Business Flight to Maldives - which airline ?

[Coneyhurst Blue]

Which airline do you think offer a better business class flight to the Maldives ?
From what I can see if you fly from Gatwick it’s 1 stop somewhere in the middle east (Dubai / Doha) and two different planes 380 and then a 777 flying with Emirates.
However if you depart from Heathrow it’s direct flight and either BA or Virgin ?
Which Business flight would be the best do you think ?
I assume that a lounge would be available for the stopover if you went from Gatwick ?
Cheers

[davek_964]

I did first class with Virgin quite a few years ago (to Florida) and business with BA recently.

The BA business was very nice - however, I would also say that their premium economy was excellent (we flew premium out, and business on the way back as it was an overnight flight). Premium was far better than I expected and really very good.

I thought Virgin first class was better than BA business.

[Boozy]

At the risk of being a pedant, Virgin don’t have first class it’s their equivalent to business and the aircraft to Orlando used to be at least, the older aircraft in the fleet.

[davek_964]

Boozy said:

At the risk of being a pedant, Virgin don’t have first class it’s their equivalent to business and the aircraft to Orlando used to be at least, the older aircraft in the fleet.

OK - but being equally pedantic, it was called first class and I booked it as first class. This was probably 10 years ago though.

[JerryEXE]

Last time I was looking at this it was about £5k per person return on the BA direct flight whereas you could get there with any of the Middle Eastern carriers for about £2.5-3.0k per person. With this differential I’d be going via the Middle East most likely with Emirates but would happily also consider Qatar or Etihad. If the differential shrunk to less than maybe £1k then I’d be giving the convenience of the direct flight a go.

Assuming it still exists post Covid etc (I’ve not travelled out of LGW for a while), the Emirates lounge at Gatwick is nice. The Emirates lounge in Dubai is massive and is horribly busy whatever time of day it is. The other ME airlines will also offer lounges … but pick the right flights and you’ll only be in Dubai/AD/Doha for 90 mins and therefore not a lot of time to use a lounge.

[Kenty]

I always go Emirates via Dubai from Heathrow. A380 and then 777.
Couple of hours in the lounge or a walk round. Times are pretty good.
Don't forget if you get Male too late you have to stay over due to seaplane flying hours.
The same goes for the return, if it is early you can lose a night at the resort as transfer is
is evening before.

[JerryEXE]

Kenty said:

I always go Emirates via Dubai from Heathrow. A380 and then 777.
Couple of hours in the lounge or a walk round. Times are pretty good.
Don't forget if you get Male too late you have to stay over due to seaplane flying hours.
The same goes for the return, if it is early you can lose a night at the resort as transfer is
is evening before.

Too much to go wrong with a seaplane transfer , we tend to choose a resort within speedboat transfer range.

[omniflow]

davek_964 said:

Boozy said:

At the risk of being a pedant, Virgin don’t have first class it’s their equivalent to business and the aircraft to Orlando used to be at least, the older aircraft in the fleet.

OK - but being equally pedantic, it was called first class and I booked it as first class. This was probably 10 years ago though.

Being totally pedantic - it absolutely wasn't called first class - it was (and is) called Upper Class. It's only ever been called Upper Class on Virgin. This is how it is now, how it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. It's how it's always been.