***This is part 16 of my "Camels, Bats, and Bloggers" trip report
detailing a recent trip to Dubai and Seychelles, with a final stop in
Las Vegas to attend the 2014 BAcon conference hosted by BoardingArea***
1. Introduction - Camels, Bats, and Bloggers
2. Emirates Lounge at SFO
3. Emirates First Class San Francisco to Dubai
4. Conrad Dubai
5. Old Dubai, Ski Dubai, and At the Top
6. Emirates Terminal B First Class Lounge at DXB
7. Emirates First Class Dubai to Mahe, Seychelles
8. Four Seasons Seychelles
9. Air Seychelles Economy Class Mahe to Praslin
10. Raffles Praslin Seychelles
11. Island Hopping - La Digue
12. Island Hopping - Praslin, Cousine, Curieuse, St. Pierre
13. Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Spa
14. Emirates Business Class Mahe, Seychelles to Dubai
15. 7-Star Luxury at the Burj Al Arab
16. British Airways Lounge at DXB
17. Cathay Pacific Business Class Dubai to Los Angeles via Hong Kong
18. 2014 BAcon Conference in Las Vegas + Mandalay Bay Hotel
19. American Express Centurion Lounge at LAS
_______________________________
After spending the morning at Wild Wadi water park, we soaked in our last few moments at the Burj Al Arab before packing our bags and continuing the long journey home.
With a 5:10PM departure, we left the hotel around 2PM since the afternoon traffic can be quite bad in Dubai. We jumped into a taxi, and 50 AED and only 30 minutes later we arrived at Dubai International Airport.
We had been through DXB a handful of times already, but each time we had been flying Emirates. Emirates is truly the king, or sheikh in the case, of DXB airport, and has exclusive use of Terminal 3.
Cathay Pacific, along with many of the other non-Emirates airlines, fly out of Terminal 1, which almost felt like an afterthought. It's pretty clear that Terminal 3 has gotten all of the state-of-the-art upgrades, and it was a simple check-in and security experience at Terminal 1.
Then there was a long walk, like a seriously long walk, to the gates. I've had some long walks at airport such as HKG, but this one was truly a marathon that clocked in at well over a mile based on my wife's Fitbit.
Cathay Pacific only runs 2 flights per day through DXB, and therefore has no need for their own lounge, and share with the British Airways lounge.
After our previous experiences at the Emirates lounges at DXB, this was a very abrupt return back to reality. Not to say anything bad about the British Airlines lounge, other than the fact that it was a perfectly comfortable and typical airport lounge experience that you'll find at most airports around the world.
The seating area is actually on the smaller size, but didn't really fill up even as we got closer to departure.
There were several hot food, soup, finger sandwiches, and other snacks to choose from, along with a wide assortment of drinks. The hot food and sandwiches were pretty mediocre, so we decided to hold out for a proper meal on-board our flight.
While food and drinks are nice, what I really want out of a lounge is a clean bathroom and fast wifi. The British Airways lounge had the clean bathroom down, but the wifi was ridiculously slow to the point that it was unusable.
Overall, the British Airways lounge at DXB was a perfectly nice and comfortable lounge, but is a notch below it's counterpart at SFO, and several steps below the lounges offered by Emirates. While it doesn't make sense to choose an airline simply based on the lounge experience, it's pretty clear that when traveling through DXB, flying Emirates has its advantages over other airlines.
1. Introduction - Camels, Bats, and Bloggers
2. Emirates Lounge at SFO
3. Emirates First Class San Francisco to Dubai
4. Conrad Dubai
5. Old Dubai, Ski Dubai, and At the Top
6. Emirates Terminal B First Class Lounge at DXB
7. Emirates First Class Dubai to Mahe, Seychelles
8. Four Seasons Seychelles
9. Air Seychelles Economy Class Mahe to Praslin
10. Raffles Praslin Seychelles
11. Island Hopping - La Digue
12. Island Hopping - Praslin, Cousine, Curieuse, St. Pierre
13. Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Spa
14. Emirates Business Class Mahe, Seychelles to Dubai
15. 7-Star Luxury at the Burj Al Arab
16. British Airways Lounge at DXB
17. Cathay Pacific Business Class Dubai to Los Angeles via Hong Kong
18. 2014 BAcon Conference in Las Vegas + Mandalay Bay Hotel
19. American Express Centurion Lounge at LAS
_______________________________
After spending the morning at Wild Wadi water park, we soaked in our last few moments at the Burj Al Arab before packing our bags and continuing the long journey home.
With a 5:10PM departure, we left the hotel around 2PM since the afternoon traffic can be quite bad in Dubai. We jumped into a taxi, and 50 AED and only 30 minutes later we arrived at Dubai International Airport.
We had been through DXB a handful of times already, but each time we had been flying Emirates. Emirates is truly the king, or sheikh in the case, of DXB airport, and has exclusive use of Terminal 3.
Cathay Pacific, along with many of the other non-Emirates airlines, fly out of Terminal 1, which almost felt like an afterthought. It's pretty clear that Terminal 3 has gotten all of the state-of-the-art upgrades, and it was a simple check-in and security experience at Terminal 1.
Then there was a long walk, like a seriously long walk, to the gates. I've had some long walks at airport such as HKG, but this one was truly a marathon that clocked in at well over a mile based on my wife's Fitbit.
Cathay Pacific only runs 2 flights per day through DXB, and therefore has no need for their own lounge, and share with the British Airways lounge.
After our previous experiences at the Emirates lounges at DXB, this was a very abrupt return back to reality. Not to say anything bad about the British Airlines lounge, other than the fact that it was a perfectly comfortable and typical airport lounge experience that you'll find at most airports around the world.
The seating area is actually on the smaller size, but didn't really fill up even as we got closer to departure.
There were several hot food, soup, finger sandwiches, and other snacks to choose from, along with a wide assortment of drinks. The hot food and sandwiches were pretty mediocre, so we decided to hold out for a proper meal on-board our flight.
While food and drinks are nice, what I really want out of a lounge is a clean bathroom and fast wifi. The British Airways lounge had the clean bathroom down, but the wifi was ridiculously slow to the point that it was unusable.
Overall, the British Airways lounge at DXB was a perfectly nice and comfortable lounge, but is a notch below it's counterpart at SFO, and several steps below the lounges offered by Emirates. While it doesn't make sense to choose an airline simply based on the lounge experience, it's pretty clear that when traveling through DXB, flying Emirates has its advantages over other airlines.
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