Emirates Etihad or Qatar ?

[Mr magoo]

Just came across this video which was posted less than a week ago, and am pretty sure lots of BM's here have their own particular favourite on the big 3 ME airlines

 

My next trip in early September will be with Qatar, a big factor in this decision were the flight timings, as the flight lands in BKK at lunchtime, which means I can be in Patts' by mid-afternoon....plenty of time to settle into my accommodation, enjoy an evening meal and start the night feeling relaxed and refreshed....

 

High on my list of places to visit on my first night has gotta be KINK on LKM.

It'll be my 1st visit there and am really looking forward to checking it out.

 

Mr magoo

[Patts Luver]

Qatar of course! great service. You can choose your seat for free. Emirates, you can but you have to pay, unless you want to choose a seat behind row 32.....In addition, you get qmiles & qpoints. You can redeem the qmiles when you want. I usually do some "shopping", parfume cigarettes....free,  using my qmiles in Doha. you collect qpoints, that serves you well, you drink as much as you want on board, get free lounges, fast track....I'm gold member and I'm loving it. No chance to change QatarAirways.....Once I happened to travel back from BKK on my birthday, guess what, while in the gate waiting for the flight, suddenly I heard my name. I went to check. The sweet lady told me : Sir, we have upgraded you to business class !  Great gift from God, no from QA....

[storytime]

I've already booked Qatar for my next trip, and you can book your seat early which I've done.

[taylor1975]

Qatar 787 dreamliner are the worst seats for economy as they barely recline.

I've been going emirates recently on the a380.

[adammike]

Etihad had flights for under €500 return Amsterdam- Bangkok return in January in economy,pity about the exchange rate.

[spacemonkey]

Flown Etihad A380 and 777 a couple of times, LHR to BKK, and would happily do so again.

Can't comment on the others but I'm due to fly Qatar next month, so will see how it compares. Qatar force you to include your laptop bag as your carry-on allowance, whereas Etihad don't, it's a freebie extra with them, so this time I'll have to throw my laptop bag inside my carry-on rucksack. Hopefully won't be an issue, but I'll likely be over the 7kg limit.

[striderman]

i've flown etihad countless times in economy (so many i've been upgraded to business on 19 different legs over the years).

economy food has gone steadily down in both amount and quality, no doubt about it. the only reason i stay flying with them is to keep my gold card freq flyer status, which does bring benefits apart from the 19 mentioned above

[OldAsiaHand]

From the States, at least, Qatar is the pick of the litter. On the other hand, I've never been in economy on any of those carriers so perhaps the answer for low fare shoppers is different.

[blue1878]

Qatar : I have never flown with them so cannot comment

Etihad: I used to fly with all the time.  At the beginning they were very good but then saw a decline in the service, food and the inflight entertainment.  For me the inflight entertainment is importand because I am not a good sleeper on flights

Emirates: I started flying with them again in 2016 and I am impressed with there A380 planes.  And I like there food and general service of the Cabin Crew.  And I love there inflight entertainment.  On the downside I like booking my seats well in advance.  In 2016 they were free. In 2017 I had to pay for 2 of my 4 flights.  And then in 2018 and this year I payed for seats on all 4 flights.  

[Rambuttri village]

Qatar by some distance. Can't fault them and now we have the new easy to negotiate Doha airport with short connection times even better. Had some good recent flights with Etihad and got enough air miles to use their lounges for free. Emirates hit or miss, had a shocker of a flight with them a few years back, for which I had to make a written complaint

[Straw]

None of those three...Oman is better

[fostraswift]

when your a gold member its difficult to make the move...

the perks are too nice

[LongJohnSilver]

I’ve been based in Dubai for 10 years now so have flown each of the carriers extensively. 

 

Qatar has good airplanes, decent airport and the best loyalty scheme by far.

 

Emirates planes are better than Qatar IMHO, though they have significantly devalued their Skywards program and reduced upgrade seat availability, which really annoys me.

 

Etihad is second best to both other airlines.

 

If you fly regularly, I would go with Qatar as their loyalty program is good. If it’s once a year, then Emirates. Obviously that’s if flight times/connections/price is the same. For me flight time is a major consideration which is why I generally fly direct wherever possible. 

[GlobalTraveler]

On 19/06/2019 at 08:59, striderman said:

i've flown etihad countless times in economy (so many i've been upgraded to business on 19 different legs over the years).

economy food has gone steadily down in both amount and quality, no doubt about it. the only reason i stay flying with them is to keep my gold card freq flyer status, which does bring benefits apart from the 19 mentioned above

Etihad Gold Member myself will reach Platinum soon. Service still great in Business Class. Accumulate points easy enough to upgrade all my flights. Unfortunately the are close to bankrupt. Made some big mistakes with partnering with smaller airlines. CEO got fired over it. Its National pride I doubt Government will let them go. Is talk now to merge with Emirates

What I dislike most about them is when you upgrade to business class you need to phone them to get your miles as Previous economy flight is cxl. Pain in the neck especially lately bad service

[Eric Le Roi]

Flown with them all, my choice is Emirates.

