Etihad Airways

Regular business class flyer and chose Etihad for the first time due to its convenient schedules into and out of Brisbane. A380 and 777. Have read the criticism of the lie flat seats but I found them fine and quite comfortable. A little bit firmer than other airines and I think no Pyjamas. Food was quite good too. Lounge en-route very good, but busy. Lounge in Heathrow has good service and food as well, the staff there should be commended. Service enroute was efficient. So overall quite good as the schedules are convenient, lounges and food are good, I think the seats/beds are okay too. The bad part of the experience. Ticketing. Booked through a travel agent but had to confirm a change with ticketing in Heathrow as it was after hours for my agent at home. The ticketing agent Heathrow, could not have been less helpful from the start. Firstly ranting about how it is against IATA regulations for her to do anything, how the change would cost 3000 pounds, etc. Luckily my agent made the change in minutes for 100 pounds. Inflight entertainment. Definitely bring your own if you are from a western country. Almost no recent movies or TV shows. Long flights are the only time I get to watch movies in peace, so that was very disappointing. Quite a long line for check-in at heathrow. Business class waited close to 30 minutes for check-in which is unusual. I do understand it is an A380 but there were lots of empty check in counters further along. So overall the inflight entertainment and just a very unpleasant experience with my only contact point being Heathrow ticketing I will probably avoid flying them again. But for the aircraft/lounges/service etc that was no problems at all.

Cabin Crew brilliant - food good - service excellent (although at one point on the return journey people were helping themselves in the kitchen area). Seating atrocious, ok we were economy and in the row of 4 in the middle of the plane - sardines spring to mind but on a very tight package. Had I not moved my arm from the armrest the trolley would have taken it off thats how tight they are. We visited a flight centre in Adelaide to tranfer seats to the exit doors (which we had to pay exra for). Much better - but - a passenger was ill and vomiting in the toilet, when he was not vomiting he was sat directly in front of us on the air stewards seat, the toilet was not sealed off to other passengers - this passenger alternated between the toilet and the seat for at least 2 hours (the smell was not nice). There were empty seats but another class. On such a long haul flight no one should be so crammed in and so uncomfortable that the experience becomes unpleasant. We did ask to upgrade but the cost was 8,000Euros which to say the least is extortionate bearing in mind what we had already paid and the extra to move seats. So those seats flew empty.

Flight from SIN to AUH was in a new B787-9. Seat was much better than on Etihad's A330 aircrafts although legroom is quite limited (I am 1.88m tall). IFE had a large screen and was very nice, choice of movies is good but not as good as on other airlines. The IFE is deactivated nearly an hour before landing - could not understand why so early. Food was decent, drinks ok. Flight from AUH to VIE was with Flyniki on an A320. No IFE, but seat comfort was actually better than on the B787-9. Food was average, lots of plastic on the tablet. Staff very friendly. However, the worst is that there are only two toilets for ca. 140 persons in Economy class - it takes ages until you make your way there - plan in advance!. Cleanliness of toilets is as you can expect.

Having booked Business class we expected a higher class of service. As we knew there was a 2 hour turn around at Abu Dhabi we were pleased to see that both our suitcases were labelled 'Hot transfer' and Priority. However this was to prove pointless as on awaiting take off from Abu Dhabi we were delayed due to awaiting transfer baggage. On arriving at Male however neither of our cases arrived. We went to the baggage reclaim section in Male where the Etihad staff member was totally disinterested in our problem. She was ineffective, offered no apology or useful information. Having travelled business we expected a far better service - we appreciate that there are high volumes of luggage but at least an apology and regular updates are not too much to ask for. Also once on the plane (A320) my husbands head rest was broken and he has to stand for around half an hour whilst an engineer was called to fix, once on the second part of the flight his foot rest was broken. This was still broken on the return flight. Several requests for food and drink had to be repeated as the drinks/food did not arrive. I cannot eat sea food or poultry and on the return journey both starters contained sea food - so I could not eat either - surely one option should be vegetarian. Overall our experience of Etihad is very poor and on returning to the UK the ease of trying to contact the relevant departments is also very complicated. It appears that Etihad do not have any true form of customer service.

The crew were cooperative and helpful. Food wasn't good. Bathrooms were clean. Flights were on time. Service was great.

Good experience. On time take off. Excellent service by FAs. Comfortable seats, roomy 180 degree recline. Good food. Marginal IFE with limited selection. Otherwise will look forward to flying with them again

Connecting flight from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi was awful. Besides being late the PA gong was broken and chimed continously throughout the entire flight. The PA announcements were continous throughout the hour long flight and the information largely superflous. Main flight from Abu Dhabi: rudest inflight service I have experienced. Asked for a whisky and ice which was grudgingly served up with a max of 10 ml of scotch. Baggage was lost, I had to wait for the entire off load (nearly 1 hour) before reporting it. Normally passengers are tannoyed well before that point. Will not be re using this service for my 1-2 monthly return flights from Scotland to the Gulf. Will return to using Emirates.

My main issue is their service with luggage. We had a three hour layover in Abu Dhabi. They still managed to lose four bags on the way to Shanghai. They promised to deliver them the next day. Three appeared four days later, while we are still awaiting the last bag a week later. They don't respond to inquiries. The flight experience was average. Attendants were gone for long stretches but friendly when you got them. The screen for economy is good if you watch movies. Flights on-time. Seat rather uncomfortable. But when they lose my luggage even though they had plenty of time to transfer the bags and don't respond to inquiries, they lose my service.

Very poor value for money considering the price for Business Class flight. Although the cabin crew were helpful, the food was absolutely awful. Topped with a one hour delay in leaving London, I literally had to sprint between terminals to catch connecting flight in Abu Dhabi. The ground staff in Abu Dhabi were the most unhelpful bunch that I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Rude, arrogant and generally have no conception of customer service. It was if the passengers were a general inconvenience to them. Shocking service overall and would advise paying a little extra with another airline. The only good thing I could say about them was that the check in staff at Heathrow were great. Fast, friendly and very helpful.

I spent a long time sourcing a seat on the A380 for Abu Dhabi to London leg and the same on the return. These were both confirmed A380 at the time of booking. Turned up at check in to be told the aircraft had changed to an A340 and different seats had been allocated on both legs - terrific! I paid for one thing and got another. No advanced word, no apologies, nothing. So that set a downer for the whole trip, as I was looking forward to the enhanced First Class amenities that the A380 offers (and what I had initially paid for). Cabin staff, food, seating, IFE, lounges all good. As a paying customer I expect to get what I booked. If that's not available I expect to get word of any changes in order to make an informed decision of what I want to do next. Etihad Airways are miles behind Emirates. Won't be going with Etihad Airways again.