Updated June 23, 2020.

You’ve probably seen Jennifer Aniston raving about Emirates Airlines, and with good reason! They did not get to be one of the top rated airlines so many years in a row for nothing. But most of what I’ve seen online about Emirates is about their Business and First classes. Since Steve and I recently had the opportunity to experience Emirates for the first time, and since we flew Economy class, I decided to give you a sneak peek at how we commonfolk fly Emirates!

Checking In

Online Check-in

We were able to check in online a full 48 hours before our flight time! It was nice to be able to check that off our “to do” list so early.

Checking Luggage

Steve and I do not check luggage if we can help it. We go carry-on only, no matter the length of the trip. But since we have no affiliation with or status on Emirates and they are not in the Star Alliance, we were only allowed one carry-on of 5kg (11 lbs) each. Yikes! We could have made that work in summer, but not with winter gear! So we had to check a bag. Luckily, Emirates allows 30kg (66 lbs) of checked luggage per person FREE!

Unfortunately for us, we were two of the first customers to check our bags at the airport on the way from Sydney to Christchurch, so our bags were two of the last to come out upon landing. Epic traveler fail! However, we got wise on the way back from Christchurch to Sydney. We asked the desk agent where we checked our bags if there was any way to make sure our bags came out early upon arriving in Sydney. She said she would see what she could do, but it depended on what kind of day the baggage handlers in Sydney were having. But sure enough, when our bags came out early in Sydney, we saw that she had put priority tags on both our bags!

If you don’t ask, you don’t know! Always be nice to the employees!

Entertainment

I’ll be honest… the entertainment options were almost overwhelming! Movies in multiple languages, from multiple countries, TV shows old and new, live sports options, news, and more! I ended up watching Desintation: Unknown about the women Pharoahs of Egypt and another about secrets of Stone Henge and other henges in the UK. My only irritation was that a flight attendant comes through about 30 minutes prior to landing and takes up all the Emirates headsets. Be ready for that before you go! (If you bring your own headset, you can keep it plugged in until landing.)

Brought your own entertainment or just want to keep your devices charged in-flight? You can charge with the multi-way outlet or with the USB!

Service

Aside from taking my headset away before I was done, the service was friendly and attentive! The flights attendants spoke something like 18 different languages among them all, and each and every one had a smile on their face throughout the flight! Friendly service is a dying art in all industries, and sometimes it seems like the air travel industry gets the worst of the worst, but Emirates has done a great job of hiring people who can keep smiling and be kind to one and all!

Facilities

Airplane lavatories… nobody likes ’em, everybody needs ’em! At least Emirates makes them look nice and provides nice toiletry products, even in economy:

In-flight Food

Now for the thing everyone loves to hate… airplane food! I’m sure the food in First and Business classes is excellent and perhaps even made in-flight by an actual chef, but that is not the case in Economy! It was pretty much just airplane food, but served by nice people! The breakfast was on the bland side, but the dinner was a bit more flavorful.

Overall, it was a positive experience! Honestly, Economy class wasn’t anything particularly special over other airlines, but the service made quite a difference—I will favor friendliness over bells and whistles any day! What do you think?

Want more? Check out my Air Travel Page!

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