I’ve previously done a pretty in depth critique of my experience in first class with Singapore Airlines. Now I’m setting my sights on another airline: Etihad Airways and its so-called business class.

After flying into London with Singapore and traveling around the UK and Europe for a few weeks, it was time to head home with Etihad, from Istanbul to Sydney including a layover in Abu Dhabi.

Like my previous first class flights, I was only able to fly business class after saving up a bundle of frequent flyer points. This time, I needed to book seats for both me and my mum. After considering a few options and hoping availability might pop up with another airline, I eventually settled with Etihad.

Part of my hesitation to book with Etihad was due to a bit of a first world problem. At least at the time, the airline was using Boeing 777s for its flights between Abu Dhabi and Sydney. These planes have an older version of business class which lacks some more modern features.

For example, unlike on Etihad’s Airbus A350s or competing airlines like Qatar Airways, Etihad’s 777 business class seats do not have sliding doors for privacy, larger high resolution screens or new technology. It’s still undeniably a step up from your typical economy or premium economy seat, it just seems less appealing when you know there’s something better out there.

The real cost of a ‘free’ flight

Another significant issue when booking with Etihad is their high fees. I feel like this topic doesn’t really get as much attention as it maybe should. Just because you’ve saved up enough frequent flyer points to redeem for a flight doesn’t mean you won’t have to pay anything extra.

Each of our Etihad business class tickets from Istanbul to Sydney in July 2023 cost 121,000 Velocity Points PLUS an additional $644.19 in fees. Those fees alone would be more than enough to buy yourself a one-way economy flight to or from Europe!

As a point of comparison, Singapore Airlines charged me $101.59 in fees (and 163,000 KrisFlyer miles) for a first class flights between Sydney to London in June 2023.

Note that fees charged, the amount of points required and seat availability overall can vary widely depending on whether you’re booking directly with an airline or with one of their partners. It’s worth seeing if there any ways you can use fewer points or pay less in fees.

Despite my hesitations, and even though it wasn’t a great use of points, I went ahead and booked with Etihad simply because nothing better popped up. Would I go on to regret that decision?

An early morning in Istanbul

We wake up dark and early in Istanbul given our departure time of 6:15am. While some initial concerns about getting from the city to the airport, it’s easy to get a taxi through the Uber app and one arrives within minutes. We get to the airport with plenty of time to spare at around 3:30am.

It’s not too busy at Etihad’s check in counters. The queue for business class is completely empty but a worker seems to be standing guard. He blocks us from entering, so I say “hi, just checking in for business class?”. This apparently isn’t enough for him, so I go to pull up our tickets on my phone.

Another employee comes over and says something to him and we’re let through. Like with my first class flights, I can’t help but feel as if we don’t look the part somehow? At least that’s the only reason I can think of to initially refuse to let us past.

With nobody else in line, we’re at the dedicated business class counter pretty much straight away. As we stand maybe two metres away from the worker typing away at the computer, they don’t acknowledge us at all. Thinking they must be busy, we have no problem waiting a minute or two.

That same employee from before (who I guess is some kind of supervisor) has to come over and say something again before we’re able to check in. A little drowsy from the early morning, and mystified by the business class treatment so far, I then make a dumb error.

Never assume anything

Our layover is for 23 hours and I planned to collect my luggage in Abu Dhabi to have my stuff with me. But I forgot to explicitly ask for this. I only remember literally as my suitcase is moving away on the conveyor belts. By then, the worker confirms, it is too late.

I assume that the worker could have said something like “and your bags will be checked through to Sydney” at some point instead of saying not much of anything. I’m happy to admit that this mistake was all on me, it just adds to an initial feeling of dissatisfaction.

That feeling wasn’t exactly lifted when we went to the lounge. Etihad doesn’t have it’s own lounge in Istanbul so they use the IGA Lounge. Sadly, it’s not run by the independent grocery chain. If it was, maybe the food would be a bit more appetising.

Notably, they were making omelettes fresh to order which were good. There was also plenty of space to sit, and it’s nice to have an area to relax before your flight. Soon enough, it was time to head onboard the first leg of our flight home.

Some champagne in your shoes, sir?

For the four-and-a-half hour hop to Abu Dhabi, Etihad flies the Airbus A321. There are just two rows of business class at the front of the plane. Each row has four seats, two on either side.

I’m going to go ahead and preface this part by saying that this short flight was the best out of all those I took on this trip. That’s despite what happens right at the beginning.

Shortly after we take our seats, two flight attendants come by and introduce themselves. The more senior flight attendant explains that she’s helping train the other junior one on our flight. Both are super friendly and make us feel comfortable from the get go.

