Hello Etihad!
 

I've just returned from a family holiday in Australia - we flew with Etihad in business class from MAN-AUH-SYD and MEL-AUH-MAN. This was booked back in January and having read this forum in recent weeks, I was nervously wondering what I'd done and what to expect. In the event, I was really impressed - key take outs for me:

1) Etihad's business class hard and soft products are streets ahead of BA

2) There is less difference in the quality of the hard product between the 777 and A380 than I was expecting. Yes the A380 is newer and shinier but the 3x777s I flew on were not far behind and, in some respects, I actually preferred the fact that the business cabin was smaller, seemed more roomy and airy plus all of the seats were forward facing.

3) food and drink on all legs was good and exceeded my expectations

4) the lounges that we used (all Etihad lounges in Manchester, Melbourne and the business lounge in Abu Dhabi T3) were all excellent, welcoming and with plenty of space. I showered at Abu Dhabi both ways and availability of a shower required a maximum of a 10 minute wait for a cubicle to become free. The showers could do with some ventilation / air con, however, as it gets hot in there!

5) the only obvious cutback I could see was the lack of an amenity kit of the MAN-AUH flight (the daytime flight that departs Manchester at 9am). That said, it seemed that where amenity kits were offered on other flights, large numbers of people left them on board at the end of the flight, so I can understand how these could be seen by management as an unnecessary expense.

6) all flights were on time, with high loads, and all bags made it through the transfer process at Abu Dhabi. Also I did feel that we were made to feel special as business class passengers. The only minor gripe is that the priority tags on the suitcases of premium cabin travelllers seemingly meant very little in terms of speedy delivery based on the evidence of the baggage belts...

7) Abu Dhabi airport seems a little chaotic and there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to whether you will arrive into / depart from T1 or T3 (unless you are on an A380 that needs the special gates)

8) the transfer process at Abu Dhabi is a bit of a lottery. On the way out, they opened up a lane in T1 for business class customers.....on the way back, our flight seemed to have arrived at the same time as a couple of others and it was a free for all with one long snaking line. It did move quickly, however, as the security guys seemed to be simply going through the motions (e.g they were happy for us to leave iPads and liquids in our hand luggage bags).

9) when we booked the holiday in early 2017, I registered us all for Etihad Guest under a family account - it's great to see the miles have posted quickly, we got silver status on the back of the return UK to Aus trip and, even better, there is a really wide range of things to spend the miles on....including a 10% discount offer at the moment in the reward shop.

All in all, it didn't reek of an airline in freefall that's penny pinching at every opportunity, as some on here would lead you to believe. Clearly it's just my opinion, but I thought it only fair to provide a bit of balance.

Interesting report, however, if EY was essentially competing against BA then many service things may be dropped and still maintain an adequate league over BA.

EY is competing with EK and QR. Both these carriers have matured their products and have many service elements who were at least once among the best in the world. Because the penny pinching does not fare well with this kind of competition, changing things for the worse can be felt rather easily.

Lol. I've not flown BA (other than the SA Comair subsidiary which is full-service in Y) in over a decade, but based in reports on FT I'd be shocked if EY didn't outperform BA by zonks.

As for the iPads and liquids, you say they were going through the motions, do you really feel less secure because the liquids were surrounded by canvas while being x-rayed? The UK is the only country I've ever had to actually remove liquids, and tablets are generally fine in bags all over.

(Reference to UK being only place to remove liquid, my sample set is about 15 countries, including several in Western Europe).

This is wrong because Etihad aspires to a standard that is beyond, and incomparable to BA.
Please compare to SQ, BR, NH, JL etc.

This is just wrong and gives Etihad undeserved gas under the spinal cord.

Thanks very much for the report.

We are doing SYD-AUH-DUB and ZUR-AUH-SYD in J, starting in 3 weeks on a ticket booked 6 months ago. A380s on the longer haul sectors, with an A330-200 and a B787 on the shorter haul sectors.

I was getting a bit concerned about the doom and gloom comments, so it is indeed comforting to read that the actual experience remains good!

I'm thinking of springing for the "meet and greet" service at AUH to minimise the queues and multiple terminal stuff... it's a minuscule amount compared to the fares.

As a general comment to some other posters, the it's not as good as <insert favourite airline here> comments are not very useful as they often come across as being firmly in the perfect is the enemy of good class.

Direct flight from Indonesia to Dublin? (ABU is a town in Indonesia, AUH is Abu Dhabi)

Congratulations, EY - you are competing against European airlines now :D
What's next - comparison against US airlines ?

OP - you cannot compare serious airlines with ones from Europe or US. EY had aspirations to be in the club of the proper airlines (QR,EK,SQ..BR to lesser extent) and that's what it should be compared against.

Almost anything will win against BA C..

Regards,

El Puerco Volante

Sorry, I am British and was looking at options to fly from the UK to Australia for a family holiday, so why wouldn't I compare Etihad to BA and other European carriers? In the event, Etihad was far cheaper than Emirates and Qatar (by a few thousand Pounds) and also cheaper than BA and more convenient as I was flying from northern England. I also have recent business class experience flying BA in its newest products (on the 787). So please don't tell me who I am and am not allowed to benchmark Etihad to.

People on here seem to be obsessed with Etihad needing to be the best airline in the world on every comparison point and totally oblivious to the commercial realities - whilst Etihad is tightening its belt, so is Emirates and the situation with Qatar will mean that it is also going to be impacted - just think of the loss of revenue it is facing and the additional time/fuel costs from having to make detours to avoid the airspace of certain ME countries.

In my mind, airlines exist to make money - some on here seem to think that it's all about winning awards and plaudits and that being commercially unsustainable isn't a problem. Sorry, I disagree - and as primarily leisure traveller paying my own way, price is a much bigger factor to me than whether a particular kind of vintage champagne is served on board, whether a Merc S-class is offered to pick me up or whether caviar is part of the menu.

How refreshing to see a balanced & unbiased view of Etihad. I do agree with some of your key points, particularly that Business on B777 & A380 really are not all that different. I have enjoyed my A380 Business flights the least of all my EY Business flights, so much so much so that I now only fly F on A380. I pay out of my own pocket for all of my travel so the choices I make are all my own.

This forum needs more people like you. Do stop by again ^^^

You are certainly allowed to compare EY to BA or Air Koryo or to anything you like. The point is that comparison to a third-grade airline as BA (or Air Koryo) doesn't make sense. EY will always win - not because of a great product, but because the opponent is miserable.

Regards,

El Puerco Volante

The OP is comparing based on their own experience.

There's no need to tell them what they can and cannot compare against.

Yes, many of us know BA is terrible but that doesn't make their mini TR any less worthy.

If people continue to tell Etihad they are good when they are upping prices and cutting all services they will get worse. The OP may be new to EY and inexeperince is excusable but you seem to know EY and yet you want us to be happy it's better than BA?
Youre ruining it for all of us.

Well said. There will always be some who will want to stifle free-thinking expression. Well done OP ^^^

I've never heard that before, what does it mean?

Youre just encouraging Etihad to be bad. I'm glad you call that free thinking.