Etihad Airways Passenger Reviews and Etihad Airways Customer Trip Reports

Travelled from Frankfurt, via Abu Dhabi to Male, and back. First impressions, boarding A330 in Frankfurt, were very good. Leg room, seat comfort and overall atmosphere exceeded my expectations for Economy Class. This was a late flight, so naturally no dinner. However, given a bite to eat (a tasty, warm tortilla). IFE was superb with a huge variety to choose between. Breakfast was excellent - no doubt the best food I've ever had on a plane. First time I've flown long haul without feeling hungry. Our next flight was from Abu Dhabi to Male. Again, we had plenty of space, even though it was a smaller plane. A delicious dinner, and contrary to several reviews I've read, the empty trays were all gathered in shortly after everyone was finished eating. All our flights departed and arrived on time. A good airline should try to make even Economy Class (which is where most of us are stuffed) feel somehow special, and in that respect Etihad did an extremely good job. I'd definitely fly with them again!

I have been a frequent flyer with this airline and am disgusted the way they treat their frequent flyers. The miles are credited on time and need frequent follow ups. I had a recent paid trip from New York in Business Class and I am yet to see the miles credited on my account. I had to follow up for the miles, for which I received an email they are "looking into it". I am fed up and leaving Etihad, I have used them for 3 years now and the way they handle frequent flyers is very disappointing.

AUH - MEL. Flight was delayed for over one hour and the airline had the whole flight of passengers sweltering on the plane waiting for clearance. The air conditioning was not on and as one can imagine the heat was unbearable. I mentioned it to the flight attendant and she explained that the air conditioning will not turn on until the plane starts to leave the gate. The airline should not have boarded the passengers if they knew there was going to be a delay.

Flew via Abu Dhabi from London to Bangkok. Outbound flight was good, seats comfortable enough and entertainment ok. Staff were average, nothing good, nothing bad, and the plane was about two thirds full, so the staff handed out extra meals to those who wanted them. Good drinks service, no limits on wine, beer etc. Last 3 hours of flight to Bangkok I went to the galley and asked for more beer, staff opened the cupboard and told me to help myself, which I did. In fact a few other passengers were congregated around the galley drinking, it was like a jolly pub in the air. Downside was that the planes were always freezing cold for some odd reason.

Flew in business class LHR to Bangkok return. On the outbound flew new 777 with the newer seats, reasonably comfortable but just too narrow. Other than that service was great, liked the a la carte menu that allows you to order what you want when you want. Lounge at Heathrow was great, I would recommend a visit to the spa for a back massage! The return however was not so comfortable with the old seats, very narrow, no storage space, so it really does make a difference depending on whether you get the new or the old seat.

MUC to BKK return and MUC to DEL return (each via Abu Dhabi). Very pleasant flight experience with professional staff, tasty meals and more than enough movies to chose from. With extremely competitive fares I am always happy to chose Etihad.

Chicago to Abu Dhabi. I had over 18 hours transit in Abu Dhabi for the next connecting flight so I had few baby food items in my baby's carryon bag. When I asked for baby food, they told me to finish what I had in my bag, and only then ask them for food. The food they provided was so bad that I felt much better staying hungry. They never cleaned the toilet; never shut off the light when most wanted to sleep. Never picked up trash; I was even asked to clean up trash that other people dropped near my seat. The flight AC was not working or did not turn on as it was really hot. Staff had told us that we would get food coupons at the airport, when asked - we were told to come back, when we went back later, we were told that it was too late. Overall the experience was a nightmare.

Bangkok to Prague, where Etihad flies the BKK-AUH sector and the rest with CSA Czech airlines. I have to say that Etihad offers a consistent product with active crew, good planes and good legroom in the fully packed B777. Check in is usually a breeze and flights on time. I like the co-operation with Czech airlines as you continue with a smaller A319 away from large wide-bodies. Emirates is a big competition but they are never able to offer me convenient transit times nor prices.

MEL-AUH-ATH, FRA-AUH-MEL. From MEL-AUH I was sitting in the last row of the plane and attendants ran out of food! They were then able to find some sort of meal for that looked like it had been slopped together. During this same flight I pressed the attendant button to get a glass of water, FA's would come past and turn the light off without asking you if you wanted anything. One and a half hours later I had to go to the back of the cabin and remind them about my water! On our way home, similar story. Ran out of food, not great service except for the FRA-AUH shorter flight and also the inflight entertainment was the same for the month of May (initial flight) as it was at the end of June (returning flight)! For a 14 hour flight this was dreadful! In addition, what is the point in having your online check in? I thought it was so you could select a seat and get through check in quicker! Well there were no seats to select, if I wanted to sit separate to my partner I would have made a separate booking! At Frankfurt airport customers were lined up in the Express line and they didn't bother telling them they were in the wrong line and served them anyway!

