Emirates

Emirates premium economy seats now fly from Seattle

Dubai-based Emirates has a reputation for swank and glamour.

And since late 2022 the carrier has been working its way through interior refurbishement of 191 A380s and Boeing 777 aircraft.

One piece of the project is adding a Premium Economy product – seats and service – to the planes.

And Emirates now has retrofitted planes with premium economy flying to and from 10 U.S. cities.

This new section has bright, cream leather seats that are 19.5 inches wide, with a pitch of up to 40 inches. There are also 6-way adjustable headrests, calf and footrests and a 13.3″ entertainment screen. Passengers are offered welcome drinks and 3-course meals served on Royal Doulton china.

Retrofitted A380s currenty operate between Dubai and four U.S. routes: NY JFK, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston.

The retroitted B777s currently operate on six routes: Chicago, Boston, Dallas Fort Worth, Seatte, Miami-Bogota and Newark-Athens.

The four-class Boeing 777s have six (or eight) First Class suites, 38 or 40 Business class seats in a 1-2-1 arrangement, 24 seats in Premium Economy and 256 Economy class seats.

(Courtesy Emirates)

Emirates passengers from Seattle have had the option of choosing premium economy seats since January 2025. But for a variety of reasons the local launch event was postponed until now.

While on an assignment a few months back, the Stuck at the Airport flew in Emirates’ economy cabin from Seattle to Dubai a few months ago. That was fine. But now that we’ve seen the premium economy section, the business class and – wow – the First Class suites, there’s probably no going back.

Here are some more images from the rest of the plane.

Business Class

(courtesy Emirates)

Emirates First Class Suites

Emirates has a new NBA livery

Emirates is the official airline global airline partner of the NBA – the National Basketball Association – and is the inaugural partner of the Emirates NBA Cup.

To celebrate the 2024-25 NBA season, the carrier has painted one of its A-380s with an NBA-themed livery featuring a blue fuselage with an NBA logo.

The Emirates lettering, which is usually gold, is red on this aircraft and there’s a basketball bouncing between the NBA logo and the Emirates logo.

Want to see the plan in action?

The Emirates NBA logo plane will be flying from November 1 through December 17 to 14 destinations in the US and Canada, coinciding with the schedule of the NBA Cup. In addition to the logo on the outside, there will be NBA-inspired touches inside the plane, including co-branded headrests, drinks served on specially designed coasters and courtside-themed menus.

Basketball fans will also be able to watch select Emirates NBA Cup games live on Sport24 on ice, Emirates’ inflight entertainment system.

If you’ve got access to an Emirates lounge, you’ll also be able to enjoy an NBA-themed menu in the lounge in Dubai, New York JFK, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston.

Basketball fans can also get a limited edition replica aircraft model sporting the newly rolled-out livery at the Emirates Official Store.

The 2024 Emirates NBA Cup tips off on Tuesday, November 12. You can check the schedule of games here.

Travel Tidbits for future flights

Courtesy UW Digital Collections

Going skiing? Save your Alaska Airlines boarding pass

If you’ve checked the rules and restrictions and feel safe flying to a ski resort this season, keep in mind that you may be able to ski for free once you arrive.

As it does each winter, Alaska Airlines is once again partnering with a variety of ski resorts to offer free ski passes on the day of arrival to travelers who show their boarding passes and IDs. Offers and deals will vary, of course, but there are offers for ski resorts in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Washington.

Deals with the My Emirates Pass too

Emirates is resuming many of its flights to and through its Dubai hub and just announced it will resume non-stop service to Seattle starting February 1 and to Dallas and San Francisco, starting March 2.

Flights to/from San Francisco will operate four times weekly on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER. Flights to/from Seattle will operate four times weekly and flights to/from Dallas will operate three times weekly.

Emirates also announced a refreshed My Emirate Pass, which offers a wide variety of discounts and deals for travelers who show their boarding pass in over 450 restaurants, leisure destinations, and retail outlets across the UAE.

Will airlines bring back more free stuff?

The Alaska Airlines ski pass and My Emirate Pass programs have been offered before but, given the times, we’re especially glad to see they’re back.

Which makes us wonder: as airlines try to win back travelers, might we see more bonus items offered with our tickets?

Travel tidbits from airports and airlines

Soon, maybe not very soon, but soon, you will go to an airport and board a plane.

In the meantime, here are some newsy tidbits from that world.

Alaska Airlines is staying active. And a bit fishy

You may be sitting around and not getting many frequent flyer miles from flying.

But Alaska Airlines has a fun campaign that will award you some bonus miles for staying active.

The airline is buddying up with fitness app Strava to give away 250,000 miles to Mileage Plan members as part of the Miles on the Ground Challenge.

Get the app, do 360 minutes physical activity by May 30, 2020, and you will qualify to enter a drawing to win up to 100,000 miles.

Alaska Airlines also did a nice pivot with the annual fly-in of the first Copper River salmon from Alaska to Seattle.

Instead of heading to area restaurants, part of the first planeload of copper river salmon became meals for health care workers. The rest was used for a salmon dinner fundraiser that generated enough money to buy 77,000 meals for people in the community.

COVID-19 testing at airports

There is a lot of chatter about doing thermal cameras and temperature checks at airport security checkpoints and boarding gates.

