Originally Posted by
PhilW1981
After a bit of advice, looks like I'm going tome making a large number of work related visits to India over the next few months. Having no experience of travelling to asia, and with work restricting me to economy class, I want to try and stick to one airline for all trips, I guess what I'm asking is who should I go with. I'm based in the Northwest so transiting in UAE seems to make sense rather than messing around with Heathrow. Main priorites are as follows...
Options are either Etihad or Emirates from Manchester or BA via Heathrow though they don't fly as regular as the UAE based airlines. Main points for me to consider are.....
1) Comfort of flight, IFE, food etc
2) Frequent flyer points/miles
3) Ease of transit, DXB/LHR/Abu Dhabi
Thanks in advance.
A couple of points.
With regard to Emirates, some of their flights to / from Manchester are operated using 777 aircraft. Be aware that the economy configuration in Emirates 777's is 10 seats across which some may find cramped (some carriers to the Middle East have a more spacious 9 across configuration).
I've found Etihad a mixed bag. Good IFE, OK food, fair to middling service, rather cramped seats. Abu Dhabi, though, is probably the most attractive and straightforward transit option.
Is there any reason you don't mention Qatar Airways out of Manchester? I've never flown them so I can't speak from personal experience, but they have modern aircraft and a superb reputation. They also have a FF scheme. Main drawback is transiting through Doha, which is no longer fit for purpose.