But still.......any flight to Australia, USA & S America is really considered ULH in everyone's book except I guess Etihads

I don't fly Qatar often but my last flight w them (KUL-DOH) didn't offer first so I flew in J & they offered lounge wear. EK is a 180 degree difference as they don't offer loungewear in J on ANY FLIGHT??? I find that very strange as they have more aircraft with an actual "lounge" on board then anyone else. What's the point of having so many lounges on board but no LOUNGEwear

The only 2 flights I took w Etihad were SE ASIA-AUH (7 hours) & AUH-JFK (12hrs+). They offered lounge wear on BOTH flights (in F at least but I assume the way Etihad works they either offer it or don't, if F gets them then J does too (but I can be very wrong about that).

I'm gonna fly Etihad in a couple weeks JFK-AUH one way. Am interested to see if the cost cutting in very obvious. Many people on this forum fly ETIHAD often so may not notice it that much but as I've only taken those 2 flights 6 months ago I'll probably notice it easily (if in fact it's true). I hear from everyone how EK is cutting costs but I don't see that at all - probably because I take 4-10 EK flights a month so it's normal to not see something when it creeps up on you

But hay, I'm Etihad Gold just from 2 flights??? I didn't understand that at all & didn't even know till the card came in the mail. I figured it had to be a mistake but called Etihad & they told me no, it is correct. Apparently when I flew BKK-AUH & a few weeks later AUH-JFK, they were offering TRIPLE tier points in F. It's actually very smart on Eihads part. It takes a while and a number of flights to earn Gold normally but in this day & age there are fewer & fewer passengers willing to pay full F fares. Etihad wants to grab as many as they can so giving gold to a first time customer paying full F is very smart. Chances are that passenger flys F on other flights as well but is not married to any airline. Having Gold could make the difference say if the pax is flying from the US-INDIA & doesn't care if he flys Etihad or Emirates.......the gold card COULD make the difference