Emirates, the Dubai-based luxury airline with onboard shower spas and private first-class suites that are bigger than our apartment, has rolled out an ambitious interactive marketing campaign to promote the launch of its new Dubai-to-Los Angeles service. In honor of the Middle East's newest bridge to Tinseltown, the airline is making a short film, and it wants you to star in it. Entitled The Exposure of Tom King, it's a comedic thriller that - surprise surprise - plays on the theme of celebrity, with appearances by an actor consumed with vanity, a shameless paparazzo, a conniving blackmailer, and her bumbling boyfriend. The twist here is that the film has already been shot, only without actors. ]]> Victor Ozols 2008-10-11T10:35:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/22/61550/3072

With Qantas finally taking delivery of its first, long-awaited A380 yesterday, the battle of business class in the super-jumbos is really starting to heat up.

Over the weekend, a totally biased review from an Australian journalist who got a free seat on the A380's maiden flight into Sydney claimed that Qantas's layout in business class is the best because it "provides ... the biggest sense of space."

If space is not everything, then the other airlines already flying the A380 might actually be the winners. Emirates has a business cabin layout that gives everyone privacy plus a personal minibar. And Singapore Airlines has the world's widest seat, plus double beds, though you're not allowed to get up to any fun in them.

Related Stories:
· Which Airline Has the Best A380? [The Australian]
· A380 Planes: Flying Kangaroo is Next in Line [Jaunted]
· No Sex, Please: We're on Singapore Airlines [Jaunted]

[Photo: NguyenDai]]]> amandak 2008-09-22T09:30:32-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/10/84044/1993

Is all not rosy on board the much-anticipated A380 with showers, of Emirates Airlines fame? After just a few weeks, Emirates stopped flying its A380 due to an electrical fault this week.

The carrier is hoping to start flying the superjumbo again by the end of the week, but even then the airline is cutting its use on the Dubai to New York route from three times to twice a week so that they'll be more time for training flights and engineering work.

Either that, or the bathrooms at Emirates HQ have hit a snag and they need the plane there more often so that staff can take showers.

Related Stories:
· Emirates Stops Flights of Its First Airbus A380 [Telegraph]
· Emirates and the In-Flight Shower [Jaunted]

[Photo: Telstar]]]> amandak 2008-09-10T09:30:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/8/133315/2542

Cranky Flier Brett Snyder got a sneak peak at Emirates' new A380 recently, and this quick video explores the one thing everyone is wondering about: How's the shower?!

It doesn't look too big, but you know it'll be nice and clean: The airline plans to have two dedicated "shower attendants" on every flight to clean up after every use and restock the towels and amenities.

We're willing to look past how absolutely ridiculous that is simply because it's a shower. With heated floors. On a plane.

Related Stories:
· Flying the Emirates A380 in Business and First [Cranky Flier]
· Emirates and the In-Flight Shower [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-08-08T13:33:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/8/52619/82055

We've never been huge fans of in-flight magazines but they do tend to while away a good half an hour or so, or even more on long flights when we're fighting boredom. But flavor-of-the-month Emirates, in their eternal wisdom, has now decided to ditch its in-flight magazine completely.

Apparently this will save them one ton of weight per flight--we get it, lower fuel consumption and less emissions--so they're crowing about both cost and environment savings. Environment? This from the airline which thinks an in-flight shower is a necessity for some passengers?

Problem number two: What will passengers do instead of reading the in-flight mag? Stare at the screen in front of them even after watching all the movies? Hopefully not chat on their cell phones for an extra half hour.

Related Stories:
· Emirates Ditch Their In-Flight Magazine [Travel Rants]
· In-Flight Cell Phones: Vibrate Only on Emirates, Please [Jaunted]
· Emirates and the In-Flight Shower [Jaunted]

[Photo: TelstarLogistics]]]> amandak 2008-08-08T09:00:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/6/114014/8221

While carriers in the United States are still working to get in-flight WiFi installed, in the Middle East it's all about cell phones. Emirates is leading the way with plans to add in-flight service on its entire fleet of more than 100 planes.

Does that mean someone will be yakking all the way from London to Dubai on your next flight? Not necessarily, a spokesman says, citing trial flights earlier this year:

A certain on-board etiquette has developed, where passengers try to stay quiet to avoid being seen as intrusive. A pre-flight video is shown on aircraft that use the technology, urging passengers to keep their phones on silent or vibrate mode.

Per minute charges of about $4 will also help keep calls short. But not all passengers are buying the idea that cell phone users will be the most polite people on the plane. Says one internet commenter:

Perhaps they need an area for these people who need to be contacted even though they can't do anything in mid-air. Could I suggest on the wing?

Related Stories:
· Emirates Presses Ahead with In-Flight Mobiles [Telegraph]
· Ryanair to Begin Tests of In-Flight Mobiles [Telegraph]
· In-Flight Cell Phones: Not Great for So Many Reasons [Jaunted]

[Photo: pouwerkerk]]]> pbb 2008-08-06T11:45:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/24/8450/05858

We've been waiting for this since the start of the year and now it's just a week away: Emirates is really, truly about to fly planes with showers.

We hate that grimy flying feeling but unless our fairy godmother throws us a first-class ticket for a flight on the new Emirates A380, we'll have to deal with it. The 14 passengers in first class will have access to two showers between them, and everybody else just has to be jealous.

Emirates is keeping most of the shower details hushed up until the official launch next week. So we don't yet know, as Business Traveller pointed out,

How cabin staff will extricate a passenger mid-shower if turbulence occurs.

Is tossing life jacket over them quite sufficient?

Related Stories:
· Showers in the Sky [Business Traveller]
· Emiratse Planes Will Shower You [Jaunted]
· Emirates Coverage [Jaunted]]]> amandak 2008-07-24T09:25:18-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/