I first tried Etihad a bit over a year ago, MEL>AUH>IST and return and was a bit underwhelmed by them. They were okay but far from the business class experience I get with Cathay, Singapore & QANTAS.

Required schedule basically left me with Etihad no option but to give them another go on the same route with week. And they were dreadful.

The dinner (lamb) on the MEL>AUH leg was so dryed out it was inedible. Breakfast omelette was so over cooked it had turned green. Asparagus served with it was green mush. Coffee was undrinkable. I declined the lot. 14 hours and all I ate (all that was edible) was a croissant.

Get to AUH and the AUH Business lounge was so crowded I had to wait 15 mins for a seat. They when I went to board for IST there was no priority boarding (at their home airport). On board, 30mins into the flight the BC cabin was invaded by 3 kids from the economy cabin who helped themselves to vacant BC seats and spent the rest of the flight climbing over them, over each other, and backwards and forwards between the BC and economy cabin. They were not challenged once by the cabin crew that even offered them desert! Other BC class passengers were clearly not impressed.

Food on the 2nd leg also barely failed to ascend beyond the standards set on the first leg. I arrived in IST quite hungry.

I would also add that the choice of IFE was pretty dismal too.

Yeah...1st world problems I know, but I'll never fly with these guys again. They are not even close to the top Asia/Pac carriers. They have problems.