Air India or Etihad? Which is better with slight cost difference?
 

Flying an adult and 2 kids from JFK to HYD.
AI is $3500 for 3 and Etihad is $4100 including US domestic connection via JFK
Etihad will save us from changing a flight in BOM.
Which one is better?
Will AI 126/127 BOEING 777-300ER JET have seat back personal entertainment systems?
We are not members of either of the FF programs but see a potential to use the miles for Indian domestic travel for our family members? We wold get about 17K miles for each person.
While FF progrm would be easir to redeem if all we are going to have is only 17K miles per person. Etihad says family pool. AI says pool with spouse.
Thanks

I presume the fares you've indicated are for the entire family put together, which would then mean economy. Had this been Biz, I'd have voted for Etihad without question. Having said that, the fact that Etihad is one stop fewer, only 2 hours' layover, and has family pool for redemption, I'd still go with them. Plus SBE systems. Unless, of course, price is a differentiator.

Yea, the AI flight will have AVOD, as will the EY flight.

I think EY would be a much nicer experience overall. I have flown AUH - JFK, though I haven't flown BOM - JFK on AI, so I can't compare.

50k EY miles will be useful when they have their next 50% discount redemption offer. IMO using the miles for a domestic ticket is a waste considering how cheap domestic fares are these days.

EY for sure - why transfer in BOM at middle of the night (yes, it is an equipment change, despite being a direct :rolleyes: flight)? Plus, you get to pool your miles, so that's an added bonus.

Thanks all. I went ahead and booked Etihad.

Has anyone had luck redeeming Air India FF miles for domestic travel in India? It's hard enough to get reward seat availability on 9W; I can't imagine AI being easier.

From AUH to HYD it will be a narrow body and is without any entertainment with Etihad. Please remember its not a short flight. And at the same time AI has good inflight entertainment even in BOM-HYD sector.

Change in BOM for your itinery is not at all bad. You dont need to change any terminals or luggage. BOM airside is pretty good and comparable to any modern airports and so transfer is hasslefree.

You can claim miles on Lufthansa miles and more for your AI flights.

Inflight entertainment and food, I rate AI much better. And you save $600. If I were you, I would take AI.

Too late for the OP, I realize. But I don't think it is worth spending the extra $600 at all.

Oops,
I thought all Etihad flights have personal AVOD. That's how I understood from Etihad's web site and now I see a warning about some missing entertainment systems on 320's on Seatguru.
My wife is going to kill me as she said that is a must as she is travelling with 2 boys. Hopefully, it should not be that bad since both HYD legs are in the night time.
If I knew this, I would have definitely gone with AI. I only travelled AI 12 years ago and that experience was not great and I never went back to AI. It is good to know that AI is much better now.
I love Hyd's customs and immegration. The last 4-5 times I went to HYD, all the officers were very courteous and professional. Nothing comepared to how it used to be 4 yesrs ago.

i have never had a problem redeeming 9w miles....with air india its a whole different story....you have to fill up a redemption form & take it to one of their offices....i believe there is also an option to fax it....the other way is to do it at the airport, but not all airports will give you that option....