Love the Biz Class on the A380 with the on board bar.

Not forgetting the chauffeur service which is excellent.

[adammike]

I have been flying EVA from Amsterdam for the last 6 years it's a direct flight about €620, but now they want to charge for choosing seats in economy basic as it's now called, as I like an aisle seat I will have to pay up.So I was thinking by flying with one of the gulf carriers for 6 hours each leg it's not such a big deal because of the stopover. So what one of the three is ok in economy and what airport is best for a stopover or is there one to avoid.

[brownmanc]

On 25/06/2019 at 15:39, GlobalTraveler said:

Etihad Gold Member myself will reach Platinum soon. Service still great in Business Class. Accumulate points easy enough to upgrade all my flights. Unfortunately the are close to bankrupt. Made some big mistakes with partnering with smaller airlines. CEO got fired over it. Its National pride I doubt Government will let them go. Is talk now to merge with Emirates

What I dislike most about them is when you upgrade to business class you need to phone them to get your miles as Previous economy flight is cxl. Pain in the neck especially lately bad service

You say Etihad are close to bankrupt - Is  that a joke or do you know something the rest of the airline industry are not aware of ?

[GlobalTraveler]

I know what the rest does not. Just as they merged two banks to create FAB and now ADCB with two others so they might need to merge Etihad with Emirates. Etihad is Bleeding really bad.

(banks are deeply in real Estate and its going down badly) Big Problems in UAE now

But natioanl pride Government will bail them out. I think i heard something like 4.5 Billion loss

[thinkingallowed]

12 hours ago, brownmanc said:

You say Etihad are close to bankrupt - Is  that a joke or do you know something the rest of the airline industry are not aware of ?

Anyone who follows the airline industry has known about Etihad's problems for a while.

[brownmanc]

Etihad are repairing the damage done by previous CEO and people within the airline industry incl myself expect Etihad to

return into the black within the next 3 to 4 years.  Etihad to go bankrupt certainly not with the UAE state support.

 

[jochen_we]

We flew with Emirates economy many times and I am still convinced that this is the best airline by far. Unfortunately their prices gone up too far and amenities went down.

So last year we went with Oman air which was a cheap flight below 500€ from Munich to Bkk. This year it will be Qatar, also below 500€.

After all I read, this choice will be a good one and only little behind Emirates.

[Lancsman1976]

Qatar for me closely followed by Emirates.  Though I must say I avoid the Qatar 787 if I can. Thankfully the morning service out of Manchester is now a A350. Doha is a fantastic airport, much less hassle than dubai.  Plus with Qatar I can fly direct to Chiang Mai from Doha missing out swampy and its large immigration queues. 

[Mr magoo]

1 hour ago, Lancsman1976 said:

Qatar for me Thankfully the morning service out of Manchester is now a A350. Doha is a fantastic airport,

A little over 4 weeks remaining, and I'll be on the Qatar mid-afternoon flight out of Manchester on an a350....I purposely chose that particular flight after reading such positive reviews on the Qatar a350 service.

It certainly wasn't the cheapest flight available, but my personal way of thinking is, my holiday begins from the moment I board the express train to Manchester airport, then coupled with the fact that I'm gonna be inside the aircraft for 14hrs (with a short transfer in Doha) I just wanna give myself the best possible start to my trip.

However, the icing on the cake, is that I land in Bkk at lunch-time, which hopefully means I should be in Patts' mid-afternoon'ish ?!!.....plenty of time to freshen up, get some food, and make my first ever visit to KINK upon doors opening !!  and that's about the limit as far as my plans go 555

Mr magoo.

 

 

[brownmanc]

8 minutes ago, Mr magoo said:

A little over 4 weeks remaining, and I'll be on the Qatar mid-afternoon flight out of Manchester on an a350....I purposely chose that particular flight after reading such positive reviews on the Qatar a350 service.

It certainly wasn't the cheapest flight available, but my personal way of thinking is, my holiday begins from the moment I board the express train to Manchester airport, then coupled with the fact that I'm gonna be inside the aircraft for 14hrs (with a short transfer in Doha) I just wanna give myself the best possible start to my trip.

However, the icing on the cake, is that I land in Bkk at lunch-time, which hopefully means I should be in Patts' mid-afternoon'ish ?!!.....plenty of time to freshen up, get some food, and make my first ever visit to KINK upon doors opening !!  and that's about the limit as far as my plans go 555

Mr magoo.

 

 

Most of last week Qatar afternoon flight out of Manchester has been the B777-300ER.  Presume aircraft sub was due to increased 

capacity and/or freight.

[taylor1975]

3 minutes ago, brownmanc said:

Most of last week Qatar afternoon flight out of Manchester has been the B777-300ER.  Presume aircraft sub was due to increased 

capacity and/or freight.

15 minutes ago, Mr magoo said:

after reading such positive reviews on the Qatar a350 service.

Assuming economy, I think the a350 will have the new less-recline seats. If so, the 777-300 seats are way better.