A Whale of a Time

Finally, after nearly two months of being offline (on the ground, for those of you non-crew out there), I was finally allowed back in the sky, following the delivery of our new baby, A6-EDA. Eda for short. Having grown quite accustomed to being a boy of leisure over these months of being in Dubai, it was definately quite a shock to my system, having to get up at 04:30am for my sign-on. But, alas, New York was calling, and so off to work I trundled, my Samsonite suitcase in tow, ready to get onto the A380 for my first flight.

Not really sure if I wanted to get back in the air, I took a deep breath when I was called the day prior by the Purser, telling me that I was the best man for the job, and I had been chosen by my seniors to be the First Class Galley Operator on the flight. Freaking out, I began rummaging through my manuals to find anything that may be different on board that I may have forgotten about the in-flight kitchen, to find that once onboard, everything was different! Equipment locations were different, a whole new range of food, drinks and ovens to battle with, and a cabin full of expectant customers to satisfy for the 13hr15m journey to JFK International.

We had a myriad of challenges to overcome, which we did. We had a plethora of onboard features to acquaint ourselves with, which we did. We had a gaggle of twenty-seven cabin crew to fight for a seat on the crewbus with, which we did. So much to do, so little time to do it in... Never has a New York flight gone by so quickly, but thankfully, I hope, I will never have to experience a journey quite like that ever again.

As you know, I was unable to tell you exactly what was inside the Emirates A380, for fear of having my tongue chopped out by Senior Management with a blunt knife, however, the moment of truth is upon us, and I can be loud and proud in telling you all about it now.

Two Showers, a Water Feature and a Bar in First Class makes the forward section of the Upper Deck more like a Private Jet than commercial airliner. Private Mini-Suites with individual mini-bars, fully flat beds and a Lounge Bar with room for 20 passengers in Business Class create an Onboard Retreat. More space in Economy with its uber-large cabin (being wider than a B747-400 with the same seat configuration of 3-4-3) provides many Surprising Treats. It really is a new level of luxury, and am very excited to be one of the few crew in the world licenced to fly on this plane. There are only 6 of these A380 flying around the world at the moment. 5 of them are with Singapore Airlines, and 1 with Emirates. Over the next 5 years however, we will receive the 58 of them that we have ordered, and you won't be able to look at an airport-near-you without seeing one of our big fat planes sitting on the tarmac.