In August wife and I will be going to the USA for a couple of months. In the past we always flew the Pacific route on Delta, Korean, China, whichever was cheapest. Today I was checking prices and looks like the ME airlines are offering pretty good fares to Dulles. I have never flown any of the ME airlines so my question is which would you choose assuming the fares are about the same.

Qatar, Etihad or Emirates? Do they charge to change your return date?

FWIW, Qatar won the Skytrax airline of the year for 2015. I've been flying with them for several years, never tried the other two Es.

http://www.worldairlineawards.com/Awards/worlds_best_airline.html.

They have an (up to) 40% off promotion going until 21st February.

http://www.qatarairways.com/email/16/02/17/th/index.html

Re: ticket changes, often depends on fare. I tend to fly promotional business fares, so there's usually a fee to change, but IMV, not prohibitive.

I fly all three fairly often and give the edge to Qatar...just better touches all around. Also, they usually have several Thai F/A's on the crew.

Emirates is OK and I like they have service to Boston but their flights always seem to have the highest ratio of shrieking babies. They tend to sit them in the front of the cabin so I have learned to try to get a seat towards the rear and always bring industrial strength ear plugs.

My own opinion is that Etihad has slipped a bit...the crews seem somewhat burned out and less attentive than when they were striving for number one. Also I agree with the other poster who remarked that their connections just don't seem to fit as well.

Of the three, I prefer Qatar. All three are very good, though.

The one downside to flying through the ME is that you can get some crazy layover times and crazy flight arrival/departure times.

So, Spaniel, what do you think?

So, Spaniel, what do you think?

First, thanks for all the replies. After reading the replies and doing some additional research I think Emirates AL is the way to go. They have the best schedule, Bkk, Abu Dabi, Dulles so only one stop and not a long wait at Abu Dabi. All seemed to be priced about the same, around $1,100. I called Emirates office in Bangkok and the baggage allowance is 2 pc/23 Kg each and to change the return date will cost B 3,000. The alternative for me is Delta via Tokyo, Detroit or Minn to Baltimore. Their price is more, around $1,400 but they fly into BWI which is where I want to go, not Dulles, which is about 100 miles away. So that means an added expense to get from Dulles to BWI if I choose Emirates. Well the trip is still in the planning stage as we are thinking about going in August.

^ Just so that you don't get confused or make any early plans about where you are transiting, Emirates are base out of Dubai.

^ Just so that you don't get confused or make any early plans about where you are transiting, Emirates are base out of Dubai.

Thanks, I got the two confused!

All good. If you collect miles, use the one that participates in your current alliance. I often go with Qatar as part of Oneworld.

If your tall and fly economy, fly Emirates. I flew BKK to Miami on Qatar and the flights were absolutely terrible. My knees

did not have any relief until we landed 26 hours later! I have never flown Eithad, so I don't know!

Last time I changed my flight date with Etihad and they charged. I didn't know why, maybe because it was too sudden or the ticket price was higher.

I changed the flight 1 week earlier. I remember it was friday and I had to flight on Saturday.

i think in terms of leg room all three are about the same, both emirates and etihad fly 3/4/3 on the b777 where qatar fly 3/3/3 but rumours are they are too changing to 3/4/3.

i would rate qatar, emirates and etihad in that order, qatar charge silly to change. looking at your post and the emirates flight change fee i would go for them, some booking agents in the uk do a set fee (at time of booking) to change flights, maybe worth looking at.

.

Sadly, QR did go to 3x4x3 across in Economy on their 777-300s, seat pitch ranging 31-33", seat width 16.5-17.3'. There was a lot of chatter about it late last year on the airline discussion boards.

The fewer number of Qatar 777-200s show 3x3x3, 32" pitch and the pleasant 18.5" width.

SeatGuru appears to need an update when compared to Qatar Air website.

http://www.qatarairways.com/global/en/our-fleet.page

http://www.seatguru.com/charts/longhaul_economy.php