Planning & Booking
American Express Centurion Lounge DFW
Emirates A380 First Class Dallas to Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates 777-300 First Class Dubai to Male
Transfer to Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Resort & Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives - Water Villa
Transfer to Male
Singapore Airlines 777-200ER Business Class Male to Singapore
Grand Hyatt Singapore
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Singapore Airlines 777-300ER First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco
The drive from Al Maha to DXB took around 40 minutes in light traffic. It was early on Saturday morning when we pulled up to Emirates premium check-in at DXB's massive (and awesome) Terminal 3. The premium check-in experience isn't really that in my opinion. It's massive in scale, there's an enclosed porte-cochere with exhaust from idle engines and tons of people running around. Nothing like the Singapore Airlines First Class check-in at Changi or Lufthansa's First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. Definitely an area where Emirates can/should step up their game.
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| Emirates First Class Lounge DXB Entrance |
We were happy to get inside and quickly made our way to the first class check-in desks where we were assisted with very little words and zero smile. Perhaps due to the fact that it was early on a Saturday. Bags checked to Male and boarding passes issued, we walked down the corridor to the dedicated first/business immigration and security. I missed taking a picture of the business class check-in section...there must have been 100 desks. Emirates really does "connect the world." Unbelievable.
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| Which flight is Jennifer Aniston on? |
Once airside, we took the train to the "A Pier" where our flight would be departing from. We alighted from the train and were in the (there is definitely a theme here) massive great hall. Into the massive elevators (could probably hold 40 people) up to the concourse. From there we walked maybe 200 feet straight away to the escalators up to the first class lounge. As you can see, it's a giant airport but everything is extremely well marked and it sounds more complicated than it is. The entire journey from security took less than 10 minutes.
We've been fortunate enough to spend time in some of the greatest first class lounges in the world. Lufthansa's dedicated First Class Terminal, Thai's First Class lounge in Bangkok, Cathay Pacific's The Pier and The Wing in Hong Kong, and Singapore's Private Room. While the Emirates First Class lounge in Dubai is cool, it doesn't make my top 5 list.
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| Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai |
The lounge is (you guessed it) massive and takes up the entire length of the concourse. Perhaps it was due to the early hour but the lounge was empty, there's way too many open seats and it just felt a bit too quiet for our liking.
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| Seating |
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| More seating |
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| And more seating |
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| You get the idea |
I wouldn't go out of my way to spend more than a few hours in the lounge but we enjoyed our time and were glad we were able to add it to our list.
Once inside the lounge, it took 5 minutes for us to be admitted. For whatever reason, Emirates awards issued by Alaska (our tickets) show up as staff tickets in Emirates' system. The agent had to walk to a different computer and speak with a supervisor before we were finally admitted.
The lounge has EVERYTHING. Duty free, charging station, spa, cigar room, bar/buffet at each gate, and a sit-down restaurant.
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| Pretty awesome charging station |
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| Kids room |
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| Duty free inside the lounge |
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| Told you they have everything |
The lounge enables you to board from the gate which is a great concept. The open the boarding gates at the last possible minute meaning you're not waiting in any lines and you can maximize your time in the lounge.
We made our way to our gate (A5) which is at the far end of the concourse. The A concourse is also the "A380" part of the terminal although other aircraft (including our 777-300ER) depart from A as well.
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| Champs & Green Juice |
We took a seat to enjoy a cappuccino and charge our phones. There were probably 10 people waiting in the area for 5-6 gates. And there were probably 10 servers walking around, manning the buffet/bar, etc...This is probably great when the lounge is packed but almost annoying when it's empty. After walking the length of the lounge and snapping some pics, we headed over to the restaurant. The open-air feel was awesome as was the plane spotting from our table. The menu was extensive and the service was excellent.
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| UAE tabloids and breakfast |
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| Restaurant |
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| Unreal plane spotting |
After breakfast we headed down to the terminal to do some shopping. We picked up a few pieces of Emirates swag, headed back up to the lounge, and walked over to A5 where the gate was just opening up for our flight (and a seating upgrade!) to Male!
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