Review of Emirates flight Bangkok → Hong Kong in First

We live in Iceland and we went to Australia for the end of the year holidays to see relatives who live there – we hadn’t been there for five years. And as Australia is quite far from Iceland – the distance between Keflavík and Melbourne would be 16,960 kms if there was a direct flight – I went to a few places in Asia before and after Australia.

I booked the following flights:
Keflavík to London, Icelandair, business class, B737
London to Abu Dhabi, Etihad, business class, A380
Abu Dhabi to Jakarta, Etihad by Wamos, business class, A330
Yogyakarta to Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia, economy, A320
Kuala Lumpur to Manila, Philippine Airlines, business class, A321
Manilla to Sydney, Philippine Airlines, business class, A330
Canberra to Melbourne, Qantas, economy, B717
Melbourne to Hobart, Virgin Australia, economy, B737
Hobart to Melbourne, Jetstar, economy, A320
Melbourne to Manilla, Philippine Airlines, business class, A330
Manilla to Kuala Lumpur, Philippine Airlines, business class, A320
Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, Malaysia Airlines, business class, B737,
Bangkok to Hongkong, Emirates, first class, A380
Hongkong to Manila, Air Asia Philippines, economy, A320
Manila to Panglao, Cebu Pacific, economy, A321
Cebu to Singapore, Singapore Airlines, business class, A350
Singapore to London, Singapore Airlines, business class, A380
London to Keflavík, British Airways, business class, A320

Travelling on an A380 is always special; travelling in international first class is the top of commercial travel; Emirates’ first class is considered to be one of the best in the world.

It had been my dream to try Emirates’ first class but Emirates it does not come cheap. The cheapest Emirates first class fare from Dubai is to Muscat and costs 1630 € one-way for a very short flight. The flight to Delhi is longer and costs around 1800 € one-way. The flight from Dubai to London costs 6250 € one-way. But there’s a flight that is much cheaper than any other: the Bangkok to Hong Kong fifth freedom Emirates flight which costs only 560 € one-way in first class.

This was my 1036th commercial flight and only the second in international first class (the first one was British Airways from London to Bermuda).

I arrived from Kuala Lumpur. I went through a security control for connecting flights and looked for the lounge.

Emirates has its own lounge at Bangkok Airport. The same lounge is available for business and first class passengers and also for Emirates Skywards Gold and Platinum members.

I was one of the first passengers to arrive to the lounge, about three and a half hours before departure.

The lounge is spacious, there’s some natural light and several seating areas.

The choice of food is excellent and much better than at most business class lounges around the world.

The choice of drinks is typical for a business class lounge.

I had a good breakfast on my previous flight from Kuala Lumpur and I was expecting a good late lunch on my flight to Hong Kong so I didn’t eat much but what I ate was very good.

The staff at the lounge was extremely helpful. I needed some assistance to charge my phone because of the different socket type and they went the extra mile to help me.

Although I was not in a first class lounge I enjoyed every moment of my stay.

Boarding had already started by the time I got to the gate.

There’s a separate jet bridge for first and business class. All economy seats are on the lower deck and all business and first seats are on the upper deck.

Our plane was one of Emirates’ 116 A380s, registration number A6-EOB, delivered in 2014. It has 14 first class, 76 business class and 429 economy class seats. The first class suites are in a 1-2-1 configuration with four rows on the two sides and three rows in the middle.

My suite:

There are no overhead bins so hand luggage can only be stored in-suite.

Seat commands.

The unrefrigerated storage area for drinks.

A notebook and a pen. I don’t think that many people actually use them.

Slippers.

The headphones were great quality. The music sounded very good and take-off could hardly be heard.

A very small storage area under the armrest.

The suite has three windows (quite small ones by the way) and the window blinds can be separately opened and closed for each of them. There are two shades: a lighter and a darker one. This is an excellent feature of the suite.

The Emirates logo on the bulkhead in front of the middle suites.

I checked out the bathrooms before departure. They’re huge and they really make a difference compared to the average airplane lavatories.

There’s a shower but I knew I wouldn't have time to try it on this short flight. 

The cabin crew member in charge of my aisle was Veronica from Mexico. She was very friendly. She warned me that we had a full and short flight and service could be slower. She also let me know that there would be no time for using the shower - she must have  experience with passengers' request on this short flight.

She asked me what she could offer me as a welcome drink – champagne, of course. She explained that only Moët et Chandon could be served on the ground because of customs but there would be Dom Pérignon later during the flight. Some excellent Arabic coffee and a piece of date were also served.

Push-back was at 13.55 for a scheduled departure time of 13.45. We took off at 14.21 after a very long taxi.

Here’s the lunch menu. Lunch includes caviar, a choice of four appetizers, four main courses, four sides and four desserts.

Juices, soft drinks, moctails, coffee and tea.

Coctails and beer.

Aperitifs, digestifs and spirits.

Champagne.

White wine.

Red wine.

Dessert wine and port.

A glass of Dom Pérignon 2023 and warm nuts were served twenty minutes after take-off. 

Caviar service started another 15 minutes later. Caviar was served in very generous quantity.

I had a glass of 2012 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru by Albert Bichot. It was exceptionally good. This wine is usually not available in retail but its value is about 400 € a bottle.

I had the mezze as my appetiser. It was very impressive. A huge portion was served on eight small plates. All parts were fresh and top quality. It was served with a lot of attention to detail.

We were flying between Vietnam and China at this time.

I had prawn machbous as my main course. There was nothing first class about it but it was tasty. 

I didn’t have time to watch a movie but I checked the flight information from time to time.

I had a fruit selection that was nicely served.

The selection of fine chocolates was really fine.

I had a glass of 2014 Château d’Yquem dessert wine. It was absolutely fantastic. This wine retails around 400 € a bottle.

I was given a huge box of fine chocolates before landing.

We landed in Hong Kong at 17.28 and were at the gate at 17.47 after a long taxi for a scheduled arrival time of 17.40.

The tail camera after landing: