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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
Emirates' A380 premium economy featured polished premium touches, though nothing was out-of-this-world spectacular – they also really need to work on their meal service flow on these short Europe-Middle East flights. They do occasionally represent great value between Asia and Europe though |
4.0
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In August 2024, I flew Emirates’ A380 premium economy class from London Heathrow to Dubai. Emirates’ introduction of premium economy came with a fair bit of hype and fanfare, with many very quickly crowning it the world’s best premium economy product. I wanted to see for myself whether this was the case, as I’ve flown many premium economy products in recent times.
There wasn’t much of a way that the product would live up to the sky-high expectations it set for itself, especially with the >£1,200 one-way prices it was originally charging between Europe and Asia. I didn’t think Emirates realised the quality of the competition – I felt many aspects of their product were similar to KLM, Qantas, and EVA Air. Well, it seems like Emirates has adjusted their pricing to match the competition a bit, and I’m more likely to see itineraries between Europe and Asia that are priced in line or cheaper than the competition.
Booking Emirates’ A380 Premium Economy
I booked a one-way ticket from London Heathrow to Singapore in Emirates’ A380 premium economy class, which set me back £1,160.49 (HK$11,769). I thought that this was on the steep end, though on the low end of pricing that I’ve seen for Emirates’ own premium economy product – it was marginally cheaper roundtrip, but I wanted to try and get a couple more product reviews in on my trip. As I booked a Flex Plus ticket, I also subsequently upgraded my Dubai to Singapore leg from business class for 40,760 Skywards miles, which I thought evened out the deal a bit. In fairness to Emirates, they seem to have adjusted their premium economy pricing a bit since I flew this flight, and I now regularly see Asia-Europe one-ways in Emirates premium economy going for £700-800.
My itinerary was as follows:
EK6 London Heathrow – Dubai dep. 22:15 arr. 08:05 [Premium Economy]
EK352 Dubai – Singapore dep. 10:05 arr. 21;45 [Business Class]
For anyone wondering, the second leg from Dubai to Singapore was originally booked in economy class, though I was able to upgrade my flight to business class for 40,560 miles.
Emirates’ A380 Premium Economy Ground Experience at Heathrow
My journey began at Heathrow Airport. Emirates does have two dedicated check-in desks for premium economy at Heathrow Airport, though neither of them are clearly signed – I ended up just checking my bag in at the self-service bag drop meant for economy class passengers, which took almost no time. Immigration was also lightning quick (I’m increasingly convinced that apart from the severely understaffed Border Force and their painful cross-terminal transfers process, Heathrow is actually operationally pretty good).
Our flight was leaving from gate 7. While I’ve flown in and out of Heathrow’s Terminal 3 countless times, it’d always been on either Virgin Atlantic or Cathay Pacific, meaning that I’d never actually gone to any of the terminal’s “lower” gates. So, somewhat embarrassingly, I struggled to find gate 7, realising that signage throughout the terminal is subpar.
Heathrow’s Terminal 3 is somewhat depressing (unless you have access to their lounges, which are some of the world’s best), so I just entered the holding area and propped myself up somewhere around the boarding area with a laptop. We had a great view of our 5-year-old A380 parked outside, and at one point the Emirates A380 leaving a couple of hours earlier even taxied past on the way to the runway.
Emirates A380 Boarding Area at Heathrow Airport
Boarding was scheduled for 9:15 PM, a full hour ahead of departure. At around 9:25 PM boarding began for first class, business class, and Emirates Skywards elite passengers (the former two groups were boarded through the upper deck). Premium economy was next to board at around 9:35 PM.
Emirates Flight EK6
Monday, August 5, 2024
Origin: London (LHR) T: 3 Gate: 7 Dep: 22:15 (22:15)
Destination: Dubai (DXB) Gate: B29 Arr: 08:05 (07:50)
Duration: 6 h 50 min (6 h 35 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A380 Reg: A6-EVL
Seat: 40K (Premium Economy Class)
I was greeted by a crewmember at the door, and pointed towards my seat, 40K.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Cabin and Seat
Emirates’ A380 premium economy cabin is located at the front of the lower deck. The cabin features 56 sleek premium economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Cabin
The seats themselves are cream-coloured, and both the seats and the windows were lined with glossy oak finishes. While the cabin design would look extravagant on any other airline, they’re significantly toned down compared to Emirates’ previous colour tones, which you can find on some of their older aircraft.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy
It’s my preference to select a seat in the last row of premium economy, especially when I’m writing a review, so I can observe the service flow and recline shamelessly. In this case I selected seat 40K. Recline was plentiful, and the seat also featured a fold-up calf rest and a fold-down footrest (though I’m not sure why the calf rest was two-part, as it functioned as a single unit). Either way, this fares well among the better seats in the market, and certainly was enough for this short overnight flight. Padding was good as well (though not excellent).
