Review: Emirates A380 Business Class Sydney to Christchurch

These days, when you mention air travel, it rarely conjures up images of the old school glamour that going places by plane used to. Instead, you are left with memories of the time you were wedged next to someone who talked your ear off while drunk, or the instance you had a drink trolley roll over your foot, or even, if you're like the unlucky guy who sat next to my sister once, that moment you were vomited onto by someone who experienced air sickness.

One of my windows

My other window

While I haven't loved all my flights, I am genuinely, continually excited about getting onto a plane, because it often heralds an adventure, even when I'm just heading home. It's the excitement of what's going to happen, the one time I was surprisingly upgraded to Premium Economy all the way to LA (and it was so good!), and just the potential of what might crop up. It's generally fun, and ever since I bought a membership to the Qantas Club, waiting at airports has been a lot more tolerable - definitely money well spent!

View to my left

All of the fun drinks

That said, I never spend the extra money for flying fancy - after all, I find that the money spent on cheap and cheerful vs fancy to be significant enough that I would prefer to put that towards other things, like accommodation or activities. This time, however, the difference was so minimal, as to be comparable to, say, one night of accommodation, that I thought I would actually invest in a better seat on an impressive flight, and so I shelled out about $750 (economy looked to be about $580, as all the more affordable seats were already taken by the time I started searching for flights) for a business class seat.

Mini bar to my left

My seat

I took up seat 11K on the Emirates A380, setting off from Sydney to Christchurch. The seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration, with the seats on the side marked as either aisle or window. I know that can sound really confusing, as technically, they are ALL aisle seats and window seats. That said, some seats are closer to the aisle, with the mini bar nearer the window, while other seats are right next to the window, with the mini bar closer to the aisle. Seat 11K is a true window seat, with a crazy amount of legroom, and a storage bin right under the window, so that everything is within reach.

The service on the whole flight was impeccable, from the food, where there were tablecloths with real cutlery, and a decent wine list, to the little snacks available at the bar. I love that there's also a few different ways to get to the TV screen without having to lean forward, from the hand console to the screen right next to the seat. I also took the opportunity to visit the bar at the back of the plane, available to those in business and first class. Although I stuck to the bubbly I was started on, I got a kick out of actually being able to go to a bar while flying far above the clouds - beyond fun!

My decimated breakfast

Both the take off and landing were smoother than my other times in economy, and I figured that was likely due to being in the upper deck. All in all, for my first time in business class, this exceeded expectations. It was just a shame I was on such a short flight and couldn't make use of the lie flat option - such a horrendously first world issue, right? In any case, if you're on the market for a tran-tasman flight to Christchurch, and you can fork out the extra money for a business class seat, then you should really look into booking on the A380 Emirates flight from Sydney before they take it off the market!

What's been your favourite flight? Where are you dreaming of going next?