Should You Sample Emirates A380 First Class on Dubai-Muscat Route?
Earlier this week, Emirates launched the shortest Airbus 380 route in the world. On July 1, 2019, Emirates A380 flew from Dubai to Muscat, replacing the B777 that was operated earlier.
Emirates acknowledged the quirkiness of this move in a series of tweets.
You have to fly 3,000 times between Dubai and Muscat on our A380 to watch the complete ice film catalogue. #ShortestA380Flight #FlyEmiratesFlyBetter pic.twitter.com/Fhxz8hT9V6
— Emirates (@emirates) July 1, 2019
The wiring on an @Airbus A380 (500km) is longer than the distance between Dubai and Muscat (340km). #ShortestA380Flight #FlyEmiratesFlyBetter pic.twitter.com/d6kTfDlGKw
— Emirates (@emirates) July 1, 2019
And this is my favorite one.
The average flight time (40 minutes) between Dubai and Muscat is only 5 minutes more than the time taken to clean an @Airbus A380 by a team of 42 people. #ShortestA380Flight #FlyEmiratesFlyBetter pic.twitter.com/evb4GSzHIO
— Emirates (@emirates) July 1, 2019
Now, there is a perfectly valid business rationale for the move. Because Boeing 737 Max cannot operate at the moment, Emirates has had to supplement capacity lost by its partner flydubai.
Of course, Emirates A380 comes with all the bells and whistles including the highly coveted Emirates first class.
Opportunity to Fly Emirates First Class for Less Than 30,000 Miles
I know a lot of people who are saving Skywards miles to travel first class on Emirates. Readers from UAE should definitely read my earlier posts – Best credit cards for Skywards Miles and Emirates family pooling.
The Dubai-Muscat-Dubai route has given rise to an interesting opportunity. You have the opportunity to book first class redemption at 28,750 miles + AED 1,070 ($290) of other charges.
In fact, over the past week, three readers have written to be and asked my opinion on this redemption.
For starters, I have traveled on Emirates first class just once, and that was a long flight to New York. I would say the best way to experience Emirates first class is travelling long-haul rather than a flight lasting 45 minutes.
Of course, the former would require a lot more miles. And some perks like the Emirates first class lounge can be accessed regardless of flight duration.
And if you would still like to fly short-haul on Emirates first class, there are better options. You could fly Dubai to Riyadh which is a 1 hour 45 minutes flight. It costs only AED 120 ($30) more.
Remember that Emirates flies both B777s and A380s to Riyadh. So pick your flight carefully. At least this way, you would get to experience Emirates first class for twice as long. 🙂
