The new upstart from the UAE, Emirates have come from scratch to build a clean, efficient, world class airline. With a hub at Dubai in the UAE, it has worldwide connections, but also has an obsession about flying Brits to Australia and Auckland, where it has a second hub. Justly famous for its food (which is hard to beat) and inflight drinks, it also has pretty good inflight entertainment, and private cabins in First Class. Ticket prices are quite low if you book at short notice, however Emirates do not offer a significant discount if you book a long time ahead.

A full-service airline, the quality can bit a bit hit or miss: certainly in premium classes, there are some better airlines, but in economy it can come in cheaper than most. Reviews and opinions are decidely mixed about Emirates economy, possibly because it's may great for passengers who don't fly that often, with lots of trivial perks, but the hard product has narrower seats than many other airlines (albeit longer ones: the pitch seems good, but that is only half the story).

Indeed, Emirates has a real problem with its cramped, uncomfortable seating in economy (which has recently got worse), and it has the short-hop mentality, which can mean a flight from the UK to New Zealand involves changing planes 4 times, and spending 3 days doing so. Read more about Emirates seats....

Emirates' Frequent Flier scheme, Skywards, was once very good, but it does have some very high redemption rates, particularly for premium seats, and has recently had some sharp cutbacks to perks.

It's big (the seventh largest in the world), with a fleet of 204 aircraft. It flies to 95 coutries. For many passengers it is now THE airline on the kangaroo route from the UK to Australia. The company slogan "Fly Emirates. To over Six Continents" almost does mean that, however the epithet that some passengers say ("Fly Emirates, become incontinent") is probaly as a result of experiencing Emirates' overcrowded ultra-long haul economy frights.

The result is a new airline, which despite some notable faults, has now joined the world class, however it is not one that passengers always recommend whole-heartedly.