Introduction to Emirates Game Changer First Class Review
- Route: Dallas (DFW) to Dubai (DXB)
- Flight Number: EK 222
- Scheduled Departure Time: 11:30 AM
- Scheduled Arrival Time: 12:00 PM
- Seat Numbers: 2F and 2K
- Mileage Cost: 150,000 miles per ticket (Full routing DFW-DXB-SIN with Skywards Plus Discount)
Emirates launched its newest “Game Changer” first class suite in December 2018 on its 777-300ER aircraft. Since initial launch, I’ve been aiming to fly the Game Changer product as it’s renowned as one of the best first class seats in the world. As shown in the below release renderings, Emirates’ Game Changer First Class features a fully enclosed suite.
While many first and business class seats in 2025 feature privacy doors, most are below standing height, meaning you can typically see over them while walking down the aisle. Emirates’ Game Changer First Class provides an industry leading amount of privacy with an enclosure that runs floor to ceiling. The only other airlines that currently feature a competing level of privacy are Air France, which offers a curtain that fully encloses the seat, and Lufthansa’s newly launched first class Allegris seat.
While I’ve been waiting to review the Emirates Game Changer First Class for quite some time, it’s been challenging to find a compelling opportunity to fly the new seat. As I’ll discuss in more detail, Emirates currently only has nine planes with the Game Changer First Class seats, meaning there is very limited opportunity on a daily basis to fly it.
Likewise, Emirates most often flies these aircraft on routes between Dubai and select cities in Europe and the Middle East. Occasionally, the planes will run to Tokyo, Melbourne, and certain US cities. Daily equipment swaps also do happen and so the only way to know for sure you are going to be flying on the Game Changer configured 777-300ER is to track the applicable aircraft tail number.
Being US based, I preferred finding an opportunity to fly the Game Changer seat from a US city not only for convenience but also for the longer flight duration. Most European routes to Dubai are in the six hour range, so between meal services, there is not a lot of time to fully try out the seat features and bed.
Beyond routing challenges, finding two first class award seats for my partner and I in the Game Changer cabin was difficult. The Game Changer first class cabin only consists of six seats and you can often find only one award seat available. Snagging a second seat can be challenging and seems to require that the cabin to be nearly empty by revenue customers as the departure date approaches.
Luckily, all of the stars aligned, and I was finally able to book a last minute award ticket for two first class seats on Emirates’ Game Changer First Class from Dallas to Dubai.
Booking Emirates Game Changer First Class with Miles
If you are looking to book Emirates’ Game Changer First Class with miles, you’ll first want to identify potential routes where you can fly the properly configured aircraft. Below are the current tail numbers of the nine 777-300ERs that are currently flying this product. I’ve linked these to Flight Aware so you can see recent routes these aircraft are flying.
As of writing, you’ll find the aircraft is most frequently flying from Dubai to Brussels, Geneva, Zurich, Vienna, Riyadh, Kuwait City, Dammam, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Chicago. As mentioned in the introduction, equipment swaps do happen so you’ll want to track the inbound plane prior to your flight to ensure it’s Game Changer equipped. In my case, I tracked that one of the Game Changer planes randomly flew from Dubai to Dallas. I then was lucky enough to find two first class award seats for the return flight from Dallas to Dubai.
When it comes to booking your first class ticket with miles, the cost will vary based on the route. For instance, Chicago to Dubai costs 163,500 miles per passenger while Dallas to Dubai costs 186,000 per passenger. European routes will be cheaper such as Brussels and Geneva to Dubai, which cost 102,000 miles per passenger. You may consider extending your routing to another city beyond Dubai for a marginally higher cost. For instance, my partner and I booked Dallas to Singapore (via Dubai) which cost 197,500 miles. While this is certainly a lot of miles, we “only” paid 11,500 more miles for an additional 7 hours in Emirates first class compared to just booking Dallas to Dubai for 186,000 miles.
