For my epic 120-hour round-the-world jaunt, I saved the biggest redemption for nearly the last. I originally booked the re-do in China Airlines Business Class to Frankfurt, followed by an Economy redemption to Dallas. But not long after booking, Etihad briefly opened the floodgates on award space in First Class. No, I couldn’t get a redemption on the A380 to work out. But I did snag an award on Etihad B787-9 First Class through Washington. The verdict: somewhat underwhelming, though I can’t decide how much was me being wiped out vs. the product just under-delivering.
Note: this is part of my trip report series covering my around-the-world trip to Taiwan in January, 2024. Click here for the trip report index and introductory post.
Etihad Airways (EY) Flight 131
- Monday, January 29, 2024
- Depart: Abu Dhabi – Zayed International Airport (AUH), Terminal 3, Gate F60, 11:04, 19m late
- Arrive: Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), 16:44, 4m late
- Duration: 14 hours 40 minutes
- Seat: 1A
- Equipment: Boeing 787-9
Check-In and Boarding
I booked this flight on a separate ticket, so I had to clear immigration in Abu Dhabi and re-check in. Fortunately, I had a nearly 7-hour layover, so there was really no rush. Despite the looooong walk to immigration, I made it through to the counter in only about 45 minutes. Originally, I thought I might be too early to check-in, since the counters for Washington were closed. An agent at the Business Class check-in said no problem, though, and took care of me in a couple minutes. (It wasn’t until then that it hit me that I had to switch from Dulles to Reagan for my last two legs – oops.)
For now, flights to Washington and New York that utilize the CBP pre-clearance facility at AUH use a convoluted process. You check in at the new Terminal A, but then go to “Gate F” to take a bus to Terminal 3. If you arrive early enough, you can still use the lounges in the new terminal first. The bus then operates from 2 1/2 hours to 75 minutes prior to scheduled departure. As I got off the bus, I snapped this photo of the 787-9 waiting to take us to Washington.
Though Terminal 3 used to house Etihad’s operation beginning in 2009, it now handles only a handful of pre-clearance flights. It’s pretty shocking frankly to see a 15-year old facility almost completely disused.
Currently, Abu Dhabi intends to open a new pre-clearance facility in Terminal A in September of this year. With that, this convoluted process should go the way of the do do.
Anyway, the Global Entry experience was painless. I checked out the Pre-Clearance Business Class lounge for a bit (beware, it’s pretty horrible), then headed to the gate when the boarding announcement was made. We ended up boarding about 10 minutes late, but soon enough, made it on board. I headed to the pointy end this time, and a friendly FA brought me to seat 1A.
One thing to note – aside from the First Class Lounge if you arrive early enough, Etihad offers no meaningful ground experience. It’s definitely more like Singapore’s poor experience in Frankfurt than the over-the-top ones with Air France or Lufthansa in their home airports.
Etihad B787-9 First Class – Seating and Interior
For the most part, Etihad does get the basics of the First Class product right. On the 787, First consists of 8 Collins Aerospace “Oasis” seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The seats measure 26″ wide, and fold flat into an 80.5″ bed. Like other leading First Class products, these are fully-enclosed suites with a door. You’ll notice the lack of overhead bins in the cabin. Instead, passengers may store larger carry-ons in lockers at the front of the cabin.
Etihad’s seats alternate between forward and rear facing, though window and center seats have different patterns. Window seats face the rear in Row 1 and forward in Row 2, whereas the opposite is true of the center seats. I selected seat 1A, a rear-facing window seat. Some reviews I’ve read prefer Row 2, as it’s farther away from the galley. However, I didn’t notice much in the way of noise even in the first row. If I have a criticism, it’s that the seats are starting to show their age. The upholstery in particular looks well-worn these days.
The center seats, meanwhile, offer a preferable setup for people traveling together. The partition between seats folds down, allowing you to converse with your neighbor fairly easily. Or, if traveling solo, you can keep the partition up, making it like any other private suite.
All seats include an oversized ottoman, which you can use as a “buddy” seat at dinner.
Underneath each ottoman is a storage box large enough to hold a laptop bag, and then some.
Meanwhile, I found storage elsewhere at the seat surprisingly limited. Along the window, there’s a mini-bar stocked with soft drinks, along with a shallow storage area. You can stick a small phone or passport in there, but that’s about it.
Along the aisle-side armrest is a small storage area with the USB ports, and a larger one that also stores the headphones.
Finally, at the far end is the tray table, with the 110v plug next to it.
If you need extra lighting, there’s an extra one along the sidewall at the back of the suite. Along with a rather uniquely placed air nozzle.
