Review: Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Emirates Lounge Hong Kong
Emirates 777 Business Class Hong Kong to Dubai
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse C
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse B
Emirates Business Lounge Dubai Concourse A
Emirates A380 Business Class Dubai to London

Our flight landed at gate C17, which was in Dubai Airport’s Concourse C. Emirates features lounges in all concourses in Terminal 3, so I decided to check out the lounge in Concourse C first, as it was right next to the transfer area.

The lounge is situated near gate C11. Dubai Airport’s Concourse C is relatively quieter than Concourse A and Concourse B, as you have to walk through Concourse B to get there (so it’s not the ideal place for duty free shops).

Dubai Airport Concourse C

The lounge itself is located right across the First Class lounge, and it’s actually quite big. I was visiting the lounge in the middle of the day, and it was really empty. It featured two levels, with the lower level featuring mostly of a food spread and armchair-style seating, and more varieties of seating on the upper deck.

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Review: Emirates 777 Business Class Hong Kong to Dubai

September 26, 2019September 27, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

I’d originally booked myself onto the Emirates A380 from Hong Kong straight through to London Gatwick, though unfortunately anxiety about upcoming protest situations compelled us to change our flight to an earlier one, since traffic was less likely to be affected at this time of day. This was a pricey switch, and I’ve written about it here. Fortunately, though, I’d once listed Emirates’ 777 business class product as one of the most underwhelming products I’d been dying to try, so I was glad to have the opportunity to do so.

I arrived at gate 32 around 6:45 AM in anticipation of boarding at 7 AM. It was a beautiful day outside, which served as a nice backdrop for the 777 that would be taking us to Dubai.

Emirates Boeing 777 Hong Kong Airport

The crew were standing around the gate at this time, and they boarded the plane at around 6:55 AM. Unfortunately boarding was delayed a bit beyond that, and it finally started at 7:15 AM, fifteen minutes behind schedule.

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Review: Emirates Lounge Hong Kong

September 24, 2019September 24, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

This mini-trip report series will cover my experience traveling from Hong Kong to London Gatwick onboard an Emirates 777 and A380 in business class. I booked it as a one-way ticket for a hefty HK$22,960 – while I found a few throwaway tickets that could’ve halved the cost, I decided it wasn’t worth risking for my first flight to university. Sure enough, the insurance of a higher fare class paid off this time around, since we ended up changing our flights to avoid traveling to the airport during peak protest hours. My dad wasn’t so lucky – he had to pay a HK$16,000+ change fee to his ~HK$19,000 roundtrip ticket, bringing the total cost ticket in line with normal roundtrip business class fares seen on Cathay Pacific and British Airways between Hong Kong and London.

Emirates has a dedicated lounge in Hong Kong. Emirates business class passengers are also allowed into the amazing Qantas lounge, though unfortunately the Qantas lounge opens at 7:30 AM, which was too late for our 7 AM boarding time. So we made it into the Emirates lounge, and were pointed in by a friendly lounge attendant. The Emirates lounge is open from three hours before every Emirates flight, and accessible to Emirates business class passengers and Skywards silver, gold, and platinum members only.

Emirates Lounge Hong Kong Entrance

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Review: Qatar Airways 777 QSuite Business Class Quad Suite Doha to Hong Kong

September 18, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Introduction: Home QSuite Home
Plaza Premium First Lounge Hong Kong Airport
Qatar Airways 777 QSuite Business Class Hong Kong to Doha
The Sad State of Transit at Doha Airport
Qatar Airways 777 QSuite Business Class Doha to Amsterdam
Hilton The Hague Family Suite
The Hotel Brussels Panorama Suite/Superior Twin Room
British Airways Galleries Lounge Brussels Airport
Qatar Airways 777 Old Business Class Brussels to Doha
Qatar Airways 777 QSuite Business Class Doha to Hong Kong

If you’re trying to learn more about the QSuite experience, I’d highly recommend you check out the review of my flight from Hong Kong to Doha, where I gave an extensive evaluation of the hard product. On this flight I assigned my family a quad suite, which is one of the ways Qatar Airways creatively customised their QSuite product. This trip report will mostly focus on that, as well as how the soft product differed of that of the other Qatar Airways flights I took on this trip.

After clearing immigration, I headed towards the E gates, since our flight was leaving from E4. I’d never taken the train at Doha Airport before; while modern, the trains were quite hot, and poorly ventilated (which isn’t exactly a complaint, since I realise Doha doesn’t have the coolest climate). Fortunately the train ride was quite short, and I made my way towards the “other” end of Doha Airport.

Doha Hamad Airport E Gates Area

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Review: Qatar Airways 777 Old Business Class Brussels to Doha

September 12, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ 1 Comment

While three out of our four Qatar Airways flights were operated by the spectacular QSuite, the segment from Brussels to Doha was operated by Qatar Airways’ older 777 product. I knew going in that the product would be inferior, though I was excited to try out a new product nonetheless. This flight served as a nice juxtaposition between the experiences you get on Qatar Airways’ QSuite-equipped 777s versus these planes, as the QSuite experience was superior in almost every way. This sounds obvious on the surface, though I was surprised by how different some of the soft-product elements were, too – keep on reading.

