Upgraded

Despite knowing that upgrades on flights basically don’t happen these days, my mind still ponders the thought every single time I check in to a flight. So you can only imagine how far my jaw dropped at 3am checkin for a 5am long-haul flight to Dubai, when discovering that we’d been upgraded to business class with Emirates.

It kinda went like this:

Emirates checkin staff member, ‘Now you’ll be travelling in Business class today’

Jono and I, ‘Ok yep cool, thanks’ - nodding and then walks away giggling before desperately checking make sure they haven’t made a mistake. You see, only earlier that day, had I enquired about how much more an upgrade would cost, as I was dreading 22 hours in cattle class (which to be honest, on the Emirates A380 isn’t actually that bad) knowing I’d roll in to Paris with a sore back and bigger bags under my eyes than those I’d checked in.

So after finally settling down and taking in the idea that we’d actually be able to stretch out and probably sleep (properly) on tour flight, we were first in line when boarding started.

So what’s the best part of Business Class?

All of it. Seriously.

Ok let me actually break it down. Let’s start with the seat, it reclines all the way back to be a flat bed and the crew even give you a mattress to ensure maximum comfort. This in itself is literally worth it’s weight in gold on a long haul flight. You can also easily recline the seat partially, so you’ve got a million different options of how to sit/lie, as opposed to sitting up straight or reclining about ten degrees in economy. My partner Jono, who’s 6‘4, easily could stretch out fully flat and anyone who’s tall (not me) will understand the value in that when flying. Overall comfort levels are 15/10.

Next is the personal mini bar that comes with every seat. Fully stocked with bottles of Evian, Perrier and Pepsi, this might sound frivolous, but not having to get all Oliver Twist-like and ask the crew for some more water every few hours, as in economy, is a godsend. In addition to your own mini-bar, the crew keep the drinks flowing all flight long thanks to the bar at the back of the cabin. The bar also sounds like a non-necessity but it was actually so handy for when you need to get up, stretch your legs and just walk/stand around for a bit but don’t want to loiter near the toilet or people with babies. And no dodgy drinks list here - legitimately good cocktails with decent brands too.

Another one of the best parts about Business Class is that fact that you can freely move around without feeling constricted by other passengers. No climbing over a snoring man just to get to the bathroom, no holding it in because you cant fit past the snoring man to get to the bathroom. With less people in the cabin, there’s no bathroom lines and your not in anyones way if you just want to stand up for a bit.

Finally, I can’t say enough good things about the crew, and yes I know thats their job, but I admire anyone who can do regular long haul flights for a living, and the Business Class crew on our Emirates flight were beyond good. So so friendly and always happy to assist with anything we needed (although we really had everything we needed and more) at any time. Prior to take off they even provide you with a luxury bag of toiletries, like actually nice toiletries and things you might really need such as toothbrush & decent sized toothpaste, a mini Bulgari fragrance, body lotion, refresher towels etc. Oh and they also keep the hot towels coming throughout the flight too which is heaven.

Yeah ok, but it’s really expensive moneybags.

Yes it is, and would I pay for it next time? Absolutely.

After the joys of the first leg dream-like flight, we were swiftly brought crashing back down to earth for the second leg of our flight, which was not upgraded. No one likes getting on another flight an hour after you’ve just done a 14 hour flight, but this felt particularly gross given we’d just been given a taste of business. And look, it’s not that economy is really bad, it’s just that it seems unreasonable to expect that anyone can sit in an economy seat for five hours or more.

Despite our heavenly first leg, we arrived in Paris overtired with stiff, sore backs and bloated ankles. It’s this (and everything above) that made me instantly email my travel agent and find out how much an upgrade would cost for our flight home in 2 weeks, because after experiencing the good life, I don’t want to/can’t go back. Seriously though. Yes this was a lucky upgrade, and I know travelling Business is expensive, but gee whizz it’s worth it, particularly for a long-haul. I’d now rather save twice as long and travel Business, than get a cheap and painful economy ticket.

So once again, a million thank you’s to Emirates for the upgrade - I really will love you long time.

And NO this is not sponsored/paid for by Emirates. I bought my tickets and genuinely really like flying with them - and will continue to, especially after this experience lol!

Also, sorry for the low light in the pics - these were all taken on my iPhone as the cabin lights were turned down most of the flight and obviously I wasn’t prepared with my actual camera. Also didn’t want to be that annoying girl in business taking photos all flight long.