Perth to London with no jet lag? Fantastic and true on Emirates’ new daylight flight to Europe.
Perth to London with no jet lag?
Fantastic and true on Emirates’ new daylight flight to Europe.
For years we have been conditioned by airline schedules dictating that we leave for Europe in late afternoon and arrive first thing the next day.
And even if you managed to get some sleep, you arrive at 6am when nobody wants to know you – particularly at overpriced London hotels.
Even interstate, it was many years before airlines offered anything but midnight or midday flights with a cup of tea and sandwiches.
Now the most popular domestic flights are 6am or 8am and then 4pm in the afternoon with the midday and midnight flights the haunt of holiday-makers.
From the outset, Emirates has tried to break our international travel habits and offer different times and a host of new destinations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The airline offers a 10.30pm service, which arrives in Dubai in the early morning to connect with a host of flights into Europe with arrivals early afternoon.
The new dawn departure from Perth is an adventure.
You are going to see half the world and a few movies to boot.
Venus was glowing brightly in the midwinter morning dawn as our jet winged its way up the Western Australian coast for the first hour or so.
The sun broke the horizon as we were abeam Shark Bay and this was also where we left home and banked to the west, making direct track for Sri Lanka and then Dubai.
Emirates is one of the first airlines to use Airservices Australia’s Flextracks, which enable airlines to get the most favourable flight route on a daily basis.
Heading north initially took us out of the path of strong jetstreams, which we would harness on the route back.
Sometimes, flights from Dubai to Melbourne and Sydney fly south of WA to ride the jetstreams rather than the most direct route over Port Hedland.
And talking of jetstreams, the cabin crew on our flight – most from Australia and several from Perth – were in full flight, offering a breakfast fit for kings. But we opted for the seasonal fruit and knocked back the champagne – we had a way to go, work to do and movies to watch.
Our game plan was simple – have a light breakfast as usual and then pull out the laptops for the first part of the trip. Relaxation was on the agenda for later.
The cups of tea and water kept flowing and hours seemed to disappear.
Before we knew it, we were past Sri Lanka and into the Arabian Sea with just three hours to Dubai.
It was high time to pack up the laptops and enjoy some Emirates hospitality. The lunch menu was simply too good to refuse. Medallions of lobster for entrée and Szechuan chilli prawns accompanied by a delightful sauvignon blanc.
Our arrival into Dubai was at a civilised 1.20pm.
There are connections to a host of destinations in Europe but we chose to wait a while and do some shopping at Dubai’s famous duty free shops.
Our connecting flight to London Heathrow was at 4.15pm, which gave us plenty of time.
Emirates has flights to London from Dubai at 2.30am, 7.45am, 9.50am, 2.15pm and 4.15pm. To London Gatwick there are flights at 2.45am, 8.05am and 3pm.
In all, there are 22 destinations in Europe to choose from.
The 4.15pm service pushed back on time as our Aussie captain told us we were in for a smooth trip through to Heathrow, although the forthcoming week’s weather in the UK was to be a tad warm with tops around 37C forecast.
Our aircraft tracked up over Iran and we had spectacular views of the harsh and rugged mountains that spread the length of the country.
Interestingly, of all the Middle East countries in that region, Iran has proved to be one of the most helpful to airlines in shortening flight times, allowing unlimited access to air routes above 9,140 metres (30,000 feet).
Of course they love the US dollars that airlines pay out for over-fly rights.
At the northern tip of Iran our aircraft turned to the west and over the Black Sea towards Istanbul as we settled into the movie and a delightful evening meal. Well, it is evening somewhere.
Emirates has won more inter-national awards than any other airline. Last year the airline won 31 awards, with a further 14 so far this year.
Soon our Boeing 777 starts its leisurely descent into Heathrow.
We touched down at 8.30pm.
Tired? A bit, but no more than you feel after doing seven hours of work, eating two banquets, watching two movies and drinking a few – too many – glasses of wine.
Time for bed? You bet!
And this was the acid test – would we sleep and would we still respect Emirates’ claim in the morning?
After picking up a hire car it was touch down on the pillow at our Heathrow hotel at 11pm. The next thing we knew, the alarm was announcing 8am.
There was no stunned feeling, no headache and we were certainly not on the set of Lost in Translation 2.
Our body clocks were set effortlessly to UK time and stayed that way.