To determine how much your desired route costs, you can use the Emirates miles calculator. While you can search for award availability directly on the Emirates website, I’d recommend an award search tool such as Seats.Aero to make finding award space easier.
One way to reduce the cost of your award ticket is through an Emirates Skywards Plus membership. We used this membership to reduce the cost of our award ticket by 20%. The cost of our first class trip from Dallas to Singapore decreased from 197,500 miles per person to 158,000 miles per person (savings of 79,000 miles total). We paid $399 for the classic membership for the 79,000 miles savings which may represent a good value, especially if you have multiple people in your party. Below are some of the other perks included with Emirates Skywards Plus. Personally the additional perks are not useful so I viewed getting this membership purely as a way to buy cheap miles.
Once you’ve identified your desired routing, you’ll want to make sure you have the appropriate number of miles to make your booking. Emirates’ Skywards program is a partner of most transferable points currencies in the US including American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Rewards, and Citi Thank You Points. Unfortunately, there have been some recent negative developments for transfer ratios with AMEX now transferring at a 5:4 ratio and Citi Thank You Points transferring at 1,000:800.
While getting miles to Emirates Skywards is easy enough, unfortunately taxes/fees are high. You can expect to pay $700+ depending on the routing. On the plus side, Emirates first class awards book as “flex” (flexible) tickets. This means you can modify or cancel the ticket prior to departure without a fee so if you happen to notice your flight is no longer operated by a Game Changer plane, you can cancel for a full refund. I had to do this once as the original flight I was planning to take ended up getting equipment swapped to a plane without the Game Changer seats.
Finally, once you have your ideal ticket in mind, Emirates is willing to hold an award ticket for you if you call by phone. This is advantageous if it takes a few days for your points to transfer over to Emirates. My points transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards took two days (note that Chase is no longer a transfer of Emirates Skywards).
Emirates First Class Check-In DFW
Emirates operates out of Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and you’ll find the check-in counters located below the upper level American Express Lounge.
Emirates has various check-in lanes based on ticketed class and elite status. Some airlines offer a dedicated first class check-in lane, but Emirates groups First Class and Platinum members to a single lane here. Normally, I wouldn’t consider that much of an issue but staffing was also a bit limited with two individuals servicing the premium economy, business class, and first class check-in lanes. The majority of the staff was working at the economy/online check-in lane.
Our wait to be seen wasn’t more than 15 minutes, but compared to most of my other international first class flights where you are attended to immediately, the experience felt a bit lackluster. Part of this is likely just attributed to the staffing levels at DFW. When I’ve flown Emirates first class via Dubai and other US cities, I’ve been seen right away.
When it was our turn to check-in, we received first class carry-on tags and boarding passes. We also received our Dubai Connect passes which entitled us to a complimentary hotel stay in Dubai as we transited to Singapore.
Emirates First Class Lounge Access Dallas (DFW)
Emirates first and business class passengers have access to the Capital One Lounge at DFW. My partner and I were looking forward to visiting our very first Capital One Lounge. Although I’ve been a Capital One Venture X card holder for quite some time, I hadn’t yet had an opportunity to visit one of Capital One’s lounges which are also located at New York (JFK), Denver (DEN), Washington DC (DCA), Washington Dulles (IAD), and Las Vegas (LAS).
You’ll find the Capital One Lounge next to Gate D22. Both the Capital One Lounge and American’s Flagship Lounge share an entrance here.
I’ve heard good things about the lounge experience offered by Capital One, however, my partner and I were met with some frustration as we initially reached the lounge. Unfortunately, the lounge was at capacity and passengers were being asked to add their name to a waitlist. We only had to wait about 15 minutes to receive a text notification that we could now enter the lounge. Certainly not the end of the world, and I understand many US lounges face overcrowding issues.
While we booked this trip with miles, could you imagine paying over $10,000 for an Emirates First Class ticket only to be initially told you have to wait to access the lounge? Depending on how early you arrive and how crowded the lounge is before your flight, I could see some first class passengers not even being able to get in prior to boarding.
