The golden rule of flight travel is always check and choose your seat before departure to optimise your travel experience.

This is particularly true for long haul flights, with sites like seatguru.com being a perennial favourite for seasoned travelers. Emirates, however, has taken this concept a few dozen steps further, introducing 3D virtual reality into its cabin and seat selection process.

The airline now enables travelers to glean an immersive 3D 360 degree view of the interior of the Emirates A380 and the Emirates Boeing 777. Those using the technology can explore their seats, in a far richer way than offered by flat seating maps that we have become accustomed to, and virtually navigate their way through the Economy, Business and First Class cabins.  

Additionally, passengers who are so inclined can also gain a virtual view of the onboard lounge and shower spa on the Emirates A380 using navigational hotspots.

Booking in the virtual world

The airline explained that those accessing emirates.com via their mobile devices or the Emirates app for iOS and Android will be able to explore their seats before checking in online with the 3D seat map. The tool allows customers to navigate from one seat to another, and even more niftily, enables travelers to book their preferred seats from within the 3D environment.

As for viewing the aircraft in VR, thankfully it is not limited to those wealthy enough to afford a top end VR headset, with the solution working with VR solutions like Google Cardboard. Furthermore, Emirates reassured that its 3D solution is compatible with all devices without the need for external applications or plugins. A feather in Emirates cap is that apparently it is the first airline to offer the web based, virtual reality experience.

“We are pleased to be the world’s first airline to introduce this cutting edge web VR technology, which offers our customers an immersive opportunity to learn more about the fantastic Emirates experience before they step on board. In our usability tests with customers, we found that they particularly appreciated the 3D seat and cabin models when selecting their seats,” commented Alex Knigge, Emirates’ senior vice president, Corporate Communications, Marketing and Brand (Digital).