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Class Recline
Here’s a picture of my seat later in the flight with the seat in front reclined. It’s not overly tight by any means, though I didn’t find the seat to be particularly spacious.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Class Seat Reclined
Similarly, seat pitch is 40″ on Emirates’ A380s, so legroom felt plentiful. I will say that it wasn’t noticeably more generous than legroom on other aircraft with a 38″ seat pitch (such as KLM or Qantas), though admittedly I wasn’t comparing these seats back-to-back.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Legroom
The seat had a legrest and also a fold-out footrest.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Footrest
Exploring the seat a little more, the intuitive seat controls were to my left, as well as a handy nook for a phone or other small device.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Seat Controls and Storage Space
There was more storage space underneath the inflight entertainment screen, which was also handy for small tablets, as well as glasses.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Storage Nooks
The bi-fold tray table was very sturdy, and when completely deployed, rested on the cocktail table to my left. It folded out of my right armrest, and as you’d expect, was finished with faux wood.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Bi-Fold Tray Table
In front of me was a large 13.3″ high-definition, touchscreen TV, as well as USB-A and USB-C charging ports. Annoyingly, the 110V power port provided was shared between seats, which is a trend in premium economy that I don’t really like – thankfully, the USB-C port located in front was powerful enough to charge my laptop. I can imagine being slightly annoyed booking a £1,200 premium economy ticket between London to Dubai on business, only to have to share a 110V power port with my seatmate.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy TV and Charging Ports
The A380 lower deck has massive windows, and Emirates decided to install electronic blinds in premium economy. While not a big deal at all, this was a very fancy touch for an already opulent cabin design.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Window Blinds
Speaking of the A380 cabin, the ceilings in this cabin are much higher than you’d find in most other products – I had to reach up to reach the air nozzles which were provided at every seat. This gave the cabin a very spacious feeling, which I really liked.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy High Ceilings
Overall, this is a solid premium economy seat with good padding, recline and legroom, and well-equipped on the tech front. However, as I said during my first impressions post, I think that Emirates has misread the market a little bit as opposed to how good their seat is. Emirates markets and prices their premium economy product as if they have an industry-leading seat, though it’s just among the better seats in the industry.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Amenities
At my seat, I found a substantial pillow and blanket. I’d say both were alright, definitely among the better offerings in premium economy class.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Pillow and Blanket
We were also provided headphones. These were substantially better than what you’d find in economy class, and I believe Emirates also provides the same headphones in business class. They were okay.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Headphones
Also at the seat was a sustainable “United for Wildlife” amenity kit. The amenity kit was very basic, and featured a dental kit, eyeshades, and socks. I did like the design of the pouch, though.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Class Amenity Kit
No slippers or other premium amenities were provided.
This is a good selection of amenities for premium economy class, though it isn’t particularly mindblowing – airlines such as Qantas and EVA Air have more extensive amenities in their premium economy class product.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Pre-Departure Service
One of the quirks about being seated in the right hand side of the cabin was that economy class passengers sat on the right aisle were boarded through door 1R through the premium economy cabin, whereas those sat on the left aisle were boarded through door 2L. This meant that there was near-zero foot traffic in the left aisle in premium economy, whereas there was a queue for economy class passengers to get to their seats through the right aisle.
This meant that the pre-departure beverages weren’t served until around 45 minutes after I boarded. There was a choice between champagne, orange juice, and lemon mint juice, of which I chose the latter option. It’s a nice touch to have a specialty beverage on offer in premium economy.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Pre-Departure Beverage
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Lavatory
Emirates’ dedicated A380 premium economy lavatories are located at the front of the cabin. Somewhat unconventionally, these lavatories are located up a couple of steps. These are perhaps not the most accessibility-friendly (I assume those with accessibility needs would be redirected to economy), but did look quite swanky.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Lavatories
The lavatories themselves were finished with faux wood, as well as Emirates’ signature new ghaf tree design.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Lavatory
Do note that if you’re seated in the first row you get quite a bit of light exposure from the lavatory area, so you might want to keep that in mind when selecting your seat on an Emirates A380 flight.
