Emirates Etihad or Qatar ?

[thinkingallowed]

Problem with Qatar is their constant change of aircraft on some routes and non conformity in business class cabins. 

[davidge]

10 hours ago, thinkingallowed said:

Problem with Qatar is their constant change of aircraft on some routes and non conformity in business class cabins. 

Yes. I’ve just about decided to book them for my unexpected December trip. CWL-BKK-LHR.

Cardiff flight has 1-2-1 layout, BKK legs 2-2-2 and the LHR leg Q-Suites. 3 different aircraft.

 

[thinkingallowed]

35 minutes ago, davidge said:

Yes. I’ve just about decided to book them for my unexpected December trip. CWL-BKK-LHR.

Cardiff flight has 1-2-1 layout, BKK legs 2-2-2 and the LHR leg Q-Suites. 3 different aircraft.

 

My April trip had four different aircraft and each with different seating. 

Booking my July trip showed Qsuites on three legs but ended up with none. 

I've read that DOH-LHR is a flagship route and there is less chance of Qsuites being replaced by an inferior product.

[davidge]

41 minutes ago, thinkingallowed said:

My April trip had four different aircraft and each with different seating. 

Booking my July trip showed Qsuites on three legs but ended up with none. 

I've read that DOH-LHR is a flagship route and there is less chance of Qsuites being replaced by an inferior product.

Just went ahead and booked and when choosing seats the outward BKK leg showed 1-2-1. Looks like 4 different planes for me as well - though could change by then!

[javasumatra]

Flown all three in biz over the last few years and also flew Emirates in economy back in 1998.

I would rates them as following (in biz) -

1. Qatar

2. Tie between Etihad and Emirates, I cannot split them.

I wouldn't fly any of them in economy, I would go direct with Thai or Eva.

[chelseafan]

Gotta say as an F class flyer, it's Emirates although the service seems to have deteriorated somewhat over the past few years.

Ethihad is OK but the cabin seems kind of cramped and the seat only reclines a little.

Oman used to offer fantastic value - At Heathrow I used to get chauffeured from the lounge and driven to the plane but then they decided to bump up their prices considerably.

Of all the airlines, I still prefer Thai, it's not as polished as Emirates (on a good day) but the ground support is superb especially as I can use Uniteds F class lounge at Heathrow which I think is one of the best.

 

 

[Hispano]

Emirates my fav one

[Koudyy]

Flying comfort in Eco is top priority for me.

I am 190cm tall I basically select my flights based on the legspace. Qatar and their 787 is unbearable, rest is OK.

Last few years, I just plan to always fly emirates on A380, the difference between being cramped and having ample space in front of me makes big difference on whether I hate every second while in the air or if it's tolerable.

[Assfiend]

Normally I have always flown with Emirates, but since they have changed a few things like paying for your seats and downgrading the weight of your luggage to 25kgs in Economy, I'll be flying with Qatar Airways in future

[J.D.Be.]

Used Qatar and am impressed by their service. Left with some delay in Brussels and when landing in Doha it was clear that i would not make my connection to BKK. A bit annoyed at the prospect of having to go to the Qatar flightdesk to explain and get this solved,  I was happily surprised to see a lady holding a card with my name when exiting the plane, everything was already arranged, got my new boarding pass for a flight 2 hours later.

 

[Mr magoo]

48 minutes ago, J.D.Be. said:

  I was happily surprised to see a lady holding a card with my name when exiting the plane, everything was already arranged, got my new boarding pass for a flight 2 hours later.

Glad to read that your experience with Qatar was ultimately a positive one...

Just thought I'd check where Qatar was placed at this years WAA, as I'm due to fly with them to Bkk in just over two weeks.

https://www.worldairlineawards.com/qatar-airways-is-voted-the-worlds-best-airline-at-2019-world-airline-awards/

I think I've made a wise choice ?!!

Mr magoo

[sulu]

For the record, as I am retired, ECONOMY is the only class I fly.

Never flown Emirates. They never seem to come up on the "search".

Flown Qatar twice and Etihad once to LOS.

I remember reading at the time (4 years ago ?) that Etihad had cramped seating AND hard, uncomfortable seats. I found that to be the case. Since that trip, I always take along memory foam seat AND back cushions. Problem (mostly) solved. Other than that, don't remember anything terrible.

Qatar is very good and would be my choice, especially with flight times and connections.

I am lucky enough to be near Miami Int'l and the MIA-DOH-BKK is a (relative) pleasure. Just over 21 hours total to BKK and only an hour or so connect time in DOH. On the way back it's about 24. And the main cabin seemed much more pleasant than Etihad.

First time I took Qatar (before the great connection times) I had an 8 hour layover in DOH and their lounge hadn't been completed yet so they took us to a city hotel for about 5 hours to sleep and have breakfast and then brought us back to the airport. Back then, if you had an 8 hour or more layover even  economy passengers could use the lounge for free. Not sure about now but then the layovers now typically aren't more than 8 hours anyway.

That said, cost is important to me. I'd say for about $100 or so more I'd probably take Qatar. Much more than that and I'm going for United. United often comes up about $3-400 less than Qatar. Being retired, that's pretty big.

[taylor1975]

1 hour ago, Mr magoo said:

 

I think I've made a wise choice ?!!

