Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the desert via Etihad First Class
Apr 22, 2017, 3:33 pm
#136
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,109
Apr 27, 2017, 5:25 pm
#137
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,598
Thank you shgroamer for following along. 
Thanks TheBOSman. Yeah, those solo F flights are simply amazing. We've been fortunate to have experienced them on LH, AF, QR and EY although not the Apartments.
Thanks very much as219. We've never had a bad EY flight. It's just the subpar ground service and declining lounge experience that makes it a little less than a great F experience. And apparently the cost cutting continues.
flatlander is close. For me, the kettle is just a less experience traveler that slows the lines at either security or boarding.
Thank you very much Genius1 for all your comments. I was surprised that they honored the chauffeur booking and wasn't really convinced until the limo service called the day before departure. I really enjoy the EY on board hard and soft product. I can see some cost cutting from a few years ago but nothing to really detract from the experience. Give me a good biryani and some nice wine and I'm pretty much a happy camper.
I feel like the luckiest FTer alive vis a vis EY Apartments. When I flew it, there was only one other person in the cabin, empty Residence. Fantastic service, probably the best single flight of my life. And I've had an LH F cabin to myself before 
. It definitely seems that they struggle when the cabin is full, and (unsurprisingly for a rapidly growing company alongside two other rapidly growing nearby companies in the same industry in QR and EK) that staff consistency can be a problem. Maybe I should have played the lottery instead . Hopefully your upcoming Apartment flight is lightly loaded in F.
. It definitely seems that they struggle when the cabin is full, and (unsurprisingly for a rapidly growing company alongside two other rapidly growing nearby companies in the same industry in QR and EK) that staff consistency can be a problem. Maybe I should have played the lottery instead . Hopefully your upcoming Apartment flight is lightly loaded in F.We flew Apartments last week AUH-JFK. The champagne was a vintage BS 2006 or 2007, I think. I enjoyed it just fine. Frankly I think most great champagnes show less than optimally at altitude, but what do I know? 
The food was fantastic. The menu has obviously been cut back from the half-dozen protein options they started with, but we really didn't notice the difference. I got my biryani, which was terrific, and everything else was lovely. As to service, we were expecting the worst, but at the end of the day, there were so many people working first we lost track of them all. Everyone was Johnny-on-the-spot with a smile. We couldn't have been happier.
The only real problem I noticed was in the F lounge. Even though we showed up at 8pm for our 3:30am flight, they were out of the ingredients for two of the cocktails I wanted, two of the food items on the bar menu, and out of the lamb on the Mezlai tasting menu. That's pretty bad, IMO. I heard a lot of disappointed people grousing about it. It's not something you really expect to hear in an F lounge. (I can confirm, though, that the Paradis is still there, not on the menu, by request only.)
The food was fantastic. The menu has obviously been cut back from the half-dozen protein options they started with, but we really didn't notice the difference. I got my biryani, which was terrific, and everything else was lovely. As to service, we were expecting the worst, but at the end of the day, there were so many people working first we lost track of them all. Everyone was Johnny-on-the-spot with a smile. We couldn't have been happier.The only real problem I noticed was in the F lounge. Even though we showed up at 8pm for our 3:30am flight, they were out of the ingredients for two of the cocktails I wanted, two of the food items on the bar menu, and out of the lamb on the Mezlai tasting menu. That's pretty bad, IMO. I heard a lot of disappointed people grousing about it. It's not something you really expect to hear in an F lounge. (I can confirm, though, that the Paradis is still there, not on the menu, by request only.)
flatlander is close. For me, the kettle is just a less experience traveler that slows the lines at either security or boarding.
A bit late to the party on this one as I've been travelling. Another enjoyable read SFO777.
It's nice that they honoured your chauffeur cars for this trip.
The lounge at LAX does look pretty drab; due to their location, most of the lounges in TBIT don't have much natural light to speak of.
The amenity kit looks pretty poor, and worse than the new AA one I got on a recent TATL sector in J!
The onboard Etihad service looks very elegant, and the presentation of the food great.
I have never been particularly attracted to the Middle East, but it seems like you stayed in a few nice properties as usual - I particularly liked the style of the Four Seasons.
Shame about the poor ground experience at both ports; it seems to let down a strong onboard product.
It's nice that they honoured your chauffeur cars for this trip.
The lounge at LAX does look pretty drab; due to their location, most of the lounges in TBIT don't have much natural light to speak of.
The amenity kit looks pretty poor, and worse than the new AA one I got on a recent TATL sector in J!
The onboard Etihad service looks very elegant, and the presentation of the food great.
I have never been particularly attracted to the Middle East, but it seems like you stayed in a few nice properties as usual - I particularly liked the style of the Four Seasons.
Shame about the poor ground experience at both ports; it seems to let down a strong onboard product.