Emirates First Class gets a lot of attention as it is just a really decked out cabin. I mean, everything is just bling! It is really an experience to fly on it, not to mention being able to take advantage of the shower miles up in the air in a shower suite that is much larger than Etihad’s own shower suite.
Fly Emirates A380 First Class For Less Than $600 (4 Hour Flight)
First Class Suite on Emirates A380
Of course, you can book Emirates A380 First Class from the US using 90,000 Alaska miles (if you are going right to Dubai) or 100,000 miles if you want to continue to destinations beyond. Since Emirates uses their A380 on routes all over the world, that means you will be able to fly for a long time on this beautiful aircraft.
But, if you wanted to try it out and not have to spend the miles, there is a route that the Emirates A380 flies on that you can purchase a first class ticket on for less than $600! Not only that, it is a longer flight than the one I have written about before which cost over $100 more (Bangkok to Hong Kong). This is at the end of Emirates’ route with a departure beginning in Auckland, New Zealand and heading to Melbourne, Australia (or Sydney, but that flight is 30 minutes shorter).
Under $600 for Emirates A380 First Class is a good price if you want to try it out
I was poking around some flights in New Zealand and Australia and happened upon this one and was pretty surprised about it! It is a 4 hour flight and rings in around $585 for any day of the week. That should be plenty of time to give the bling a tryout for yourself! My own Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai was only about 7 hours to Europe so this is not that bad of a time. Not only that, but it is a route that many people find themselves taking flights on, especially if you want to see all that this part of the world has to offer.
The under $600 route for Emirates First Class | From Emirates.com
This fare can be booked on any OTA (like Orbitz, Kayak, Travelocity, etc) or even directly on Emirates own website. This is not a mistake fare but just a price they offer from Auckland and moving back through their route network. Both flights leave after 5PM and arrive in Australia after 7PM. It is a decent time and a great way to fly back into Australia!
Sure you can fly this route in economy for $100, but if you wanted to give Emirates A380 First Class a try and don’t have the Alaska miles to swing it, this would be a great way to do it for less than $600. Even business on this flight is in the low $400s so First Class would be the way to go over business, if you wanted to travel in a premium cabin.
Summary
Yes, $600 is still a lot of money, especially for a 4 hour flight. But, there are a lot of people that like to try out different planes and cabins and this is certainly a plane to try out! If you are going to Australia/New Zealand, at least you now know how you could try the Emirates A380 First Class cabin out for a lot less than it normally goes for! To compare, Emirates’ flight from Dubai to Milan (6.5 hours) costs over $4,000 for the same cabin! Of course, that is a much different route, but you see the difference!
It is worth noting that for itineraries which are exclusively between New Zealand and Australia, there is no Chauffeur Drive service, even in First Class and irrespective of ticket stock.
Not a huge deal on this kind of great price, but worth keeping in mind.
Onward itineraries (even if you have a stopover in Australia) with a flight on EK and some limited QF flights will allow you to use Chauffeur Drive.
I remember my first BA F flight was between Auckland and Perth using the same idea that this was an affordable way to sample what was then, in the mid-80s, the cutting edge of premium commercial flying. My wife and I very much enjoyed the experience, and since then I’ve had to make sure I earn enough RDMs every year to maintain the habit of international F flying!
Tried to find it on Orbitz today and its pricing @ $957.00…could this have been a mistake fare after all ? After reading your post yesterday it priced as stated….but I am looking today at many Dates and cant seem to find it ?
Hmm, that’s strange. I know it isn’t a mistake fare and it is still showing every day for me. The $957 price is showing for me going from MEL-AKL, could that be what you are seeing? It does not work both ways, unfortunately, just AKL->MEL. Let me know if that is what you are seeing! If you are still seeing the $957 price on AKL-MEL, e-mail me your date(s) and I will see what I can dig up. Thanks!
charlie@runningwithmiles.com
My mistake ……..I was pricing from MEL to AKL.
Any info of First Class lounge access Departure n Arrivals ?.
Charlie , It looks like that Price is gone…now only finding Akl-Mel for $912.20 on Orbitz..
Perhaps I should have booked the flights and then made a change closer to the dates Im looking at Jan 2017… Do you have any insight to this or did I miss it before the Price increase by Emirtaes?
Oh wow! I had not booked mine yet either. :(. I had not tracked it much before I wrote about it but I have a feeling it could be a bit cyclical depending on the traffic and the currency in Australia/NZ against the dollar. I have found that to be the case with other Emirate fares before.
: ( … Still in the Grand scheme of things it is a relatively still a reasonable price when you compare to $4000 for a 6.5 hr flight.
Charlie just looked up the word cyclical. ; ) so there is hope… Ill Keep an eye on the markets..