Intro
Hi, sorry, hope everyone is well! Been very busy and ended up in Bangkok for Songkran (actually deleted the report of the new TG320), the rest of the series will hopefully be posted by the end of the week.
Following a lovely time at L’Escale in Mahe and 3 nights at the Four Seasons in Desroches Island, it was finally time to head off on the next adventure.
Four Seasons Desroches Island:
Oh yeah, how cool is it that you can bike along the runway, do yoga on a LIVE runway and just enjoy it???!!!
We also played football on the runway lol.
We also took a flight back on the twin otter to Mahe before connecting onwards… Everybody loves Panda!
Talk about a cool view for landing…
And then it was time…
Having flown Emirates First Class on the way over to Mahe, I was readily excited to fly this product over to Madagascar, and it didn't disappoint. With a private cabin, free-flowing Dom Perignon, and unlimited caviar, what more could you want???
Routing
Enchainement de vols
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- 8EK707- First- Mahe- Antananarivo- Boeing 777-300ER
How I Booked
I bet you didn’t know that one of the best Emirates First Class redemptions is from The Seychelles to Madagascar… Well, Emirates releases a good amount of award space on this route, and I managed to snatch up two seats for 22.5K Emirates Miles (transferred from AMEX)+104$ to fly First Class between the two locations.
Considering Business Class is 20K miles, an extra 2.5K miles for everything you get isn’t a bad deal at all. Let’s be realistic…
Check-In
Upon landing from Desroches avec ma mere (hey, let my horrific (nor do I know how to even add accents) French come to display), we headed off to the Emirates check-in, which was just opening as we arrived.
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Within minutes, we were given our boarding passes for First Class and made our way through immigration to the Air Seychelles Lounge…
It was a fine lounge with good booze, good food, and no people which was nice.
Boarding
With boarding set to commence at 2:45 local time, we headed out from the lounge and made our way to one of the four gates at the international terminal (the domestic terminal is even smaller). Once arriving, as First Class passengers, we were invited to board by this gate agent who loves Pandas (he even had a Panda tattoo). I felt kind and in a good mood, so I gave him my Panda teddy from The Great Wall of China, and he appreciated it so much.
Anyways, it was a lovely walk out to the 777-300ER, and we were greeted by the lovely purser, as well as Vera, a sensational woman from the Donbas region in Ukraine (I was just in Kyiv).
The Seat/Cabin
Stepping onboard, I was interested to see that this 777 was one of the more dated in the fleet. Having reviewed this product in depth on the last flight, I won’t go into it too much, but each seat features a mini-bar, unlimited legroom, and pretty much all you could ask for in First Class.
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However, the notable difference was the IFE screen, as it was extremely dated. You could visibly tell the difference between the previous flight and this flight, that is for sure….
Unlike the previous flight, I decided to get the bed made up for this flight just to test it out, and I’ve gotta say: this is a very comfortable seat overall with plenty of width and room.
Departure
With the lovely FA of Vera greeting us at our seat, I asked for a delicious glass of Dom P prior to takeoff, which was presented to me in orderly fashion. Kudos to Emirates, as all of the Flight Attendants are top drawer, I digress… For my mum, she decided on some of the complementary Arabic coffee and dates.
Yes, I asked permission to take photos of them and they agreed to it.
Soon enough, 3:15 pm came around, and the captain came on to announce our flight time of 2 hours and 30 minutes to the capital of Madagascar. Seeing as the First Class Cabin was empty, my mum and I headed off to 1A and 1F for takeoff to take in these sensational views as back-taxied to the end of the runway.
Backtaxi
Soon enough, we were wheels up at 3:40 pm local time…
Amenities/IFE
Similar to the previous flight, I was happy to find that Emirates offered the same amenities on this flight, albeit being a fifth freedom route. Pajamas, full bedding, and a beautiful amenity featuring a Bulgari cologne. So,,,, I didn't document it, you can check out the previous report!!
IFE/WIFI
Once again, I won’t touch on too much of the IFE or Wifi as not much had changed selection-wise within 5 days 😅. There was a little tablet located right next to me, which helped me pick and choose options on the screen, in addition to the large, but dated screen.
Looking for wifi? No need to worry, as EK provides free wifi for First Class passengers.
Dining
Now for what I was really looking forward to: dining onboard Emirates. After missing out on the last flight due to not eating breakfast on planes, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lovely menu for today's flight featuring options for sides, even? Wow!
Service started about 15 minutes after takeoff when Vera came around to present me with a lovely glass of Dom Perignon to kick things off.
Approximately 15 minutes later, the beautiful first course of caviar was presented to my mother and I. An aspect that I was thoroughly impressed by was that my mother was always presented first, as it should be, while I was presented with food second.
Caviar all said and done, our main courses came out about 20 minutes later. My mum opted for a soup to start, as well as the cannelloni for the main, while I decided on the beef (suprise suprise). All the food was relatively good, but the cannelloni lacked the perfect execution (hard to get right on a plane), while the steak was slightly more overcooked than the medium requested.
Interesting
As my mum and I continued chatting away, I proceeded with a final course of caviar, since when in Madagascar am I right? Once again, beautifully presented and very flavorful.
A Tour Of The 777-300ER
Feeling the need for a light walk around the Emirates 777, I checked out the empty-looking business class and economy cabin. Interestingly, this route doesn’t seem to have a lot of demand, and the only people who seem to fly First on this route is the president of Madagascar and his entourage. Other than that, it apparently goes out empty 90% of the time.
Economy:
Let me know, would you pay an extra 2.5k miles for First Class over the dated business?
Service
Heading back to my seat and getting ready for landing, I figured I might as well talk about the service on today's flight. While the flight itself wasn’t quite as good as the previous sector to Mahe, the service did feel more polished as a whole on the flight,t as the crew seemed more senior.
While the cabin crew were nice, they also maintained a higher degree of professionalism
The way the meals were presented, with my mum getting hers first (by moments), shows a very good degree of manners
Just overall very pleasant people to talk with
We never went more than a few minutes with empty glasses
It’s always a pleasure to fly with Emirates, and more so in First Class. While I have found the service in business to be good in the past, First Class is on a whole other level.
Arrival
By 4:30 pm local time, the captain came on to announce our initial descent into Antananarivo, and he expected that we would be on the ground in about 30 minutes.
Heading back off to the window seats, my mum and I admired the beautiful views of Madagascar, in what would soon be rated as one of the most naturally beautiful countries I have visited.
I mean, just wow.
Sure enough, we landed a couple of minutes ahead of the planned 5:00 pm touchdown, and had a short taxi off to the gate where it was time to bid the crew farewell, and pay the 10$ entry into Madagascar.
Lemurs
Once landing, we went to the hospital as my mum had broken her wrist.
We embarked on a 4 hour drive that night to Andasibe, arriving at midnight. While I fell asleep with no seatbelt on, my mum hadn't properly traveled Africa in 15 years and thought this was going to be the end of us. The next morning I told her "welcome to Africa". "50-50"
We visited the lemurs which we were the cutest things in the world. Oh my gosh, I am in love with them.
Dancing lemur
Panda lemur
From there we had lunch at Mantadia Lodge and headed back to the capital to explore a slum (next tourism bonus)
Thanks for reading!
