Etihad as a Passenger!

[atmosphere]

Hey there, I'm flying to Australia soon, and my flight choice is between Cathay Pacific and Etihad. Normally I would fly cathay, however Etihad is sooo cheap around £550inc tax rtn!!!

So whats it like on board?

[Marra123]

Hi, I flew Etihad November 2004 LHR-AUH and thought it was fine.
Flights were pretty uneventful really, used a a330 2-4-2 config.
flight had a total of 44 pax on outbound journey!
IFE resonably good as from what i can remember and no delays both outbound and return. If your going via Abu Dhabi the airport looks like a giant upside down swimming pool! it aint the biggest airport around and is pretty easy to find your way around.

[Mike16]

Hi

Well i have just returned back from the middle east with etihad, i had 4 flights all together with them, and i have to say they are the BEST.
I flew from Manchester to Muscat on my first sector and it was a lovely brand new A330.
The interior is soooo divine and nice, i was in cattle class and it was super, when you compare to Virgin and BA.
The seats are comfortable and mould in to you, esp the neck and head rest which you can adjust and was nice.
The IFE was excellent, loads of films, radio and TV, the onboard map and camera is ace, when you are landing the IFE goes of, but the pilot turns on the front view camera and it is so weird to see it landing and it is still on till you get to the stand.
I had the breakfast going out, and we had a choice of 3 dishes, and the food is lovely.
The crew are very very smart, proffessional and yes, they always had a smile, to be honest i have not had treatment like this on an airline since i was a kid myself.
When i was young that is what made me want to do cabin crew myself, they were lovely, they were a mixture of phillipine and sri lankan crew, english was perfect and i would thoroughly recommend them to anyone.
All drinks etc are free, and duty free onbaord is good with a wide range of goods, baggage allowance for me was 30 kilos and 10 for hand luggage.
Hope this helps

Mike

[Groundloop]

You would probably get a lot more responses if you posted the question in the Passengers and SLF Forum.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=61

[Roidelstein]

I would be intersted if anyone could add their experience of Pearl (Business) Class travel with Etihad.
Thanks.

[atmosphere]

Sounds good then, I think im going to be flying on the A340-500 each sector, are they old? I looked at some cabin views on Airliners, and it does look very nice. hmmm, maybe i should book it and see!

Cheers for your help

[Bredrin]

Brand Spanking New

[Tolsti]

I flew with them in October 2006 in Pearl class LGW-AUH-BKK and return.
Pretty darn good in my view. Limo pickup from home, speedy checkin and into the lounge (Delta @ LGW.... not impressed) On board service was superb, new 777 with great AVOD and a huge screen. Full flat bed with massage function!... great food and drink. Industrial strength G + T with the comment ''please tell me if that is strong enough so I can get it right for your next one!!!

Very attentive crew, friendly multinational crew and the ability to get some real sleep... waking up to find that I had been covered with a blanket and a fresh bottle of water placed beside my ''bed'' in case I woke up feeling thirsty.

At the time they were offering the Boeing wifi system FOC as it was due to be discontinued so it was great to surf and catch up with emails.

The stopover in AUH was brief and despite being superbly comfortable onboard it is good to stretch you legs.

The return was equally pleasant apart from them not sending a limo to pick me up. They put me in a taxi instead and I am still trying to resolve this matter with them.

I have booked to go with them again in May but in Coral this time and am looking forward to it but it will bring me to silver in the FF program which gives 10kg extra baggage and lounge access.