Etihad Airways

My wife and I travelled to Frankfurt in early June with a wonderful 2 day stopover at the Jumeirah Hotel in the Etihad Towers Abu Dhabi. The service comfort and overall experience was better than other first class airlines including Emirates Qantas and British Airways. I would recommend Etihad to any first class traveller. Our return flights in late August 2013 were just as memorable as was the 3 day stay in the Etihad Towers.

As a regular Etihad flyer (UK - Australia return every 3/4 months) I have to say the service quality is slipping below an acceptable standard. All their efforts are spent on their first or business clients so if you are going economy you can only expect the bare minimum of customer care and comfort. The entertainment system is very good but lost baggage seat comfort pre-assigning seats and being able to easily contact a helpful customer service when things do not go to plan are also part of the service I consider myself to be paying for and Etihad do not deliver on these points. Also they code share with airlines that are well below Etihad's standard its very disappointing to believe you are paying extra for a good airline only to find you've been code shared onto a second rate partner airline.

Abu Dhabi - Bangkok- Abu Dhabi. B777-300ER 3x4x3 configuration. Slow check in both ways delayed take off both legs (2.5 & 1 hr). Traveled economy class food quality and choice very good average services seats not comfortable.

LHR-AUH EY020 24th August 2013. Even though the flight was delayed by at least half an hour as soon as we took off everything was fine. The seat was exceptional as usual and the service was spot on. The food choice wasn't as exquisite as normal but still satisfactory. The IFE was up to date and of good quality. All in all a fantastic flight.

Milan-Abu Dhabi-Kuala Lumpur and return. A330/200 from Milan to Abu Dhabi and return and B777/300 for the other legs. Aircraft's in good condition and clean cabin crew very polite and friendly food and IFE good. In general I'm satisfied of this my first experience with Etihad. The only thing they must improve is the 32" legroom: for intercontinental flights is a bit cramped and it's hard to sleep.

TXL-DUS-AUH-HYD first leg with Air Berlin DUS-AUH-HYD with Etihad. Both Etihad flights were excellent comparable service to Qatar and Emirates really. FA's extremely courteous and attentive for both legs excellent IFE and seemingly very well executed landings. Only gripe is the rather inefficient process of attaining boarding passes due to the code share with Air Berlin. At first Air Berlin staff informed me something was strange about my booking and they could only check me in as far as Dusseldorf after making me wait 15 minutes they then told me they could check me in as far as Abu Dhabi. Upon arrival in Abu Dhabi had to line up again to get my boarding pass for onward flight to Hyderabad. Surely it should be possible to check passengers and their luggage through to the final destination from the point of first departure. I didn't understand the logic in that. Overall only added an extra 30-45 minutes of effort to overall flight experience though so not that bad. Would definitely recommend Etihad to anyone considering it.

Return flight from London - Abu Dhabi - Nairobi. The seat allocation was badly managed for flight from Nairobi to Abu Dhabi. Vegetarian food was requested at the time of booking. Instead leftovers were offered. Throughout the flights they had no record of me requesting a vegetarian menu. Cabin staff service was very slow. On one instance while food and drinks were being served it seems I was ignored and finally when I requested coffee it took a very long time to arrive and this also after a reminder.

Switzerland to Singapore. Compared with Singapore Airlines it is cheaper for almost same seat and space comfort in the cabin. The service is great maybe less cabin crew but still great as they do their best for you. They are strict with safety food is good but compared to other airlines is more simple bread not so good. The down side for me was entertainment disappointed. On way back got opportunity for cheap business upgrade. Great business class. Good value for money. Great food very good service with nice crew. Seat perfect and flat. Downside again entertainment. The other downside is Abu Dhabi airport one of the most boring international hub airports I've transited. Not much too do lack of good seats. Very few opportunities to sleep. Small airport hotel always fully booked.

Melbourne to London. All in all decent experience. Crew were excellent on both legs especially considering that the Abu Dhabi leg was completely full. Good entertainment system and food not bad. The major drawback is the seat pitch. Seats themselves fine but when they're crammed it affects the whole experience. Might make me consider another carrier in the future for that reason.

The seats in Pearl Business Class are unusually narrow and short as others have written. I weigh 173lbs (78kg) and am 170cm tall. The foot enclave is so narrow that I could not comfortably place both feet together. I had to sleep with one knee bent the entire time. There is simply no way an overweight or tall passenger would be able to squeeze into this seat. The IFE system is very poor in variety and choice and Etihad Airways forces their passengers to watch a 90-120 second commercial (that cannot be skipped) before every program. This is very irritating. On both fights the electrical outlet did not work and I lost battery power on my iPad before the end of each flight. Every seat on the return flight in Business Class was full and the air temperature in the cabin was at least 75 degrees (24 Celsius). My wife and I were perspiring during the entire 9 hour flight and were unable to sleep due to the hot cabin. The food was surprisingly bad. I ordered the “grass-fed fillet of beef” and my wife chose the mushroom lasagne. I returned the beef after the first bite. The mushroom lasagne was mediocre and my wife couldn't finish it. For the entire 9 hour trip we subsisted on mixed nuts and Diet Pepsi. The quality and variety of the food are considerably better on many other lower cost business class flights.