Etihad sale

[gaz1889]

Some good prices for February/March  

  Anyone got any up to date info?

 I had a quick read of the Emirates, Ethiad, Qatar comparison thread but didn't find what I wanted.

23k baggage allowance so that's plenty. What's AUH like? Quite a long layover going out, will I be able to get a beer without paying for lounge access?

 What about seat reservation? Is there a fee to reserve in advance? 

Are the flights likely to be full out of Manchester or should I be able to spread out a bit?

 Food ok? Are they fairly generous with the inflight drinks?

 Anything else?

 Cheers.

[striderman]

i've flown etihad for years more or less since they first started to bkk, but from london.

you can buy beer in abu dhabi but it ain't cheap, although all airports are pricey ....................as long as it's not the month of ramadam.............so feb/march next year should be ok.

the food is not good (and it was better in earlier years ) but i'm fussy . also a bit tight on drinks in flight. (no charge )

i have an advantage as a gold card holder (freq flyer) so i do get better service in flight (comes up on the passenger manifest). 

because of this i also get in the business lounge so i have no idea of current prices in abu dhabi other than the duty free is pretty good. abu dhabi is not bad as an airport when in transit

to pre book a seat is now 25 pounds a leg and more if you want one with extra leg room. i don't suffer with long legs so they can get lost on that one.

they are ok, but don't expect anything special. 

if you are flying via anywhere in the middle east having us dollars on you will be more convenient should you wish to buy anything

[Rainsberger]

Yes, Etihad are £375 from London Heathrow I also have been using them since they first started there service from London Gatwick before they then moved to Heathrow and I did always enjoy my flights with them.

Been also looking at current promotions for non-stops flights to Bangkok for my next trip in May 2020 I like what I see, firstly there is British Airways at £386 plus check-in baggage to pay, will not fly with them to unreliable,

Then, comes Thai Airways at £456 looks like I will book flights with them for May because they are non-stop, and of course there is Eva Airways at £453 who I flew with this May just gone. It's just a shame that more and more airlines are now charging for seat selection and baggage. 

[Rambuttri village]

I used to fly often Manchester to Bangkok in the 2012 to 2016 period with Etihad and got enough air miles to use their lounges in Abu Dhabi. Lounges very nice. 

Would say they are steady away, food a bit savory not my cup of tea. Generous in flight with drinks and a good air crew's. The IFE a bit so so. Music, films, tv  etc IMO not very good for westerners, very much geared towards Arab and Indian customers. Certainly not as good as Qatar and Emirates in that respect. The Manchester to Abu Dhabi leg I never saw full and was more room towards the back of the plane if you wanted to spread out. 

Abu Dhabi airport ok small and sometimes a queue for the scanners but they get you through in reasonable time. Seemed to be a couple of big pubs upstairs serving beer all hours but not cheap. One time our plane was delayed 2 hours 30 minutes meaning instead of arriving at BKK 19.45 pm we would arrive 22.15 pm after the last bus for Pattaya had gone. I asked at info desk if there was free wifi (which there is) so I could get a message through to my Pattaya apartments. The girl at the Etihad desk issued me with a meal and drink voucher free. I didn't know you could claim this, so thought it was a nice touch.

[gmoule]

Ive been flying since 2008 with them and steadily the service has gotten worse,especially for frequent flyers as they have taken a lot of benefits away.However for me they are still the best option as im a gold card holder and loathe to give up that as gives good lounge access and other benefits. You can choose your own seat 24 hours out for no fee however if you want to do it further out will charge from £20-120 per flight for seat selection. Theyve changed the way they serve food now its no longer a table tray with starters and desert its just the main a cake slice and a bread item,which i prefer as the main seems bigger than it used to be and never ate the salad and appetiser anyway. They will serve you as manay drinks as you ask however if its a full flight ull be waiting a while as they seem to have trimmes the amount of cabin crew ime

[Rambuttri village]

23 hours ago, gaz1889 said:

Some good prices for February/March  

  Anyone got any up to date info?

 I had a quick read of the Emirates, Ethiad, Qatar comparison thread but didn't find what I wanted.

