ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  11 May 2008 by P Savage   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

MAN-AUH-MAN business class. The chauffeur service at Manchester and Abu Dhabi was excellent. Check in quick and efficient at both airports - the lounges at Abu Dhabi were full as Etihad's lounge was being upgraded. Flight attendants were efficient and friendly and meals nicely presented. We were impressed with the entertainment system. Seating very comfortable.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  28 April 2008 by David Allan   (UAE)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

AUH-CAI and back - although I have flown EY on many occasions over the past year, this was the first time I've experienced one of their narrowbody aircraft (A320). Very cramped cabin for a 3.5-hour flight, not helped by it being a full flight; no PTVs (only the drop-down LCD screens every three rows or so, showing an Egyptian soap); sullen FAs made no attempt to hide their displeasure at being on that flight; no choice of meals ('I'll give you chicken because we've run out of fish'). One FA seemed more interested in flirting with her male colleagues in the galley than serving passengers; only one alcoholic drink served - thereafter we were told 'we've run out - because there's no catering upload in CAI'). No room for cabin baggage stowage for those who boarded last, as many early boarders had up to five pieces of hand luggage each - the list goes on. At least it was an uneventful flight which arrived on time - but the product was almost identical to Jazeera Airways, which is an LCC.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  28 April 2008 by D Johnson   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

SYD-AUH-CDG and return. Generally good but as reported many times in previous posts we also had problems with the IFE system. Mine went blank for no apparent reason on SYD -AUH leg and despite many polite requests to have it reset over an hour's period, it wasn't done until I walked to the back of the aircraft and again asked. Husband had problems on the AUH-CDG leg with IFE and his screen didn't work at all on the return CDG-AUH leg with no apologies or explanations from the staff. Also had problems with food and drink choices running out prior to getting to us and we weren't that far back. Very inconsistent with exit seating allocation. We were the first to check in at SYD and were refused the seating with no explanation provided. Thought that they may have wanted strong young men next to door but on AUH-SYD leg there was an elderly couple in the seating near one door and no one on the other side until one man asked an FA after take off. Staff generally friendly but inexperience showed.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  27 April 2008 by T Rohricht   (Canada)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

Inconsistent. YYZ-AUH-DEL return in business class in Oct '07 and service was quite good: check in smooth, crew attentiveness good, inflight entertainment extensive and varied, food of high quality on all sectors - even bumped up to 1st class for one (short) leg. Flew YYZ-AUH-BKK most recently, and it was a disaster: despite our phoning to confirm the day before flight and arriving for checking 4 hours early, we were denied a bassinet for our infant because "all the bassinet positions are being held in Abu Dhabi - we can't do anything to help you." Seat allocation was terrible and we were sitting 10 rows apart with one of us in an inside (no aisle) economy class seat. Wrote a letter of complaint weeks ago and have received no reply at all.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  23 April 2008 by Simon Hooker   (UAE)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

FRA-AUH. Lounge in FRA terminal 2 not exciting and very limited choice of food, terminal itself is under construction so limited facilities. Onboard staff are generally friendly. IFE is a sort of EK "Light", the choice is more limited, older material and does not seem to change as often as it should. The food was OK but being a night flight limited. One negative on many EY night flights is the temperature of the cabin is often high making sleep a little uncomfortable, however the flat beds are excellent. Having flown on EY quite frequently recently, I would echo some of the comments regarding the AUH being small but for many that is a bonus, living next to DXB airport I still prefer to use AUH rather than the rat race in Dubai, and despite the distance find it quicker to get home the additional distance.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  23 April 2008 by Umar Farooq   (Canada)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

KHI-AUH-YYZ business class. Check in at Karachi smooth and hassle free. Onboard the flight from KHI, aircraft was an Airbus A340 and clean. Cabin crew very helpful. Meal service from Karachi seemed a bit rushed (in comparison to EK flying KHI-DXB) for Business Class and was so-so. Personal audio/video worked great and plenty of choices. AUH airport small and crowded. AUH-YYZ an A340-600 and in very clean condition. My wife and I had single seats in front of each other and the lie flat beds made the 14-hour flight really fly! Cabin crew excellent and food outstanding! Great personal in-flight video/audio. With the exception of AUH airport facilities and general appearance of AUH, I would fly with EY again.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  23 April 2008 by J Tunna   (New Zealand)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Following what can only be described as a nightmare flight respect from London to Brisbane (unbelievably slow service, extortionate extra baggage charges of GBP45 per kilo, rude and inept staff, dirty toilets and inflight entertainment that didn't work), I took the time to write to Etihad customer complaint's team who claim - "We're listening". They are not listening at all - it has been 9 weeks since I wrote and I have received no response at all, despite re-sending the complaint on several occasions.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  15 April 2008 by S Brand   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

