cabin in the sky.
     Nothing is taken for granted or is grander than being up here.
     Emirates First Class A380 is as good as it gets.
     In fact, Emirates is flying in a brand new way.
Geoffrey

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