Overall, I did find the interior design luxurious without crossing the line to ostentatious. Yes, Emirates, I’m looking at you…
Seat controls, meanwhile, are simple and intuitive. I especially appreciated the “meal” setting, which moves the seat forward sufficiently to reach the tray table. (More extensive seat controls are on the IFE controller.)
Waiting at each seat was an “Acqua di Parma” amenity kit. Shortly after this flight, Etihad replaced these with a new Giorgio Armani kit, so I didn’t spend time looking through the contents. It contained a toothbrush and toothpaste, earplugs, eyeshades, socks, a shaving kit, a comb, lip balm, body lotion, and some cologne. For what it’s worth, the kit seemed high quality, and seemed easily repurposed.
When you’re ready for bed, the FAs will set everything up for you. With this flight lightly filled, she offered to make the bed in the center seat across from me instead. This is a nice setup, with three pillows, a comfortable mattress pad, and a substantial blanket.
With the door closed, the suite offers excellent privacy. Though not quite as high as the walls in Singapore or Emirates First Class, you still feel like you’re in your own private space.
This comfy setup is highly conducive to a nice sleep. I ended up nodding off for a good 6 hours. At which point, we still had a good 6 hours to go. These ultra-long haul fights sure are long…
In seat mode, meanwhile, I also found it a good product, with good padding and a good variety of adjustments available to get comfortable. But I found it decidedly difficult to get…well, comfortable. Having started this journey a good 28 hours prior, my lower back and hip kept getting sore. In fairness, I don’t think it was the seat in this case.
Etihad B787-9 First Class – In-Flight Entertainment
First class suites on the 787 feature a 24-inch screen. In theory, it’s a touchscreen, but good luck actually reaching it, unless sitting on the ottoman.
The IFE controller, meanwhile, is in the aisle-side armrest. Like many newer designs, you can set the controller and screen to different programs.
As for the entertainment selection itself, it’s truly massive. While that’s great in terms of variety of content, the organization on the home page is haphazard. It randomly jumps from categories to series or specific programs, making it difficult to search.
The movie, TV, and audio selection is huge, with hundreds of options across various genres. There’s a particularly large selection of Bollywood and Indian regional language programs, if that’s your thing.
There is also a limited selection of news and sports available on live TV.
If you’d rather play some video games, there’s an extensive selection of that, also. That includes the old golf simulator I enjoyed playing on AA’s IFE system before they ripped out the seatback screens.
And of course, there’s a moving map to enjoy. This is one of the most customizable map features I’ve seen. And those ultra-long haul flights to Abu Dhabi give you plenty of time to try it out.
Emirates does provide noise-cancelling headphones in First Class, which I found pretty decent.
For your own devices, First Class seats include two USB-A ports, and one 110v power port. The USB ports are conveniently located in the window-side armrest next to the seat itself. This makes it easy to plug in your phone and keep it within close reach.
It’s a different story with the 110v plug, which is at the far end of the seat by the ottoman. Fortunately, my laptop cord measures long enough to plug in and still reach the seat. But if you have a short cord, you may need to use the ottoman to work.
If you need to work, Etihad offers reasonably priced WiFi on the 787. All Etihad Guest members receiving a messaging pass for free, or non-members pay $4.99. A full flight data pass, meanwhile, costs $24.99, a good deal for a 14+ hour flight.
First Class passengers, though, receive a coupon for free WiFi for the entire flight.
I found the WiFi itself OK. It worked well the majority of the time, providing decent speeds. But it also randomly came to a dead stop at times. Usually it cleared itself within 5-10 minutes, but still, I found that annoying.
Etihad B787-9 First Class – Food, Beverage, & Service
Service got off to a good start, with dates, a pre-departure beverage, and hot towel served on a proper tray. The FA did also offer Arabic coffee, but I had two coffees already earlier, so I passed. For the pre-departure beverage, I ordered a glass of rosé. Etihad offers Billecart-Salmon Vintage 2016 and Duval-Leroy Prestige Premier Cru in First Class. Both are high grade offerings, certainly worthy of First Class.
A few minutes later, the FAs distributed menus for the flight. The drink menu is quite extensive, with some nice selections but also some puzzling ones. The wine list provides a good example. Some selections, like the chardonnay and the Chilean white, are quite interesting. Others, though, rate as pretty average among wine connoisseurs. Meanwhile, the mocktails are a nice touch, but the spirits seem decidedly light for First Class. (Then again, not much matches the Hibiki in ANA First…)
Meal service on this flight consisted of two services, lunch after take-off and breakfast before landing. However, dining service in First is a true dine-on-demand concept, so you can order what you want, when you want it. For lunch, you can choose from the standard lunch menu, with a rotating selection of dishes. Or you can order off the “Lounge and Grill” menu, where you can mix-and-match a protein, side, and sauce. There’s also a few fixed options like steak frites. I found the concept similar to what you find in the main dining room of a cruise ship, with rotating options alongside an “everyday dining” menu with items like strip steak and shrimp cocktail.
