Airline review: travel with Etihad Airways

One of the big airlines from the Middle East is Etihad Airways. They do not fly to Scandinavia and therefore I have not traveled with them a lot. But A few flights I have managed to do during the years. The first one was from Singapore to Brisbane ten years ago and I remember that I liked them a lot also back then. One month ago I flew with them to Europe from their hub in Abu Dhabi after my vacation there and the experience was five star also this time. I really hope they will take up the competition with Emirates and Qatar from Stockholm.

Fleet of Etihad Airways

The fleet of Etihad is way smaller than Emirates. Emirates just celebrated delivery of their 100th A380 while Etihad has 10. But size doesn’t matter all the time. The bigger is not always better. To me Etihad feels more personal and the staff I have met has always been great trying to do their outmost for the service experience onboard.

Business class at Etihad

No business class seat for me on this Boeing 777-300ER flight but we all had to walk through the cabin to our seats. I really like their interior design and choice of fabrics. It is calm, simple and matches the image of the sandy Middle East environment. Except that they have one kind of business class seat in their Pearl class that I enjoy and that I also like their cabin layout. It is a lot of private space but also possible to be social if you travel together with someone. One day I hope I will get the opportunity to fly in their business class.

Economy class review at Etihad airways

Walking further back to the economy class I had my seat in the aft of the aircraft. A middle seat squeezed in between two random strangers. From Abu Dhabi to Munich the flight takes about seven hours and since I planned to work the following day my priority was sleeping. The departure was a bit after midnight so after watching the takeoff I slept until they came with the first serving of food.

I love taking picture of the inflight food more than eating it but this time I was very hungry so I was more than happy to be waked up for a late night snack. No delicious stuff were served but some parts of it was eatable. I so often plan to have something to eat at the airport but then I end up running intervals to my plane.

The economy seats are great. They are comfy and have everything you can wish for as a passenger. It does not feel you lack space even when the config is 3-4-3.

With 1,5 hours to go the flight attendants came through the cabin offering breakfast. And what a breakfast then. Standard aircraft food for flights to central Europe. Grey sausages, potatoes and scrambled egg topped with a muffin and yogurt. Where are the avo toasts and smoothies?

And this is how you look after spending a night flight. Tired in wakeup mode. My best recommendation when traveling during one night is to wear comfy clothes, have no make up, brush your teeth before sleeping and use a sleeping mask and get at least two blankets to cover up under. Then pick a middle or window seat if you can so you can rest your feets on the armrests in-front of you to sleep comfortable.

In total I would definitely recommend you to fly with Etihad. It is a five star airline in my opinion and one of the airlines I prefer to travel with when possible. Have you ever experienced Etihad? what was your opinion?

/ Pernilla that also dream about trying out Etihad’s business class one day

PS: All cred to Backpacker Lee for the featured image. Taking pictures of Etihad aircrafts is not that easy when you only see the airport when it is dark.