Mr magoo

Depends on the plane (Unless you're in business class)

[Mr magoo]

1st leg is on the a350 

2nd leg is on the a330-300

 

[Lancsman1976]

Well I'm booked on qatar again for my December trip, Manchester-Doha - Chiang Mai.  A350 on first leg then the dreaded 787 on the next but the plus point is I miss out BKK.  On my return in February  I'm having to go through BKK then onto Doha as the Manchester flight musnt connect with the chiang mai flight. Quite expensive for economy this time aswell but what can you do! 

[Koudyy]

I do not envy the 787, did it once and I will never again do it willingly.  At least not in the 333 configuration.

Also not relevant to the airlines, but the plane in general: Put your tin-hats on and watch the documentary 

 

[taylor1975]

On 18/08/2019 at 19:33, Mr magoo said:

1st leg is on the a350 

2nd leg is on the a330-300

 

Looks like they both have the new awful seats. 

[bangna]

1 hour ago, Koudyy said:

do not envy the 787, did it once and I will never again do it willingly.  At least not in the 333 configuration.

Also not relevant to the airlines, but the plane in general: Put your tin-hats on and watch the documentary

 

I've seen that documentary before but viewed it again in a new light, thinking about the 737 Max 8.

[Dubnologist]

https://youtu.be/mOyd9Ci6x_g   A Warning About Qatar Airways

https://youtu.be/c5Oz-r5S1QQ   A Response From Qatar Airways

 

Qatar have listened to what Nonstop Dan had to say in his video about their equipment changes.

Time will tell what changes they make

[sulu]

9 hours ago, Dubnologist said:

https://youtu.be/mOyd9Ci6x_g   A Warning About Qatar Airways

https://youtu.be/c5Oz-r5S1QQ   A Response From Qatar Airways

 

Qatar have listened to what Nonstop Dan had to say in his video about their equipment changes.

Time will tell what changes they make

Mind giving a capsule summary ? Don't have the time to watch those 2 videos

[Dubnologist]

A lot of people have been complaining about Qatar Airways equipment changes, when they book to fly in biz class Q Suites Qatar then changes the aircraft type for "operational reasons" say from a A350-900 or A380 to an older A330 or 777 which doesn't have Q Suites. That's what this is all about...they have listened to Nonstop Dan and all his followers. They flew him out to Doha for a few days to talk to several senior executives at Qatar Airways to address this issue

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

[joeyb]

I’m pretty happy with Qatar. No problems with them so far, except for one small thing. One time my flight never seemed to appear on the info screens. I had no idea what gate it was supposed to be, and the airport wifi wasn’t working. I had to walk around and found a new set of screens, and my flight was actually displayed there. But it was not visible on the info screens closer to where I got off the first place.

I love how I can apparently select my seats well in advance, and for free with Qatar.

Emirates treated me like shit. The first plane was delayed, but there should still have been time enough to make the connection. However, it seemed like they were consciously doing everything as slowly as possible in order to make sure passengers wouldn’t get on the next plane, (and there was no information at all, and when I tried to ask they just waved me on as if everything was OK) and I even heard they denied people at the gate who made it there before the gate closed. So fuck them. I will avoid Emirates from now on, unless they offer an amazing prize with a long, long, long, LONG layover.

Never flown Etihad.

On 18/08/2019 at 17:56, J.D.Be. said:

Used Qatar and am impressed by their service. Left with some delay in Brussels and when landing in Doha it was clear that i would not make my connection to BKK. A bit annoyed at the prospect of having to go to the Qatar flightdesk to explain and get this solved,  I was happily surprised to see a lady holding a card with my name when exiting the plane, everything was already arranged, got my new boarding pass for a flight 2 hours later.

Yes, this is what I'm talking about! Emirates treated me like shit, like they don't want me to fly them in the future. I was happy to oblige.

If I ever get delayed on Qatar I'll see if they still offer this kind of service. Sure can't get any worse than shitty Emirates.

[tulakom]

Ranking of airlines by SKYTRAX 2019. The Skytrax World Airline Awards are known as the "Oscars of the aviation industry". Always interesting IMHO. Here are the rank of the Gulf's Airlines (QR, EK, EY, WY, GF).

- World Airline Award 2019 :

#1 Qatar Airways (QR), hub : Doha (DOH).

Fleet (July) : 223 aircrafts (including 10 A380, 45 A350, 30 B787, 73 B777, …).

#5 Emirates (EK), hub : Dubai (DXB).

Fleet (July) : 268 aircrafts (including 112 A380, 155 B777, …).

#29 Etihad Airways (EY), hub : Abu Dabi (AUH).

Fleet (July) : 113 aircrafts (including 10 A380, 35 B787, 25 B777, …).

#43 Oman Air (WY), hub : Muscat (MCT).

Fleet (July) : 55 aircrafts (including 9 B787).

#71 Gulf Air (GF), hub : Manama Bahrain (BAH).

Fleet (July) : 36 aircrafts (including 6 B787).

- World's Best Economy Class Airlines 2019 among the first 20 :

#3 Qatar. #6 Emirates. #20 Etihad.

- World's Best Business Class Airlines 2019 among the first 20 :

#1 Qatar. #4 Emirates. #8 Etihad. #12 Oman.

-World's Best First Class Airlines 2019 among the first 20 :

#4 Etihad. #5 Qatar. #6 Emirates. #10 Oman.