Welcome back! Last week we went through my 6 hour flight from Phuket, Thailand to Abu Dhabi, UAE in Etihad Business Class and today we’re finishing up the journey. Here’s what happened next:
ABU DHABI AIRPORT
Deplaning
The plane landed smoothly and then the attendants gave us a heads up that we would have to carry our things down stairs. After that, we had to board a bus, steps from the plane, that would take us to the airport terminal. We did so in an efficient process and then were directed through a security line. After that was done, we then walked – seemingly forever 🙂 – to the Business Class lounge.
The Etihad Business Class Lounge
The Etihad Business Class Lounge was quite impressive. It was a very large space with plenty of seating, absolutely delicious food, a full drinks bar, lovely service, pretty bathrooms (with an attendant) and even a shower if you were so inclined.
We settled into squishy chairs in the corner and read and napped until the food service opened. I then went up to get a plate and was very impressed with how good the food was – I think it was the best lounge food I’ve ever had outside in Emirate’s First Class Lounge in Dubai. We kept munching and chilling until 5 hours had passed and it was time to head to our gate about 30 minutes before boarding.
Just a heads up: if you’re looking for a secluded area, check out the business center. There are 2 sections of enclosed seats of 3, hidden away there. I wish I had noticed them so we could have snagged them, but they were too well hidden for that 🙂 .
Security
We made our way to the gate and right outside the sign for it, saw a long line leading to one gate agent. It wasn’t clear what we needed to provide so we got all of our possible documents ready including an Attestation Form we had been shown at check in and subsequently printed.
When we reached the gate agent, he asked to see an email confirmation that we had never seen before. When we told him we didn’t know what he was talking about, he gestured for us to get out of line and scan a QR code (which everyone else in front of us had also had to do, so I suspect no passengers were told about this requirement).
After we went through the website that the QR code pointed to, we discovered that this was a Digital Attestation Form and the email was confirmation you completed it online – how efficient…Anyway, we showed our confirmation email and were gestured through.
After that, we went into a Business Class line to check our Passports and Tickets before the actual security checkpoint. After we passed that, we went into another Business Class line only to have an entire flight crew go in front of us, which is fine.
I just found it funny that they use all these ‘fancy’ business class lines for expedited screenings that ended up being longer than the regular lines. Anyway, it’s a good thing we left the lounge when the attendant suggested or we would have been late for boarding.
When we finally got to go through security, I was selected to be patted down – I guess my prowess at having this happen to me at a higher than random rate has gone international 🙂 .
US Customs
After all that, we experienced something that I didn’t know existed: US CUSTOMS OVERSEAS!!! Apparently you can go through US Customs in Abu Dhabi and then just walk through like a regular domestic customer when you land in the USA. I LOVE this idea since standing in an endless customs line after a long ass flight is not my idea of a good time.
In addition to being able to do this, I was impressed to see that they had two Global Entry machines ahead of the customs line. It had us take our picture and from that, it filled out all our information – so efficient and a little creepy 🙂 .
From there, this process was a bit of a clusterfuck. There was no indication that Global Entry should go in a different line than everyone else, so we joined the main queue, but later learned that Global Entry is actually supposed to join the line directly in front of the machines, which has a sign clearly saying “Airline Staff” sooo I guess just ignore that 🙂 .
Since we had Global Entry, we just had to pass that, our Passport, and Ticket to the agent. They asked us to confirm how many bags each of us packed (the check in agent apparently swapped my Mom and my bag tags so heads up in case that happens to you). The customs agent had pictures of our bags on the screen, which was cool and helpful to clarify this. Then after that quick interaction, we were at the gate.
THE JOURNEY PART 2
Flights Details
- When: March 2022
- Where: Abu Dhabi to NYC
- Flight: EY 101
- Flight Time: 14h 5mins
- Seat: 8K (Business Class)
- Distance: 6,844 miles
- Points Used: 125,000 points (Flight 2/2)
Boarding
We arrived at the boarding gate to find it full. We waited a bit and the boarding time listed on our ticket passed without an announcement. Then people started boarding through the Business Class line without an announcement…Weird 🙂 . We joined the line and were directed to the plane.
The Flight
Once we boarded the plane, attendants showed us to our seats and asked if we wanted a welcome drink. We said yes and had a toast to this last fancy flight before we got home. The plane was a little late to take off, but the captain kept us updated and it didn’t change our arrival time so it wasn’t a big deal.
