Emirates Business Class to Dubai

Emirates EK 651
CMB-DXB
2 class 777-300ER (Downgraded from 3 class First Suites 77W)
February 10, 2013
9:50A-12:55P
Seats 3JK

I first heard about the cheap EK/AA x-CMB First Class fares a few years ago. And now that I was "in the area", this was a no brainer to go for it, especially with no Mrs. SFO to complain about the number of flights and time spent.

For $1,920 all in, I got:
- CMB-DXB in EK 77W First Suites
- DXB-LHR in EK A380 First Suites
- LHR-LAX in BA First
- LAX-DEN in AA First

And earned the following miles:
-AA: 6,305 EQMs and 15,762 RDMs
-AS: 8,186 EQMs and 13,653 RDMs
-UA: 1,296 EQMs and 2,155 RDMs (bonus miles when BA rebooked due to late arrival)

The bummer about today's flight is that it was originally booked in 77W First Class Suites. But EK downgraded the flight from three classes to two classes. I complained to EK, both the Gold line and CMB operations. Both were useless to deal with. I only got action when my TA contacted an EK regional sales VP. They offered acceptable compensation for the downgrade.

The J cabin was visually attractive in a blingish way, but 2-3-2 is not my idea of comfort. Seats were OK but the wall between the seats is confining, restricts elbow room and is really annoying, IMO. It was OK for three hours but I wouldn't want to sit in this sucker much longer than that.