What Would You Give to Fly Emirates First Class With an Onboard Shower?

Perhaps the coolest thing in international commercial flight is the Emirates A380 first class… onboard shower.

That’s got to be about the most aspirational inflight amenity there is, at least without getting into private or government aviation.

Do you have a frequent flyer bucket list? Is there something at the absolute top of it? Have you ever said to yourself, “What I would give…

But would you come anywhere close to doing what this guy did to get what he wanted most?

Many of us testicle owner/operators have often claimed that we’d happily donate our (usually left) testicle for something, usually some kind of car. So it shouldn’t be so shocking to hear that some loon is actually doing just that. One nut for $35,000. Which he’s using to buy a Nissan 370Z

What’s your frequent flyer aspirational goal, and what would you give for it?

(HT: Marginal Revolution)


About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Shower Suite definitely on my list but not for either one of mine. Not sure how to get a car, but a couple AmEx cards bonuses for both hubby & me & I’m close to SYD-DXB-LAX in 1st.

  2. I’d put a decent amount of time and effort into learning how to accumulate miles and points (thanks, Gary!) and to figuring out the best ways for my wife and myself to use them for great flights and hotels across the globe. And that’s it.

  3. I actually don’t have an aspirational bucket list. A shower on the A380 seems an interesting thing, but I’ve never been on a flight and thought…wow, what I really need is a shower right now. So, not sure I’d even use it. The closest I can get to it is a Singapore Suite. But even that I could take or leave and probably wouldn’t pay extra either in cash or miles for.

  4. My guess is that I speak for many here. Our friends think we’re nuts for spending the amount of time we do on this “hobby.” They can’t understand why we would be willing to have a stopover on a Business or First award flight when they can fly non-stop for cash.

    When I think of the First Class flights, the stop, the shower and shave, the snack and possibly the drink of top-shelf liquor, well, it’s really not hard to take! But in all those flights over the last 10 years, I never once felt that the only thing missing was having a shower on the plane! I guess the FC suites might, and I say just might, give me entry to the mile-high club but I have great issues. it has gotten harder and harder to get the Business Class seats and almost impossible to get First. And I’m not exactly a Nubie. I’ll work through the miles I have but I fear the golden days may be over and it may be time to just be grateful for all the wonderful experiences I’ve managed to have.

  5. I flew it this past February and I loved the shower. How cool! I bought a CMB fare which was affordable so I kept my nuts but now I want to fly it again and I think the CMB fares are gone 🙁

  6. Yes, the F fares seems to be gone from CMB, although you can still get some deals in J. They seemed to disappear after a few popular bloggers (not Gary) spilled the beans. A cautionary tale for all….

  7. Is it too soon for an expression of Thanksgiving gratefulness?
    Thanks you, Gary, for being so generous with your knowledge many moons ago when I was learning the ropes. You even notified me when a First Class Cathay seat opened up for my return flight from Hong Kong (poor hubby stayed in his employer purchased business seat). Because of credit card bonuses, Bluebird, Vanilla Reloads, 5x office store purchases, BankDirect, Expertflyer, AwardNexus, ANA Tool, Milepoint and FlyerTalk, I haven’t taken an international coach flight in over 5 years…and I’m currently sitting on over 2 million miles! Bless You.

  8. When I was flying the day-long route (frequently) from Saipan to the Mainland, various sides of it, and back, I would have paid serious extra money for an exercise bike. There is enough room in biz class for one, or more (or a rowing machine). And bikers don’t sweat that much….

    I suppose a shower on board would be nice in that situation.

  9. I am holding on to my crown jewels and accompanying equip right to the end thank you.
    I’m not fond of taking a shower mid-air personally
    What happens when you hit turbulence?
    and who keeps it clean? eeek
    My last flight on Emirates in business class a380 had surly well dressed FAs with attitude and bad quality food service with a good beverage service.
    Now I’ve lost my desire to pay for First Class or use miles
    I’m fine with other premium carriers and I get to keep my nuts 😉

  10. I fly EK F a couple of times every two weeks, the wow factor of the shower hasn’t worn off for me yet… It’s best to do it during/after a few glasses of Dom + a couple of double Hennessy Paradis.

    Having said that, I prefer other airlines F cabins (CX, SQ, EY & QF) and think EK is very much so overrated..

  11. Um…

    No.

    If I had testicles, there’s no way I would give it up for showering in a pretty room in the sky.

    A trip into space… now that would be tempting.

  12. I flew it in January and find it very cool. It was nice to be able to take a shower on a plane after running a marathon (even though I took one just before checking out of the hotel:)

  13. $4,445.90 the amount I paid for a round trip First Class ticket CMB-SEA for which I get to take two showers.

  14. Actually taking a shower isn’t particularly aspirational for me. I take showers most days in the convenience of my own bathroom. Though I should probably reflect more often on the billions in the world to whom this would indeed be a luxury, I consider it a pretty typical situation in my milieu. Most of my friends also have indoor plumbing and don’t bother to post photos of their showers on blogs. To me a shower on a flight is just one of those silly things that some people get excited about. I suppose I might pay $10 just for the chance to be up and about doing something during a long flight. That’s about it.

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