(upbeat hip music)
- Oh!
- [Nicky] Hey!
- Good morning from Paris.
- Good morning.
We're at Charles De Gaulle and today we are flying
from Paris to.
- Beirut, Lebanon.
- We're flying Middle East Airlines
on their Airbus A330 which has two classes,
business class and economy
and guess which one I'm in.
- Business class?
- You're flying business!
- No I'm flying business class.
- I'm gonna be in economy.
We need to go check in, we're already late,
let's see what this whole experience is like in these two
classes on the way to Beirut.
(people chattering)
- [Employee] Flying to?
- Thanks.
Bye Nicky.
- [Nicky] See you later.
- So Nicky's going to check in now
at the economy desk and I'm going to the business class one.
Let's check it out.
- [Nicky] Hi, how are you?
- [Employee] Fine.
Where you go, sir?
- Beirut.
I think I booked a seat already
but is it really busy, the flight,
I wondered if there was a pair with one free next to it?
- [Employee] I have one loose seat
and the next one, nobody on.
- Yeah, what seat is that?
- [Employee] 35A.
- That'd be perfect, thank you.
- [Employee] You have to make fast.
- Thank you, I will, I'm running.
Bye, thank you very much.
(spunky upbeat music)
Okay, so he says I have to make fast
because I'm already quite late.
It felt like a very early morning this morning.
So I don't know if I'm gonna see Jean again though.
He might have gone off into his premium section
and I'll never see him again.
- So because I am in Paris, as you can imagine,
Air France has their own fancy priority check in
and because MEA is part of Sky Chain,
so I can use Air France business class check in desk
which looks pretty nice.
Let's check it out.
♪ To the sky ♪
A bit of a queue here on the sky priority
but doesn't look too bad but this is nice.
Happy to wait.
(air whooshing)
- One thing is for sure, I'm gonna gonna get to stretch
my legs on the plane, it's an economy,
so I'm making business class
on the, oh my bag is going!
(yells)
- Leaving now the Air France lounge.
Very busy, not super luxurious to be honest,
but nice decoration, nice space.
I think it's totally worth coming if you have access,
but otherwise, you're not missing out very much
if you don't.
(beeping)
(people chattering)
- (mumbles) the whole bloody gate, didn't I?
But here I am.
- [Jean] I know, me too.
Look at you.
- Oh.
All right, time to board the plane.
Two entrances but actually only one of them is operational.
Let's go.
I'm really excited about this.
New country, new airline.
Can't wait.
(grunts)
Hello.
- [Flight Attendant] Hi.
- How are you?
(upbeat music)
(beeping)
- [Captain] (mumbles) for takeoff.
(upbeat music)
♪ Rising up ♪
♪ To the sky ♪
♪ Rising up ♪
♪ To ♪
- Hello and welcome to Middle East Airlines business class.
Let me show you around.
- Okay, why don't we start with a bit
of a cheeky seat tour, so.
- As you can see here, large, nice spacious seat.
- First impression is quite comfortable.
- Adjustment on the seat,
it's actually quite nice.
- Let's try out the cheeky headrest.
- But this one it doesn't really work,
cause look.
It just goes.
Like this camera, it just goes away.
- I mean, it's got these wings but like,
it's not really doing much is it?
- There is a power plug over here.
- There is a cheeky little USB port here
if you wanna plug your phone in.
(table clanking)
- No good, this screen.
Not the biggest screen I've ever seen
on board but also not the smallest.
Very fast touchscreen.
And plenty of options.
Quite good actually.
- Pretty decent size for economy.
- Look at the size of my leg room.
(fun hip music)
- Pillow.
- Nice comfy pillow, clean, but pretty small.
- It's kind of a rubbish pillow, this.
- This blanket here, I actually
quite like the colors.
Some little detail here, blue, very Mediterranean.
- Far too hot for this, can't cope.
- Approved.
- Headphones.
- Let's check it out.
- Let's see what these are like.
They look kind of rubbish actually.
- The phone is actually good, it's noise canceling and light
and they did a good job, so actually, nice.
- I'm looking for a left and right,
but there is no difference.
Not bad, actually fine.
Like, these are more than acceptable.
- One thing I realized that there is just no
storage around my seat.
(plastic rustling)
(air humming)
This is really the only space for storage
and it's big enough.
(upbeat happy music)
- Thank you.
- [Flight Attendant] You're welcome.
- Not just peanuts, but premium peanuts
and a Diet Coke with ice and lemon
which actually, nice thick slice of lemon, love that.
(upbeat happy music)
Thank you.
Okay, we've got sort of carrot-y salad,
brownie, water, bread roll.
Feels a bit hard actually.
Piece of cheese and the chicken and potatoes.
Nice, actually looks pretty good.
Knife and fork.
Big test, is it metal?
(metal clanging)
Metal!
Nice, posh.
Do you know what?
This is really good.
This chicken was creamy, tasty, delicious.
I kinda wanna drink the rest of this sauce.
(upbeat happy music)
(plastic rustling)
(plastic squeaking)
- Great, thank you.
This one.
Okay, had my starter.
It was really good, cold, but really good
and waiting for a main course now,
which I ordered the beef.
Very nice.
Soft, tasty.
Ice cream.
- Oh!
Surprise!
What's this?
(gasps)
- [Jean] Nicky, how is the the sorbet?
- The sorbet's really nice until Jean
told me that actually the only reason
he's brought it to me is 'cause he doesn't bloody
like sorbet, but what I really want
is actually, let me tell me you what I want,
what I really really want.
- [Jean] Tell me what you want,
what you really, really want.
- I wanna, I wanna, I want the espresso.
So I'm gonna send Jean to get me an espresso,
which is what I really, really want, not this.
Nice though. (upbeat music)
- Okay, can I get the spoon back?
(air whooshing)
(flight attendant murmuring)
- Oh sorry, may I have a cup of espresso please?
- [Flight Attendant] Yeah.
- Thank you.
- Clock is ticking.
Hi.
- [Flight Attendant] Hi.
- Do you have, have you got peppermint tea?
Thank you.
Cup of green tea.
Not my peppermint, but still pretty impressive.
- That was actually really fast.
(gasps)
- My espresso!
(mumbles)
Oh, this is so nice.
It's all I ever wanted, cheer.
(upbeat fun music)
(people murmuring)
And this was Middle East Airlines on the A330
in economy.
- And business class.
- [Both] Done.