I’ve previously written about how quickly you can earn enough miles for international business class flights. But what about international first class?
This past October, for a total of 310,000 miles and about $1,600 in surcharges/fees, I flew round trip from the US to Dubai in Emirates first class. The surcharges were roughly what the round trip economy cash price would have been. With the addition of the miles, I booked a flight experience that would have cost more than $26,000 out of pocket!
I flew in the 777-300 (old style) to Dubai and the A380 on my way back from Dubai. I’m not going to do a full review since there are plenty of those already out there. Instead, I will give my general impressions of the experience, how it compares to the other business class flights that I’ve flown, if I think the massive amount of miles is worth it, and give you an idea of how long it would take you to earn enough miles to do the same thing.
There are 2 different versions of Emirates first class suites on the 777-300. The newer class cabin offers fully enclosed suites that have more privacy and are more spacious than the cabin that I flew in. As you can see from my pictures below, I hardly had anything to complain about in terms of privacy and space.
Everything about this flight was on a much higher level than the business class flights I have flown. The seat was more spacious and private. The food and drink service was the equivalent of fine dining in the sky. When boarding, I was quickly greeted and offered a glass of Dom Pérignon Plénitude 2 which was exclusive to Emirates first class at the time. This sells for around $500 a bottle. They were also offering all you can eat caviar for first class passengers. I don’t typically drink champagne or eat caviar, but why not on this flight?
What I really loved about the first class experience was being able to order anything I wanted at any time. When I’ve flown business class before, the meals have always been served on a schedule. That’s fine, but you miss out on the meal if you are sleeping at the time of service. On this flight, I could order meal service whenever I liked, and it didn’t matter if I wanted breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The flight was 14 hours. The flexibility to eat and sleep whenever I liked was great.
The service of the first class attendants was amazing on both flights. On my way home, I was torn between 2 different dinner options, the lobster tails and the lamb chops, so I asked for both. The flight attendant was like, “sure, no problem!” I don’t know if this is a first class thing or just the level of service provided by Emirates, but they operated on a different level than any other cabin crew that I’ve flown with. I’m pretty certain they would have left the entire bottle of Dom Pérignon with me had I asked.
The first class experience isn’t just about the flight itself. You also get access to the airline’s first class lounge, and the Emirate’s first class lounge at DXB was amazing. I’ve been in some nice airport lounges in the past but nothing like this. The lounge is over 100,000 square feet taking up an entire upper floor of the concourse.
My biggest disappointment with the lounge was that my flight was at 9 am, and I didn’t get to spend enough time in the lounge to really get the most of it. I would have preferred my flight departing in the afternoon as I could easily have enjoyed spending several hours in the lounge. There are multiple buffets with cold and hot foods along with an assortment of deserts, a fine dining room with full menu, spa, shower facilities, and a lot more. All of this was completely complimentary. Chauffeur service to the airport was also included with the first class ticket.
Another nice feature of the lounge that was also available to business class was that it allowed you to board the plane directly through a private air bridge.
The flight on the A380 was the best experience I’ve ever had in the sky. It absolutely blew away the experience I had on my flight to Dubai in the old style 777. For me, this flight was a party in the sky.
The first class suite was the exact same incredible suite as the 777 from what I could tell. However, the cabin on the A380 had two separate shower spas and a self serve bar, both of which were not on the 777. Have you ever showered on a plane? Well, you can. The shower spas were remarkably clean and fully restocked each time I entered.
But as great as first class was, business class would have been a pretty amazing experience as well. While business class didn’t have the self serve bar, shower spas, or private suites, the seats were fully lie flat and looked plenty comfortable and spacious enough for me. Business class also had a bar with a flight attendant always present serving cocktails throughout this near 15 hour flight. First class passengers also had access to the this bar and lounge.
So you have just started playing the Game of Miles, and want to go to Dubai. How could you go about earning enough miles and how long would it take?
Unfortunately, Emirates recently increased the amount of miles required for business and first class awards by 20 percent. The same round trip from the US west coast to Dubai would cost 372,000 miles. Let’s see how long it would take to earn the miles at the increased cost.
Chase, CapitalOne, AMEX, and Citi all have transferrable points that can be transferred to Emirates at a 1:1 rate. In another post, I recommend choosing your first 5 cards with Chase. If you go with the cards I recommend, you’ll earn a minimum of 105,250 Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to Emirates. The Marriot Bonvoy Boundless card that I discuss doesn’t offer a sign up bonus in points, but it does offer an excellent 3 free nights at a Marriott property (not currently available publicly, but you can still get that offer through my referral link). This could get you 3 nights at the amazing Ritz Carlton in Abu Dubai during your trip. And that just happens to be how I redeemed my sign up bonus from the Bonvoy Boundless card by Chase.
Even though you would only earn points that are transferrable to Emirates with 3 out of 5 Chase cards, you should still make sure your first 5 cards are with Chase or you’ll lock yourself out of 2 sign up bonuses with them due to their 5/24 rule.
After your first 5 cards with Chase, your next 2 could be the Capital One Venture X (my favorite card on the market) and the Capital One Venture giving you a minimum of 166,00 additional points that can be transferred to Emirates.
The Citi Premier will give you at least another 64,000 transferrable points after earning the welcome offer.
If your aren’t afraid of the high annual fees of premium credit cards (and you shouldn’t be), you can earn another 150,000 transferrable points from the AMEX Platinum and Gold cards after earning the welcome offers.
That’s 485,250 points which is enough for this first class round trip to Dubai and almost enough for another round trip somewhere else in business class. If you spent a year getting your 5 Chase cards and then the maximum time allowed to earn the welcome offers on the others, it would take 3 years to earn all of those points. You could leave off the Platinum card and would still have enough for the first class round trip in 2.5 years.
The round trip in first class would cost even less if flying from the east coast. From JFK, you’d pay 327,000 miles meaning you’d have enough points without the Platinum and Gold card offers, and it would only take you 2 years.
But that’s if you take the maximum time allowed to earn the welcome offers. Remember, in the Game of Miles, you are earning free travel through normal, everyday spending. How much do you normally spend in a given year? Those same 485,250 points require a total of $27,000 in spend. Leaving off the Platinum and Gold cards would only require $17,000 in spend and still earn you over 330,000 transferrable points. Is that a normal amount for you to spend in a year on groceries, gas, internet, dining, entertainment, some bills, etc? A year and a half? Depending on your normal spending habits, you can see that it doesn’t take very long to build a huge points balance and the ability to redeem those points for tens of thousands of dollars in free travel.
This first class flight was my favorite experience in the sky so far, and I would recommend it to anyone. And while it requires a large amount of miles, it doesn’t take a very long time to earn them depending on what your spending habits are.
However, if you are new to this game and still want luxury travel, you probably want to start off with business class redemptions. You will be able to start redeeming miles for these lie flat seats very early on while you continue to build your points balance for first class redemptions if you want to travel in some of the best experiences in the sky.
If you found the information here helpful and decide to apply for any of the cards mentioned, please consider signing up through my referral links (if available) on the home page.