A flight attendant then came by to ask us what we wanted for our dinner and breakfast meal. We were also asked if we’d like a champagne refill. Then the purser came by to introduce themselves and told us to not hesitate to ask for anything we need – that was a nice touch 🙂 . And before I knew it, we were in the air!
I started out watching Abu Dhabi’s gorgeous blue water out the window, and then switched to reading until the attendants came around with our dinner. In an improvement on the last flight’s already delicious food, this meal’s bread was wonderfully warm 🙂 . The food was also absolutely delicious.
After dinner was cleaned up, I used the between seat chat to talk to my Mom, learned I can control my window tint with an easy button, and picked a film to fall asleep to. And fall asleep I did 🙂 . I awakened 8 hours later and we were about 3 hours from landing – MAGIC! At this time the attendants came around with breakfast and it was once again surprisingly yummy. My only critique was that the breakfast wrap had a fair bit of ketchup in it, which I didn’t love as a personal preference.
After that, the sun was rising so I played with my window tints and loved that while the tints make the window darker they don’t close the window shade so you can still see the landscape outside. It was beautiful:
I watched another movie and by the time I was done, we had landed! The purser came around again to ask how I enjoyed the flight and I gave it good reviews. I grabbed my backpack and we were off! No customs or lines to endure – we just walked out of JFK and grabbed a ride share to our next destination.
THE REVIEW
So that’s what happened, but now let’s get into the actual review portion and what I thought of the experience 🙂 .
Seat
Unfortunately, my dislike of the seat from the last flight did not change, but I had more experience with it so I made it work. After a lot of trial and error, I decided to stay in a semi-reclined position the whole flight and tempered the weird lip that’s on either side of the seat legs with the lovely fluffy blanket.
I would say that this seat is about as comfortable as an international economy one though it has more room. Unlike international business class seats that I’ve experienced in the past (like Singapore Air), this seat doesn’t turn into a bed – it lies flat, but there is no bedding, cushion or extra pillows to actually make this a ‘lie flat’ experience. The blanket was the best I’ve had in the sky, but it couldn’t make up for the rest of the seat.
Overall, this seat was the most disappointing part of this experience and obviously, since I was sitting for 21 hours, it’s sadly a dealbreaker. I won’t be flying this configuration again if I can help it.
Customer Service
As I mentioned, I was not impressed with the level of customer service before this flight simply because they didn’t relay the incredibly important information that a negative PCR test was required to board. However, once we were in person, the customer service was spectacular.
From the lounge to the flight and beyond, I felt well taken care of overall. We were always asked for feedback on our meals and if they could make our lives a little easier. There were a few absolutely amazing flight attendants, and one that seemed like they would rather be anywhere else and like I get it – I hate work too 🙂 , but I didn’t show it in the office.
Anyway, besides that one dud, the customer service on the flight and in the lounge were top notch. It wasn’t the completely sensational experience I had heard Etihad is known for, but it was very good.
Food
The food on this flight was delicious and with actual warm bread to boot 🙂 . I give it a 10/10. And in the vein of going above and beyond, the champagne and wine were yummy as well.
In-Flight Entertainment
Once again with the small dealbreakers: the headphones not being comfortable, kind of messed up the in-flight entertainment experience. In my previous international business class experience, we were given Bose noise cancelling headphones, which are very comfortable.
In comparison, these headphones were not squishy enough to be comfortable on the ears even for a few minutes. They felt cheap and hard. Something else that happened on this flight was that the TVs didn’t display pictures of movies or albums – just the name of it.
This was a stark change from the last flight we were on so I knew it was an error. I checked and it seems like all the seats had this issue. While a small thing, it did make scrolling through films to watch more tedious.
Another thing I didn’t love about this entertainment system is that it constantly had news headlines scrolling in the corner of the screen. I like to be aware of what’s going on in the world, but reading increasingly more horrific headlines when I’m trying to immerse myself in a film, is not my favorite thing 🙂 .
One other nitpick is that when you pause a movie, you can’t get back to it easily. This was a feature on the Singapore Air entertainment system so I know it’s possible. If I switched to the between seat chat to respond to my Mom, I would have to go find my movie all over again. This led to me just standing up to talk to her in person.
So those are all of my little annoyances with the entertainment system 🙂 . It had enough movies to keep me entertained for this flight and I did enjoy the between seat chat feature, but the uncomfortable headphone and little issues made it a less than ideal experience.
