Emirates’ revamped A380 Onboard Lounge made its debut yesterday on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, marking the 9th anniversary of the airline’s award-winning A380 service.

The lounge is an iconic feature of Emirates’ double decker aircraft. Only a handful of the world’s airlines offer passengers a social space like this to enjoy while travelling at 40,000 feet.

The latest makeover of the lounge, inspired by private yacht cabins, features a more modern and refined aesthetic. The new colour scheme sees lighter champagne colours dominate, accented by a glossy dark wood trim. It’s a great look, overall!

The new Emirates Onboard Lounge

Here’s what the existing lounge looks like.

The older lounge design

With a clientele made up of business and first class customers on board the A380, the lounge accommodates 26 guests.

Passengers can enjoy canapés, wines, spirits and cocktails, with six different wines on offer depending on the route, and always either Moët & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot champagne on tap.

Emirates has also made other improvements to the space, including soundproof curtains, soft ambient lighting options, new window blinds with integrated LED mood lighting, and subwoofers for surround sound.

Emirates has said it is only installing the revamped lounge on new planes, but let’s hope an upgrade to the existing A380s also comes soon.

An easy way for Australians to experience the Emirates on-board bar and lounge is by using Qantas Points to book a business or first class seat. This is one of the best uses of Qantas Points, as I’ve written about before.

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Singapore Airlines first class is one of the most stylish ways to fly, with passengers enjoying top-notch service, food and drinks – and, on the A380, the renowned first class “suites”.

Singapore Airline partners with Virgin Australia, however Singapore Airlines has been restricting partner access to first class award seats, and the only way Velocity members could book these seats was by transferring their Velocity Points into a Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer account.

Fortunately, it looks like this barrier has finally been removed, with AusBT reporting yesterday that Virgin Australia now has direct access to Singapore Airlines first class awards. That means Velocity members can now choose whether to book seats directly through Virgin Australia or by transferring their points to KrisFlyer.

I’ve updated my guide for using Velocity Points to secure Singapore Airlines business and first class seats to reflect this change.

You still need to compare the two booking options, as there could be a big difference in the points required. For example:

• to fly first class from Melbourne/Sydney to Singapore you need 95,000 Velocity Points or 75,000 KrisFlyer miles (which is 101,250 Velocity Points pre-transfer to KrisFlyer at the rate of 1.35:1) – so you save 6,250 points by booking directly with Virgin Australia
• to fly from from Melbourne/Sydney to Europe in first class you need 203,000 Velocity Points or 132,500 KrisFlyer miles (which is 178,875 Velocity Points pre-transfer to KrisFlyer) – so you save 24,125 points by going down the transfer path.

Make sure you read my step-by-step guide for choosing the right option and booking your seat.

As I’ve written before, flying Singapore Airlines first class is one of the best uses of Velocity Points.

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One of the most annoying aspects of flying out of Australia is filling out those green Outgoing Passenger Cards prior to departure.

Without fail, you can never find a pen or remember your passport and flight numbers, which just ends up frustrating you and taking up time you could be spending shopping for duty free or drinking champagne in the lounge.

Well, the good news is that those irritating green cards are getting the boot tomorrow. Yes, as of 1 July 2017, you’ll no longer have to fill out the cards prior to clearing immigration.

All the details the authorities need to know will now be collected from each airline’s Advance Passenger Information System (APIS).

Unfortunately, the orange incoming passenger card still needs to be filled out manually by passengers, however the government is apparently considering doing away with these as well so as to “achieve a seamless and automated traveller experience.”

It looks like the 21st century has finally arrived at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

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Qatar Airways took the spotlight at the Paris air show this week, showcasing its first aircraft fitted with the innovative business class seat, Qsuite, which takes off to London this weekend.

Qsuite is a top contender for the best business class seat in the sky. It features the travel industry’s first-ever double bed in business class, with privacy panels that stow away, allowing passengers in adjoining seats to create their own ‘bedroom’.

The staggered 1-2-1 layout will allow the middle seats in every second row to form a ‘double bed’, while in the other rows passengers will be more separated.

Groups of four passengers travelling together can also adjust the panels and TV monitors in some of the centre seats to create a private four-person ‘suite’, allowing them to work, dine and socialise together.

Solo travellers will also enjoy the 1-2-1 layout, with window seats that provide direct aisle access, and privacy screens for those in the centre.

Other seat features include a large 21.5 inch entertainment screen, a range of seat controls, a universal power outlet, two USB ports, a headphone jack, HDMI port and a handheld touchscreen controller.

The actual dimensions of the seat aren’t that revolutionary – 21.5 inches of width and 79 inches of length when fully flat – but it’s the privacy provided by the 135-cm high sliding door and the customisation that make it stand out. This is the most customisable experience you can get at the pointy end of the plane.

QSuite continues the trend of blurring the lines between business and first class, which I’ve written about previously.

The new seat will debut on the Doha – London route this Saturday, 24 June. The airline’s fleet will be retrofitted at the rate of one plane per month, with the Qsuite set to fly next on routes to Paris and New York.

Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld alliance and a Qantas partner, meaning you can earn or use Qantas Points with the carrier.

The airline has recently been hit by the blockade on Qatar by four neighbouring countries, although in a statement last week the carrier said that its global operations were “running smoothly”.

Yesterday, Qatar Airways won the “Airline of the Year” award from Skytrax, the most widely recognised airline rating service.

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