Tips for Etihad?

[Chris Q]

So the mrs and I just booked our honeymoon, got a good deal as she works for flight centre, just wanting to know others thoughts on them?

Flown on all the major airlines before but from what I have seen and heard, Etihad are tops!

We are going economy....couldnt afford business :(
Im pretty sure its an a340 from sydney to UAE and then an a330 from there to switzerland.

Any tips for "holding" seats on these aircraft? The mrs is good friends with the local Etihad rep so we are trying our best to be looked after haha

Cheers,
Chris

[Sarmad Al-Khozaie]

Hi,

Get a departure upgrade at airport at time of check-in. ;)

[Lachlan C]

hi it will be really intresting to see what their like because we are flying with them at the end of the year:)

[Rhys Xanthis]

Get a departure upgrade at airport at time of check-in. ;)

I've always wondered, what are the secrets for getting an on departure upgrade (for any airline I guess)?

[Sarmad Al-Khozaie]

Rhys,

It comes with a price tag usually :D

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Any tips for "holding" seats on these aircraft? The mrs is good friends with the local Etihad rep so we are trying our best to be looked after haha

Surely your wife's friend would be able to advise you better than anyone on this board?!?!

[Chris Q]

Sometimes its hard to get in touch with the rep she is friends with, he is too busy!

I know alot of people here have flown on alot of airlines, just good to get some advice from others :)

[Chris Q]

Cheers Andrew,
Tops reply mate, cheers!

So has anyone here flown with them?
good food?
good entertainment systems?

Cheers,
Chris!

[David C]

Chris ,
I flew them last year SYD- AUH-MAN and return . The flights SYD-AUH-SYD were operated by A345 and the MAN legs by A330 aircraft . The level of service was as good as I have ever experienced on any airline , and I've flown lots of them over the years to and fro from Europe . The meal service gave a choice of 3 options , something that's rare in ecomomy , in between meals there was a snack bar service available at the rear of the cabin on a self serve basis giving a choice of sandwiches , fruit , soft drinks and ice cream , so you won't go hungry !! . The inflight seat back entertainment was excellent too , the camera views were downward and forward facing and the map views offered 6 modes including a high definition mode .The seat pitch was the standard 32" , so nothing to shout about there . All in all I was very happy , and I am flying with them again in November to LHR .. The good thing was , at least my baggage got through and wasn't " temporarily delayed in transit for 3 days " which a fellow UAE carrier happened to manage to do , not once but on two occasions , they had a 100% record of losing my bags for a while :mad:.. Incidentally a work colleague has just returned from Europe , flying Etihad business class , and said it was the best service they had ever had , and they are very seasoned travellers ..

Have fun ..

Dave C

[Chris Q]

Cheers Dave,
Sounds pretty top notch to me!

Cant wait till march now! haha

[David C]

As I said , I will be on them to LHR in November . I will give you an update on my return ... I'm really looking forward to my trip too ..

Dave c

[Rory D.]

Just got back from SYD/AUH/LHR and FRA/AUH/SYD with Etihad, economy (throw in a couple of Ryanair and an Air Malta for the intra-Eu sectors).

On one sector I had a seat in row 18 of the A340-600 which is an overwing exit and has LOTS of extra legroom, including in the middle block of four seats. This would be the best seat in economy although the arm rests are fixed for the tray table. Service good; food and IFE excellent. The forward camera is great for landing and takeoff (wasn't on for LHR landing which was a shame) and the down camera is also of some interest if you have a daytime sector over Europe. There is ac power available during cruise (between each seat below the cushions - from memory is was a universal two-pin adapter but take the Euro plug to be sure. Good to charge the iphone, camera batteries, etc. I would caution against gambling with overbooked economy as there was always a shambles with late arriving family groups not having seats together (which caused cultural/religious difficulties for most of them). The A340-500 this morning was somewhat cold for the whole flight but the usual blanket works well. Oh, and the loo has the best view :)

PS - I'm sure it's been mentioned many other times, but no way will I fly Ryanair if it could possibly be avoided. Biggest gripes - 15kg absolute max limit for checked bags, full overhead lockers and unreserved seating. Although the trumpet played for "on time" arrivals was cute.

[Rory D.]

Another thing... duty free prices onboard Etihad were better than any of the airports (using my Bombay Sapphire benchmark and current USD/AUD rate), although I bought from SYD inbound.

[Chris Q]

Sorry to bump an old thread gents,
just got back from my honeymoon flying with them.

the flight to Abu Dhabi from Sydney wasnt the best, maybe 1 or 2 spare seats in economy, row 17 we got, 18 was taken well before we checked in - doh!

food was good, although compared to the later flights we had with EY, they seemed well short on staff.

AUH to GVA was a bit better, more staff.

We also flew Baboo!!! now that was pretty cool!! flew them to MXP via MRS in a dash 8.

We flew from MXP to AUH and was quite empty, was in row 30 on a330-200 which is the start of where the airbus moves in. I moved into the middle row and had 4 seats to myself (hog!!) and the mrs stayed in 30a

AUH to SYD - I counted 24 people in the rear economy cabin. bloody empty!!!!!shared a middle row with the mrs.
again, food on all flights I couldnt fault. Only thing I could was they dont serve any bourbon so I had to have Ballentines scotch.

IFE was pretty sweet too - the 10.5" screen is good.

Overall, I certainly will fly with EY again, however at some stage will need to try EK to compare

Cheers,
Chris