chrisjpl

Hi all,

I'm looking to fly LJU-MEL midweek in August, and I've found what seems to be a very good Business Class price via BEG and AUH, ticketed by JU but with all except the LJU-BEG hop operated by EY.

I'm especially pleased with the price because the long AUH-MEL leg is in EY's A380 Business Class product!

I wanted to check two things:

1) Am I right that, even though BEG-AUH is 5.5 hours, that will be a "short-haul type" Business Class product on EY? ie a recliner seat rather than any kind of bed? If so, what are the opinions on this product? (My main points of comparison personally would be BA's Club Europe or QF's domestic Business.)

2) Depending what time of day I fly, I have the option to do BEG-AUH on a JU-operated flight instead - for the exact same price, and still getting the EY A380 for AUH-MEL. Does anybody have any experience of what the JU Business Class would be on that flight, and how you'd compare it against the EY product discussed above?

Any advice much appreciated, because although I've got quite a lot of long-haul experience with most of the OW and *A carriers, and with EK, I've actually never flown EY before.

Thanks a lot!

h1ghfly3r

There are rumors that Etihad will start installing flat beds in the A320 (similar to QR). I would expect that they flybit in their longer routes such as BEG.

the "short haul " business is still a nice seat. Of course it is not flat but you have quite some legroom. The flight will be operated during the day. Therefore will you probably not sleep all the time anyways.

What are the other options? I would personally prefer as less stops as possible but EY &JU seem to be decent options.

The business class cabin of JU is almost the same as Etihad. I believe the only difference is the color scheme and that the JU seats are in grey leather and the seat pitch which should be much smaller.

i would choose Etihad therefore.
dont forget that you have Lounge access anyways. And the Ju lounge is pretty nice for its size.

hope that helps

chrisjpl

Thanks - v helpful.

To be honest, if we do fly Business Class, then there are no other options! There's a lot of other airports which we could start from instead of LJU (MUC, VCE, SZG, VIE, ZAG, etc), but I've not seen any other Business Class routes to MEL for anything like this price - which is especially remarkable to me given that it includes the EY A380 from AUH to MEL, that I understand to be very good.

Anyway, as long as nobody particularly advises *against* this route, or against flying on a JU ticket, then we'll probably go ahead and book very soon - the only choice is whether to use JU or EY for the BEG-AUH leg. Seat pitch is important to me, so it sounds like I should go with EY. The JU flight is overnight also, which would make it more irritating to not have a flat bed.

Slobodansm

BEG airport is super easy to transit through and the lounge is quite cozy and attendants are very pleasant and approachable.

There is no in-seat IFE system but they do give out ipads to business class passangers. Food is also good (both in flight and in lounge).

Safe flight and let us know your experience.

meelosh

Both EY and JU offer recliner seats on a narrow-body, which translates to proper business class 2-2 configuration. JU does have a smaller pitch, though it's good really, depending on your connecting time in AUH, I wouldn't actually take EY over JU for that reason alone.

EY has four rows of J, while JU has two, giving the cabin a more private feel. But on the other hand, it can get pretty busy with JU employees travelling to HQ in Abu Dhabi (JU is 49% owned by EY and some departments are located in AUH). Which means you get very much similar service, and almost the same amenity kits.

My personal experience - I slightly prefer EY. However, both have been great. Absolutely nothing negative to say. JU's J class in almost as good, and definetely better than almost any J class on an European narrow body. Also, you'll get to use JU lounge in BEG in any case, which is great (ask for a la carte menu). The airport itself is very easy to navigate and it won't take you more than 5 minutes to reach your gate.

LJU-BEG is going to be on all-Y ATR72 turboprop, though. Not a very comfy ride, but again, it won't take too long.

gojko88

Don't forget that EY has 8 seats in short-haul J, whereas JU only has 4. This gives a much more private feeling, as meelosh pointed above, and I would choose JU for this reason alone. Then again, if sleep is your priority, you may be better off with the daytime EY flight. Don't be too concerned with the seat pitch - I am 1.90m and found JU J to be more than roomy (in fact, I hadn't even noticed that EY had a bigger pitch until I read the info in this thread).

chrisjpl

Thanks all - I had no idea that JU had become such a good product since the EY investment, and I was actually quite tempted by the 4-seat J cabin in JU.

But I think I'm going to take the route that is EY operated BEG-AUH, partly because of the seat pitch (I'm 200cm) - but also because a) the JU-operated flight is overnight, which makes me less keen to have a short-haul style J for a 5.5hr flight, and b) if I take the JU flight then I connect to an EY 777 for AUH-MEL, but if I fly BEG-AUH with EY then I can connect onto the A380. As I mentioned above, I'm an EY newbie, but my understanding from reading around is that the A380 J is seen as better than the 777...

@meelosh - thanks for the tip about the ATR72 for LJU-BEG. I've had plenty of experience with JP and others flying into/out of LJU from BRU, MBX, SEN, etc, so I should be okay with the smaller plane hopefully!

chrisjpl

As a follow-up to those who offered much appreciated advice: we've now gone ahead and booked the tickets, using EY for the BEG-AUH leg.

Just as one extra comment, I normally avoid talking about actual $Ł€ on FlyerTalk, but I'm making an exception in this case... The JU flights we've just bought for LJU-MEL (which is de facto JU Econ LJU-BEG and then EY J-class BEG-AUH-MEL) have cost us only €1850 per person. That compares to at least €3800 per person for DXB-MEL J-class with EK or QF, or also to €3100 for LJU-SYD with EY.

I've no idea why it's such a good price... Does anybody know if it's a promotion, or some quirk of the EY-JU relationship?

im.daniel

JU Business pitch is FAR tighter compared to EY J on the same aircraft. The recline is also much less. I'm glad you stuck to EY on this leg.

JU lounge in BEG is really very good, great service, and nice alacarte menu.