Originally Posted by
irishguy28
Came back just to say: if there is a later flight from your origin that would arrive into AUH in time to connect to your Australia flight with a waiting time of less than 8 hours, this, too, would invalidate your claim to STPC.
Or at least, I expect that booking an "earlier" flight to get to AUH has the same effect as booking a "later" flight onwards from AUH - so the "unnecessary lengthening" of your stopover in AUH could arise based on which of several daily flights you take from your origin, too.
See the link I posted above - EY's offer is basically free 1 or 2 night's hotel in AUH for those travelling on premium paid tickets (which can even be part of a much longer stopover), and does not require the "forced stopover" aspect which Dubai Connect and most other STPC arrangements do.
Illustration: My friend is travelling BKK o/AUH MEL o/AUH BKK. ~10 days stopover in AUH both times. Got the 1 night free hotel in AUH both ways.