Photo Trip Report: Goodbye Topbonus via AUH, SIN, BKK, HKG & TPE!
Dec 14, 2017, 1:28 am
#31
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Programs: BA | A3 | AFKL | Hertz | SPG | Avis
Posts: 748
The last leg from AUH to TXL was scheduled to be with Air Berlin, but as some of you might be aware they have been leasing a Privilege Air 777 in their last days for the AUH-TXL flights. The experience on that flight was pretty horrible, so I will not post photos and end my trip report with that.
Dec 14, 2017, 7:17 am
#32
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, Radisson VIP
Posts: 6,531
Dec 14, 2017, 11:55 am
#34
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Germany
Programs: Oneworld Emerald, *A Gold, Sixt Platinum, Etihad Gold
Posts: 108
Well, you asked and you shall receive: here's the full Privilege Air experience 
A little bit of a back story:
Whenever booking a flight with Etihad from Berlin TXL, the first leg (TXL-AUH) was flown by Air Berlin as Etihad did not have the rights to serve TXL. As you all know, Air Berlin went bankrupt in September, so just two months after my trip; but even before that, the financial troubles started to show as they didn't have enough planes to actually fly all their routes. That's why half of the time you did not fly AUH-TXL with AB's A330 (which had a beautiful Business Class with a 1-2-1 configuration), but rather with a wet leased 777 from Privilege Air (including a non-AB Spanish crew).
So, here's the full experience from what should have been an awesome last flight with Air Berlin's Business Class and the awesome crews they had:
When leaving the Etihad First Class Lounge, the boarding bus brought us to the wet lease 777 that would take us home to Berlin. I was quite shocked, as the hard product was obviously way worse than what Air Berlin would normally have offered:
The worst part for me though wasn't even the 2-3-2 config, it was rather how dirty and used the plane looked. Every surface was bruised, every corner had some kind of dirt or other clear signs that this plane hasn't been cleaned in ages (proceed at your own risk):
At least there was one Air Berlin steward on board that still gave his best (can't blame the crews). Pre-departure drink:
Breakfast:
At least I managed to sleep a bit, but I was just glad once we landed back in Berlin:
Air Berlin actually refunded parts of the ticket price to other passengers that had their flights changed, but I was too late and Air Berlin was already bankrupt. As I'm just sad that AB doesn't exist anymore, I can't really be mad at them (at least I made it back and wasn't stranded in AUH). Still I would've loved to have one proper last flight in AB's Business Class, where I spent so many fantastic hours of exploring the world out of TXL.
At least I had another chance to fly one last time with Air Berlin afterwards (to Paris), so I want to conclude this trip with a more fitting photo than the ones above:
A little bit of a back story:
Whenever booking a flight with Etihad from Berlin TXL, the first leg (TXL-AUH) was flown by Air Berlin as Etihad did not have the rights to serve TXL. As you all know, Air Berlin went bankrupt in September, so just two months after my trip; but even before that, the financial troubles started to show as they didn't have enough planes to actually fly all their routes. That's why half of the time you did not fly AUH-TXL with AB's A330 (which had a beautiful Business Class with a 1-2-1 configuration), but rather with a wet leased 777 from Privilege Air (including a non-AB Spanish crew).
So, here's the full experience from what should have been an awesome last flight with Air Berlin's Business Class and the awesome crews they had:
When leaving the Etihad First Class Lounge, the boarding bus brought us to the wet lease 777 that would take us home to Berlin. I was quite shocked, as the hard product was obviously way worse than what Air Berlin would normally have offered:
The worst part for me though wasn't even the 2-3-2 config, it was rather how dirty and used the plane looked. Every surface was bruised, every corner had some kind of dirt or other clear signs that this plane hasn't been cleaned in ages (proceed at your own risk):
At least there was one Air Berlin steward on board that still gave his best (can't blame the crews). Pre-departure drink:
Breakfast:
At least I managed to sleep a bit, but I was just glad once we landed back in Berlin:
Air Berlin actually refunded parts of the ticket price to other passengers that had their flights changed, but I was too late and Air Berlin was already bankrupt. As I'm just sad that AB doesn't exist anymore, I can't really be mad at them (at least I made it back and wasn't stranded in AUH). Still I would've loved to have one proper last flight in AB's Business Class, where I spent so many fantastic hours of exploring the world out of TXL.
At least I had another chance to fly one last time with Air Berlin afterwards (to Paris), so I want to conclude this trip with a more fitting photo than the ones above:
Dec 15, 2017, 6:06 am
#36
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,522
As I'm just sad that AB doesn't exist anymore, I can't really be mad at them (at least I made it back and wasn't stranded in AUH). Still I would've loved to have one proper last flight in AB's Business Class, where I spent so many fantastic hours of exploring the world out of TXL.