How low can Etihad go ?

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No cup of tea and biscuits on 14hr flight? Even my beloved VA offers that for free......

It's all a bit vague but it seems that if it is a designated meal time you will get a bistro meal and beverage for free, but outside of that you will need to pay for it. So you might not notice much of a difference at all if it turns out the definition of designated meal time is generous, or you may find it not dissimilar to a long distance Jetstar/Tiger flight.
 
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It's all a bit vague but it seems that if it is a designated meal time you will get a bistro meal and beverage for free, but outside of that you will need to pay for it. So you might not notice much of a difference at all if it turns out the definition of designated meal time is generous, or you may find it not dissimilar to a long distance Jetstar/Tiger flight.

See how it pans out. I will report back after my maiden voyage with EY in the coming weeks.
 
I flew Etihad to Madrid and back from Paris this month in economy.

I would say it has been my least liked airline.
Meals were not explained, just the protein (chicken or beef or veg pasta?), you literally get the meal and a piece of bread/olive bread. Some staff seemed meh

Tea/Coffee came as a drinks service after the meal service, but anything outside of the main services were paid.

I have VA Gold so sadly did not get to see the Etihad Premium lounge in Abu Dhabi, but made the long trek to terminal 1 Al Reem lounge, nice offerings. They served alcohol after 8pm during Ramadan. We had the bus at Abu Dhabi the first time around, most frustrating airport ever. They really need more stanchions out during peak times as people just clumped up and pushed past each other etc. On the way back through, they also security checked us twice, once to get back into the terminal on arrival flight (throw away liquids) and then at the gate (so if you bought liquids/ or took water bottles from the lounge you had to throw them away again, with no where to refill them before a 14 hour flight!!)

The check in staff at Paris gave us priority passes at the airport which made things less stressful, and the lounge there was nice.
 
While the QF program is not great, VA is worse. QF does offer upgrades on their own metal for international, but the lowest fare buckets can not be upgraded. Chances are, even if you paid full fare, you might still not get upgraded so its better to pay cash fare or make an outright redemption.

QF also doesn't offer upgrade for one-world partners using points. In terms of earning status, you get penalized for flying with oneworld airlines to and from Australia.
 
This is interesting,
I just came home from London on Monday flying Etihad. I have been a platinum velocity member for 5 years now.
First thing I did when I got home was join the Qantas club.
Etihad has gone backwards, fast.
Unfortunately flying to Europe under the Velocity program simply offers you nothing other then a couple of nice lounges a long the way.
The first class lounge in Abu D. Is nice .
There is no way of doing any upgrades through the program without giving up 500,000 point for an upgraded seat.

I’m interested to hear from Qantas members if they have jumped ship from Velocity recently and why.

I have been with Velocity for 13 years in total now and it seems every other program has left it for dust.

Suggest if London/UK is the destination then VA connecting to VS via HKG might be a better option now.
 
Hmmmm. I've just redeemed 85K AAdvantage miles on Etihad for Brussels to Melbourne in J in October. The only seats on offer were on Etihad. None on BA, QR or AY who also are OneWorld partners out of BRU. Seems these other carriers are filling their seats while EY are grasping at straws. At least it's J so I don't have to pay for peanuts in Y. I'll keep watching AA for alternative vendors of the flight home. Would much prefer to be on Qatar....
 
VS HKG-LHR is 787 from memory which is fairly unpleasant down the back, hopefully they upgrade it to the A350 then if would be a good routing. Otherwise SIA 350/380 is probably the most comfortable velocity route to Europe.
 
I flew to Rome return this month (with onward connections with Alitalia). Initially I was thoroughly dreading the 14hr from MEL to AUH although in the end it wasn't as painful as I feared, although no doubt having lounge access in MEL & AUH assisted that.

On the MEL-AUH 2145 Departure a meal was served just after take off, with a snack around half way through the flight, and the breakfast 90 mins or so prior to landing. Drinks were served several times as well, and I had no issue consuming 4-5 beers on the first 6 hrs of the flight, and I didn't go hungry with the portion sizes. Whilst I echo @Kandy's sentiment that the option description is a bit of a lucky dip I can understand not explaining in depth each meal option to the 100 people each FA would serve, and also appreciate not interrupting the the dark cabin to announce the 3 options in 2-3 languages, which I find people don't listen to anyway.

Food was of an acceptable quality, service I would describe as moderately friendly but nothing too special, but also didn't see anything across the 40 hrs in the air I'd describe as poor. IFE had an excellent selection of movies , good range of TV shows and had a crisp responsive screen.

