Dubai news: Emirates PE soon bookable, Jumeirah’s airport lounge, Accor to run QE2 hotel

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• Nick says:

  12 May12 May 05:42

  I think we have very different views as to what ‘classy’ looks like.

  • Yuff says:

    12 May12 May 05:48

    For a PE cabin it looks pretty good to me……

  • Dubious says:

    12 May12 May 06:56

    ‘Classy’ as in the plural for class – mixing of ‘economy class’ with a bit of a ‘premium class’ ?

  • Andrew J says:

    12 May12 May 07:08

    ‘Classy’ is a bit of a Del Boy term isn’t it.

  • Carlos says:

    12 May12 May 08:12

    It beats British Airways by miles (no pun intended)

  • Rhys says:

    12 May12 May 09:05

    Emirates obviously has its own style (which isn’t to everyone’s taste – it’s certainly not my favourite) but I do think this PE cabin is a good execution of that ‘private jet’ burled walnut aesthetic.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    12 May12 May 13:41

    My thought was “less tacky”. Classy is a stretch, but you can’t deny it’s an improvement on previous design choices 😀

  • DevonDiamond says:

    12 May12 May 13:49

    The Only Way Is Emiratessex 😉

  • Charles Martel says:

    12 May12 May 14:28

    The Middle East has a certain Trumpian style to it. I’m sure I used to hear money talks and wealth whispers but I grew up potless so what do I know?

    • F says:

      13 May13 May 01:19

      A good chunk of the Middle East is far from ‘Trumpian’ or even affluent.

  • Evan says:

    12 May12 May 20:06

    I’ll go as far as “better” but that’s it.

• Tom C says:

  12 May12 May 06:12

  I stayed in the Burj al Arab last week and used the Jumeirah lounge in DXB whilst we waited for our driver. We were only there about 10 minutes, but that was enough to see they’d spent a hefty chunk of change on it – we were the only guests, so I did a very quick video tour, which I’ll try and dig out later.

  It’s really beautiful and has a decent snack (mostly cakes) selection, which is basically 95% of my diet anyway. I was really impressed. They were probably less impressed with my 1 year old daughter, as she smashed one of the glasses.

• The real Swiss Tony says:

  12 May12 May 07:39

  Some folk may have memories good enough to recall that EK used to sell – I think only via the likes of Trailfinders – fares that were in Y from London to Dubai then J beyond. Suggests they are amenable to a bit of mix & match…

  • SamG says:

    12 May12 May 11:09

    They offer the option via multicity but playing around I couldn’t get anything to price. As you say they definitely used to do it – colleagues would often do trips out to the Far East Y to London and J beyond at very reasonable pricing (booked via our TA though)

• Carlos says:

  12 May12 May 08:11

  Interested to know if PE can be redeemed or upgraded via EK points…

  @Rob can you do a review of the Jumeriah Lounge in the airport?

• Jon says:

  12 May12 May 09:29

  I wonder how those seats will look after lots of people wearing, say, new blue jeans have sat in them… Or now much extra work that’ll create for the cleaners… 😉

  • Dubious says:

    12 May12 May 11:22

    Surely it makes it easier for the cleaners to see what parts to work on?

    • Jon says:

      12 May12 May 11:55

      But then they’d have to actually clean them… 😂

      • Londonsteve says:

        12 May12 May 15:53

        Only apparently a problem at BA and other third-grade airlines…

• Sunguy says:

  12 May12 May 12:07

  I know this is to do with the QE2 – but, they really should be taking over the Queen Mary in Long Beach too…its *really* mis-managed …. (or at least it was, havent been in a couple of years!).

• TimM says:

  12 May12 May 15:07

  We sailed on the QE2 on the classic Southampton – New York crossing but as the first leg of her World Cruise, January 2002. The Salvation Army played from the dock as we set off in the fog. It was £369pp including a flight back and transfer to JFK. We met her again in Dubai as part of a Singapore – Rome repositioning 2009 and she was in a very sorry state then.

  The QE2 is an extreme oddity. She was uber-modern for her time in the 1960s with plastic furniture and bright colours everywhere. Over the years she became more traditional but never with a cruise ship’s amenities. What set her apart was the “White Star Service” which Cunard has now lost. I wonder what Accor will make of her?

  • Martin says:

    12 May12 May 23:26

    I worked on the QE2 late 80s.
    Fond memories.
    As well as working 7 days a week, I was living the Dream.

• Talay says:

  13 May13 May 00:28

  I guess it depends on where the pricing falls.

  On my regular routes, London to Bangkok, business is invariably £2000 and economy £500 or so, give or take airline etc.

  If PE was less than £1000 then some might buy it I guess but at £1250 an upwards, the enormous gap to a lie flat bed in business for a little over 50% more money should put most people off.

  I’ve only ever flown PE once, on EVA LHR-BKK and I remember it frustrating as it was only fractionally better than economy and I moved to business class from the next flight.

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