Flying from Dubai to Auckland with Emirates

An Emirates Air Airbus A380. Photo / Supplied

Stephanie Holmes flies EK448 from the UAE to NZ

Plane: A380-800 — the big bird.

Class: Business Class.

Price: Return fares start from $8389.

Flight time: 15hr 7m.

Seat: 17D.

Luggage: 32kg/7kg for Economy, 40kg/7kg for Business Class
Check-in: I'd checked in using the Emirates' smartphone app when I was in London, which worked very well. I dropped off my bag at London Heathrow and it was checked all the way through to Auckland.

Airport experience: I was slightly concerned my two-hour connection would be rather tight, especially as my flight from London had sat on the Dubai tarmac for 45 minutes before being allocated a gate. But Dubai Airport was incredibly quiet early on this Sunday morning, so I got through security at Concourse B and on to the train to Concourse A in no time. This allowed time for an all-important shower at the lounge before my lengthy next flight.

On time: We were about 25 minutes late taking off but made up time in the air.

How full: The Business Class cabin was really empty. I was the only one in row 17, and there were a lot of other empty seats scattered around the cabin. It made for a very peaceful flight, and I'm sure a relatively easy one for the cabin crew.

Service: Wonderful. This was my fourth flight out of four with Emirates for my round trip to Europe and I can't fault the service on any.

Entertainment: Emirates' ICE system, with around 2500 channels to choose from.

Although strangely, there were different movie selections from the ones on my previous London-Dubai flight, so I never got to finish the movie I had been watching on that leg. The main entertainment for me, however, was around seven hours' sleep.

Food and drink: I'd pre-ordered a vegetarian meal, but decided to switch the starter for the Arabic mezze plate on the main menu — shanklish (Arabic cheese) salad with hummus, stuffed vine leaves, olives, artichokes and flat bread. The vegetarian main of a paneer and roast vegetable curry with saffron rice was delicious. I washed it down with a 2013 Cloudy Bay Te Wahi pinot noir.

For breakfast, I chose Eggs Royale &mdash poached eggs on English muffins with smoked salmon, roast cherry tomatoes and hollandaise. The eggs were overdone for my liking but it was still very tasty.

Should I have woken up hungry during the flight, there was a selection of light options available, plus plentiful snacks on offer at the lounge bar at the back of the deck.

Fellow passengers: Few and far between. Those who were on board made good use of the bar — every time I got up to go the toilet during the 15-hour flight, there was a big group of people knocking back the booze. Good on them, but how would they feel when they landed in Auckland? And, more importantly, how would they smell? Eww.

Toilets: Always clean and tidy. Which is more than I can say about the group in the bar.

The verdict: Business Class aboard an Emirates A380 is an absolutely incredible experience and I hope I'm lucky enough to enjoy it again in the future.