akalra1187

I don't need your chauffeur, nor do I need a £2400 round trip fare in J to the UAE.

I don't need to beg for my miles.

I don't need my suitcase abused by you.

I don't need my chauffeur to not show up.

I don't need to pay F fares if I'm not getting caviar and lobster and you're serving sub £20 wines.

I just booked Swiss' companion fare in F to DXB for £2180 per ticket. Less than EY J.

I wasn't planning to leave you so soon Etihad, but it appears you have lost the plot.

May I suggest the rest of us Etihad loyalists take a look at the current LX offers too, I think they end in a day or two.

SFO777

How does the LX companion fare help someone traveling alone or someone not based in Europe?

akalra1187

The main point of the post was that Etihad doesn't have the competitive advantage it once did.

I never said it was a blanket deal to suit all, but even if I do compare, the images below sort of speak for themselves:









It may be a lot less practical, but its still cheaper.

I was also travelling alone, the deal was so good that I got a colleage to travel as well.

SFO777

I agree that today's EY is not the same as few years ago, or even last year, but cherry picking retail F prices on one route is pretty sophomoric, especially when I can fly that route pretty much any time for 115,000 AA miles. One can also find numerous routes and instances where EY is the least expensive First Class option.

akalra1187

I agree Etihad can be good value at times, but considering 11-21st of August and the same in September is what I booked on LX, and the degradation of Etihad on the whole , I'm more sad that Etihad gave me such a good impression only two years ago but have now given me very little reason to book them.

Acid

Some of the EY cuts were expected - and brings them in line with competition. The issue I feel is there is little incentive now to fly via AUH - given that EY was always weak in IRROPS, baggage, customer service, FF program and the state of AUH.

NoY

Yet another thread on why EY is

Nothing to see here

thbe

It is.

EY has got a lot of new customers - like me - because of their competitive advantages. Now they are all (!) gone and only the disadvantages remain.

EY is now the worst of the ME3 carriers by far. There was a time, when it was all in all on one level with EK. I remember flights with Hogan on board and - really - 100 EY employees forming a guard of honor at his arrival.

A lot of airline cut their service, but that was the fastest decline of everything but prices in the airline history.

That is always a news and good for hundreds of threads like that.

NoY

m0hamed

Dramatic much?

EY's F hard product remains the best in the sky.

QR F is not private and needs a total revamp. EY F is basically a seat enclosed in doors.

I relied on the Chauffeur Drive, but in ports like CAI it didn't exist, so I'll book and pay for a limo in SYD.

As for Hogan, most of the staff fled GF to join him. In fact the entire SYD office of GF practically became the EY Australian team.

TPJ

Being devil's advocate: LX does not serve caviar and lobster, either (the serve balik salmon, though).

akalra1187

That is true, nonetheless Swiss' champagne and the food overall looks better, particularly the variety of breeds of beef and the cheeses. The wine are also mostly 90 points plus.

El Puerco Volante

And yet I fly mostly QR F this days on LHR and CDG routes. EY F seat is big and fairly private, but that's it. Cheap plastic for EY vs great materials on QR, better food and MUCH better drink choice on QR, nice bar on QR... OK, there is one small and dark shower on EY with water pressure issues..

QR is less private but all other aspects beats EY hands down.And even on (rare) flights when QR cabin was full I didn't had big issues with privacy. Divider works just fine.

So I would say that it's EY who needs a revamp, QR is just fine the way it is.

Regards,

El Puerco Volante

thbe

No. It belongs to one of the best. But there are many on the same level. I prefer the hard product of SQ or LH in F, but that is a matter of taste.

And as the hard product doesn't make a big diference in F, it's much more about the soft product. Not only in the sky, but also on the ground. And EY were never even good at that. Not even in its best times. In total F on EY were never more than a C plus.

And: Two żears ago EY offers F in many more flights than these days, you got more miles for your flights and needed less miles for upgrades. 2-3 years ago I had an upgrade quota of more than 50% from C to F (opup or for miles). This calendar year it's 1 out of 26 segments = 3,8%.

akalra1187

Also agree that EY F (hard product) is not 'the best in the sky'.

It was impressive in that there appears to be a lot of space on first impression, but in practicality, the seat is ok, nothing that the EK F seat doesn't offer, the bed is just ok, and a lot of space is just wasted if you really consider it.

CX and BR J seats offer equal comfort. Despite privacy and unused space.

EY's 380 J is better than EK's, sure, but honestly is it worth flying to AUH instead of DXB for? Is it worth encouraging these ridiculous cuts for? Personally I will book EK with their inferior seat these days just to show EY that these cuts will loose them business. Not to mention the service on EK, although not always better than EY, is much more consistent.

I can't say that EY isn't still one of the world's best airlines, it is, but everything they have been cutting is what set them apart, unless they see significant loss of business because of this, they will not revert.

The more I think about it, Star Alliance offers customers choice of some pretty good airlines across a range of routes, LH, LX, BR, SQ, AC, NH etc.