Domestic

The A380 Super Jumbo: What It’s Like to Fly

What would it be like if ocean liners could fly? Passengers get a sense of it aboard Airbus's massive new A380. Here's a hint of what it's like to fly on one.

Usually, Wing Tips takes a practical tone. We're all about avoiding fees and maximizing awards and knowing the secret language of fare codes.

All work and no play, however, makes for a dull publication, so today, let's take a flight of fancy--literally--aboard the world's newest and largest passenger jet. It's the Airbus A380, the fabled Super Jumbo.

A decade ago, both Boeing and Airbus were faced with deciding "What comes next?" after the current generation of big jets. Boeing elected to go efficient, with the 787 Dreamliner, currently years behind schedule and awaiting its first flight. Airbus's choice was to go bigger, with the A380, now in the air for three international carriers.

"Going bigger," however, is an understatement. This is one of the largest manmade objects ever to leave the ground, with floor area for passengers some 50 percent larger than Boeing's biggest 747. Fully optimized for coach seating, the plane can carry 900 passengers, creating new challenges for airports which have to board and deplane this mass of humanity with facilities meant for no more than half that many.

Fortunately for the airports, and the Super Jumbo's pampered passengers, the carriers currently flying the plane, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Qantas, have instead opted for luxury to the max. Come with us now into the exalted precincts of First Class on a mega-jet.

Your Cabin is Ready

Stepping on board, you first find that First Class puts you literally on a higher level than most of your fellow flyers. Where the 747 has a small upper cabin, the A380 is a true double-decker. Its upper level extends the length of the plane.

The levels board passengers separately, 1950s ocean-liner style, so there's less mixing with a horde of stampeding carry-ons. Instead, if you're flying Emirates or Singapore, you are led not to your seat, but to your cabin. Yes, your cabin. Think Pullman-style railroad car, complete with a sliding door for total privacy.

There you can enjoy gourmet meals and beverages while being entertained by a video system with a 23-inch screen. And when it's bedtime on Singapore, you can leave your comfortable seat and stretch out in your bed, replete with Givenchy sheets. Singapore's "Sky Suites" have both a seat and a bed.

Spa in the Sky

After hours of flight from, say, New York to Dubai, you might feel a bit grungy. Worry not. On Emirates, the steward will book you for a 25-minute session in the plane's onboard spa, complete with hot shower. Suitably refreshed, you then might wish to amble back to the plane's sky bar, which comes complete with everything short of a player piano.

Business class on the A380s offers lesser luxury, but is still a cut above most other jets. Depending on the airline, you might find nearly 3-foot wide seats or even a small cabinet that serves as a mini-bar. Even economy has its perks, including electrical sockets at each seat, optional internet service, and on Qantas, economy snack bars. However, travel editor Anne Banas, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, maintains that, "the consensus we've gotten is that economy feels like a cattle car."

And the Price of Flying the Super Jumbo?

Business class, roundtrip New York-Dubai on Emirates or Singapore-London on Singapore, runs about $6,700. As for First Class, as they say in privileged circles, "if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it." But we'll tell you anyway.

Roundtrip Los Angeles-Melbourne on Qantas, the tab will be "over $25,000."