This being business class, they also offer us champagne. It’s still before 6am, but you do have to make the most of the experience while you can. My mum and I both order a glass.

Before long, the junior flight attendant returns balancing champagne glasses on a tray. As she leans over to try and place a glass down onto a drink table near the arm rests, disaster strikes. One of the glasses tips and champagne spills all over my shoes and the floor.

She’s super apologetic and the other flight attendant rushes over to help clean up. It’s a bit of bad luck that I’m wearing mesh sneakers so the champagne immediately soaks through to my socks. I guess you could say I got a free champagne foot bath?

In the end, it’s a simple human mistake, and I can’t fault how well they dealt with it. Luckily there is another seat free so they move me there. I pass on another glass of champagne, though!

Onwards and upwards

I get comfortable in my new dry seat just before we take off. To sum things up, the rest of the flight is mostly uneventful. For the meal service, I return to my old seat next to my mum. I think I got a breakfast burrito, at least that’s what the picture looks like anyway:

I just stare out the window for most of the remaining time. The flights attendants are great but there isn’t proactive service like drink refills or anything, not that it matters much on such a short flight. Although, this does come up again on our later, longer flight.

It is always interesting to see new parts of the world from the air. We pass by some famous sites in Dubai and get a good look at the Palm Islands. I didn’t realise quite how massive they are.

Then it’s time to land. On the ground, the flight attendants say goodbye and we get off the plane quickly. I make a point of visiting the arrivals lounge at Abu Dhabi Airport since I’ve never seen one before. This is before the new Terminal A opened up, so the airport experience is different now.

While basic, the lounge was a handy spot to grab a snack or drink before heading into the city. If you paid for your business class ticket with cash, you were able to catch a chauffeur service from here. However, for tickets booked with points, you have to get yourself a taxi like we did.

A day in Abu Dhabi (and some self reflection)

At some point I’ll write a post about this layover, but we stayed at the Conrad Abu Dhabi with a great deal. During the summer, you can stay at five star hotels in this region for rock bottom prices, and there are ways of stretching your money even further. More about that another time, though.

Every single staff member we interacted with at the Conrad was friendly and kind. The concierge proactively helped us with a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. They gave us water any time we went out into the 45-degree heat. The food was delicious. I could go on and on.

After my criticism of Singapore Airline’s first class, and my so far mixed experience with Etihad’s business class, it was nice to be reminded that some things are actually worthy of their status. In this case, I can say that Conrad Abu Dhabi deserves its five star rating.

By the way, this might be a good opportunity for a quick bit of self reflection! I do realise that the common denominator in the disappointing first and business class flights I’ve taken is me. A lot of the issues I’ve experienced don’t seem to come up in anyone else’s reviews or discussions.

On the flip side, my first class flights with Singapore, and the longer business class flight with Etihad that I’m about to cover, were literally the only disappointments on this trip. Every hotel, restaurant, train, ferry, attraction, tour, experience, whatever, was at the very least good, but often great and sometimes amazing. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for my next flight with Etihad…

Business class or bust

After a night at the Conrad, we catch a taxi back to Abu Dhabi Airport about two hours before our departure at 10:45am. I won’t discuss the business class lounge much since, as I mentioned earlier, this has now changed, but it wasn’t particularly noteworthy anyway.

It’s not long before we’re ready to board. On Etihad’s Boeing 777, business class takes up two sections of the plane. The first has 24 seats and the second, where our seats are, has only 12.

In both sections, there are single seats on the left and right sides and pairs of seats running down the middle. My mum and I agree to sit separately so we can both enjoy a window seat.

I take my seat on the left side in the back row of business class. I can really only see one other person, who I’ll bring up again later. Before taking off, the flight attendants come around and ask what I’d like to eat once we’re in the air. They only ask about choices for the first meal.

The first meal

Our 13 hour and 45 minute flight is underway not long after. Once the seatbelt sign is off, the multi-course meal service begins. I chose the Arabic mezze as my starter, which is the featured image you can see at the top of this post. It comes with bread and a salad, and all of it is tasty.

For the main, I went with a steak with mashed potato, mushrooms and broccolini. The steak is well done (in terms of doneness, not quality), but there’s really only so much you can do in the air.

Finally, for dessert, I chose what I believe is a chocolate raspberry tart. I usually prefer to leave more space between pictures, but this is worth including. It was almost as good as it looks.

Here’s where I’ll start getting properly critical of Etihad’s business class.

Firstly, it takes forever for the flight attendants to clear things away. I end up waiting an hour and a half for my last tray to be taken, despite flight attendants walking past regularly.

This was made more frustrating by something I also saw on Singapore Airlines: seemingly random preferential treatment of certain people. Funnily enough, the one person I could see from my seat seemed to be the star passenger on this particular flight.

