A customer gives his views on EY and hopefully not a rant!
This is a most interesting thread from my point of view as I have recently used EY in economy along with my 15yr old daughter on a return LHR to SYD via Abu Dhabi of course. It was a fantastic price £619 return each beating all opposition this July/August by a considerable margin. Of particular interest was its Skytrax highest customer rating, knocking Asiana off it's top slot. I have flown Asiana a number of times on the LHR-SYD route and rate them the best in the sky.
All flights with Etihad were on time. All appeared to be operated safely. All sectors were operated using the A340. All sectors were uncomfortable in that the seats were the hardest I have sat in, in economy. Seat pitch was fine for Y. Cabin environment was perfectly pleasant except for one very major problem. Through-out all four sectors a loud or often very loud "bong" would sound throughout the cabin every time a passenger pressed the call button, deliberately or by accident. With full flights this happened a lot. Frankly, sleeping was made difficult or nigh on impossible. I did raise this with one of the CC who contacted the CSD, a most charming, attractive and sympathetic lady who said they were the only airline that did this and they had often received complaints about it. She did not have customer feedback forms but asked for my card and promised to send in my comments.
The food served was good. Entertainment was fine although I generally ignore it, but my daughter thought it was fine but not as good as QF. (She prefers the beer on QF but we won't go off topic).
As for the CC themselves I must say the atmosphere or perhaps the culture of the airline is a better way of putting it was distinctly odd in that there was no feeling of being with or part of or being served a defined product. I'm not sure if I can properly convey the EY brand. Service was however very lackadaisical, very slow, up to 3 hours for one dinner service for instance. Some of the crew seemed to be very nice people indeed. Some were downright off hand and rude. So a mixed bunch really, reflecting a very mixed background of people culturally speaking judging by the range of skin colour and languages spoken.
Would I fly with them again? No. I have been flying since 1962 man and boy all over the world with many different carriers. I sleep well generally speaking in economy. The two exceptions are BA and now EY. With both carriers the seats are too uncomfortable in longhaul and in BA's case the seat pitch is just too tight. With EY the constant noise from the bonging is just intolerable I found. Even if a great price appeared again I would rather pay more over that distance.
Would I recommend them? No for the same reason.
Recommendation to the airline - get rid of the noise, make the seats softer, define your brand, take a few rides on Asiana to see efficiency and attentiveness on the part of the cabin crew.