The end of the year is quickly approaching and so it’s time for me to make my last business trip for this year. I’m on my way to Dubai again, this time to give a course for Emirates Airlines.

Getting to the Airport

I leave Winterthur on the 12h25 train to Zürich airport. The train is not very busy. It’s a sunny, warm day and it feels like a typical lazy Friday afternoon. Christmas is already in full swing at Zürich airport, there are chandeliers hanging from the ceiling everywhere, with ornately decorated Christmas trees and even the occasional selfie-taking snowman thrown in for good measure.

Check-in

Emirates clearly managed to get the best counters in check-in area 2. You can hardly miss them, seeing as they are located right opposite the escalators. There are two counters open for Business Class passengers and there is no queue when I check in just after 13h.

Check-in is done by DNATA for Emirates in Zürich. The check-in agent is a friendly young lady. She sees my Maltese passport and tells me she knows the islands very well, because her husband spent two years living there. A few years back SR Technics opened an MRO in Malta and sent down expertise from Zürich to help build up the facility.

Airside

I still have one hour to go before boarding starts and I’m starving. So instead of taking the sky metro and heading across to the E concourse, I decide to have lunch at the main restaurant on the upper level of the airside centre. This restaurant serves typically Swiss fare. At least, it serves what tourists to Switzerland think is typically Swiss food. I decide to go with the Wurst-Käse Salat, which is a cold dish made with pieces of Swiss cheese and Cervelat – a type of sausage. Their rendition of the dish is not entirely authentic I think. But it certainly hits the spot. Although that may also have something to do with the chips I ordered on the side…

At around 13h45 I make my way across to the E concourse. The terminal seems very quiet and empty. You see, the Emirates flight leaves Zürich at the tail end of the lunchtime departure bank.

Boarding

Boarding for the flight starts on time. The flight boards from two gates: E59 is the upper deck gate for Business and First Class passengers, while E67 is the gate for Economy Class passengers on the lower deck. The boarding process is fairly calm and laid back, which gives me the opportunity to take a few pictures of my chariot from the glass encased airbridges.

The Cabin

I’m sitting on 25K, which is the penultimate row in the rear Business Class cabin, which is smaller than the main cabin and only has five rows of seats. If you’re looking for peace and quiet, I really would not recommend row 25, because there is quite a bit of noise coming from the bar at the very end of the cabin. I’m on a day flight, so it’s not as though the noise will keep me from sleeping. But on a night flight I think I would be seriously annoyed.

But the view of the wing is excellent…

The Crew

The service on this flight is very polished. The crew are all very friendly and polite. One thing that strikes me though, is that the crew use red, iPhone-sized devices to take and check the status of passengers’ meal orders. I understand that it’s probably quite an achievement to organise the service on an aircraft the size of the A 380. But while this system seems to work quite efficiently, the downside is that the crew spend most of their time staring into the little devices as they pass through the cabin. The service starts on the ground with the distribution of welcome drinks, the menu for the flight and a hot towel.

The Meal

I’ve only just had lunch in the terminal, so I decide to just have the chocolate Brownie with the little éclair and caramel sauce, which really tastes very good. The sauce has a rich texture and the Brownie is moist and dense.

The service looks very efficient and what ever you ask the crew for, you never have to wait for long for them to bring it to you. I also like that the crew serve drinks and smaller items from these round trays that they hold in one hand. Eventually though, the service winds down and the cabin settles as we fly into the night.

Amenities

On day flights Emirates only provides a pair of socks and eye shades at every seat. However, dental kits are available in the toilets. And I have to say, they really are very good kits with Colgate products.

Arrival

About an hour out of Dubai the crew come through the cabin with ice cream and the last of three scented hot towels handed out on this flight. Our approach into Dubai is quite cool, as they bring us in from the northwest, to fly past the airport. On the downwind I can actually see the lights of the aircraft ahead of us lining up for arrival like a string of pearls. As we begin our turn to line up, I look back and see the lights of five aircraft following behind us. Eventually we come to a stop at a stand on the A pier, which is not so good because it’s the remotest concourse from the terminal and you need to catch an underground train to get you to arrival and baggage claim. The good thing though, is that by the time I reach the conveyor belt, my suitcase has already been delivered.

Conclusion

It really is interesting how our perceptions are influenced and shaped. I admit that I did think it was kind of cool to watch the spectators watching our aircraft taxi out for departure. The A 380 is the kind of beast that still has you stopping in your tracks to look at – because it is inconceivable that something that size should be able to fly at all. But then, just over five hours later, you land in Dubai and your A 380 glides down the runway past a long row of other A 380 that are just standing outside the MRO facility waiting to be checked. And nobody turns a hair. In Dubai, the A 380 is just business as usual…