Having heard nothing but positive feedback regarding this airline, I was very interested to fly with them myself for my first-ever trip to Europe. Word of mouth is a very powerful thing and it seemed that the feedback was right-on, Emirates truly does take the cake as one of the most impressive airlines I have ever flown with.

The new quick check in allows you to insert your passport and select your seat before being issued your baggage tag and boarding pass.

Carry on luggage was weighed at check-in with an approval sticker placed on the bag to show proof that the weight was no more than 7kg.

I was able to check in at George domestic airport for my flight all the way through to Sydney, which helped with the eight hour wait after arriving at Johannesburg airport.

The flight had two cabin crew that were both pleasant and happy to assist. After the meal was promptly served, crew cleaned the cabin very quickly.

We took off on time and arrived five minutes ahead of the scheduled with a landing that was superbly smooth.

Despite the wet and rainy weather, the flight departed Sydney right on time at 15.55 and arrived ten minutes early into Bangkok.

There were only two cabin crew as the plane is rather small. They were quick to serve the meal and clean up afterwards. All staff were pleasant and quite friendly as we chatted about my itinerary details.

Checking in was busy due to Qantas checking in a number of flights through the same check-in desks.

The Celebritus Americanus (or American celebrity) is a creature hunted, studied, dissected and eventually discarded.

Flight review of United Flight 589 San Francisco to Los Angeles