My Wife And Daughter Made Me Miss A $600 Emirates First Class Ticket Yesterday! Am I Becoming More Responsible?

Yesterday, was a crazy day! Typically, I wake up at 4:30AM and begin writing. This is my schedule on the week days so, even without an alarm clock, it becomes my schedule on the weekends too.

When I awoke and began checking the notifications on my phone, I noticed several messages from my friends about a ~$600 Emirates First Class fare. As a person that has a bucket list that is 95% aviation related this, of course, caught my eye.

I wrote a post about Emirates yesterday but it wasn’t about this deal.

..FIRST CLASS? ..ON EMIRATES? ..ROUNDTRIP? ..FOR $600?

You don’t have to know much about aviation to recognize that $600 for a First Class ticket on ANY airline is (arguably) a good deal. We’re not talking about Basic Economy, Economy, Premium Economy, or even Business Class. We’re talking about First Class! Toss in the word “Emirates” and I can be at the airport and ready to go in the next 30 minutes.

In the wee hours of the morning yesterday, I started poking around to see what my travel buddies were talking about. Long story short, several dates had been found for a ~$600 Roundtrip, First class ticket from Penang, Malaysia to Dubai (via Singapore). As I wrote several weeks ago, Emirates will begin operating this route as a fifth freedom route. Yes, ~$600 roundtrip! BANANAS!!

Emirates’ First class is definitely on my bucket list but not exactly at the top. As I played around dates, suddenly I just gave up and began writing a post ABOUT Emirates instead of booking it. Why?

AM I BECOMING RESPOSIBLE IN MY OLD AGE?

Several years ago, “error fares” were a dime-a-dozen and you could find flights that appeared to be ‘fuel dumps’ almost any day of the week. To be completely candid, I booked quite a few of those flights and flew around the world several times. But airlines have installed new technology that are, often, able to catch those “error fares” before they are published. This is the reason we don’t see as many “error fares” today. However, whether it was an error fare or not, this… deal…just wasn’t for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I would like to fly Emirates’ First class some day, but I decided to pass because:

1. I would have to position to Penang. Because Penang is not a main South East Asia hub, I would need to position with at least one connection. For example, at the minimum, I would fly Atlanta (ATL) – Seoul, South Korea (ICN) – Penang, Malaysia but that’s only if award availability was available. If not, it could be a very long trip with multiple connections.
2. Speaking of long, it would take me, approximately ~3 days of travel time to get there. I would probably add another day to ensure that I arrived in Penang a day early and did not miss my Emirates flight (the whole reason why I am doing all this travel in the first place).
3. I would still need to arrange travel back home from Penang which would add another day or so onto the schedule.
4. There was one slight challenge that I did not mention above. The price was ~$600 but you would only spend 24 hours in Dubai before returning to Penang (via Singapore). If you attempted to add a day (or 2…or 3) in Dubai, the price changed to more normal First class prices.
5. I still had to pay $600 and I didn’t want to spend $600. If I could’ve used miles/points to secure the flight, I may have considered it. Considered, not bought.
6. I have a ‘round the world trip’ that I am already planning and I’m having trouble locking down the details of that.
7. I can’t be away from my wife and daughter for a week because I wanted to take an Emirates flight. That’s ridiculous!

A few years ago, I would’ve bought this flight and worked out the details later. In fact, my extremely patient and understanding wife said “go for it” when I told her about this fare. But in reality, this is a bad idea.

As much as I want to experience Emirates’ First class, I’m not THAT interested that I want to spend a week away from my wife and daughter.

But having to position to Penang just to fly to Dubai, spend 24 hours in Dubai, return to Penang, and fly back home…sounds like craziness even if I was in a lie-flat seat the entire time.

FINAL STAMP

Personally, flying is my pulse and my happy place is the airport enroute to a destination. However, my heart is my family so I chose to miss this flight because of them and, all things considered, this deal just wasn’t for me.

Flying is amazing and I’ve taken quite a few flights over the years. But it can also be exhausting. I recognized that closing that browser tab, and writing a blog about Emirates instead of booking it was the right choice and I was okay with that.

There is certainly a thrill with searching and finding cheap or “error fares.” These sorts of fares do not last long, and sometimes even after you book, the airline turns around and cancels the tickets and that’s not fun either.

Yesterday, I spent the rest of my day with family and wasn’t disappointed that I missed the deal.

H/T: Dominicus

Have you ever flown Emirates First Class? What was your experience? Did you book the Emirates First Class ticket yesterday?

p.s. If you’ve never seen Emirates’ First class, it can be over the top. Emirates operates their “old” First class on the Penang – Dubai (via Singapore) route which is still amazing. But just to give you a glimpse into Emirates, check out their NEW FIRST CLASS in the video below. Just a warning…the gentleman that is “reviewing” the flight has a…”unique”…style to his reviews. Some people love it, some people don’t but I’m showing the video so you understand why $600 is an insane deal.