Brisbane gets daily Emirates Premium Economy services

Stretch out those legs, Queenslanders. Passengers flying between Brisbane and Dubai can now fly Emirates Premium Economy every day of the week.

Originally launching three times a week on 1 February 2025, Emirates’ refurbished A380 is now flying between the two cities once per day. The refresh comes with a range of updates across all cabins, but also makes way for 56 Premium Economy seats, at the front of the lower deck.

To celebrate, Emirates invited Point Hacks for a preview of the A380 ahead of its evening flight to Dubai, via the Emirates Lounge.

I have to talk about the Emirates Lounge

The world’s largest passenger plane is ready for boarding.

Business, First and status-holding passengers can board directly from the lounge.

The buffet style dining area features a wide range of dishes.

I couldn’t pass on the Crème Brûlée. The flowers add a touch of class to the dish.

Before even stepping onto the plane, I realise the biggest perk of flying out of Brisbane is Emirates’ fantastic (and also newly refreshed) lounge. The space has room for up to 183 passengers and features fantastic views of the tarmac. The dedicated dining area offers an open buffet of dishes from across the globe, and access to a nice selection of self-serve beverages.

Coolest of all – passengers can board their flight directly from the lounge and straight onto the upper deck of the plane. Any chance to maximise time at the buffet and open bar sounds like a win in my book. Of course, the lounge remains exclusive to Business and First Class passengers, Gold and Platinum Skywards members, and Qantas Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members. If you’re none of the above and are still really, really keen to see the lounge, you can also purchase entry for $105 USD.

The refurbished A380

The refurbished A380s have 58 Premium Economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.

The Premium Economy pillows look COMFY.

Emirates samples a dinner available in Premium Economy, complete with Royal Doulton tableware and stainless-steel cutlery.

76 lay-flat Business Class seats are available in a 1-2-1 layout.

It’s hard to capture the splendour of Emirates First Class in one photo…

… but I gave it a shot. You can find 14 of these suites on board.

There are 437 economy seats in 3-4-3 configuration.

The front rows in economy get the most legroom with up to 33 inches of seat pitch.

It was a quick tour, so I didn’t have a chance to try every seat. Thankfully, the aircraft is a favourite among the Point Hacks crew. Many of us have found excuses to fly on the refurbished A380 since it launched in Sydney in 2022. 

News Editor Chris Chamberlin has had extensive experience with the upgraded cabin, flying in both Business Class and Premium Economy. Meanwhile, in my first week at Point Hacks, I took a brief three-hour trip from Sydney to Christchurch, squeezing in every experience I could from the onboard shower through to the bar at the rear of the plane.

Former Point Hacks writer Victoria even attempted a date night in First Class, which somehow ended up being more cost effective than an equivalent date night in Sydney. Definitely read some of the above if you’re curious about the real onboard experience (spoiler: we all loved it).

How to book with points

While the introduction of Premium Economy is the headline, the cabin class is not available to book with points or miles across Emirates’ entire network. Skywards members can’t even use miles to request an upgrade to the seat. Point hackers will need to admire Premium Economy from another part of the plane.

As a partner of Qantas, the easiest way to book the other cabins on these flights is with Qantas Points through the Qantas website. Here’s how much you can expect to pay when flying from Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney.

Customers can also book directly through Emirates with Skywards Miles, transferred from other rewards programs including American Express Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. Just note, Skywards members now need to be Silver or above to book First Class.

If you’re keen on seeing the A380 at its best, make sure you’re booking the refurbished plane. That’s because there are two daily services between Brisbane and Dubai. In this instance, you want to be flying EK434 from Dubai or EK435 from Brisbane. Flight EK434 departs Dubai at 10:35 am and arrives in Brisbane at 06:25 am local time the following day. Flight EK435 departs Brisbane at 9 pm and arrives in Dubai at 05:25am the next morning. 

The other flights (EK430 and EK431) remain in a three-class layout for now, without Premium Economy.

Summing up

Premium Economy has proven to be an incredibly popular cabin class for Aussies, so it’s great to see more four-cabin A380s make their way to Australian cities. It’s just a shame that we can’t spend our points on the cabin… yet.

Also read:

• Emirates President: “I’m the one that’s stopping” points bookings in Premium Economy
• Emirates Premium Economy now on every Sydney flight as rollout continues

Photography by Tobias Venus who travelled at Point Hacks’ expense.