Etihad AUH - JNB Review
Flight Time: 7 hours 50 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: , on time
, on time
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 airpirt and Etihad Airways are basically living from the connecting passengers.
Once through security we made our way to Etihads Business class lounge.
The lounge is massive in size but still it was packed.
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. All in all a good business class lounge if you manage to find a quieter spot.
Boarding started 1 hour prior departure and we figured out very fast why.
There was a priority lane and regular lane for boarding. They boarded on both lanes and into 2 different busses which were standing over cross from boarding. At the end the Economy bus drove
first.
Staff at the gate was doing their job. Nothing to write home about.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by the senior cabin crew member.
The crew was very friendly at the door and whilst boarding.
There was no cabin crew in the cabin for boarding. The crew only showed up out of the forward galley once 90% of the passengers were on board.
The seats were already equipped with headphones, amenity kits and a bottle of water.
The crew then passed with the welcome drinks (champagne, water, orange juice and mint lemonade)
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. Unfortunately they do not have sufficient storage space at the seat itself.
All business class seats are fully lie flat and you have enough shoulder space as well as legroom space.
Unfortunately my seat deflated all the time and was pumping nonstop. They called maintenance which had no idea what to.
After take off the cabin crew started with the service.
After around 20 minutes an aperitif was served together with some nuts.
Around 40 minutes after take off a small snack was served. On this flight the main service the breakfast service.
Around 1hour 45minutes before landing in Johannesburg the crew started to serve breakfast.
As a snack after take off I re-tried the Steak Sandwich.
Breakfast was a full size tray with your choice of a started and then the hot dish was served.
Presentation of the food was good and as expected the quality of the food was so much better out of homebase compared to Amsterdam. The steak sandwich was from another planet out of AUH.
Also breakfast was super delicious, fresh and tasty.
The cabin crew on this flight were great. Especially the cabin manager which was working on my side of the aisle did an absolutely amazing job. She was interacting with all customers, asked
for refills, offered help and you could see that she does her job with pride care and class.
Also the other 2 crew members on this flight were awesome. A difference like day and night compared to the previous flight. They all interacted with the customers, were working as a team and
helped each other.
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.
Baggage delivery in Johannesburg worked fantastic.
First bags were on the belt around 15 minutes after arrival.
First class and Hon bags were delivered first, followed by Priority bags.
Our summary:
This flight was so much better than the previous one. The crew made a huge difference and was great.
On this aircraft we had more issues with the seats.
With such an experience we would say you could try Etihad Airways for your travels.
We will see and check on our 2 return flights and make our decision after the summary of all 4 flights.
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