I place the blame on Emirates here for not securing some reserved lounge space for Emirates First Class passengers. Perhaps Capital One isn’t willing to negotiate this with Emirates. If that’s the case, Emirates should look elsewhere at the airport for its first class passengers.
Initial waiting aside, we enjoyed our visit to the Capital One Lounge at DFW. The lounge offers a wide variety of high quality small dishes, grab and go snacks, drinks on tap, including cold brew, and a number complimentary alcoholic drinks at the bar.
We enjoyed sharing a few items for breakfast and the airport views. The food here was all very good and a nice step up from your typical “club” lounge.
Although we didn’t check them out, the lounge also offers a number of additional amenities including shower suites, a nursing room, exercise/relaxation spaces, and prayer rooms.
Outside of crowding, my only other critique of the lounge space is the limited availability of bathrooms. The Capital One Lounge offers individual restroom spaces that are nice on the inside. However, with only three on offer (unless I was missing some elsewhere) there was a constant line of 5+ people waiting to use the restroom.
Overall, the Capital One Lounge is a very nice space to relax prior to your flight. While my favorite lounges in the US offer an al a carte dining experience (United Polaris, Qantas LAX, Delta One JFK), this is one the best outstation/credit card access lounges around.
Emirates 777-300ER Game Changer First Class Boarding
We headed to the boarding gate a bit early to watch the Emirates 777-300ER pull up (tail number A6-EQI). It’s nice that gate D14 at DFW offers unobstructed views of the aircraft.
Boarding began on time, but I feel like Emirates could do a better job with organizing its boarding process. Separate boarding groups were offered for economy passengers, however anyone traveling in premium economy up to first class in addition to elite members were placed in one area. This led to a chaotic and unorganized boarding process to start as they called all of these premium groups to board at once. I’m not one to be a gate lice so we boarded towards the back of this initial group.
In my opinion, Emirates could offer a more premium feeling boarding process if they boarded each of these premium classes individually instead of in mass. First class passengers shouldn’t have to fight for a position at the front if they want it.
Emirates Game Changer First Class Best Seats
My partner and I boarded and turned left through the business class cabin to arrive at first class suites 2F and 2K . You’ll see below that Emirates 777-300ER First Class Game Changer Suites are arranged in a 1-1-1 configuration. Seats 1A, 1E, and 2A share an aisle while 1K, 2F, and 2K share the opposite aisle.
If you are traveling with another person, I’d suggest 2F and 2K as the best seats. They are further from the first class galley/bathroom so they will likely be a bit quieter. Additionally, no one is seated behind you resulting only in foot traffic from the cabin crew. Finally, these seats share the same aisle so it’s the best way to be able to visit your travel companion without having to move around to the other side of the aircraft. If these are taken, seats 1A and 1E would be your next option for sitting across from your companion.
If you are traveling solo, 2A would be my top choice as no one is seated behind you and 2F does not share the same aisle with you leading to highest levels of privacy.
Beyond seating layout, there are some specific seat nuances including the aisle seats offering virtual windows which you may prefer to try over the window seats with “real” windows. I’ll discuss these differences further in the review.
Emirates Game Changer First Class Seat Review
After years of waiting, I was extremely excited to finally get onboard Emirates Game Changer First Class. While I knew what to expect from the marketing photos, I was truly amazed seeing it in person. You feel like you are walking down an aisle of a sleeper train as you approach your seat due to the floor to ceiling walls.
I loved the seat finishes and color scheme, which feel much more modern and easy on the eyes compared to the dark brown/gold finishes on Emirates’ older aircraft. The single large seat will convert to your lie flat bed. While truly private with the enclosed walls, the seat can feel isolating if you are traveling with another passenger. No option for dining or sitting next to each other is available.
