Etihad Info

[jmphoto]

Hey,

Got SYD-AUH-LHR rtn booked in Y for work.

Never flown on them, nor a VA partner before.

I called to get seating assigned, but according to them the plane is already pretty chockers (it's July.)

Confirmed that the luggage is 30kg allowance, but the operator couldn't shed any light on how much the VA Plat allowance addition includes. The VA site states 15kg extra on EY, but I'm concerned because the call centre operator said that Y is normally 23kg, but my fare has 30kg. I don't want to rock up 10 or 15kg over. Has anyone had experience that you'd care to share?

One of the best threads over at Flyer Talk is the 2012 BA Champagne & Wine thread - FlyerTalk Forums - anyone have recent memory of champagne in Sydney, Abu Dhabi or London lounges they want to share?

 

[smit0847]

Assume its EY metal all the way? If work is paying you should try and see if you can change the time/day so that you fly the SYD-AUH leg on VA metal (make up some reason). I have heard nothing but had things about EY Y (10 abreast(!!!), rude, overworked staff, tiny meal portions etc) but have flown VA long-haul Y several times and found it to be excellent.

There are many reviews on Airline Quality of people who have done SYD-AUH VA Y then AUH-LHR EY Y and said there is a MASSIVE difference between the 2 airlines Y products.

 

[jmphoto]

Ugh, not good news. Normally we don't fly Y on long-haul, nor have restricted bookings, but as it's a group of about 30 in all I think things are pretty tight on the change-front. Will check though.,

 

[aoz48x]

Generally the baggage allowance to LHR is 23kgs per person, 30kgs to the Middle East. You failed to mention in your first post that it was booked as a group booking. The additional baggage would have been offered as apart of the group booking. Double check your e-tkt receipt as this should show your baggage allowance.

I could be wrong here, but understand the additional baggage allowace for VA Plat mbrs is when you are booked on the flight using the VA codeshare flight nbr not when booked on the EY side (again could be wrong so happy to conceed if the case)

 

[thegurio]

Assume its EY metal all the way? If work is paying you should try and see if you can change the time/day so that you fly the SYD-AUH leg on VA metal (make up some reason). I have heard nothing but had things about EY Y (10 abreast(!!!), rude, overworked staff, tiny meal portions etc) but have flown VA long-haul Y several times and found it to be excellent.

There are many reviews on Airline Quality of people who have done SYD-AUH VA Y then AUH-LHR EY Y and said there is a MASSIVE difference between the 2 airlines Y products.

We recently did LHR-AUH-MEL in Y, and to he honest I was really impressed with everything. Food was Middle Eastern fare, but certainly edible and filling. FA's were really nice and welcoming, only problem being grog, but it's not up there for that long.

Whilst not a lot of pitch(smit0847 was right 3-4-3), the seats were like big lounges (well maybe not that big) and the three of us - me, MrsGurio and GrommetGurio had a row of 4 and we loved it.

Pout it this way. Id pony up the cash and do it again with them, if that's any indication.

 

[superpang]

I flew them back in Jan MEL-AUH-MEL in Y I didn't really like them. I thought the on board staff were rude and unprofessional the food was pretty bad too and the lounge in AUH was also not amazing, im Virgin Gold so whatever I think I had access to the silver lounge or something similar but it was so poor that I left. With that said I would probably fly them over most European carriers but they are not as good as Qantas or most Asian carriers and Qatar.

 

[titfilou]

Flew with them in January for the first time and wasn't impressed.

Everytine someone was asking for something, the answer from the staff was "I will bring that to you later, later, let me finish what I'm doing" and the same happened to me when I asked for a cup of tea (which they don't offer automatically), however, I have never seen that cup coming. Went to get it myself and when I got the the gallery, they were having a sandwich and a chat between them seating down.

Meal service was only 1 FA per corridor, it was very slow and they kept on pressing the bell to ask the other FA to bring more stuff.

Other than that, seats were ok and we had a little bit of live action when someone decided that he couldn't wait to smoke and started to smoke on the plane. After being told 3 times he started to smoke again and then really got in trouble, having to handover his passport and getting the captain to come out.

But don't worry the main thing is that it will get you from point A to point B. and if you are in holiday mood, you won't care.

 

[brentonnn]

Anyone seen this on the Eithad FAQs under 'Eithad-Virgin Australia' section of their website

"Do Etihad passengers on Virgin Australia services have to pay for meals or inflight entertainment?
Etihad is working with Virgin Australia to launch free inflight entertainment and inflight catering for all Etihad guests travelling on a Virgin Australia codeshare route. We will have this in place as soon as possible."

wonder if they'll be doing this with their own international connections

 

[airtraveladdict]

Yes Etihad is rather hit and miss.
When they started their seat pitches were up to 34", but these days its 31" standard and 3-4-3 abreast, which means on a 14 hour flight, you would need to be a contortionist to stay comfortable.
The entertainment onboard is good but thats about it, the soft product is lacking and has failed to improve despite years of passenger complaints. But the funny thing is, the complaints aren't new or different from the different pax who have flown EY, the complaints are very similar, so you would think after years of hearing the same complaint they would fix it.
But they continue to get bookings and have bums on seats because their fares are cheaper than other airlines.
Anyway if you want extra luggage, just join the Etihad Guest program, print out the temporary card. At the lowest membership level which is just Etihad Guest, you receive 28kg* in economy, which is an extra 5kg VS if you weren't a guest, its 23kg.

 

[jmphoto]

Good advice from all.

3/4 legs are A340-600, so I gather they're still 2-4-2, and it's just the 777 that's squeezed another seat in.

Power, assuming it's a safe bet that they use UK/Europe/US plugs?

