Review of Etihad Airways flight London → Abu Dhabi in Business

We live in Iceland and we went to Australia for the end of the year holidays to see relatives who live there – we haven’t been there for five years. And as Australia is quite far from Iceland – the distance between Keflavík and Melbourne would be 16,960 kms if there was a direct flight – I went to a few places in Asia before and after Australia. I booked the following flights:

Keflavík to London, Icelandair, business class, B737
London to Abu Dhabi, Etihad, business class, A380
Abu Dhabi to Jakarta, Etihad by Wamos, business class, A330
Yogyakarta to Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia, economy, A320
Kuala Lumpur to Manila, Philippine Airlines, business class, A321
Manilla to Sydney, Philippine Airlines, business class, A330
Canberra to Melbourne, Qantas, economy, B717
Melbourne to Hobart, Virgin Australia, economy, B737
Hobart to Melbourne, Jetstar, economy, A320
Melbourne to Manilla, Philippine Airlines, business class, A330
Manilla to Kuala Lumpur, Philippine Airlines, business class, A320
Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, Malaysia Airlines, business class, B737,
Bangkok to Hongkong, Emirates, first class, A380
Hongkong to Manila, Air Asia Philippines, economy, A320
Manila to Panglao, Cebu Pacific, economy, A321
Cebu to Singapore, Singapore Airlines, business class, A350
Singapore to London, Singapore Airlines, business class, A380
London to Keflavík, British Airways, business class, A320

Etihad uses Terminal 4 at London Heathrow. I had arrived from Iceland the day before to Terminal 2, took the underground to Terminal 4 (one station, free of charge) and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Heathrow T4. The hotel is within walking distance from the terminal through a covered walkway. There are two hotels in the same building (Holiday Inn Express and Crowne Plaza). My room was modern, in very good condition and perfectly comfortable.

I usually arrive to airports last minute but as I had time and I wanted to spend as much time as possible at the lounge. I arrived at 10.25, three and a half hours before departure.

The check-in area at Terminal 4.

Some of the departures of the day. There are many long-haul airlines at Heathrow Terminal 4 such as Malaysia Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Kenya Airways, Saudia, Qatar Airways and Kuwait Airways.

There are separate check-in desks for business class passengers.

The check-in agent was friendly and helpful. I got my boarding passes in a few minutes. I had tried to check-in on-line but I didn’t succeed: I was asked to put my visa number although Indonesia is a visa on arrival destination for almost all European passport holders.

Fast track security was available.

Etihad has its own lounge at Heathrow. The same lounge is used for business and first class passengers.

The staff member working at the front desk was very friendly.

The lounge is big enough and is nicely furnished. 

Less than a minute after I had sat down a staff member came to me and asked what I wanted to drink. I ordered some champagne.

Some of the friendliest ever lounge staff so far! They were all in a very good mood.

Both buffet and à la carte meals are available. Buffet lunch looked like this:

The food was of better quality than at a typical buffet lunch. Some of the meals that were available: Roasted cauliflower and spinach dhal; Sautéed green beans, broccoli and brussel sprouts; Sage & honey root vegetables; Chicken, leek and tarragon pie; Lamb biryani.

A la carte dining is also available. It’s usually offered in first class lounges, not in business class lounges. This is the dining area, both for the buffet and the à la carte service:

Here’s the à la carte menu:

Champagne and wine:

More drinks:

The waitress recommended the fish cake. It was excellent.

I had a quick look at the kids’ room before leaving the lounge.

Boarding was from gates 10a and 10b which are the closest gates to the lounge. Gate 10a is for The Residence, First Class, Business Class and other priority boarding passengers. Gate 10b is for economy class passengers.

Boarding was supposed to start at 12.55 but was delayed. The gate crew kept us informed regularly. Boarding eventually started at 13.35.

The plane for this flight was an A380-800, registration number A6-APH. It was built in 2016. It has a three class configuration with 10 seats in first class (including The Residence), 70 seats in business class and 417 seats in economy class.

The business cabin has a configuration of 1-2-1 seats.

Every other row of seats looks backwards.

The middle seats are perfect for two people travelling together. The forward facing middle seats are closer to each other and further from the aisles; the rear facing seats are further from each other and closer to the aisles.

Rear facing middle seats.

Forward facing middle seats.

The forward facing window seats are better as they're closer to the windows as opposed to the rear facing seats that are closer to the aisle.

A rear facing window seat.

A forward facing window seat.

The seats are very well designed. I had a forward facing window seat. It has direct aisle access, two windows, more than enough legroom, a desk on the side with a touch screen and a smartphone sized smaller screen, charging ports, two narrow storage areas under the windows and another below the footrest.

A pillow and a mattress were waiting on the seat. A blanket was already on the footrest.

A nice amenity kit was on the desk.

A cabin crew member arrived within seconds after I had sat down and offered me a welcome drink of water, orange juice and champagne. I had some champagne.

The amenity kit and the welcome drink.

Seat position settings.

Boarding was completed by 13.55, only 20 minutes after it had started.

A very hot towel was offered.

There are three screens. This is the main screen:

There are two small screens on the desk.

The one on the right, which is the size of a smartphone, is very useful to have a look at the flight show while you watch a movie.

The one on the left can be used to set your seat, your lights or the window blinds.

The two windows can have different settings.

There are two storage areas below the windows. They’re very narrow so not many things can be put here. 

Etihad is one of the few airlines that still offers a printed onboard magazine.

An expected flight time of six hours and 10 minutes was announced.

A passenger was missing which delayed our departure.

Jennifer, one of the cabin crew, introduced herself and took drink orders for the appetiser before take-off.

Push-back was at 14.20 for a scheduled departure time of 13.55.

A British Airways and an El Al plane at holding positions.

Ready for take-off.

The screen has tail/forward/down camera views but not much could be seen because of the rainy weather at Heathrow Airport.

We took off at 14.41 from runway 27R.

Flight map and flight information in the first minutes of the flight.

Drink and warm nuts served 20 minutes after take-off. The French Sauvignon Blanc was excellent.

The in-flight entertainment has an impressive choice of 300+ movies and 200+ TV shows.

The headphones are OK but not top quality.

Let’s have a look at the menus. Etihad offers dine anytime in business and first classes. There are no set meal times: you order whenever you want, just like in a restaurant.

Here are the details of the menu:

The drink menu.

Roasted tomato soup, basil pest; seasonal salad; duo bread.

Chicken biryani, tender chicken cooked with basmati rice and spices.

Seasonal fresh fruit.

All parts of the meal were good. This was not the best ever meal of my life but everything was tasty.

We were over Bulgaria around this time.

I asked for some mint tea which was served with mint leaves and a piece of chocolate.

There’s bar in front of the business class cabin. This is a nice and spacious area. A few passengers came here from time to time but none of them stayed for longer than a few minutes. 

BBC News was live on the very large TV screen in the bar.

I turned my seat into a full flat bed after the meal. It’s not very wide but long enough and very comfortable, especially with the mattress, blanket and pillow. I rested for some time; I could not take a good photo as most lights in the cabin were turned off.

Later I watched a movie.

We were only a short distance from Abu Dhabi by the time I finished it.

I like this view of the flight show.

Abu Dhabi here we come.

The last few minutes of the flight:

We landed at Abu Dhabi Airport at 00.48 and were at the gate at 00.53 for a scheduled arrival time of 00.55.

The new Abu Dhabi terminal: