The next morning, I didn’t wake up after 7AM, which was a little over two hours before departure. I was out of the door 10 minutes later, and found myself at Etihad’s check in counters shortly after that. Although the economy class line was massive, there was only one passenger in front of me in the First Class line.
It wasn’t long before the agent finished with that passenger, and beckoned me to approach the counter. I inquired if it were possible for me to have a window seat; however, every First Class seat and the (in)famous Residence would be taken. Boarding passes for both of my flights were issued, as was a Fast Track security pass, all of which was handed over with a smile and a “I hope you enjoy our new A380, Mr.
dat4life”.
Security was breeze, and I made it Etihad’s Lounge, located across from gate 10, just over 40 minutes after I woke up. Not bad at all. As with most airline lounges at outstations, Etihad’s lounge at Heathrow was small and basic. It was, however, nicely appointed and even had a small spa offering complimentary 15 minutes treatments. The attendant, who welcomed me into the lounge, suggested that I make an appointment immediately if I was interested in a spa treatment. I took her up on the suggestion and went to see the spa attendant to make an appointment. There was a slot immediately available, so I was led to a treatment room immediately. I chose the back and shoulder massage, which was quite nice.
By the time the massage with finished, the lounge had filled up, and I was unable to find an open seat. I decided to head to the gate, which was conveniently located across the hall from the lounge, to hopefully get a few get shots of the aircraft. Unfortunately, there weren’t very many windows. So this was the best I could do.
This was my first time seeing Etihad’s new livery in person. It does look more modern than the old livery, but it’s also less distinctive and, quite frankly, rather generic.
Etihad Airways 12
London Heathrow (LHR) – Abu Dhabi (AUH)
Depart: 9:15 AM
Arrive: 8:15 PM
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
Seat: 1H (First Class)
Boarding was never really announced, at least while I was at the gate. One of the gate agents saw me milling around the Residence/First Class/Business Class jet bridge and asked to see my boarding pass. Without saying a word, she walked over to the scanner and scans my boarding pass. She comes to hand back my boarding pass, and says you may board. Alright then. Let’s get this party started.
The jetbridge took me straight to door 1L of the upper deck, where a flight attendant was waiting to greet passengers. After glancing at my boarding pass, she asked another flight attendant to show me to my seat, 1H. Though I’ve seen many pictures of it, none of them fully capture how awesome the First Class cabin looks.
The cabin is arranged in 1-1 configuration, with the seats alternative between forward facing window seats and rear facing aisle seats. 1H is a rear facing aisle seat, which wasn’t my first choice, but hey at least I’m in good company as The Resident is just across the aisle from me.
Etihad dubs this new First Class product the “Apartment”. And it would probably some apartments in Japan a run for its money. To have this much room to stretch out on a plane, at least to me, unimaginable until now. Of course, in true over the top ME3 airline style, it was loaded to the brim with just about every kind of bells and whistle available.
The 24 inch IFE screen is the largest I’ve ever used on a plane, besting the 23 inch screen in First Class on Singapore’s 777-300ER. While boarding, a number of advertisements were played on a loop, including that of Etihad’s partner airlines. For some reason, I really have an urge to fly Air Serbia now.
Flight attendant Christophe, who would be “looking after me on our journey to Abu Dhabi”, came to introduce himself and offer me a drink. I asked for champagne. Christophe returned with a bottle of Champagne Jacquart ‘Rose Mosaique’ Brut along with a champagne flute, ramken of dates, hot towel, and a note from the Inflight Service Manger on a silver tray. The bottle was properly presented and poured. Etihad actually boards two types of champagne for First Class, and Christophe encouraged me to try the other one sometime during the flight.
The rose was good, and I enjoyed a couple more glasses of it on the ground. Pajamas and amenity kids offered a few minutes later. That was followed by a visit from the onboard chef, Karl, who also presented the wine list. He explained that the entire menu was available during the duration of the flight and that all questions of pertaining to food and beverage should be directed to him. Speaking of the menu,
here it is.
After the boarding door was closed, a brief prayer for safe travel was said followed by the Arabic coffee service.
I have flown in rear facing seats before, but this was the first time a sky cam was available while I was in the rear facing seat. So my eyes are telling me we’re moving forward, but the rest of my body was screaming, dude we’re going backwards. It was a very weird feeling, and it only intensified when we took off. I did feel better once I turned off the sky cam after take off.
Noise canceling headphones are located in a compartment next to the seat. Airline branded headsets are typically pretty poor in quality, though I found the ones Etihad to be actually pretty good. Inside the headset case was a voucher for free wifi, which was much appreciated. I really don’t understand why more airlines don’t offer wifi to their premium cabin passengers. I used wifi for my phone through out the flight. It was fast enough for minor web browsing and the connection seemed to be stable for the most part.
Karl returned after take off to see if I wanted to eat right away. Indeed I did, as I hadn’t eaten since “linner” the night before. I settled on the fruit plate as well as the full breakfast and orange juice to drink. The orange juice came first. It was presented along with small ramekins of green olives, peanuts, and chips. Olive and peanuts, I understand, but chips? That I don’t get, at least for this setting. The orange juice was fresh squeezed, but too tart for my liking.
