Emirates First Class Overload: Losing my A380 Virginity - KUL - DXB

• Introduction 
• Losing my A380 Virginity - KUL - DXB

___________________________________________________________________________________

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur straight after our Seychelles trip way early at noon for my evening flight to Dubai. The Emirates counter was opened for the earlier flight to Melbourne. There were no lines in first class counter where I managed to check-in and drop off my luggage for both my Kuala Lumpur to Dubai and subsequent Dubai to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur flight.

Instead of heading straight airside and to the lounge, I decided to have some lunch landside for some Malaysian food. I was missing Malaysian food after being on the road for the last couple of weeks. Once I did get to the lounge, I tried to get a quick nap on the one available massage chair. I think I did snooze off for a couple of minutes but couldn’t really fall asleep. I eventually gave up, took a shower and caught up on some work.

The lounge stayed relatively empty the entire I was there which was not a surprise considering how large the lounge was. It was furnished similarly to other Emirates lounges.

View from the lounge

There was a wide selection of food with made to order satay. Being a satay fan, I had to sample Emirates’ satay but I’m sad to say that it was severely disappointing. The meat was dry and the peanut sauce resembled peanut butter.

Emirates First Class Overload: Introduction

• Introduction 
• Losing my A380 Virginity - KUL - DXB 
• DXB to KUL
• KUL to MEL
• MEL to DXB via SIN
• Dubai Layover
• A380 round 2 - DXB to KUL

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

This would be my second mistake fare on Emirates – the first being the CMB-MLE mistake for our "second honeymoon". Emirates had a global sale with first class tickets form Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne going for about 7500 ringgit or ~$2500 USD. The mistake in the fare was that instead of a direct Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne, I was able to route the flight via Dubai for the same price. This routing itself would give me Gold status on Emirates.

The Long Way to Melbourne

The best part was that Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to be operated by the Airbus A380. Being a “partial plane geek”, it was somewhat embarrassing that I have yet to fly on the A380 despite the A380 being operated already for a number of years. This would be an over the top way for my first A380 flight!

The original plan just was to do a “mileage run” and just fly the all the segments over a long weekend. A couple of weeks before the scheduled departure, the A380 was pulled off the Dubai to Kuala Lumpur route due to A380 wing cracks incident. I did however, manage to get my flights changed without any charges to a month later where the A380 was back on the route. Better still, I actually had to fly to Melbourne for a friend’s wedding and made me less guilty for the splurge.

The price of $2500 USD for the flights itself wasn’t cheap and not something I would splurge on usually. I just couldn’t give up the opportunity to lose my A380 virginity with a flight and shower on Emirates first class. Furthermore, the flights itself would give me enough miles for Gold status on Emirates Skywards that might come in handy in the future.

Hope you guys enjoy this trip report but it's going to be pretty much Emirates, Emirates and more Emirates first class, not that is such a a bad thing.

Doubletree by Hilton SFO

Long overdue report so I'll keep it short.

Stayed here a couple of months ago over a weekend and I was in the bay area for a work trip. Check in was prompt with the customary Doubletree chocolate chip cookies provided. I was also provided coupons for breakfast and codes to the complimentary wireless internet as a Gold Hilton Honors member.

Room was also on the small side with what looked like a renovated rooms.

My favorite part of the hotel was the great view of the bay across SFO. There's also a trail outside the hotel that's good for a run.

As with bay area hotels, parking is not free and the Doubletree charged $18 for an overnight multiple entry parking fee which was charged to the room. They also provide a free shuttle service to and from SFO.

Overall, the hotel was nothing outstanding but I would return if needing a hotel if on transit/stopover in San Francisco.

Embassy Suites Austin Townlake Embassador Suite

The Embassy Suites Townlake is my go to hotel when I visit Austin for work though I probably won't be staying here all that often anymore since I'm a local to Austin now. I did have to stay here for a couple of days while waiting for my apartment move in date. I was surprised to be upgraded to an Embassador Suite during this stay as this has never happened to me before during my previous stays.

All rooms at this hotels are actually suites with the Embassador Suites located on the top 9th floor of the hotel. Access to the floor is limited to guest staying and the Embassador Suites which might be important for those who value some more privacy. I couldn't notice anything different with the Embassador Suites versus the regular suites. For pictures from my previous stay click here. There's complimentary soft drinks and water in the minibar and they leave out coffee, Tazo teas, fruit and pastries through out the day near by the elevators.

The Embassador Suites cost an additional $30 more and I don't think I would personally pay the extra for the upgrade.

United Airlines Status Match

With demise of BMI and my Star Gold Status locked in until 2015 thanks to Asiana, I was looking for a secondary frequent flyer program to bank to. Instead of flying solely on Star Alliance, I was strongly considering to switch some of my travel to Oneworld. Additionally, I was also tempted by possible new experiences like redeeming First on Cathay, British and Qantas and the fact that Malaysian Airlines would be joining Oneworld at the end of the year which allowed for possibly better redemptions to/from home in Malaysia.

I was about to sign up for a Status Challenge to Platinum on American Airlines where it would cost $180 and you need to do 10,000 points in a 3 month period to fast track to Platinum. Soon after, I got an email from United that they were matching my Emirates Gold to Premier Gold Status. I had sent the email weeks ago but didn't hear back from them and I didn't follow up thinking I'll just go the Oneworld path.

Looks like I'll be sticking to Star Alliance for now until when I have a trip back to Malaysia where I could easily do the Status Challenge and possibly make the switch to Oneworld then. Hopefully by then, Malaysian Airlines would have joined Oneworld.