Ethiad

Going to book with Etihad in the end for my trip back home 1st march (flying in to manchester one stopping) and paying $1916 (going through flight centre as they have beaten the price online by a dollar and waived the cc fees and given me a $20 voucher for a domestic flight this year so seemed fair enough)

Just wondering what peoples thoughts on this were....?

Do you get to choose your seats... I checked seat guru and all of the seats have AC power which was my main thing so i can use my laptop for the whole flight...

...the reviews seem decent... i could have gone with Singapore for the same price but it was two stops and a few hours more transit time....?!

Thoughts on Etihad?

I've heard they are good. They are also called Etihad

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/etihad.htm

reviews for economy don't seem that great. Haven't flown with them myself though, so can't really comment.

Used to fly with them UK <-> Abu Dhabi when working. They were new back then so had a young fleet, modern and pretty good economy as they were starting up and trying to get one over Emirates. Pearl is nice, individual cubby style arrangement with lie flat seats (although quite narrow). Wife got an upgrade to Diamond once which she said was fantastic.

Flew with them to Oz last year in economy. You can book online but make sure to call them to ensure you have the seats you want. I booked them again for a trip back to Oz in April. Thought the cabin staff were very friendly, planes were well equipped and everything worked. Very pleasant flight and the one stop is a god send!

We flew during the bad snow at xmas, missed the connecting flight! No worries, a car was waiting and brought us to a hotel in Abu Dhabi, and a bus picked us up the next morning and back to the airport. Never once did we feel that we had to fight for anything! Excellent in my eyes!

Hubby flew with them in November and said they were fine. He didn't like them quite as much as Singapore or Emirates, but they were much better than Cathay. He's tall (6ft2), and fussy on food quality (food was v good, better than some meals on Singapore but not the best ever). Entertainment system was good - but not as good as Emirates. (he can't comment on the quality of their headphones cos we always use our own noise-cancelling ones)

(Obviously in his opinion only! And I flew Singapore so can't tell you what I think)

Hope it helps

I used Emirates in November 2010 travelling to Manchester and back and was extremely satisfied. I would have used them when I went again in July last year but the return journey would have meant waiting a ridiculous number of hours for a connecting flight from Dubai. I found better connections with Etihad so booked with them. I did find that Emirates had the edge over Etihad slightly, but would use whichever gets you there in the least time. One thing I found with Etihad was that when I asked for white wine with my meal, I was served a small glass, whereas Emirates give you one of the small bottles. When I asked for another, I didn't get it, so I went up myself and asked again, and was then brought a glass of red! With both I had booked my seats online, and when I was on board because I was travelling alone I was asked if I would move. I refused with Emirates as I would have been put in the middle of people whereas I had an aisle seat. With Etihad I accepted as I was given another aisle seat.

I flew Etihad in Summer 2011 London to Brisbane.

I can't remember the actual cost because air miles were traded in so I only paid $270 return.

They were very good. 3 seven hour hops with stops in Abu Dhabi and Singapore. Just enough time to stretch legs, freshen up and a browse around shops. The short hops made the journey seem less and eliminated the want for a stop over at Singapore.

The service was great and the seats were good too.

Millie x