CONCLUSION
Overall, my 21 hour Etihad Business Class experience was better than economy or any US international business class I’ve been on. However, this airline was so raved about in the travel community that I was a little disappointed with my experience because it did not reach those expectations. Though it’s possible my expectations were too high 🙂 .
Anyway, I’m very happy I got to fly across the world with more leg room, but I don’t think I’ll be flying Etihad again if I have a choice. If I had bought this ticket it would have been about $4,000 and I would not have considered that money well spent. Similarly, this flight cost more points than my superior Singapore Air experience so overall I wouldn’t say it’s the best use of cash or points.
There are too many other luxury airline products to try and ones I know I love (such as Singapore Business Class, Emirates First Class and Cathay First Class). The nail in the coffin really is that this trip cost more points than my superior experience with Singapore Air…So yeah, with respect, I’ll pass 🙂 .
Have you had a flight experience that didn’t meet your expectations?
Great to live vicariously through these adventures, though I have 230000 miles burning a hole in my FF account…
Dublin also does the customs in the airport before you go through. All in all, much better than going when exhausted, but they should give a better heads up as it is time-consuming.
Haha I’m happy to hear that and woohoo that’s a nice chunk of points. Any ideas where you want to go? Also is there an expiration date? One of the reasons we used these points is because they were going to expire (we originally got them for 2020 travel).
Good to know about Dublin! Our experience took 30 minutes from leaving the lounge to being in the plane boarding area and our lounge attendant gave us a heads up about that. Fair point though – I’ll make a note of that for myself in case I have another opportunity to go through customs early.
OHHHH and most iportant for you and your partner. I was flying in to Dublin with a male friend, not a husband. However, they apparently assume you are married unless told otherwise. So initially, we were asked all the wierd questions together in the very weird interview you go through. They then wanted a copy of the marriage certificate, which of course we didn’t have. So… we had to be questioned again separately. I’ve no idea if they still do this, as I went in 2017, but if so, and they try to question you guys together make sure to save yourself a headache and make it clear you aren’t married. We were never really sure how all of that came about, but someone at the airport explained that in the process of manually printing out our boarding passes (can’t remember why that was necessary) the original marital assumption had been made, and we were placed on one pass together. Technically, they said, that wasn’t legal in the first place. As I write this I keep thinking “of course this process has been changed by now…..”
Good to know! Thank you. My partner and I always go through all this stuff separately so it won’t be an issue, but that’s a great heads up for others.
Your two Etihad trip reports have been great. Maybe you can be a contract writer for The Points Guy (ha ha)!
Believe it or not, I actually hate the USA customs pre-clearance. With pre-clearance, it usually means we have to get to the airport earlier to deal with all of that extra stuff. Even with Global Entry at a foreign location, I find it usually takes longer than when arriving in the US. When we flew out of Aruba, we had to go through security twice — once for all passengers, and then a second time for US passengers after going through the pre-clearance process. And one time we connected from Europe through Toronto coming back home and it was a cluster. (Most Canada cities have US pre-clearance). The US preclearance hall was super crowded; someone was on a bullhorn directing passengers around. Global Entry made it easier, but we would have spent less time doing customs once we arrived in the US. Now granted, we are often able to fly directly into our hometown airport while on international flights, so we don’t mind dealing with customs because we know we have no additional flights to take after entering the US. Ok, US preclearnace rant over!
Do you still have a decent amount of miles for more luxurious air travel or did this trip use up most of them?
Yay I’m so glad you’ve liked them!! And haha I would love that (if it doesn’t feel like a job 😉 ). I’ve been reading TPG for over a decade. Great site.
And interesting! I guess I’ve only gone through customs in NYC or SF/LA and it’s always a nightmare. Like so much of a nightmare that I have in fact missed my connecting flights it took so long. Good to know it can be a hassle though!
Indeed I do 🙂 . We’re starting to re-plan our Australia/New Zealand trip now with them now!
So fun to enjoy these fancy flights through your blog! I’m grounded for a bit while I wait for my residency card, but we have a trip to Dublin in September to look forward to (though merely in economy plus hehe!)
I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂 . I hope your residency card comes soon and have a great time in Dublin!
I wonder if the apartments would have been a much better experience? It seems like those are the well-reviewed ones.
I enjoyed Cathay Pacific myself and British Airways was good too.
Maybe 🙂 . I hadn’t read negative reviews of this Biz Class seat so I was surprised, but I do remember the reviews I read of the Apartments mentioned the bed is uncomfortable, which sounds like it’s the same product.
And that’s cool! I’ve never been on British Air I don’t think.