Nov 04, 2009 10:39 PM
8240 Views
(Updated May 28, 2010 07:29 PM)
It is not very often that people travel to the US through the UAE, save Dubai(Emirates). Three of us in our family tried out Etihad this time and were pleasantly surprised.
Mumbai check in was super quick and professional.
We flew EY205 ex Mumbai 0450 hrs, arrived Abu Dhabi 0625 hrs, and then took the onward connection EY101 1005 hrs to New York.The A340-500/600 that flies to New York is arguablty the finest passenger liner today - quiet, comfortable, stylish.
Etihad A340s have the forward and the bottom cameras, maps, and a whole lot of entertainment that is a good time pass.
A small convenience kit, three rounds of great cuisine and superb ambience in the aircraft make the 15 hr flight not too taxing.
Thier adherence to Safety aspects is the best I have seen in airlines.
The cons are there-too much time spent in serving food, late removal of food trays and too much adherence to some procedures puts one off at times.Some flight attendants are grumpy
The family membership programme for frequent fliers is one of its kind-a good differentiator.
Worth flying them !!!Truly class !!!!!
Update 26 May2010
Going by the good experience on Oct2009, I flew EY again Mumbai-Chicago and New York-Mumbai this month ; the good service, great planes, on time performance remain.The food service was much quicker.
But the check in staff at Mumbai were very fussy this time.A young lot, they seemed too tied down by procedures.
I had only one check in bag weighing 20 kg and a hand baggage weighing 10 kg but they JUST REFUSED to allow the 10kg handbag saying it is way beyond the 7 kg limit.When I tried reasoning out that my total baggage is way below their 23+23+7 kg limit(for travel from any Etihad Station to USA/Canada), they just wouldn't listen.
For the first time in my 9 years of international travel, I had to shuffle stuff from one bag to another and really felt insulted;most ridiculous attitude. And all this given the fact that I was going to become a Etihad Guest Silver member halfway through this trip.
This has been taken up with a very senior person in Etihad Abu Dhabi and has been viewed seriously;let's see how they behave next time.
I am not downgrading the rating as I still believe they are overall "Very Good".