Towards the front you have a large desk space with a mirror pop out. Behind the desk is a large 4K entertainment display surrounded by mini bar compartments. I really like the textured Ghaf tree present on the back wall that’s also present in many other places throughout the first class cabin.
One nuance you’ll notice between the window seat shown above and the aisle seat shown below is the larger mini bar compartments you have access to due to the curvature of the fuselage. My partner certainly appreciated getting some additional snacks compared to me :)
Here is a closer look at some of the snacks and drinks on offer. Just like Emirates’ other first class products, this mini bar area is not refrigerated so if you prefer something cold, you can always order it from the cabin crew. One advantage of this setup compared to the snack basket Emirates offers on its older 777 first class and A380 first class is the snacks are not taken away for takeoff and landing as they are in an enclosed case.
You’ll notice the M&Ms on my middle shelf had already been eaten so I guess that was a miss from the clean up on the prior flight. The crew profusely apologized provided with another one when I asked for a new one.
Above the mini bar is a couple of magazine holders. The aisle seat gets access to two magazine holders compared to one in the window seat. Here is what was on offer for reading. This was by far the most printed reading content we’ve ever had onboard a plane!
Beneath the front desk, a large extendable tray table which can be used for work and dinning. The large surface area easily holds a MacBook and tablet.
To the right side of the front table you have access to two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and a universal power outlet.
Looking outside, seat 2K has access to three real windows compared to three virtual windows in seat 2F. Funny enough, they include curtains on either side of the windows, however that’s not necessary when you can also close the windows shades.
You can open or close each window shade individually or in unison. When closing the window shades, there is an intermittent shade level to still allow some light in as shown below. When you are ready to sleep you can fully block light from coming in through the windows with a secondary shade.
Shortly after boarding, the crew provided me with binoculars to look at things outside. This a fun touch that’s unique to Emirates. The binoculars are of good quality, and I tried them out on the ground as we taxied out. Unfortunately, they were of limited use on departure due to the overcast layer of clouds.
Next to the binoculars holder, you’ll find a tablet which can be used to control the inflight entertainment system. Seating adjustments are also offered on the tablet alongside tactile seat controls below it in the tablet holder. I enjoyed keeping up with the progression of the flight on the tablet screen.
A handy search function is available to find any movies, tv shows, music, or games.
From the tablet, you can even “call room service” which is essentially an option to request something from the cabin crew without the crew coming directly to your seat first. The video call feature seems a bit awkward for my shy taste so I did not give that a try. You’ll notice the camera located at the top of the tablet for this feature.
An additional tray table can also be extended near the tablet holder that’s convenient for holding a drink or snack. An adjustable air vent is located off to the side as well.
Underneath the tablet holder is a convenient USB-C outlet.
Above the windows is an additional textured Ghaf tree.
Behind the seat, you’ll find three overhead lights and additional ambient lighting. Near the overhead lighting, you also have access to an air vent.
Looking above you’ll find an array of overhead lighting as part of the fully enclosed suite design. Speaking of all these lights, Emirates provides an industry leading level of lighting controls options.
Off to the left of the seat you have access to a digital control panel which offers a variety of lighting and seat functions.
You can easily turn on and off the various suite lights and then further customize the colors.
Below are some examples of some of the lighting options enabled. As my Eagles had just won the Super Bowl the day prior, I had to go with green for much of the flight.
The overhead lighting design looks slightly different between the window and aisle seats. For the aisle seat below, you’ll notice my patner had a wider overhead light pattern.
Of all the lighting options on offer, my favorite is the unique floor lighting which makes the cabin feel extra cozy when dark. I like the attention to detail here as this represents an extension of Emirates’ iconic overhead aisle star lighting.
Back to the left side control panel, you can also adjust heating. Typically, I find airplane cabins to be on the warm side especially when sleeping. I found keeping this heating setting to a minimum and using the available air vents kept my seat at the perfect temperature.
Besides heating, the control panel offers flight details and a handy status indicator in the upper left of whether the lavatory is occupied. Finally, you have some touch controls beneath the screen for seating adjustments, and do not disturb mode.
Moving onto storage options, there is space available underneath the front table. Off to the left is a dedicated storage area for luggage, which perfectly fit my Away bag.
There is no typical overhead bin space given all seats are fully enclosed but you do have access to your own storage locker above the seat.
My storage space in the window seat was on the smaller side compared to the aisle seat shown below.
You also have access to a storage locker next to the seat. The door serves as a mirror and inside you’ll find hangers, bedding, and additional cubbies to put items. The storage cubbies included the entertainment headphones, safety card, and duty free magazine.
Transitioning to the seat itself, you’ll find a plush integrated cushion for your head and gold colored seat belt.
Under the right arm rest, you’ll find a smaller entertainment remote. The functionality on this small remote is duplicative to the tablet but the smaller form factor is nice for making quick adjustments to volume, brightness, and scrolling through the entertainment system. I did find the remote needed to be pointed pretty directly at the entertainment screen to work effectively so it wasn’t always as responsive as I would have liked while sitting in the lie flat position.
In front of the left arm rest is the headphone connector for the entertainment system.
On the left arm rest is a small storage compartment and a seat of quick seat adjustment controls for upright, relaxation, and dining.
To round out the seat features, we’ll look at the privacy offered. Below is how the seat looks with the main suite door closed. You’ll noticed there’s a bit of damage to the middle of my door blades. Off to the right side is an additional service door which can be opened and closed for providing meal service while the main door remains closed.
I love this extra service door concept as it enables a much higher degree of privacy than you’ll find amongst the competition where you need to have your privacy door open to receive any cabin service.
I love how the seats look overall from the outside with the door closed.
If you are sitting across from a stranger and both of you have the doors open, you’ll be able to see part of their seat. However, you’d have to really bend forward to make any sort of eye contact with them. While this is great for solo travel, one of the cons of this seat design is you can feel isolated from your companion while traveling. To speak with my partner, I basically needed to walk over to her seat.
Emirates First Class Amenities
One of the distinguishing aspects of flying Emirates first class is the sheer number of amenities and freebies provided. For starters, you get a BVLGARI amenity kit that’s probably the most well stocked among the competition. There’s both a female and male kit on offer. Included is a dental kit, earplugs, cleansing towel, tissues, comb, lip balm, deodorant, hydrating lotion, perfume or cologne. The female kit specifically includes a hair tie and makeup mirror while the male kit specifically includes a razor, shaving cream, and after shave.
Along with the amenity kit you also receive pajamas, slippers, and an eye mask. All of these items were of high quality but in particular the slippers stand out. The slippers grip around your foot to help ensure they stay on. Sometimes slippers can fall off while adjusting your seat or moving around so I quite liked these.
Alongside the desk mirror, you’ll find some towelettes, facial toner, eye cream, pillow mist, and sleep oil. Also included is an Emirates branded pen and notebook.
For the entertainment system, Bowers and Wilkins noise cancelling headphones are on offer. Sound quality on these were good although I preferred to use my Apple AirPods Pro with the bluetooth connectivity offered via the entertainment system.
Given all of the items you may potentially take with you after the flight, Emirates also provides a tote bag. These are especially useful on the A380 where you might take an inflight shower and want to carry things to and from your seat.
Emirates Game Changer First Class Post Boarding, Safety Video, and Taxi
After settling into our seats, the cabin crew quickly came to welcome us and deliver the aforementioned amenities. We were offered a choice of a welcome beverage along with some delicious Arabic dates and coffee. During this time, the crew graciously provided me with an overview of all the seat features.
I stuck with ice water for the welcome beverage as the better alcohol won’t be available until you are airborne.
The cabin door closed with three of six first class seats occupied. Soon after, we pushed back and the safety video began playing.
While taxing, I kept my eyes peeled outside and attempted using the provided binoculars. We passed by a number of American Airlines planes parked at Terminal D along with Avianca and Frontier.