They allowed seating of 2 year child alone 2 rows away from his mother, and didn't care about the problem faced at check-in desk and on flight. Left the mother with 2 children and an adult till after takeoff time standing on hold waiting for a solution - which never came. I had to put my 2 year child on my lap although had paid for a full ticket for her, because they didn't accept to organize the seating although we have requested their help since check-in time. Finally when reporting a written complaint, manager replies with a feedback after 10 days, not admitting of any mistake claiming that all lack of communication faced with their staff, and lack of assistance was acceptable and they did all they can.

Economy Class, Sydney-Abu Dhabi-Paris return in June 2012. A346 Economy class seating was the latest regular hard style but plenty of leg room.  The crew were professional and friendly but were let down by the management of their meal service delivery system and poor equipment. A single flight attendant wheeled a small single ended trolley to the head of the zone to begin distributing meals - the poorly equipped little trolley continuously ran out of supplies and had to stop for ages whilst the flight attendant waited for someone to come and re-stock. This went on all the way down both aisles to the back.  Of course this also meant that the aisles were blocked for the whole painfull time so no one could get to the toilets.  By the time the meal service reached the back, the passengers at the front of the zone had had their dirty dishes on their laps for an hour and a half.  They got fed up and all began returning their trays to the galley themselves.  This avalanche of trays all hit the galley at once and overwhelmed the crew. I prayed that the return trip from Abu Dhabi to Sydney wouldn't be the same but it played out all over again.  Someone at Etihad Airways needs to experience the regular economy service on other airlines and just do the regular economy meal service and clear up as they do. On such long haul sectors, the disorganisation was dissapointing and unbearable and I'll avoid flying with Etihad in the future.

CDG-AUH-BKK return on economy class. Seats were uncomfortable and inflight service was inconsistent. Excellent service from the crew on some flights, while appalling attitude on other flights. Average entertainment. The IFE system failed on AUH-BKK flight and crew member could not care less. I asked 3 air hostess before someone rebooted the system, but still failed to work. 3 choices of food but taste was less than impressive. Food trays were left on the seats for an extremely long time on all flights. Short and convenient connecting time at AUH. Overall an OK experience.

CDG to AUH and AUH to PVG. Seat in diamond class was excellent on both trip. This First class is the best I've seen up to now. Good wine and champagne.

Travelled from Abu Dhabi Airport since it's closer to me than MCT. AUH-PVG was almost on time. Flight attendants were much better than my previous experience with Etihad. I got my special meal unlike the previous experience. The flight crew were almost perfect. Meals were ok for early morning flight and breakfast is OK. PVG-AUH was delayed for about 1.5 hrs due to bad weather and heavy rains/thunder but the captain managed to arrive AUH only half an hour behind schedule. The only negative is that they did not accept debit card to purchase from the on-board boutique.

Travelled from SYD to Abu Dhabi with Virgin Australia. Transferred onto Etihad bound for MAN. I am 6 ft 4, the seats were disgraceful. I requested bulk head seats, and exit seats where I was asked to pay over $300! Emirates and Qantas airlines are always more than happy to help and always find me legroom! I asked a member of the crew if they could assist me, but they were reluctant to help! I will not travel with them again.

We travelled (2 adults and 3 Kids) from SYD through to AUH and onto LHR return. We had already flown codeshare with Air New Zealand to SYD from Christchurch to connect to the Etihad flight. Planes were a mix of A340's and A330's, all very clean, with very good inflight entertainment. We got some great value tickets. Flight attendants were helpful, pleasant and kept us fed and watered, crew from AUH-LHR were fantastic as one of the kids was very poorly and they couldn't have been more helpful. Flight attendants were very busy which could be a source of impatient behaviour from other passengers. I would definitely fly them again. The only draw back on the whole journey was the slow security queue in AUH airport which was absolutely ridiculous.

AUH-BKK-AUH on Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Service on board was fine. Selection of 3 main meals, frequent water runs, and polite crew. Although service was great I would not use them again as they have a 3-4-3 seating configuration in economy class. Seats and aisles are extremely narrow and this makes the flight pretty uncomfortable.

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