Etihad AUH - AMS Review

Paul‘s Flight Report
Flight: EY77
AUH - AMS / Boeing 787-9
Flight Time: 6 hours 25 minutes
Business Class

 

General Impression: 🐑🐑

Before the Flight :
Check-in Process: In Transit
Security Control : 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lounge: 🐑🐑
Information: 🐑🐑🐑
Boarding @ Gate: 🐑🌿
Staff @ these points: 🐑🐑🌿
Boarding in Cabin: 🐑🐑🐑
Welcome Drinks: 🐑🐑🐑
Punctuality: 🐑🐑 15 min delay
During the Flight :
Food presentation: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Food quality: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Drinks: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Service Procedure: 🐑🐑🐑
Amenity Kit: 🐑🐑🐑
Entertainment System: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Seat Quality: 🐑🐑🐑
Legroom: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lavatories: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Cleanliness: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
General Atmosphere: 🐑🐑🐑
Announcement Pilots: 🐑🐑🐑
Announcement Cabin: 🐑🐑🌿
Cabin Crew: 🐑🐑🐑
After the Flight :
De-Boarding: 🐑🌿
Baggage Delivery: 🌿
—-
🐑 = bad, a lot of work needs to be done
🐑🐑 = poor, you will be busy with corrections
🐑🐑🐑 = good & normal, nothing special
🐑🐑🐑🐑 = high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑 = topnotch, leave me here!
🌿= Half a Point/sheep
—-
On the Ground:
Transiting in Abu Dhabi was fairly easy. The airport and Etihad Airways are basically living from the connecting passengers. This time we had huge distances to walk. We arrived in Terminal 1 by bus and went to the only Etihad Business class lounge in Terminal 3. For our flight departure we had to go the same way back.

On arrival from Johannesburg the airport was very busy and large crowds of people. Departure was less hectic as Etihad's Amsterdam is the very last flight to leave.

There was just a very short queue at the security check. It took us less than 5 minutes to get through. Staff at security was okay.

Once through security we made our way to Etihads Business class lounge.
The lounge is massive in size but also this time it was absolutely packed amd we had to wait for 15 minutes umtil some seating became available.
The lounge offers a big serviced bar where you can get all the alcoholic drinks as well as two F&B stations with a big variety of hot and cold dishes, salads and dessert. All soft drinks can be found at these stations.
Etihad Airways should rethink if maybe an additional lounge in one of the other terminals would make sense to take the pressure away from the current one. The experience isn't actually nice or relaxing if you have to fight over seating space and there is not a single corner which isn't noisy.
Boarding started 50 minutes prior departure and let me tell you what a mess.
I don't know if there is no PA system at that specific gate but the agent just shouted everything in to the gate area. And I really mean shouting the military way stile.
No priority boarding conducted. There was a business lane for boarding but as there was an issue with the very first passenger, they just started to board economy and everyone else had to wait.
The gate area was also way to small.
Staff at the gate was super unfriendly and stressed.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by the senior cabin crew member.
The crew was very friendly at the door and whilst boarding.
The crew was very present in the cabin whilst boarding and distributed welcome drinks (champagne, water, orange juice and mint lemonade) once a passenger was settled in his seat.
The menu cards were also already placed on the seats and the crew passed through the cabin after the welcome drink to take the orders.
Inflight:
The Etihad business class is actually a nice product. The 787-9 has a total of 28 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. On this air plane type the even seat row numbers are actually flying backwards.
The seats are very comfortable and offer enough privacy. I love the fact that I have enough space to lay on my back and still don't touch the sidewalls.
Unfortunately also on this flight my seat wasn't working properly. The crew had to reset it several times to be able to change the seat positions..
After take off the cabin crew started with the snack service.
As I wanted to sleep I skipped that one.
On this flight the main service is the breakfast service.
Around 1hour 45minutes before landing in Amsterdam the crew started to serve breakfast.
Breakfast was a full size tray with your choice of a starter and the hot meal. You could choose as many items as you wanted.
Presentation of the food was good. The meals and items served were delicious, fresh and tasty.

The cabin crew on this flight was good. They did a great service and were friendly but no interaction with the passengers.

Bathrooms were checked throughout the flight and always refilled. They were always super clean.
Etihad Airways does here a tremendous job and this is very much appreciated.

The amenity kit is ok and offers the regular content. (socks, toothbrush, eye mask and some lipbalm and cream). Etihad has Aqua di Parma as it's provider.

The inflight entertainment is good and the screens worked fine. They have a good size and resolution for business class. The screens are touch screens but you can also choose the handheld devices to navigate.
Etihad Airways has a fantastic selection of movies, films and series. Even there weren't many new blockbusters recently they have them all on their IFE.

The aircraft would have been equipped with wifi. The prices would have been moderate but are very limited with data volumes. The most expensive package (24.90$) has only 300MB included.

Announcements were okay from the cockpit crew but again not understandable and way to fast from the cabin crew. On all 4 flights this was an issue and I think Etihad should invest here in additional training or use prerecorded possibilities.

After the Flight:
After landing and taxing to the gate, we had to wait 15 minutes in front of the stand because the airport wasn't ready. Once we made it into the parking position, we had to wait another 15 minutes until someone came to drive the jet bridge.
Baggage delivery in Amsterdam Schiphol or better said Shitpol was a total disaster.
First bag arrived on the belt 1 hour 45 minutes after having reached the parking position and guess what, economy was delivered first.
Our first bag arrived at 1 hour 50 minutes after reaching the parking stand.
Our summary:
We had now 4 long haul flights with Etihad Airways in business class.
The whole thing about Etihad is more shine and glamour than what they actually offer. None of our flights had a woww effect. We were a little disappointed and surprised on what you get on board. They are far far away from the impeccable Qatar Airways flights we had.
Etihad sets the expectations high but is not really delivering.

The flights we had were good flights in Business class and everything worked more or less fine but in total it is the same as Lufthansa, BA, Swiss you name it.

Would we recommend them, yes we would recommend Etihad Airways but simply don't expect anything else than a “normal“ business class flight like with any other airline and especially: AVOID Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at all costs!

Notes:
- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
-If you are interested in more details, please send me a private message and I will be happy to share.