Airline review: This superjumbo premium economy seat is superb

The airline: Emirates

• Route Sydney to Dubai, flight EK415
• Frequency Three flights daily
• Aircraft Airbus A380-800
• Class Premium economy
• Flight time 14 hours, 20 minutes

Emirates is the largest operator of Airbus A380 superjumbos.Credit: iStock

Checking in

This 6am early morning departure has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it essentially makes for a more forgiving, from a circadian rhythms’ standpoint, day flight with a mid-afternoon arrival in Dubai, due to the time difference. However, it also requires a wickedly early start with the requirement to be at the airport at least three hours before departure. That can make the extra expense of an overnight stay at the Aerotel Sydney transit hotel worthwhile, it being the only accommodation inside Terminal 1 and just a short walk to the Emirates check-in upstairs in departures.

Check-in via the economy class queue is smooth though there’s no dedicated channel for premium economy passengers, even though there seems to be provision for one in the area. Emirates lounge access is exclusively for business and first-class passengers, but there are a few cafes (though little else – McDonald’s, anyone?) open in the terminal at this ungodly hour.

Baggage

Premium economy passengers are allowed a total of 35 kilograms of checked luggage and one piece of carry-on up to 10 kilograms.

The loyalty scheme

Skywards is the Emirates scheme; Qantas Frequent Flyers can earn points and status credits for flights with a QF flight number. Emirates and Qantas recently marked the 10th anniversary of their airline codeshare partnership.

The seat

Emirates’ premium economy is superb.

While its Middle-Eastern competitors Qatar Airways and Etihad continue to resist the introduction of premium economy class on their aircraft, Emirates has been benefiting enormously from the positive reviews for its new premium cabin and seat, voted the world’s best at AirlineRatings’ 2023 Airline Excellence Awards.

There are 56 leather cream and milk-chocolate coloured premium economy seats in the cabin, with its trademark faux walnut timber trim. Premium economy is positioned at the front of the aircraft (though you still have to wait for business-class passengers upstairs to disembark first after landing), across seven rows in a 2-4-2 configuration. The seats, with a pitch of 40 inches (101.6cm), a width of 19.5 inches (50cm) and a recline of eight inches (20cm), are equipped with a padded foldout footrest along with adjustable headrests and accessible USB ports.

My aisle seat, 35D – chosen from the seat map on the Emirates website – offers additional legroom as it’s positioned next to the end of a bulkhead at the front of the cabin. (The seat and cabin can be also viewed online via Emirates rather fantastic 3D viewing experience.) The toilets dedicated to premium economy passengers, reached via a small set of stairs, are only a few steps away but not too close to be bothersome.

Entertainment + Tech

Emirates’ comprehensive ICE entertainment system, delivered on a sizeable 13.3-inch (34cm) HD TV screen, includes more than 2400 movies and 650 television shows. News tragics, such as your reviewer, will appreciate the flawless live feeds of BBC News and CNN and while planespotters and others will appreciate the real-time vision, including take-offs and landings, provided by the aircraft’s cameras. Emirates Skywards members are entitled to free access to the excellent onboard Wi-Fi, so best to sign up if you haven’t already done so.

Service

Professional and efficient throughout, delivered by Emirates’ multinational crew with a few luxury touches such as hot towels.

Food

Mealtime … Emirates premium economy.

A well-presented and superior breakfast and lunch, along with a selection of snacks, are served on this flight. The former includes mango chia pudding, Gruyere omelette and buttermilk pancakes while the latter features Middle Eastern-style lamb machbous, roasted chicken served with baked potatoes, butter leeks and green peas followed by a chocolate mousse cake.

Carbon emissions

The carbon emissions for this flight are 1.53 tonnes. Emirates doesn’t offer an offset program, though its website details several emissions reduction moves, including the operating of one of the industry’s youngest widebody aircraft fleets.

One more thing

Download the outstanding Emirates app to your smartphone before your fly, which contains essential information. However, be careful using it to book services with third-party, so-called partner services. Based on this flight and subsequent connection to Rome, the standard and reliability can vary greatly from city to city. On arrival in Dubai, the first driver, in a tired SUV, booked through CarTrawler on the Emirates app, spoke no English and couldn’t find my hotel while, on the return trip to the airport, the driver, booked for midday, didn’t turn up at all. He finally contacted me at thirty minutes later to say he’d been in a car accident. I stuck to taxis on the return leg.

The price

From $5412 return for premium economy.*

The verdict

Flying in premium economy has transformed from those days when it offered suspiciously reconditioned, non-flatbed business class seats to this: clearly the world’s best-practice version. On what is effectively a daytime service, during which sleep is more an option than an imperative, Emirates’ premium class seat and service perform superbly. However, based on the return Dubai-Sydney return flight, not even this stellar seat can compare to the comfort of a lie-flat business class equivalent. Not that we’re complaining.

Our rating out of five

★★★★½

The writer flew as a guest of Albatross Tours with assistance from Emirates. See albatrosstours.com.au; emirates.com; myaerotel.com

*Fares are based on those available for travel three months from the time of publication and subject to change.