BNE-AUH-JNB-AUH-SYD. Aircraft new and IFE was great. BNE-AUH, the plane was crowded but staff were friendly. I was asked to change seats three times to accomodate other passengers and their kids which started getting irritating. Had an hour to wander around Changi Airport. Food was mostly average to good. AUH-JHB, the plane was new and almost empty and cabin crew relaxed and friendly. Abu Dhabi airport is probably one of the worst airports in the world. Chaotic, crowded, small with overworked Etihad staff manning a tiny desk. I had to stand in a queue to use the restroooms at 2am! The airport basically consists of a single large room with one restroom and two hopeless coffee shops with very few empty tables. JNB-AUH a crowd of teenagers ruled the plane and cabin crew were hesitant to make a stand. people walking around after seatbelt signs had been turned on. Check in staff in Johannesburg were inexperienced and almost sent me and my bags to LHR instead of SYD. My name wasn't on the passenger manifest either, along with a few other passengers. The bext thing about Etihad is that the planes are almost empty but I will never ever go to Abu Dhabi airport again.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  2 April 2008 by D Wallace   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LHR-KUL-LHR in Economy class. Three sectors were on new equipment, which was comfortable. AUH-KUL an ancient ex Canada 3000 A330 with old fashioned seats, charter layout and no IFE. Cabin Crew highly inconsistent. Some good service, but mostly mediocre and occasionally very rude. In general, chaos seems to be the best way to describe meal service. Food on the whole acceptable, better out of LHR and KUL than AUH. I didn't see a bathroom check carried out any of the four sectors, and the state of the bathrooms reflected this. AUH is as terrible as it's described elsewhere. Small, crowded, dirty and very unfriendly. One issue Etihad must sort out onboard is the crew call bell. On all sectors it was very loud, and seemingly accidentally activated every couple of minutes rendering sleep impossible. Never noticed this on any other flight at all, but on Etihad it was a major annoyance. On the plus side it was a cheap fare, reasonably ontime, and the new aircraft were great with nice IFE. Sadly as long as there are wrecks like this A330 in the fleet and AUH remains a dump I won't be travelling with them again.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  2 April 2008 by David Russell   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LHR-AUH-KWI and return via the same route. Check in at Heathrow hassle free. All flights departed and arrived on time and aircraft nearly new. Only problem with IFE was first leg when the left side of the cabin went down. Meals of a good quality and most crew were friendly. Online check in worked well in KWI as we were able to avoid the queue and drop our bags, although airport staff at KWI including the gate and immigration have no idea what an online check in boarding pass looks like. All in all well impressed with Etihad but for the cramped seats and poor pitch, especially for anyone tall like myself, 1.90m. Seven hours was about maximum for me. I would not like to be in the seats for much longer than that.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  31 March 2008 by T Maier   (Thailand)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

BKK-AUH -MUC return B777. Crew in coach seemed to be inexperienced. Processes on board were not smooth, crew kept running back and forth. Seems to me that most of the flight attendants were quite new, no senior staff supervised them. You could clearly notice that they have not a couple of decades flight experience as other airlines. AUH-MUC A330 worst flight I had for a long time. During meal service crew communicates with service bell. That was annoying. Service button on remote control of IFE not protected from accidental operation. Whenever passengers moved in their seats they pressed the service button with their butt and/or switched the reading lights on (this is not a joke). Service button rang every two to three minutes on a 6 hours flight. Crew was not able to handle this. They ignored passengers complaints, were even rude. AUH is the next joke. This tiny airport is not suitable for transfer: no seats, disgusting bathrooms, unfriendly staff. EY has a long way to go until they will be able to deliver the service quality they promise.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  22 March 2008 by James Osinga   (Australia)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

AUH-SYD 18 March. This was my fourth flight with Etihad. There seems to be a great difference in cabin staff between Australia and Europe flights. Whilst the latter are good, cabin staff on the Australian routes are young, inexperienced and at times even rude to passengers. Obviously Etihad FAs have a lot to learn in dealing with customers.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS review :  20 March 2008 by Dale Eaton   (UK)

Customer Trip Rating :

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

I chose Etihad as I had heard good reports about the airline. Sadly the flight did not meet up to my expectations. Online checkin. I arrived at LHR T3 to find no baggage drop counter. A sign over the check-in said "online check-in please see a rep". I asked at the empty business class check-in to be told brusquely "go to the economy check-in". So I joined the standard queue. At the desk my printed online form was useless. Entertainment system. On leg 1 this was totally inoperable for the right hand two rows for the duration. I was told it was broken from nose to tail, including first class. On the leg Abu Dhabi-Brisbane the entertainment system was again inoperable for the entire trip. The screen was on but the controller was dead. On the positive side the decor is good, the seat comfortable and the flight timing was good. I have my return trip to London on Friday and only hope that the check-in, service and systems are all operating properly.