No hassles checking-in at the Business desk? Oh, also, what time does check-in open? I've got a 9.50pm departure from Sydney, and a 9.15am departure from London. I've read that people have had luck securing exit seats by checking in early, but I don't want to get to the airport and then wait for the desk to open.

Cheers

 

[IrishPete]

Anyone seen this on the Eithad FAQs under 'Eithad-Virgin Australia' section of their website

"Do Etihad passengers on Virgin Australia services have to pay for meals or inflight entertainment?
Etihad is working with Virgin Australia to launch free inflight entertainment and inflight catering for all Etihad guests travelling on a Virgin Australia codeshare route. We will have this in place as soon as possible."

wonder if they'll be doing this with their own international connections

I received this service over a year ago (Easter 2011 I think), on a flight back from Sydney to Canberra after travelling with Etihad from Dublin (all booked through Etihad). It certainly made the other passengers sit up and take notice (I'm special!), and it was a nice touch after such a long trip!

However, I haven't received it on subsequent flights.

Not quite so happy Easter this year, when the Virgin Domestic check-in desk at Sydney International was not operating (it had staff, but they weren't accepting check-ins), so had to lug the suitcase over to Domestic Terminal and stand in the slow-moving queue to check in, as self-service check-in isn't available to code-share passengers. It was a bit tight for time, and the last flight of the day back to Canberra, which made for a bit of tension after 24+ hours travelling. Had to queue-hop in the end, to get served qujicker.

I don't like waiting around in airports, so I like short transfer times, but airlines probably need to plan a bit better for these hiccups.

Pete

 

[Jmrocky]

I thought Etihad used A340's to/from Aus, which were all 2-4-2?

 

[Major]

They also use A330-200 from BNE which are 2-4-2

 

[Vim Fuego]

Any thoughts/advice on this would be great. I'm looking at unplanned wedding (not mine) trip to UK in October from Perth. Currently cheapest for 3 adults and 1 child is Malaysian at $6,400., Qantas is around $7,400

I can get Qatar or Emirates from Singapore to London return at the moment for around $4700 SD ($3,800 AUS), so the plan then was to get Perth-Singapore return on Jetstar and stay overnight each way in SIN. Even with hotels in SIN total cost would be around $5,500. Its not what I wanted to do as there's no FF points or status credits but its a $2k cheaper option than Qantas

I'm leaning towards Etihad over Qatar for shorter transit times and a better airport at Abu Dhabi? Is there any issues doing the SIN-LON flights, we all have UK passports so no issues getting into London

 

[airtraveladdict]

Any thoughts/advice on this would be great. I'm looking at unplanned wedding (not mine) trip to UK in October from Perth. Currently cheapest for 3 adults and 1 child is Malaysian at $6,400., Qantas is around $7,400

I can get Qatar or Emirates from Singapore to London return at the moment for around $4700 SD ($3,800 AUS), so the plan then was to get Perth-Singapore return on Jetstar and stay overnight each way in SIN. Even with hotels in SIN total cost would be around $5,500. Its not what I wanted to do as there's no FF points or status credits but its a $2k cheaper option than Qantas

I'm leaning towards Etihad over Qatar for shorter transit times and a better airport at Abu Dhabi? Is there any issues doing the SIN-LON flights, we all have UK passports so no issues getting into London

Malaysia Airlines' flight is only 21 hours with a stop over in KL of approximately 2-3 hours. and Malaysia is 1W, so you credit frequent flyer points towards Qantas. But I don't know about status credits. I don't know the fleet Malaysia Airlines uses or PER - KL, but for KL - LHR, its A380.

 

[mannej]

PER-KUL is the new 330's

 

[Vim Fuego]

Finnair could be the go SIN-LON, flights for 4 $4,500.

 

[Jack_OC]

Yes Etihad is rather hit and miss.
But they continue to get bookings and have bums on seats because their fares are cheaper than other airlines.

This comment surprised me, as I have pretty much never seen EY being the cheapest Y option to Europe. In fact, it's not unusual for it to be in the same price range as SQ, CX and QF. Funnily enough though, when it comes to J, which EY do extremely well, their fares are generally significantly cheaper than some of the top tier airlines.

FWIW I have flown Aus - Europe in Y with EY a couple of times, and also in J numerous times and F once. I would rate them highly in all classes - well to the extent that it's possible to rate any long haul Y experience highly I've also flown SYD-AUH with VA in Y, and wouldn't say that was any better or worse than EY. A number of friends and family have also flown EY between MEL and Europe in Y, and I've never heard any particularly negative reports.

 

[IrishPete]

I've always found them cheapish, and given their fairly direct flights and short connection times, they're worth the extra that they do cost over bargain basement fares with others. Occasionally you see comments about the flight attendants in Economy being rude, and my observations are that it may be race-based.As a white male I get fawned over. But a young woman of Middle-Eastern appearance sitting beside me once, got treated quite curtly, perhaps because the Flight Attendants thought she shouldn't be traveling alone?

IP

 

[DaveB]

Just finished my first trip with Etihad with the family of four flying J to Milan and returning from Dublin. The overall experience was excellent with my only minor gripe was whilst we had no problem, I thought the seats on the 340, 330 and short leg, 2 class 777 would be narrow for very large people 120kg+ with the long leg 777 appearing slightly wider with also a better designed seat shell with bottle holder, magazine rack and shelf. The other shells in comparison had a few rather silly narrow shelfs of little use.
Highlights include the fantastic chauffeur service, direct aisle access and dining on demand which does away with the trolley service and allowed us on the final 14 hour leg 22:00 -18:10 to have the breakfast and dinner any time and in any order.
Abu Dhabi apparently is nothing special compared to Dubai, though the airline apparently has limo's and coaches for the one hour by road depending on the class flown. With the temp 36C at 10pm, would definitely pick the time of year if going to do a stopover down the track.