I'd say above all the quietness of the 787 and the cabin air pressure made a larger difference than I'd have thought, and would preference this flight over anything offered by any airline with a 777 for any part of the journey. Whilst their frequencies seem to be scaling back if their flights suited my schedule I wouldn't hesitate to select them again, assuming their pricing was the same as SQ or EK.
 
I flew to Rome return this month (with onward connections with Alitalia). Initially I was thoroughly dreading the 14hr from MEL to AUH although in the end it wasn't as painful as I feared, although no doubt having lounge access in MEL & AUH assisted that.

On the MEL-AUH 2145 Departure a meal was served just after take off, with a snack around half way through the flight, and the breakfast 90 mins or so prior to landing. Drinks were served several times as well, and I had no issue consuming 4-5 beers on the first 6 hrs of the flight, and I didn't go hungry with the portion sizes. Whilst I echo @Kandy's sentiment that the option description is a bit of a lucky dip I can understand not explaining in depth each meal option to the 100 people each FA would serve, and also appreciate not interrupting the the dark cabin to announce the 3 options in 2-3 languages, which I find people don't listen to anyway.

Food was of an acceptable quality, service I would describe as moderately friendly but nothing too special, but also didn't see anything across the 40 hrs in the air I'd describe as poor. IFE had an excellent selection of movies , good range of TV shows and had a crisp responsive screen.

I'd say above all the quietness of the 787 and the cabin air pressure made a larger difference than I'd have thought, and would preference this flight over anything offered by any airline with a 777 for any part of the journey. Whilst their frequencies seem to be scaling back if their flights suited my schedule I wouldn't hesitate to select them again, assuming their pricing was the same as SQ or EK.

This post sounds a lot more promising. Thanks.
 
I flew the 787 Mel-Auh-Dus and again have no complaints, aside from 1. If the description of the show says "compelling 5 part miniseries" please don't only upload the first 3 episodes! (Chernobyl). Crew on my aisle doing Mel-Auh were particularly proactive, if a bit unpolished, when taking rubbish, be it a water cup or beer can they'd ask if you'd like another without prompt. A nice change to what I've previously experienced. And I even got an in seat recognition as a Platinum. Will be back again with them in a month or two as the First lounge is too good to pass up (as an economy VA platimum)
 
Any update on how you went?
Anecdotally it seems that from what I've read/seen on the net, the main meal service has been cut down - so don't expect a dessert/cake with the meal, or cheese & crackers, etc. I will say that EY used to be one of the better caterers in Y in my own opinion, they usually gave you a good amount on the tray.

The mid-flight snacks still seem to exist on long haul as well. It doesn't seem like a huge change and I think with maybe taking a snack or two as a back up (which I usually do anyway) you may not notice much difference.
 
And a new thread on Flyertalk indicates that there may have been something of a reversion back to the more substantial options.

 
From my recent trip IAD-AUH-SYD in Y (yes, this is not the most efficient way to go from IAD to SYD... but it was the second part of an open jaw booking and this made sense at the time). Overall I was happy with the amount of food, although the taste and presentation leaves something to be desired.

IAD-AUH - 12.5 hour flight (B787), received a normal tray meal after departure and prior to arrival, both with choices. I think the first had two meat choices and vego, and the second might have been only meat and veg. Both meals had a small side (cheese/crackers) , dessert, etc, on the tray. In between, the only offering was a packet of Lays potato chips. No bottles of water were offered, only water poured in a cup, although the meal trays had a tiny water cup (80 ml or less, almost useless).

AUH-SYD - 13.5 hour flight (A380), received a normal tray meal after departure with two meat choices (vegetarians were only catered for if they had a pre-selected special meal). There was an in-between snack which was a chilled cheese sandwich with a small dessert (apple pastry) - a good upgrade over the Lays. The final meal before landing was a hot selection also with only one choice (chicken pasta), with slightly reduced sides. Similarly, no bottles of water were offered - many Sydney-bound travelers expected this and complainted to flight attendants, as this is standard on other longhaul airlines serving Australia.

Also, none of these meals contained Western "breakfast" style selections (e.g. eggs/omelette/etc with sweet muffin/pastry), even though in both cases the final meals were in the morning based on the origin time zone. Of course, with varied cultural backgrounds on the passengers, this is not really that significant.

On each segment, a different passenger near me was trying to eat vegan, but in one case had not made a special meal selection, and in the other claimed she had, but flight attendants said it was not on file. As most of the vegetarian choices had dairy, staff did their best to find food from staff or business class meals where possible - even though this appeared to be user error in at least one if not both cases.