The tail camera on the big screen is also a great way to following along and after a quick taxi we arrived at runway 35L for departure.
Emirates First Class Lunch Meal Service
Emirates offers a dine on demand meaning you can order food at any point during the flight rather than having a meal at a prescribed time. For this flight, I was hungry after departure so decided to order from the lunch menu service right away.
Emirates offers a nice printed copy menu onboard which you can also view before your flight on the Emirates app/website. Below is what was on offer for my flight for food and drink.
To start, I ordered a glass of the Dom Pérignon 2015 with some warms nuts and chips.
My tray table was then set up for the amuse bouche and caviar service. I switched to a glass of the Dom Pérignon Plenitude 2004, which can retail for over $500. I have to commend Emirates for its strong drink selection in first class.
I love the Emirates caviar presentation but do prefer when the caviar is presented straight in the tin like on Cathay Pacific. Emirates is very generous with its caviar portions and in theory it’s unlimited so you can order it multiple times on a flight if you’d like.
After the caviar I tried the signature Arabic Mezze, which is always a delicious choice.
For the main I went with the grouper filet. Honestly it was just ok. The fish was a tad dry and it wasn’t the most flavorful.
To accompany the fish, I ordered an Aperol Spritz.
My partner went with the chicken tikka biryani which she enjoyed.
For dessert I went with the honey sultana cheesecake while my partner had the warm chocolate fondant.
To wrap up the meal, I enjoyed a cappuccino.
Overall the food here was adequate by international first class standards. Caviar, the Arabic mezze, and the drink selection on Emirates always standout while the mains and desserts were just fine on this flight but nothing special. I typically prefer the meals a bit more in first class on other top notch first class products including Singapore, Air France, Cathay, and JAL.
Emirates First Class Game Changer Bathroom
After the meal service, I checked out the bathroom. Emirates has two bathrooms on its Game Changer first class cabin that are on the basic side. I don’t fault Emirates for this as the 777 provides a much smaller footprint compared to the double decker A380 (in which Emirates provides room for a shower suite). While small the interior is modern and I liked the design of the Ghaf tree.
You are likely to never experience a wait for the bathroom given there are two bathrooms for the maximum of six passengers available. The crew kept the bathroom looking flawless throughout the flight.
One thing I do like about Emirates’ first class bathroom is the availability of self-serve amenities, including cologne and perfume as well as dental kits, combs, lotions, etc.
Walking to and from the bathroom you have an amazing view of the Game Changer first class cabin. It felt surreal seeing the six enclosed cabins from the front like this.
Emirates First Class WiFi
Emirates first class passengers get access to complimentary WiFi. Below are the results of an inflight speed test. Certainly not the fastest speeds out there but I had no problems browsing the web and texting.
Emirates First Class Snacks and Drinks
After about 6 hours of rest, my partner and I decided to try some items from the Movie Snack menu. How fun is it that Emirates has such a menu! We tried the beef sliders, lobster salad, and salted popcorn.
I had an iced coffee to go along with the popcorn. The popcorn tasted fresh and was served warm. The snack menu definitely stands out amongst the competition, and we enjoyed everything.
After some snacks, I enjoyed a few glasses of the Hennessy Paradis, which can retail for over $1,000 USD!
Emirates Game Changer First Class Entertainment System
While enjoying our snacks, I tested out the Emirates entertainment system. If you’ve flown Emirates before, you’ll know the airline has an industry leading amount of movies, music, and TV Shows onboard so you definitely won’t get board even on a 14 hour flight.
Emirates’ entertainment system is referred to as ICE, standing for information, connectivity and entertainment.
Under information you can find flight details, news headlines, facts about Emirates, and information on traveling to Dubai.
Connectivity is pretty self explanatory where information is available on connectivity to Wifi, inflight power sources, and playing content from external devices.