Taking Off from Heathrow Airport
On this early August flight, every seat was taken. Boarding was completed at around 10:15 PM, and we were shown the safety video, which was Emirates’ new-at-the-time “no-nonsense” safety video.
Emirates A380 Safety Video
After this, the captain came onto the PA to announce our flight time of “in the region of 6 hours”, and announced that we’d have a fairly early left-hand turn after taking off.
It was a relatively short taxi to the runway from gate 7, and at 10:35 PM we were on our way off runway 27L.
Takeoff from Heathrow Airport
After takeoff, a cabin crew member came around with a Polaroid camera – one of the signature features of flying Emirates is that there’s an instant Polaroid camera onboard, which is used mainly for children and families (though you can get one on request, as I’d done on Emirates in the past).
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Meal Service
The meal service began around 25 minutes after takeoff. The menu had been available for perusal 14 days before departure, though we also had a menu card available to us at the seat on the evening. This included a couple of options for dinner and breakfast, as well as a short wine list.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Menu
The meal began with a hot towel service, and we were then served drinks.
I like sitting in the back of the cabin so I can keep my seat reclined without needing to be considerate of anyone behind me, as well as so I can observe the service flow – it’s by far my preference in economy and premium economy, and I still have a slight preference in business class.
I do know that the cost is that you’re last to get served, and don’t always get your meal choice. While I did receive my desired meal choice for both meals, I gotta say that this was one of the slowest meal services I’d experienced in premium economy – it had been 30 minutes until I was served drinks in this 56-seat premium economy cabin. That’s an inexcusably slow pace, in my opinion.
To the crew’s credit, they were extremely friendly, and tried to provide very polished service to everybody (which explained the pace a little bit). For example, I was offered tasters of both the red and sparkling wine, before I could choose which one I preferred. I marginally preferred the sparkling wine over the red Shiraz, so had that.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Wine
It then took a subsequent 70 minutes before I was served my main course – over two hours from takeoff (now 12:40 AM London time), and I was struggling to stay awake. I decided to have the Cumberland pie, which was very tasty, albeit not beautifully presented – I really liked the browned mash on top, as well as the well-seasoned beef and sage crumbs. The beetroot and quinoa salad was remarkably good as well for an airplane salad, and I enjoyed the chocolate and blackcurrant delice as well.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Meal
Emirates didn’t offer any snacks between meal services on this six-hour flight, though they do offer some pastries and a snack basket on longer flights. This is on par with most premium economy products out there, but lags behind their partner Qantas, who offers fresh hot food on demand between meal services.
The meal service itself was good, and I enjoyed the premium touches. However, as I noted during my first impressions of the flight, it’s not acceptable for a meal service on a six-hour redeye flight to take almost two hours. If the service flow in economy class took a similar amount of time, I can imagine the last passenger in economy being served at almost the halfway point of the flight. Emirates either needs to find a more optimised way to maintain their high standard of service, or cut some elements in order to maximise sleep time.
Also, this is a super minor critique, though I would’ve appreciated a lighter meal option available. The two mains to choose from were a Cumberland pie, and chicken and apple sausages. I know the airline tries to highlight local cuisine, though a fish or non-pub style option would’ve been quite fitting for a summer flight leaving at this hour of the night.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Service
Cabin crew members on this flight were polite and polished, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. While I was let down by the overall pace of service, the crewmembers worked extremely hard to execute a (perhaps overly) intricate meal service on a short overnight flight. They also had great attention to detail – for example, crewmembers would know the types of wines that were on the menu (Chablis and Shiraz, instead of just “red” and “white”).
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Entertainment System
I didn’t review Emirates’ entertainment system in detail, and don’t consider myself an expert with airplane entertainment systems. However, I did peruse Emirates’ system enough to verify that it is one of the most extensive entertainment selections in the world, with a plethora of movies and entire seasons of TV shows. I’d say that the UI is starting to get ever so slightly out of date, and could use a refresh, though that’s very minor in the grand scheme of things.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Entertainment System
I was also super excited that there was a tail camera available. We were flying in the dark for a majority of the flight, though it was still nice to be able to observe the flight from this angle of our beautiful plane.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Tail Camera
Emirates A380 Premium Economy WiFi
Emirates also doesn’t offer free WiFi in premium economy class – a full-flight package on my flight cost US$16.99. All Skywards members get free messaging on Emirates, so I took advantage of that on my phone without buying a separate package on this overnight flight.