23k baggage allowance so that's plenty. What's AUH like? Quite a long layover going out, will I be able to get a beer without paying for lounge access?

 What about seat reservation? Is there a fee to reserve in advance? 

Are the flights likely to be full out of Manchester or should I be able to spread out a bit?

 Food ok? Are they fairly generous with the inflight drinks?

 Anything else?

 Cheers.

Gaz thanks for this heads up and alert. As a result I got straight on the phone to Netflights and booked two winter flights Manchester to Bangkok economy return. The January flight only £408 the November flight a little more at £435, but overall I am well happy and this has saved me about £150 on what I would have paid last week for the same flights.  On a wet grim rainy day here in England, with the pound also going up the last 2 days I am well chuffed

I have a feeling this sale won't last long so anyone thinking of booking do so now

[slalom]

What happened with your plan of going to Vietnam instead of Thailand Rambuttri?

[semi-retired member]

There's also a new Sale on Qatar, for their frequent-flyer members, book until 15th September for travel until September-2020 (with block-out dates), but nothing very exciting IMHO.

[slalom]

Hello Rambuttri, where are you? I'm waiting for your thought's on Vietnam, figured I'll wait for feedback before I go.

[gaz1889]

Thanks for all the feedback gents.

 All sounds good so I've made my booking. £404 via an agent, I've got my eticket & my booking's showing up on the Ethiad site so I'm well happy.

[striderman]

On 10/09/2019 at 16:51, gaz1889 said:

Thanks for all the feedback gents.

 All sounds good so I've made my booking. £404 via an agent, I've got my eticket & my booking's showing up on the Ethiad site so I'm well happy.

that is a great price. 

[davidge]

I got this in an email today:

To: Bangkok (BKK) - £363 Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) - £367 From: London (LHR)

Travel Dates: late November - February for Vietnam, September - June for Thailand (excluding December & Easter holidays)   Airline: Lufthansa, SWISS, Edelweiss Air Standard Fare: £700 Bags: Checked bag included (23kg)   Book by: These fares should last 2-3 days

[ilikebeer]

I also got a January ticket from Etihad for 404 pounds from Manchester, cheapest I've ever had, bargain!

[Retskni]

Maybe an interesting informatiom for Etihad status holders. They recently removed the reservation fee for standard seats, which where introduced end of last year. Just log in through Etihad website, enter Name and booking code. Then you can choose a free standard seat under flight management/ seats. I've done it for my flights in Oktober/November and it works.

[striderman]

Just now, Retskni said:

Maybe an interesting informatiom for Etihad status holders. They recently removed the reservation fee for standard seats, which where introduced end of last year. Just log in through Etihad website, enter Name and booking code. Then you can choose a free standard seat under flight management/ seats. I've done it for my flights in Oktober/November and it works.

interesting. however i have recently (inc both legs to uk in sept) had several flights where check in staff have allocated me space economy seats.................

note the extra legroom

now i'm certain that pre-booking will have these seats closed to me. so i don't think i will change my current strategy of checking in well ahead of take off time (i get in the lounge so i can't wait ) and politely asking check in for aisle seats on both legs

[Retskni]

5 hours ago, striderman said:

where check in staff have allocated me space economy seats.................

I think i saw your post about it in another thread. That's a good strategy, but it may only work on low season flights with a low number of sold seats. All my flights with Etihad, around 24 legs in total, where fully occupied. Then you may end up on a shitty seat.

[striderman]

Just now, Retskni said:

I think i saw your post about it in another thread. That's a good strategy, but it may only work on low season flights with a low number of sold seats. All my flights with Etihad, around 24 legs in total, where fully occupied. Then you may end up on a shitty seat.

i think it should work when the flight is quite full. they want to charge extra for those "premium" seats but if there are too many economy passengers they are going to need to use them anyway. really full flights and i have a chance of upgrade to business (17 different legs so far, but only once on an A380)..............i've done a lot of flights

[Retskni]

There is an update about the complimentary seat selection...

It is now officially shown on the website but they seem to have changed the price tagging. All my reservations got lost and some of the former free seats do cost extra now. So better to check that again in time.