One thing I liked is that they serve drinks with the same cart as the meals, and got to it reasonably quickly after departure - none of this faffing around with a snack, then a drink service, and finally what seems like hours later, get around to the main meal. Also, the meal trays were cleared reasonably quickly, rather than being stuck there for another hour like Qantas. On overnight sectors, every minute of sleep opportunity is prized, so the hustle is appreciated.

On the AUH-SYD segment (A380), I tried to order from the "sweet" section of the buy on board menu, which was supposed to be done using the seatback screens, but the system said the facility was unavailable. I didn't inquire of staff if there was a way to manually order and just gave up on the idea. But they certainly aren't going to be selling much if they don't turn this on. Maybe the selections weren't even loaded. I didn't see anyone else appearing to order or consume anything from this menu.

On another note, I was very happy with the first class lounge in AUH. Nice job Etihad to provide Virgin Platinum members this amenity. Such a constrast to some OW carriers like UL that don't even provide OWE members access to a decent business lounge ...
 
Thanks for the detailed information, and well done on taking the long way round in Y to get a good crass sample for our reference.
 
Such a constrast to some OW carriers like UL that don't even provide OWE members access to a decent business lounge ...

That's because they don't have a decent lounge. Even their J lounge in CMB is pretty average at best IMHO.
 
Even their J lounge in CMB is pretty average at best IMHO.

Agree the lounge itself is very ordinary. Furniture, ambiance, showers. All pretty poor.

In terms of food choices though, it knocks the socks off eg QFi J-lounges even in SYD and MEL. And it's possibly better even on drinks too if you do a bit of DIY.
 
From my recent trip IAD-AUH-SYD in Y (yes, this is not the most efficient way to go from IAD to SYD... but it was the second part of an open jaw booking and this made sense at the time). Overall I was happy with the amount of food, although the taste and presentation leaves something to be desired.

IAD-AUH - 12.5 hour flight (B787), received a normal tray meal after departure and prior to arrival, both with choices. I think the first had two meat choices and vego, and the second might have been only meat and veg. Both meals had a small side (cheese/crackers) , dessert, etc, on the tray. In between, the only offering was a packet of Lays potato chips. No bottles of water were offered, only water poured in a cup, although the meal trays had a tiny water cup (80 ml or less, almost useless).

AUH-SYD - 13.5 hour flight (A380), received a normal tray meal after departure with two meat choices (vegetarians were only catered for if they had a pre-selected special meal). There was an in-between snack which was a chilled cheese sandwich with a small dessert (apple pastry) - a good upgrade over the Lays. The final meal before landing was a hot selection also with only one choice (chicken pasta), with slightly reduced sides. Similarly, no bottles of water were offered - many Sydney-bound travelers expected this and complainted to flight attendants, as this is standard on other longhaul airlines serving Australia.

Also, none of these meals contained Western "breakfast" style selections (e.g. eggs/omelette/etc with sweet muffin/pastry), even though in both cases the final meals were in the morning based on the origin time zone. Of course, with varied cultural backgrounds on the passengers, this is not really that significant.

On each segment, a different passenger near me was trying to eat vegan, but in one case had not made a special meal selection, and in the other claimed she had, but flight attendants said it was not on file. As most of the vegetarian choices had dairy, staff did their best to find food from staff or business class meals where possible - even though this appeared to be user error in at least one if not both cases.

One thing I liked is that they serve drinks with the same cart as the meals, and got to it reasonably quickly after departure - none of this faffing around with a snack, then a drink service, and finally what seems like hours later, get around to the main meal. Also, the meal trays were cleared reasonably quickly, rather than being stuck there for another hour like Qantas. On overnight sectors, every minute of sleep opportunity is prized, so the hustle is appreciated.

On the AUH-SYD segment (A380), I tried to order from the "sweet" section of the buy on board menu, which was supposed to be done using the seatback screens, but the system said the facility was unavailable. I didn't inquire of staff if there was a way to manually order and just gave up on the idea. But they certainly aren't going to be selling much if they don't turn this on. Maybe the selections weren't even loaded. I didn't see anyone else appearing to order or consume anything from this menu.

On another note, I was very happy with the first class lounge in AUH. Nice job Etihad to provide Virgin Platinum members this amenity. Such a constrast to some OW carriers like UL that don't even provide OWE members access to a decent business lounge ...

Thanks for your comprehensive review. The message I’m getting is: fill up in the lounges pre-flight (my usual strategy anyway).
 
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