Do note that WiFi on Emirates tends to be really slow, however – they use OnAir as a provider, which most airlines have stopped using due to how slow their services tend to be. I’ll elaborate more on that on my next Emirates A380 flight (I was continuing onto Singapore in Emirates business class, which I’ll be reviewing).
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Breakfast Service
The cabin lights were switched off after the meal service wrapped up, and between my tiredness and the comfortable amount of recline, I managed to get a pretty good amount of rest. The lights were then brought up just around 1h 40m before landing, to signal the start of the breakfast service.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Cabin
Breakfast was a simple, though very fresh and well-executed fruit plate, which was served with a croissant. I also was able to get some orange juice, and my coffee was served in a to-go cup.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Breakfast
It’s quite nice that two meal services are offered on a six-hour flight, though this is arguably one of Emirates’ most premium routes in the network. This meal service still took around 15-20 minutes until everyone was served, though didn’t take frustratingly long as the first meal service did.
Landing into Dubai Airport
At around 7:25 AM local time, the captain came back onto the PA to announce that we’d be slightly early into Dubai Airport.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Cabin
All IFE screens were briefly interrupted to show a brief promotional video for visiting Dubai.
Emirates A380 Premium Economy Promotional Video of Dubai
I hadn’t been through Dubai since 2019, so it was quite fascinating to be able to fly over the city again as we began our approach.
Views upon landing into Dubai
We touched down at 7:40 AM local time, 25 minutes before our scheduled arrival. It was surreal to see just how many longhaul Emirates planes are parked here – they sure do have a very impressive global network.
Landing into Dubai Airport
We parked by gate B29 at 7:50 AM local time, 15 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival.
Emirates A380 at Dubai Airport
From there it was quite a long walk to the transfer area, before I made my way to the A gates and visited Emirates’ lounge there (I had lounge access as my connecting flight was in business class).
Conclusion: Emirates’ A380 Premium Economy
Emirates offers a solid premium economy class product onboard their A380s. I thought that the seat itself was comfortable and the tech was good (apart from the shared power ports, which are an unfortunate trend in premium economy class), the amenities were substantial, and the food and service were good as well. There are also many premium touches about the Emirates experience that make them fun to fly, which in this case included signature pre-departure drinks, electronic blinds, hot towels, wine tasting, as well as the Polaroid camera. I don’t think that they lead the pack on any of the elements that I would consider make a great premium economy class product – for example, they don’t feature any dine-on-demand options beyond packaged snacks and pastries on longer flights, there could’ve been more varied/high-quality meal options, the seat and amenities are good but not amazing, etc..
However, as an airline that operates so many flights between Europe and the Middle East/the Middle East and East Asia, they should have their redeye service nailed to a T, and they simply don’t have that down yet in premium economy class. Emirates’ current premium economy service flow is too inefficient to cater to their multitude of short 6-7 hour flights, and the meal services combined make up almost 40-45% of the total flight time. While I appreciate an elaborate meal service where I can taste multiple wines, they need to be able to prioritise keeping the total length of a meal service down to under 1h-1h 15m – else, the value proposition of getting a comfortable premium economy seat is lost.
Emirates originally priced their premium economy class product at a premium, and I personally couldn’t justify it, despite the flight I was on being full. I wondered if the popularity of Emirates’ new premium economy class was primarily attributed to good marketing, as opposed to the product’s actual value. It seems like since my flight they’ve adjusted their pricing a little bit, and sometimes they do end up being the cheapest option when flying between Asia and Europe (which would’ve been unheard of a few months ago). Considering Emirates is still continuing to roll out their premium economy class product to more routes, if both of my flights on my itinerary were operated by planes with a premium economy class cabin, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again.
Have you flown Emirates’ premium economy class before? Do you think it’s worth the premium pricing?
Poor review . Premium economy is not business class and the reviewers expectations are pitched too high . Given the ratio cabin crew to passengers quicker service is impossible . Dont compare with qantas who have very long sectors where snacks in between meals are possible . This product looks streets ahead of companies like BA