Really? As cabin crew for Etihad, flying in and out of BKK several times a month I was quite surprised to read your comments. I cannot imagine any cabin crew for Etihad saying "take it or leave it". I've worked for Etihad since near the beginning and though we have a lot of junior crew they are very professional and eager to serve. As we are a relatively new airline of only 5 years we don't have any jaded crew yet. As for the first officer making a comment about the sand storms in Abu Dhabi, which is frequent at this time of year, I think he was laughing in a way to show it was not that serious.

Anyway, very sorry for this experience and I actually forwarded a copy of what you said to our training center and our customer service center. If you have specific information regarding the exact flights please forward to me.

f1,

I would just like to point out that this experience was not as per usual , normally Etihad staff are excellent and I would say they are the best middle Eastern carrier at the moment ( i have flown Emirates, Qatar and Gulf many times ).

The only reason I am flying Emirates next time is to go on the A380 not because of my "unusal " flight with Etihad.

Undoubtedley Emirates are a great carrier but i ended up getting a tad cheesed off with Dubai Airport. Parking the plane too far from the terminal and having to bus it. Although that may have stopped now I had flown Etihad which was equally as good, so i took up the frequent flyer with Etihad. So i use them rather than any other airline. I used to love the old "mushroom" airport at Abu Dhabi but i think they opened the new airport last month and are progressively shifting the carriers to the new one. I'll look forward to going through it in a couple of months.

Emirates just opened a brand new terminal 3 dedicated to its flights only.

Didn't know that james. That must make it much easier but too late for me to switch now, I've got too many airmiles with Etihad.

I flew into Dubai about 5 weeks ago and we were still bussed in from the parking spot way past the old terminal. Now that the new extension is open it means that the bus ride is even longer. Well over 60 mins wasted with the long taxi, waiting on the bus and the slow crawl to the new terminal. I wish there were more carriers to London Gatwick so I could avoid the over-rated (in my opinion) Emirates service. And the new business class 'cocoon seats' are literally a pain in the bum. Incredibly uncomfortable when seated in the vertical position.

Interesting observation - never liked that bus ride then security nonsense at the old terminal. As for Gatwick, why not fly out of heathrow?

My missus just flew back with Etihad, she was singing their praises again at dinner with some Thai friends (in the UK).

All five of them have ditched Emirates for Etihad.

They must be doing something right or is it Emirates service going downhill?