Emirates Business Class – Toronto to Dubai

A clear evening for our departure out of Pearson airport. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9:45pm and we arrived around 6:45pm to ensure there were no delays during check in and security.

All J class check in counters were busy and we waited 5 minutes before being helped by the next agent. All documents were checked including PCR results and after, our bags were tagged all the way to Male (Maldives). The check in agent said to remember to fill out the Maldives health declaration form while we were in transit at Dubai airport.

Pearson airport was fairly quiet in the check in hall. Security was quick and we were on our way to the Plaza Premium lounge.

The lounge had apparently reached its ‘maximum capacity’ but still allowed Emirates F/J passengers to enter. Everyone else was denied entry. We had a small bite to eat to keep us full till the dinner service on the plane. Food and alcohol was served by the staff while non alcoholic drinks was self service from a machine.

Junior was getting bored hanging around and doing nothing, so we left around 8:45pm and went down for a walk around the gate area. Boarding was at gate E73 and had already begun well before the indicated time on the boarding pass.

Our seats were in the mini cabin which was in front of the lounge area. The entire J class was full for this flight and we had a bad luck of a group of young gentlemen who stayed up the entire flight being loud.

The flight was delayed by 30 minutes due to a baggage incident in the airport. Once resolved, we were on our way with the taxi to the runway being super short.

The amenity kit – looks like Emirates is reducing costs.

Menus were distributed and meals choices for dinner were taken while on the ground and served around 90 minutes after take off. Meal choice for breakfast was also taken.

Aberfeldy scotch on the rocks and nuts to start.

Arabic mezze for the appetizer.

Lamb curry for the main which was delicious.

Chocolate gateau for dessert which was meh.

Between dinner and breakfast, it was a toss up of trying to get sleep, tend to Junior’s needs and ignore the chatter from the bar area.

Starry night.

Breakfast was served around 2 hours to landing. Went with the scrambled eggs and sausage option and it was tasty.

Landing was uneventful and we disembarked fairly quickly. We had 10 hours of transit before our next flight to Male. We decided to book a room at the Dubai International Airport hotel which was located on the airside part of the terminal.

Overall, nothing much to rave about. No issues to complain about other than the loud chatter from the bar area (bit of a toss up whether there will be people or not and unfortunately, it was a packed flight).

Pandemic Birthday Trip – Introduction

COVID was and continues to be a pain in everyone’s you know what. Our last trip was in August 2019 and we were well overdue for a break from it all. After monitoring ongoing updates to Canada’s border restrictions and reopening, I pulled the trigger on booking a trip and the best time to go was around the wife’s birthday.

After looking at various options for flights and destinations, we booked round trip flights on Emirates to Maldives and Dubai.

The Emirates flights were booked in business class using Alaska Airlines points at 85k per person each way for a total of 510k points.

The next decision was to book a suitable resort in the Maldives. As there was a considerable bank of Marriott Bonvoy points stashed away, it was best to use it on one of the top end resorts. We ended up booking the St.Regis Maldives in an Overwater Villa for 6 nights (1 night was free since due to the standard 5th night free promotion) for a total of 470k points.