Etihad Or Jet Airways Frequent Flyer Programme?

[Kadafi]

Previously I have been travelling from London to Bangkok and never really sticking to one airline. Ive travelled with Thai airways, EVA, Jet airways, Etihad and Royal Jordanian. Having not been saving my airmiles I want to now stick to one airline and save. Due to the good prices from Heathrow Ive been thinking about Jet Airways as they have been ok and also offer 35kg allowance. I will be travelling to Bangkok 2-3 times a year with my gf and son so really want to start saving those miles.

I will choose either Jet or Etihad but does anyone know how good there frequent flyer programmes are?

[vera5212]

Sofar we travel a lot with Etihad and have always been very pleased with their services, also whenever I had a question about the membership - they help us out in a glimpse of time.  Their family membershipcard is for you probably the most interesting one.<BR>The only negative point, you are a bit stucked to one airline, which limits you pricewise. <BR>Miles and more on the contrary allow to gather points when flying with much more airlines Swiss, Lufthansa, Austrian and others.  <BR>

[eddibabyyeah]

I've been using Etihad for about 3 years now. If you fly a couple of times a year you will easily reach the silver level of their FF program. this gives access to lounges in UK,Abu & BKK. The new Etihad lounge in LHR is fantastic. They have either buffet or a sit down 5 course meal on offer if you fancy it. There's also a spa and massage all included if you. Its the same in Abu as well. In BKK you get to use Thai Airways lounge.<br><br>Etihad also offer the option to upgrade to business class using your miles if you have the correct ticket type. Something I may do on my next trip in November.<br><br>I couldnt comment on Kingfisher, as I've never used them. But a defo thumbs up for Etihad.<br>

I wouldnt worry about having to stick to an airline because of the price. I always find Etihad one of the best value when I search for flights. Although its a bit of a pain if I wanna fly from Manchester as this route isnt always the best value so I do sometimes go for LHR.

Edited July 18, 2010 by eddibabyyeah

[mavisnt]

same as prevous member we have been travelling with etihad for 5 ys now ..at least twice a year from man or h/row to bkk .never had a complaint .if you regester straight away for FF.programe you sometimes are upgraded at no extra cost even if you are not a silver or gold member if they have seats available . we have been upgraded on at least one leg of every flight we have made !we soon reached the level of miles needed to use lounges in any airportyou are travelling through ..this is a huge benefit as you are able to shower and change after a long floght.on the one occaision we were delayed by 6 hrs they apologised and said if we didnt mind moving we could use the 1st class lounge !erm ..let me think about that !!!!.....

cannot fault them in anyway ..also sem to be one of the cheaper airlines doing this route so excellent value for money .

would reccomend Etihad to all

[tartempion]

Jet Airways seems to be 200 euro cheaper each time I check economy rates!

That makes me wonder if my gold Etihad membership is worth it?

On our last trip to Europe this June I emailed Etihad guest service twice to request an upgrade on the way out of Bangkok and NEVER got a reply. Even more strange is you need 60K miles for a one way upgrade to Europe, 33K for the shorter Bangkok-Abu Dhabi leg and 27K for the longer AUH-Europe leg! I had 61K miles when leaving Bangkok and would not obtain an upgrade to AUH at check-in because that required 66k miles (2x33k) Thus arriving AUH I accumulated more than 66K miles for both of us and got an upgrade to CDG for 54K miles, go figure a stupid system. Positive was the personnel at the AUH business lounge was very nice and professional.

On the return trip they changed planes AUH-BKK from B777/300ER to A330/200. I did not check our seat assignment at check in time at CDG and was surprised we were stuck in the middle of 4 seats on that last leg. I would have hoped their computer system would have taken our gold status into consideration, but no.

I must have flown 10 return trips on Etihad thus 40 legs, 3 with a a paid business class ticket, 7 with an economy ticket. I had 3 upgrades on 40 legs, 1 from cattle class to first and that was something!, two to business, always when plane was overbooked.

It seems you do not get upgraded when business class is not full, why should they? only when eco overbooked. B777/300ER flying BKK-AUH-BKK does not have first class, thus no upgrade to first possible.

Etihad prices have been increasing continuously from around 22K promotion 3 years ago to 37K promotion this year. The terminology "promotion" has become a joke lately. I checked return prices last week for departure same week on their website and came up with 38k (reasonable price) did the same yesterday and saw 45k with one 42k for the proposed week. Maybe late July early August is considered high travel season, Europe has holiday period. Nevertheless Jet air seems to hold to their 37k tarif.

Etihad business class promotion (when you can find one) has been increasing each year from 55K, to 65K, to 75k and I booked 82k for late September. Prices for this week are anywhere between 100K and 200k.

On the positive side Etihad business class is top with fully flat beds, even Lufthansa has not equipped it's new A380 with flat beds in business. Jet Airways also has flat beds. Qatar seats incline 160 degrees, the problem with those type of seats is that you slowly slip off your seat when trying to sleep.

Other advantages have been mentioned earlier, I stick with Etihad for the time being: my next planned business trip will cash me 43K miles: 19K for flying business, +6K for holding gold, +18K special frequent flyer gold promotion.

I usually fly to Brussels and Qatar will fly to BRU as of 31st Jan 20111, they have consistently better promotions than Etihad, thus I might defect Etihad next year or consider Jat Airways. Money counts.

Edited July 19, 2010 by tartempion

[Kadafi]

Thanks for all your advice, I do like Etihad but the only problem is that they only offer 50% of miles when flying with Jet Airways Economy and im currently owed about 40k miles in unclaimed, Jet Airways will offer 100% miles when flying with Etihad.

The Etihad family membership does like very good, though im not sure if unmarried partner would apply?

Jet Airways has a 5 tier system compared to 3 tier but i dont think you can use there Heathrow lounge unless you are travelling Business class or hold Gold/Platinum status where as with Etihad you require silver which i should easily be able to obtain....

[KhunDave]

I haven't used Jet myself but did some online research after seeing their prices ex-UK. There are a lot of horror stories about the transfer in India - easy to find if you dig around a bit. It put me off trying them. Etihad on the other hand has always been fine for me, and no problems with the transfer in AUH - except the price of a pint there!

[Kadafi]

Yes must admit i dont like the transfer in India, bus journey around the airport, slow custom checks. Jet airways when transfering miles, every 500 miles i will only receive 200 miles which is a major bad point. Etihad i can sign my son and gf onto one family account and transfer all the miles into my name and receive 100%, so when i make a solo trip i can upgrade to business class...