While technically under the settings menu and not connectivity, I did want to mention you can use your bluetooth headphones with the entertainment system. I also like the feature where you can sync content with another seat so my partner and I could watch a movie at the same time.
Moving onto entertainment, you’ll find Live TV, movies, music, TV shows, and games. One of the nice features of the included tablet at your seat is browsing the movie selection there and playing it on the big screen when you’ve found something. Below is some of what was on offer for my flight.
For the most part, I enjoyed watching NBA basketball on the live sports channel and viewing the flight tracker.
Emirates Game Changer First Class Bedding
Emirates offers turn down service in first class and the crew made up my mattress pad and bedding when I was ready to sleep. While the sleeping surface isn’t as large as some of the other first class products such as JAL, it was very comfortable. I had no problem falling asleep for about 6 hours even though we left Dallas at mid day and was not particularly tired.
Emirates First Class Breakfast Service
About 2 hours prior to arrival, my partner and I ordered from the breakfast menu. To start, I enjoyed some fruits, a smoothie, iced coffee and wide selection of tasty pastries.
For mains, we went with the poached egg and the lobster omelet. I felt like the presentation was a bit lacking but both tasted pretty good.
Emirates Onboard Polaroid Camera
When traveling on Emirates, be sure to ask for a Polaroid photo. The crew will be happy to take one of you and place in a frame to take home. The lighting was a little tricky to get right and we appreciated how willing the crew was to take a few photos until it came out right.
Emirates Virtual Windows Review
Emirates offers virtual windows for the two center seats that would not ordinary have any view. This is a feature unique to Emirates that I haven’t seen elsewhere that I think is such an awesome idea. Now you don’t have to have FOMO about sitting in the middle seat and missing out on the outside world. The virtual screen window quality is fantastic.
My partner and I enjoyed looking out during our initial taxi and on our final approach into Dubai.
One potential con of the virtual windows is that the image is of course fixed, and you can’t just move your head around like you might for a normal window seat to get a different view. You can see below as we taxied around the camera seems to be tilted downward giving a more direct view of the taxiway lines. If you focus on the planes below, you’ll notice they can get a bit cutoff. If you are an avid plane spotter, some of your views might be obstructed somewhat compared to a typical window seat as you taxi.
With that said, I do like that the camera angle is slightly tilted down as I think it makes for a better viewing angle during the cruise and final approach phases of the flight.
An overall benefit of the virtual windows is they appear less bright compared to direct sunlight shining through the cabin. You might prefer this if you want to “see” outside but do not want an overly bright view while seated. You can compare the brightness between the virtual and real windows as an example below.
As our flight descended into Dubai, we enjoyed some final views through the virtual windows and of the Dubai airport, including an Emirates A350.
Emirates Game Changer First Class Review – Pilot Debrief
Emirates Game Changer First Class is a phenomenal product that I wouldn’t hesitate to fly again. It’s not perfect in all categories. You may prefer the food and service on other top airlines such as JAL, Singapore, or Air France. Likewise, while the Game Changer First Class seat is extremely spacious and private, it may not be the best for those traveling together who want to dine together or interact in flight.
Those small issues aside, I think where Emirates first class takes top place is being an overall memorable experience. Where else can you sit in a fully enclosed suite with highly customizable lighting/heating, drink $500+ plus champagne and Hennessy Paradis, enjoy unlimited caviar, take in virtual windows, get an inflight Polaroid picture, use inflight binoculars, take home a bag full of amenities, take an inflight shower (by also connecting to an A380 flight), etc. While some of these could be viewed as gimmicky features, I had a ton of fun flying Emirates Game Changer First Class and it’s a flight experience I’ll never forget.
If you plan to travel on Emirates first class, my recommendation would be to fly an itinerary with a Game Changer First Class flight and an A380 first class flight. That way you get to enjoy both the latest first class seat from Emirates as well as the amazing bar and shower suite on the A380. Typically, the cost of an additional flight will be marginal on your itinerary and make your miles and points go even further in terms of value.
