ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  13 November 2007 by Rohan McCarthy   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

SYD - AUH, Economy Class. While not a full flight, the staff were friendly, and professional. AVOD very up-to-date, though the choice wasn't quite as good as Emirates ICE. The food was a good range, selected from menu cards, and plenty to fill one up. Two meals and a snack on the 14 hour flight. Nice amenity kits, including eye patches and ear plugs. A340-500 was new. Abu Dhabi International Airport, while small, did not take too long to go through. I'll pick EY again - over EK if necessary, as I think the service is much better.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  13 November 2007 by O Evans   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LHR-AUH-KUL in Coral class. Had exit seat on LHR-AUH leg with loads of space. Food of a high standard as is the entertainment system although if you are a big guy like me it can be slighty difficult to get the romote in and out of the arm rest. The crew were very professional and very good with children, taking them so the parents could get a rest! AUH was like a zoo as always at 0200 but nevertheless a hassle free transit. AUH-KUL was on an older A330 but comfortable, I had got an aisle seat but had to move to sit a couple together so ended up in the middle but all I wanted to do was sleep - again food very good and crew did a few drinks rounds, arrived into KUL on time and baggage had made it as well.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  9 November 2007 by Mike Pickering   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Coral Class MAN-AUH-DXB return. Outbound they were really good. Attentive staff and, considering it was economy, the seats were comfortable. A drink before we departed, constant refreshments during the flight, decent food. The only negative outbound was that my IFE screen was broken so I had to wait for my wife to go to sleep before I could use her screen. The transfer from Abu Dhabi to Dubai is advertised as a luxury coach transfer. It's a normal coach, nothing luxury about it, but again this is only a minor point. Coming back was not good. Coach from Dubai was fine. Abu Dhabi airport is suffering from expansion quicker than they can handle but that is something out of the hands of Etihad. The flight itself left on time and arrived early, that's the only positives. One drink service the whole flight, no alcohol was being served despite it being advertised on the little menus they gave out, they had 3 choices of meals, we were told our first 2 choices had run out and then watched as the people behind us were given the meals we'd originally requested. Once again my IFE screen was broken. Despite all this, however, I would fly Etihad again. Certainly based on the outbound flight, Etihad are one of the best airlines around at the moment that I've flown . In economy they are much more comfortable than Virgin or BA with more legroom as well. On both flights the staff were very pleasant and always smiling.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  7 November 2007 by Ian Evans   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

BNE-SIN & SIN-BNE with Etihad Airways in Coral Class, Brand new Airbus A330-200 on the way out from Brisbane. Entertainment system marginally better the Emirates ICE. Good choice of food on both sectors. Seats quite cramped on both Airbus A330 & B777 but slightly better quality than Emirates.  Overall, marginally better than Emirates but with a bit more smoothing out around the rough edges ie better frequent flyer program and availability, timings and connections to Europe from Brisbane ( only 3 flights per week), l believe will give Emirates a run for their money.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  3 November 2007 by Val Reed   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

MAN-AUH-BKKPearl Class. My outward flight was excellent, good seat, excellent choice of food and very good Flight Attendants who were very attentive. Arrived on time in Bangkok and luggage came very quickly. Return trip 1st November I arrived at the airport to find that it was now 'winter timetables' and I would have a 12 hours wait in Abu Dhabi! No apology no offer of a hotel just a shrug of the shoulders from the check in girl! When I asked the see a supervisor and informed them that the whole reason I had gone with Etihad was because I was travelling on my own and they offered the short stopover, he said I could 'come back tomorrow' and go on a morning flight with a shorter stopover. When I asked why I hadn't been informed of all this before travelling he didn't know, I had booked by internet on 25th June so they had plenty of opportunity to contact me. After saying I wasn't prepared to come back or stay in Abu Dhabi airport for 12 hours he said he would try another airline. I was booked onto Air France which would leave 4 hours later, via Paris but would get me home the next morning so I took that option. To say Air France was awful is an understatement. Supposedly Business Class was very crowded, I was in the middle of a row of three aisle seats, the one thing I wanted to avoid and then had to change in Paris at 5am, also changing terminals. I met a man who had the same experience at Bangkok airport and was very unhappy as well! Such a shame to end my holiday like this, and I had been going to give Etihad a glowing report.
 

