Flying With Etihad.

[morphious]

Any thoughts or comments please as the forums i have been reading are upto 3 years old.

What are the new 777 planes like and the seats which have the baby basinets?

Cheers Morphious.

[mallorca284673]

hi

i have flown ethiad many times "great airline" check-out http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/etihad.htm another good site to check seats & comments is seatguru.com

[carmine]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

[tolsti]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

Which would be helpful, apart from the fact that Etihad transit through Abu Dhabi. And yes, their new terminal and lounges are open.

Apart from that, very accurate. New planes, good IFE. Bassinets attach to bulkheads so look for those areas. you can choose you seats online. Good frequent flyer scheme, easy to get to Silver and use of business class lounges. Food can be a bit variable I have to say, tends to be better on routes into the sandpit that on those emanating from there. If you can afford business class then you will have a great time with full flat beds and excellent service.

[richard_smith237]

Good for Business Class... completely horizontal flat beds. Most other airlines only offer lie flat (which are not horizontal).

Of the 4 star + airlines Etihad also offer the most competitive pricing. An additional bonus is their free chauffeur drive anywhere within 100 miles (in the UK - distances vary in other locations).

Qatar fly through Doha. Transit for Eithad is at Abu Dhabi and carmine is correct, the lounge has been refurbished.

[jombom]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

Refurbished ???? or is it the new terminal ???

Etihad are excellent in the air, although the cabin service is not quite as good as it used to be.

On the ground their admin staff, seem to vary in training level. Many don't actually know their own rules re weight etc. Better to double or treble check anything you are doubtful about. For example 20kgs was printed on my ticket, but I checked with the local office 3 times and was told 30 kgs each time. When I got to check-in at the airport, the girl said over weight because 21 kgs. It needed firm assurance on my part, before she checked with a supervisor, who told her 30 kgs.

You need to keep your wits about you in the new terminal. The standard of finish from a safety level, has glitches. Saw a woman falling off the end of a moving walkway, and several others stumbling over her on the ground. There was quite a lip, where the walkway transitioned into the regular floor.

[schmutzie]

Have used them once and thought them to be excellent. Sadly have not been able to find good deals from them on LDN-BKK since.

[phutoie2]

I am flying with them next weekend. Bkk - Ldn and return, think I have a 3 hour ish wait at Abu D each leg.

They are good in the air but ground manourvering a bit suspect!.

Yes that a brand new A380.

[mallyrd]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

Etihad fies out of Abu Dhabi not Doha.

[tartempion]

AS for the old (not new any more) B777/300ER they have been refitted from 3/3/3 to 3/4/3.

Pray you don't get stuck in the middle row.

And Etihad home base is Abu Dhabi, not Doha.

And that crashed plane was NOT an A380 but an A340/600.

The plane crashed into a test pen wall BEFORE delivery to Etihad and had NO etihad staff on board:

Investigators have determined that an Airbus A340-600 collided with a test-pen wall in Toulouse after it was powered up while unchocked, and an attempt to steer the aircraft out of danger reduced the effect of the brakes.

The test crew failed to reduce the engine thrust as the jet surged forward, attempting instead to stop the aircraft by pressing the brake pedals and turning the nose-wheel sharply to the right. It smashed into the pen wall, seriously injuring four of the nine people on board.

[phutoie2]

Aplogies it is a A340 -600, it is not recent, November 2007.

More details here for spotters.

My link

[morphious]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

Which would be helpful, apart from the fact that Etihad transit through Abu Dhabi. And yes, their new terminal and lounges are open.

Apart from that, very accurate. New planes, good IFE. Bassinets attach to bulkheads so look for those areas. you can choose you seats online. Good frequent flyer scheme, easy to get to Silver and use of business class lounges. Food can be a bit variable I have to say, tends to be better on routes into the sandpit that on those emanating from there. If you can afford business class then you will have a great time with full flat beds and excellent service.

Do you have to be a gold member to book seats on line?

[petermik]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

Which would be helpful, apart from the fact that Etihad transit through Abu Dhabi. And yes, their new terminal and lounges are open.

Apart from that, very accurate. New planes, good IFE. Bassinets attach to bulkheads so look for those areas. you can choose you seats online. Good frequent flyer scheme, easy to get to Silver and use of business class lounges. Food can be a bit variable I have to say, tends to be better on routes into the sandpit that on those emanating from there. If you can afford business class then you will have a great time with full flat beds and excellent service.

Do you have to be a gold member to book seats on line?

No-anyone can.

[trainman34014]

I liked Etihad, and you rarely hear of complaints. New decent planes and i think i'm right in saying the transit lounge at Doha is newly refurbished.

Refurbished ???? or is it the new terminal ???

Etihad are excellent in the air, although the cabin service is not quite as good as it used to be.

On the ground their admin staff, seem to vary in training level. Many don't actually know their own rules re weight etc. Better to double or treble check anything you are doubtful about. For example 20kgs was printed on my ticket, but I checked with the local office 3 times and was told 30 kgs each time. When I got to check-in at the airport, the girl said over weight because 21 kgs. It needed firm assurance on my part, before she checked with a supervisor, who told her 30 kgs.

You need to keep your wits about you in the new terminal. The standard of finish from a safety level, has glitches. Saw a woman falling off the end of a moving walkway, and several others stumbling over her on the ground. There was quite a lip, where the walkway transitioned into the regular floor.

As from 6th June 2010 Etihad allow 23 kgs for your main baggage and another 7kgs on board PLUS a Handbag /Briefcase/Whatever. Came back from LHR with them in June with these new amounts and no problems anywhere.

[chiang mai]

Have no idea about babies and such but the airline and the service is very good, just did a round trip BKK/LHR/BKK with them and was very satisfied, Baht 30k all in.

[morphious]

Ive been on the official wbsite but cant seem to get the seat booking page or the seat map, maybee a couple of pages down

[erikr_]

I am flying with them next weekend. Bkk - Ldn and return, think I have a 3 hour ish wait at Abu D each leg.

They are good in the air but ground manourvering a bit suspect!.

Yes that a brand new A380.

Do I really need to take you serious?

1. it is not a 380
   
2. It was in the hands of airbus staff
   
3. read the official incident report before you post nonsense
   

[ukrules]

AS for the old (not new any more) B777/300ER they have been refitted from 3/3/3 to 3/4/3.

Pray you don't get stuck in the middle row.

I'm sure the seats are the same size.

I like to sit where nobody needs to wake me up when they are moving. Once the window seats are gone these middle row seats can be useful and I've requested one over an aisle seat before. For example I don't care if I need to wake the person next to me as many times as necessary during a flight but I don't like to be disturbed myself when I'm sleeping so I will never sit in the aisle on a long haul, always the window or a middle seat.

[proximity]

I'm sure the seats are the same size.

The seats are all 1" narrower. It's actually quite noticeable.

[morphious]

Still cant get on to change my seat position

[game4shame]

Have used them once and thought them to be excellent. Sadly have not been able to find good deals from them on LDN-BKK since.

same here - used etihad once approx 3 years ago. v impressed and would use them again. however, I've found their competitors have offered better deals for the periods I've travelled since.