After I saw the flight attendant offer this guy drink refills multiple times during the meal service, I started keeping count of how many times this happened. Nine times. I think he tasted every wine they had. Guess how many times I was proactively offered anything during the entire flight? Zero!

A mid flight

After the first meal, I get comfortable in the seat and see what movies Etihad has on its in-flight entertainment. The screen isn’t great, and the selection isn’t the best, but it’s not too bad.

For those who can sleep on a plane, you could definitely catch some rest in this business class seat, which can lie down flat. I mostly just keep it reclined and occasionally take advantage of the massage function, which is a fun feature to have.

A couple hours after the first meal, I get a bit peckish so decide to randomly order an iced tea and a cookie. I swear that, according to the menu, the cookie is supposed to be warm. Instead, it’s cold and rock hard. At least it is still not a bad cookie.

Maybe a bit after the halfway point of the flight, I get properly hungry. Etihad is meant to be somewhat famous for their steak sandwich, so I ask for one of those. They’ve run out.

Okay, the steak sandwich is meant to come with chips (i.e. crisps), can I get some? No, they’ve run out of those as well. At this point, it seems quicker to ask what they do have, and I’m told they have madeleines and something else I can’t recall but didn’t want.

I ask for the madeleines and, after a suspiciously long wait, I’m brought a single tiny plastic wrapped madeleine on a plate. It’s the kind of thing you’d find in a multipack at Aldi or somewhere. It sucks, but I’m hungry, so I eat it.

The only meal?

Everything is fine still, because there’s another meal coming later, right? Right?! Well, no. The menu definitely included a pre-landing meal, I think with a mix of breakfast and light snack options.

However, despite sitting up awake the entire time, no one approached me to ask about this second meal. I wasn’t asked whether I wanted it before take off, either. I get that serving fewer meals makes the flight attendants job slightly easier, but this really sucks.

The comparison point for me is economy. On a 13.5 hour flight, you’re getting two meals for sure. They’re usually not the epitome of cuisine, but the flight attendants will slap down lukewarm aluminium containers on your tray table at two points during the flight whether you like it or not.

It also seems unlikely for an economy flight to pretty much run out of snacks. On the long-haul economy flights I’ve taken, there’s been a spot where you can grab stuff for yourself.

Is something like that too hard for Etihad? Do chips take up too much space? Or did I just miss the moment when one of the other passengers ordered every packet of chips on board?

Regardless, I only realise that I have missed the pre-landing meal when it’s too late. The lights are already back up and the flight attendants are doing the last of their flight attending.

Taking care of business class

As you can guess, I’m pretty over Etihad’s business class at this point. We need another moment to drive things home though!

A flight attendant comes around with landing forms. As I said previously, I can only really see one other passenger (the drink guy) from my seat. The attendant hands him a form and asks if he needs a pen. He says he does, so she hands him one with a smile.

Then I’m next. She comes up to my seat, drops the form on the side table and walks away without looking at me or saying a single word.

I hadn’t talked to this flight attendant even once during the flight. All my interactions with all the other flight attendants were perfectly normal (I think). Still, just like I experienced on Singapore, I felt this vibe that I had done something wrong.

Maybe if I had spoken up and complained about the mediocre service, the shortage of food, the weird preferential treatment, or their failure to serve a second meal, there would be a reason to give me the cold shoulder. But I sat there and smiled, said my pleases and thank yous, and didn’t say a word otherwise, because I’d rather die than have any kind of confrontation, thank you very much.

We land shortly after and I thank the flight attendants when leaving the plane, for what I’m not entirely sure. I guess for keeping us alive? At least I can look back on my other Etihad business class flight, where I had champagne spilled on me, with fonder memories.

Can business class flights ever be worthwhile?

No. Okay, you probably want more than that. My admittedly limited experience in first and business class has left me questioning why I even bother collecting frequent flyer points, when one of the main aims is to try and book premium flights.

I need to try out other airlines and maybe one day give Etihad Airways and also Singapore Airlines a second chance. But when three out of four premium flights have been disappointments, I find it it hard to justify using extra points or money to book anything other than economy.

Prior to these flights last year, I had actually been in business class one other time. A few years ago, I put in the minimum bid for an upgrade on Virgin Australia for a flight from Sydney to Darwin and won. It was a faultless experience. The service was seamless and my glass was never empty.

For me, that set the standard for business class. But for everyone else who travels in business and first class regularly, Virgin doesn’t ever come up among the best of the best airlines.

I’d love to know what the heck I’m doing wrong. Maybe I just have first class curse or something. Anyway, here’s hoping that my next business or first class flight actually lives up to expectations.