I was handed a phone by our ground ops guy in Melbourne (Australia, not Florida!!) and after a short conversation with sCrew Scheduling and a not-so-happy travel coordinator...rode EK First Class from MEL to DXB.

OMG, amazing is the only word for it...and the two reasons I got to experience the DH in First Class (since we are entitled to Business Class in most cases) was:

1. Business Class was full, and
2. I was "the only guy on the planet" that could operate the next sector ex DXB.

Good luck...hope it works out for you. BTW, the usual CDG to DXB is the A380.