[Sheerluck]

Gill,

I'd never heard of Etihad until my tickets arrived! The few reviews I'd found were almost lukewarm, cabin staff excellent, Abu Dhabi airport a dump as you say.

I'm positive about the "operated by Eagle Air" bit, that's what scares me soooo much. Logic tells me that as it's 3 eight hour sections that not just any old junker can fly it, but as the only significant entries on Google relate to some firm flying dinky toys out of the States and (worse than that) a Ugandan company flying 50 year old South African Airlines cast offs.

It's got to the stage where I'll even consider flying BA out of Heathrow, just so that my bags can go on a holiday all of their own.

But the good news is that I'll eat well......

Dave

PS: RWC = Rugby World Cup = every man and his dog hauling themselves over from Australasia to watch the All Blacks beat the Northern Hemisphere's decidedly average teams.