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  29 October 2007 by R Pendse   (Canada)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Coral class Toronto - Abu Dhabi - Trivandrum - ground staff in Abu Dhabi need some lessons in customer service. Forced to do a 12 hour+ layover but Etihad does not provide hotel for passengers on flights who outbound flights are less than 6 hours from Abu Dhabi (ignoring the fact that I came in on an almost 14 hour flight to AUH). Had to fight for hotel on return journey as although hotel is confirmed it really means its first come first served and hotel is requested not really confirmed. Onward flight changed without notifying passenger as well. Will not be repeating this airline ever - lowest personal rating over all the airlines I've flown in 20+ years!

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  28 October 2007 by Geraint Lewis   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LHR-AUH_BKK return in Coral but with Silver Status FF. Lounge access to SAS lounge and 40Kg luggage. Very full ex LHR (they were offering a Pearl class upgrade, hotel, meals and £200 for travelling a day later). A340 very comfortable and well looked after. Decent food and IFE. Ex AUH again very full, tatty old A330, no seat back AVOD. choice of food ran out. Way back was excellent apart from lounge in BKK. Intend to go with them again in December- definitely Pearl this time though.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  28 October 2007 by A AlKendi   (UAE)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

AUH-BOM-AUH Coral Zone (Economy.) AUH-BOM flight delayed 40 minutes. My entertainment system was not working. BOM-AUH on time and entertainment system was working this time. Overall the trip was not bad, but I think that Etihad is not trying hard on it's Indian routs. The airplanes in both trips was old, and the FAs need to smile more. I'm still planning to travel with Etihad, and I hope it will be better at that time.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  22 October 2007 by A Alhilou   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

MAN to AUH in J class (pearl) on A330-200. Chauffer pick up service was on time and excellent. Check in at MAN was speedy. Lounge at MAN a disgrace - facilities available are a joke ! The IFE system crashed during safety video so cabin performed the manual safety demo - the manager on board apologized constantly over the PA to those affected. Seat in J is excellent and comfortable. The service in J was good, although meal choices run out very quickly! Arrival into AUH 30 mins late, baggage was out in no time (priority tags worked!

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  22 October 2007 by D Fay   (Ireland)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

DUB-AUH-SYD and return in Coral class. I was keen to travel with Etihad as their connection via AUH is the only advertised 1-stop route from Dublin to Sydney. The overall experience was fine, certainly much better than my other recent long-haul flight with Iberia. All flights were on time and check-in smooth. Their IFE system was excellent, with a really good choice of movies, not just current releases and the audio service provided an iPod-like playlist interface. Food was reasonable, though sometimes seemed like an unhappy compromise between Western palates and Halal requirements. The service was quite variable: on the the SYD-AUH sector the FA plied us with food and drink but on the 3 of the 4 sectors it felt like the staff were just doing the minimum they could get away with. As a rapidly expanding airline perhaps some of their younger staff lack experience and training.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  18 October 2007 by Andrew Slaviero   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

AUH-SYD Diamond class. After an excellent flight from Milan to Abu Dhabi, we were looking forward to our last leg home in Diamond class. Overall however, we were very disappointed in almost every aspect of the service offered. The chauffeur service arrived earlier than expected which meant our breakfast at the hotel had to be left. The chauffeur car was a taxi(?) which is not what you expect when you travel first class. The flight was delayed for 2 hours at Abu Dhabi as our fuel gauge was not working properly so ground engineers had to manually check to see if we had enough fuel for the long haul flight back to Australia! We were travelling with a 3 year old child and she was seated a row away from us? Luckily the cabin wasn't full and FAs seated her close to us. Inflight, my IFE froze and did not work until several hours later, even though they had a technician onboard. Food/drinks service was excellent although my wife did not receive her breakfast, even though she had asked for it three times! You wouldn't expect that in economy let alone first class. Towards the end of the flight, I spoke to the Cabin Manager as we would miss our connecting flight to MEL. He said that the ground staff would meet the aircraft as it arrived and they knew of the situation. He then gave everyone a letter from Etihad explaining the delay should we need it for insurance or employment reasons. Well when we arrived, there were no Etihad staff to be seen anywhere and we were left high and dry. We rang head office and eventually someone met us and organised some business class seats to MEL for us (all econ seats were sold out due to school holidays) which was a relief. Overall this was a bad flight but looking at the airline in total over all the legs we travelled, I would probably give them another go but only in Pearl class. There is no major difference between Diamond and Pearl class offerings to justify the price difference in my opinion. In our case except for the Milan leg, we had better service etc in Pearl class. Hopefully Etihad will sort out the problems it has before we fly again.