It also seems like we drew the short end of the stick – I’ve seen reviews of Qatar Airways’ Brussels-Doha route operated by 787s and A350s, which feature Qatar Airways’ newer, reverse herringbone business class product. I’ve flown it before, and find it a very nice product. Occasionally Qatar even swaps out this flight for a QSuite-equipped 777, which would’ve been a nice treat, though that wasn’t the case today. So with that in mind, I made sure to catch one last glimpse of our 777 before boarding through the jetbridge onto the plane.

Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Brussels Airport

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Review: British Airways Galleries Lounge Brussels Airport

September 11, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

We had arranged an airport transfer, and made it to Brussels Airport at around 1:45 PM. We first needed to run some of our items through tax-free, though unfortunately we had to deal with some condescending people at the tax refund counter. This isn’t a fault of Brussels Airport and rather is just a result of lower-class EU culture, since I’ve heard horror stories in multiple places across the EU from people of almost every race; the bottom line is that you need to keep your mouth shut and lay all your goods in front of the tax refund counter like a buffet.

Apart from the tragic state of what tax refund officers have become, Brussels Airport was quite pleasant otherwise, and we were checked in all the way back to Hong Kong (though they had a hiccup during check-in, as we were holding Hong Kong passports and the system indicated we were Chinese, and they needed to confirm that Hong Kong was indeed part of China – how ironic, given the situation here). I found the airport to be quite efficient, and the staff were also much friendlier than I’ve experienced at other European airports. We were also able to go through fast-track security, so we took advantage of that, and were through in less than 10 minutes.

Afterwards we headed towards the British Airways Galleries lounge, which was located by the B gates shortly after immigration. The lounge is located a level above the main terminal, so I found the curved stairs that headed up towards a variety of lounges.

British Airways Galleries Lounge Brussels Entrance

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Review: The Hotel Brussels Panorama Suite/Superior Twin Room

September 10, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

In Brussels we decided to stay at The Hotel Brussels, due to its great location and competitive pricing. The Hotel Brussels is located adjacent to the Parc d’Egmont, which is walking distance from the city center and many tourist attractions. I loved the location of the hotel, and it was a key reason it quickly emerged as a top contender for us. While we never used the metro, The Hotel is also located right next to Louise station, which is on lines 2 and 6 of the Brussels metro.

The Hotel Brussels is by far the highest-rise building on the Boulevard de Waterloo, and the exterior looks quite modern. Originally branded as a Hilton (the hotel opened in 1969, so we were there for its 50th anniversary), the hotel underwent a complete renovation in 2011, which was when it started sporting its current facade.

The Hotel Brussels Exterior

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Review: Hilton The Hague Family Suite

September 6, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

For our few nights in the Netherlands we decided to stay at the Hilton The Hague. I’ll be the first to admit that my loyalty is all over the place when it comes to hotels, and I’m also not the best at maximising my points opportunities when it comes to hotel stays. Many of the hotel options in Amsterdam seemed pricey, so I scouted around; I knew that a couple of my friends live in The Hague, and found a decently priced Family Suite (around HK$2,500/night) that would accommodate all four of us at the Hilton, so decided that it was the best option for our four-night stay.

The Hilton The Hague is located in The Hague Central, across the street from Hoogstraat, a street with many shops, decent restaurants, and good pubs. The hotel’s exterior is a little on the drab side, though almost not in an unpleasant way, since there’s something cute about how rustic the brick exterior looks.

Hilton The Hague Exterior

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Review: Qatar Airways 777 QSuite Business Class Doha to Amsterdam

September 4, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

After a disappointing transit at Doha Airport, we headed over to gate C5, where our flight would be departing. While I have my issues with Doha Airport (mainly the WiFi), it still comes across as almost psychedelically modern on first glance, with high wooden ceilings and the occasional train passing by overhead. The C gates occupy the “center” of Doha Airport (with the A and B gates on one end and the D and E gates on the other), so this part of the airport felt particularly open and airy.

Doha Airport C Gates

The gate agent scanned my boarding pass, and thanked me for choosing Qatar Airways. Doha Airport has “holding pens” where boarding passes are scanned before you enter a dedicated waiting area for your flight, so I waited. Eventually boarding was delayed for 10 minutes (until 7:15 AM), though at 7:15 AM boarding was called by zone, starting with business class passengers and Qatar Airways Privilege Club frequent flyers.

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Review: Qatar Airways 777 QSuite Business Class Hong Kong to Doha

August 26, 2019September 18, 2019 ~ Alvin ~ Leave a comment

Boarding was scheduled for 12:30 AM ahead of our 1:20 AM flight. I’d been monitoring our aircraft until it departed out of Doha – an hour late – so I knew it was going to feature QSuites ahead of time. My biggest gripe with booking the QSuites configuration is that you’re not guaranteed it, as many flights get swapped out last minute. Heck, as of writing, this exact same flight has been swapped three times in the past 7 days, which represents a 57% QSuite probability – not too much of a “guarantee”, if you ask me!

Qatar Airways Boeing 777 Hong Kong Airport

Anyway, we were on a QSuites flight, fortunately (we didn’t have any equipment swaps in all four segments of our booking, which I largely consider to be a blessing). Boarding was called shortly after it was scheduled, at around 12:35 AM; I was the first one in the Qatar Airways QSuite.

This was going to be a fun Friday night (or Saturday morning)!

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