But that is not a foolproof method of determining if a passenger has a case of COVID-19.

So, several airports and airlines are going beyond that and requiring passengers to either have proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test result or take a test on the spot to avoid quarantine.

In mid-April, Dubai-based Emirates began requiring passengers departing Dubai International Airport to underdo rapid COVID-19 blood tests, with results in 10 minutes.

Testing at Vienna Airport

Anyone traveling to Austria right now is required to either have a recent medical certificate showing they are negative for COVID-19 or go into a 14-day quarantine.

For arriving passengers without a medical certificate but with a residence in Austria and a valid resident permit, Vienna International Airport (VIE) is offering the opportunity to get tested for COVID-19 on the spot.

The tests are not free. They cost EUR 190 (about $207), but the results come back in three to six hours and, if negative, allow the passenger to skip the quarantine.

All other arriving passengers without a health certificate are sent immediately to quarantine, according to the airport, and “must arrange for themselves to be tested by a laboratory at the quarantine location, which may involve longer waiting times.”

Iceland planning on the spot COVID-19 tests at KEF Airport

The government of Iceland expects to begin welcoming back international flight no later than June 15. And when it does, the plan is to give travelers the option of getting testing for COVID-19 on arrival at Keflavik Airport (KEF) to avoid a two-week quarantine.

Details are still being worked out on how that will play out.

Quito Airport cueing up it COVID-19 testing too

Quito International Airport (UIO) expects commercial flights to resume on June 1.

But it already has stations installed for rapid COVID-19 testing of passengers.

10 temporary testing stations are set up now and were first used on May 18 to test passengers on a charter Aeromexico flight from Mexico City carrying 120 repatriating passengers.

Singapore Airlines joins farm-to-flight trend

d

Where is the food and produce you eat on a plane grown?

Starting in September, the answer for passengers on Singapore Airlines’ passengers leaving Newark for Singapore will be “indoors, nearby.”

Singapore Airlines is working with indoor vertical farming company AeroFarms, which has reclaimed an abandoned steel mill in an industrial area near Newark International Airport and transformed it into a 1-acre, indoor vertical farm.

The farm, which grows produce ‘aeroponically’ without soil, pesticides or sunlight, can produce the equivalent of 390 acres of locally grown produce with up to 30 harvests each year and will grow a customized blend of fresh produce for SIA’s Newark-to-Singapore flights starting in September 2019.

“Imagine boarding a plane and enjoying a salad harvested only a few hours before takeoff — literally the world’s freshest airline food,” said Antony McNeil, director of food and beverage for Singapore Airlines.  “The only way to get fresher greens inflight is to pick them from your own garden.”

Singapore Airlines shared examples of farm-to-flight dished business class and premium economy class passengers might be able to choose from on Newark to Singapore flights:  

Soy Poached Chicken:Pickled Ginger Vinaigrette, Zucchini Ribbons, with Sweet Potato Roesti, Soy Beans and AeroFarms Baby Pac Choi

The Garden Green: Poached Asparagus, Broccolini, Avocado with Shaved Fennel & Flaked Hot Smoked Salmon, with AeroFarms medley of Baby Ruby Streaks, Watercress and Arugula, with Lemon Vinaigrette

As I reported last year in a farm-to-flight feature for USA TODAY, Singapore Airlines’ joins several other airlines in being super creative and eco about the food served on its flights.

Korean Air has its own company farm.

Jedong Ranch sits on 3,700 acres of South Korea’s lush Jeju Island and has been operating since 1972, when it was purchased by the former chairman of the airline’s parent company, the Hanjin Group.

Back then, South Korea had a beef shortage, so breeding livestock was the first order of business. Early on, the herd was made up exclusively of imported Angus cattle. Today the ranch is home to more than 2,200 head of prized, grass-fed Korean native cattle known as Hanwoo.

The organic, antibiotic-free meat from these animals, and from the farm’s flock of approximately 6000 free-range chickens, is sent to Korean Air’s flight catering kitchens in Seoul for use in meals served to first and business-class passengers. Some of the meat and eggs from the farm are also available, at premium prices, for purchase locally.

In addition to raising cows and chickens, the ranch’s hydroponic greenhouse also produces more than 210 tons of fruit and vegetables, including red peppers, cherry tomatoes and blueberries for   first and business class in-flight meals.

JetBlue’s garden at JFK

In 2015 JetBlue created a 24,000 square-foot milk-crate garden outside Terminal 5 at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport. Designed to both create a welcoming green space and promote local agriculture, the garden generates more than 2,000 pounds of blue potatoes, kale, carrots, leeks, arugula, garlic, mint, basic and other herbs for local food banks. 

Japan Air Lines agritourism attraction

In 2010, Japan Air Lines is scheduled to open an agritourism attraction on land near Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. The ‘JAL Agriport’ will offer visitors a chance to pick strawberries, harvest sweet potatoes, picnic, or purchase fresh produce grown in the region. JAL says it also plans to use some agriport produce in lounge menus and in-flight meals.

And Emirates announced last year that it was joining with Crop One to build the world’s largest vertical farming facility near the airport in Dubai to help create a supply chain of “high quality and locally-sourced fresh vegetables, while significantly reducing our environmental footprint,”the airline said in a statement.  

A tasty trend for sure.