Christophe set my table with great precision a few minutes later.
Karl dropped by with “a little surprise to whet my appetite”. You don’t have to tell me twice. I don’t usually face shrimp this early in the day, but I made a one time exception to my own rule. I’m glad I did because it was delicious. Unfortunately, the food service only went downhill from there.
My fruit plate arrived a short time later. It was beautifully presented; however, the majority of the fruit weren’t ripe enough.
The bread basket (plate would probably be the more accurate description) was of a more sugary variety. I had a cinnamon roll, and it was good.
My full breakfast what up next. Like the fruit plate, the presentation of the dish was a work of art. However, everything on that plate was very bland.
It took awhile before Christophe returned to clear my plate and table settings. Nothing to fret about as the IFE system had plenty of content to keep me entertained. I settled on the new
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, which was pretty bad.
In fact, it was so bad that even the presence of Megan Fox couldn’t save the movie for me. I stopped watching after 30 minutes. I then started watching
Lucy, which wasn’t any better. So I gave up and just asked for turndown service so I could get some sleep. One of the coolest features of the Apartment is the bench that converts into the widest and most comfortable bed I’ve ever experienced in the air. And with the Apartment doors closed, there might as well be no one else on the plane.
But once I saw that the IFE screen could be swiveled and faced toward the bed, I ended up finding a couple of
The Big Bang Theory episodes to watch. There is a second IFE controller located near the window. I didn’t notice this for until we were about to land, so I kept dragging the controller by the seat to the bed which was annoying as I kept on tripping on the cable..
I have to say, I really enjoyed the separate bed and seat setup. It was nice to be able to alternate between the seat and the bed as I pleased, and not have to ask a flight attendant to help each time.
The feature I was looking forward to most on this flight was the onboard shower. After all, I’ll taken showers at airports countless times over the years, why not do that on an airplane. The flight attendant in charge of the shower came around taking requests for the shower room shortly after we took off from London 2 hours before landing, which wasn’t an issue. At exactly 2 hours before landing, she came to inform me the shower room was ready.
My excitement was somewhat dampened when I got entered the shower room. It was even smaller that the other First Class lavatory next door to it. Compared to Emirates’ A380 shower rooms, Etihad’s are much smaller and lacks some of the bells and whistles, such as heated floors. 5 minutes of water is available for each passenger, which is more that enough as long as you don’t run the water continuously.
Nevertheless, it was a pretty cool experience. I headed back to my seat clean and fully refreshed. Karl dropped by one last time to see if I wanted to eat before he closed up shop. I did. In fact, I decided to go all the way with dinner, beginning with another glass of champagne and the Arabic mezze.
To be perfectly honest, it was terrible. The mezze was bland and the Arabic bread was cold and stale. But the champagne was good though…
The soup was probably the best tasting thing I had onboard all flight, which isn’t saying a lot. But it was ok.
For my main course, I ordered the braised lamb shank with mixed garden vegetables. It was ok, but I’ve had much better meals before in the air. While I wanted dessert as well, I was informed that the galley was now closed despite having 55 minutes left in flight.
The hard product was amazing, but the soft product left a lot to be desired. As I mentioned, the food, while beautifully presented, ended up being pretty bland. The crew… well… I’ve had much better. Overall, service was ok, but the crew wasn’t particularly attentive or proactive. They didn’t seem happy to be there, which was later confirmed when both First Class flight attendants and the chef spent the 20 minutes we waited for jetbridges to be attached at Abu Dhabi express frustrations stemming from some of their colleagues. That said, some of the shortcomings can be chalked up to the crew still getting used to the new aircraft. And the less than stellar catering can be attributed to less than great Heathrow catering.
I just had a short layover at Abu Dhabi, leaving me just enough time to clear transit security and have a quick visit to Etihad’s lounge near gates 1-10. It was a satellite lounge, so I wasn’t expecting much. But it was a fairly nice with an extensive food spread, good selection of beverages, and plentiful seating. I just had time for a drink, before having to head to the gate.
Etihad Airways 391
Abu Dhabi (AUH) – Doha (DOH)
Depart: 9:55 PM
Arrive: 10:00 PM
Aircraft: Airbus 320-100
Seat: 2D (Business Class)
Wow. Now this is truly a first rate short haul product. It was eye pleasing, comfortable and functional. I didn’t take advantage of the IFE, but there is an on demand system onboard with the screen stows in the armrest.
The crew on this flight was far better than the one on my flight to Abu Dhabi. Hot towels and pre departure beverages were offered immediately. I chose the basil mint lemonade, which was phenomenal.
For 200 mile flight, I wasn’t expecting much. But man was I impressed. Hot and cold snacks were offered. They were both delicious.
We arrived in Doha on time. I thanked the wonderful crew on the way out, and then made the very long walk to immigration. I was through in minutes. Since I arrived at a late hour, I arranged for a car through the hotel, which cost a fairly reasonable $40. I met my driver just outside of customs, and he led me to beautiful Audi A6 for the ride to the hotel.