Flying from Brisbane to Auckland with Emirates

Brisbane Airport Tower. Photo / Andrew Sutherland

Imran Ali travelled from Brisbane to Auckland on Emirates Airbus A380-800.

The plane: Emirates' Airbus A380-800 double-deck. It's the world's largest passenger aircraft with the main bar located at the rear of the upper deck for Business and First-Class passengers.

The Seat: 11A on Business Class, behind the First Class cabin. Reluctant to accept, but told at the check-in counter my seat had to be upgraded to Business Class as Emirates had overbooked the flight. That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An upgrade in the largest passenger aircraft is the best experience in the air you can get.

A window seat towards the front of the cabin, 11A is among the best of the Business seats. The console was located in the aisle-side of my seat, which felt like I was cocooned in a private cabin. Bins along the windows allowed for plenty of things to be stored.

Ample leg room and a flat bed always welcome. There are 76 Business Class seats spread across two cabins.

Price: Return Business Class fares from $1559.

Flight time: Late arrival of the aircraft from Dubai and a full Brisbane-to-Auckland service (Qantas passengers included) meant the flight was delayed by 20 minutes. But the lost time was made up with the flight taking less than three hours.

Food and drink: Welcome drink was a choice of wine, orange juice or soda. There was a feta and spinach omelette for breakfast, served with pan-fried chicken sausages, au gratin potatoes and cherry tomato confit.

You'd be spoilt for choice at the bar at the rear of the upper deck. It also served as an ideal location to stretch your legs and to mingle with other passengers. The bar was well-manned by a Kenyan cabin crew member.

Service: Great, as you'd expect in Business. The cabin crew laid out the tablecloths, brought out the appetiser tray, and served drinks before the main breakfast. There wasn't much foot traffic at the front seats, and with loads of stuff provided, including drinks in the console, the only time passengers got up was to visit the loo or the bar.

Toilets: Average but tidy.

Airport experience: A long line of people waited to be checked in. That wasn't a surprise given it was a full flight of Emirates and Qantas passengers. Took us about 40 minutes to check in and the rest of the checks up to the boarding gate were pretty standard.

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