Just 15 minutes after takeoff, the FAs began meal service with drinks and light snacks. I enjoy craft gin, so I ordered a gin and tonic. Accompanying the drinks were mixed nuts and olives.
At that time, the FAs also first offered lunch. Not feeling very hungry, I asked for just the appetizer, and deferred lunch until later. I kept it simple and ordered the mezze platter. This included a selection from the bread basket.
The mezze was fine, but I found the platter on Emirates more substantial and better presented. The beet root hummus and babaganoush were quite good, though I wished for more pita bread. Something wasn’t quite right with the regular bread, which smelled and tasted burned. The bread itself wasn’t burned, but I suspect something else overcooked in the oven, and left the smell on everything else.
At that point, I felt completely exhausted, so I took a good long nap. When I woke up, it took the FA all of a few seconds to come by and check on me. I asked for a cup of black tea with milk to wake back up. It came with a couple of squares of Godiva chocolate.
I still wasn’t hungry, so I got a little work done and ordered lunch a few hours later. For this meal, I ordered the laham mashwi. I’m usually not a fan of lamb, but I wanted to try a traditional local dish. This was really good, somewhat similar in flavor and texture to Moroccan couscous with chicken. I also tried a glass of the Chateau de Chantegrive with the chicken. This is an interesting selection. It’s a fairly low-cost white Bordeaux, usually retailing for $20-25 a bottle. I found it on the tart side, something I might drink on a Friday evening before turning in. But I don’t know that I loved it as part of the meal.
Overall, I found the food service a little below expectations. The main course was delicious, but the mezze platter could have been more substantial, and the drink selection felt a little chintzy in spots. But I think more than that, by this point in the trip, I was honestly reaching the end of my rope. Here I was on the fanciest leg of the trip – and I really didn’t feel like indulging in everything at my disposal.
Service, though, left nothing to complain about. Both of the First Class FAs were kind, attentive, and proactive. Yes, a lightly filled cabin (I only saw two other F passengers) helped, but it still takes effort. As mentioned, I was nearly instantly attended to after waking up, but at the same time, service wasn’t awkwardly over-the-top. I just largely wanted to relax, which the FAs recognized, and maintained an attentive yet hands-off approach.
Flightseeing
The advantage to a 14-hour plus daytime flight? There’s plenty of flightseeing to enjoy. At Abu Dhabi, the show begins on the airfield itself. There’s an ATC tower that looks like a sail.
And of course, the weather geek in me couldn’t resist a photo of the terminal doppler radar and met office.
As we taxied along, we passed an Etihad 777 in the distance.
Then, as we approached the runway, we passed the enormous Qantas A380.
As we took off, we enjoyed a full view of the new Midfield Terminal.
Soon after, we enjoyed a view of Ferrari World and Yas Marina. I’ll have to check out Ferrari World if I spend some time in Abu Dhabi.
There’s some marshy land northwest of the airport, not unlike the marshes at the south end of San Francisco Bay.
Just as we started heading northwest over the Persian Gulf, we passed Saadiyat Island, looking back towards the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Mall.
And then finally, a nice view of the Abu Dhabi skyline before heading out over the water.
I hoped to get some photos of Qatar and Saudi Arabia as we passed through the Gulf. Unfortunately, we flew into some high clouds, which blocked the view. The clouds did eventually clear over Iraq, with a nice view of the expansive desert below.
After lunch, we started passing over eastern Québec, along the St. Lawrence River at its widest point. I was a bit surprised to not see more snow on the ground in late January. Our recent road trip through eastern Canada took us through this area; it’s some truly beautiful country.
And of course, I had to get a photo of the Dreamliner’s cool curved wing in the late afternoon light.
As we approached Dulles, we passed the Potomac River along the Maryland – Virginia border with the light fading.
With winds out of the north, we had to overfly the airfield and then turn around for final approach. Before the final turn, we passed Tysons Corner just to the east.
Finally, after turning around, we had a real nice shot of the Blue Ridge to the west.
Of course, this being Dulles, we had a close-up of plenty of United jets.
We also passed an Air France 77W just before reaching our gate.
Final Thoughts
I left this flight with some mixed feelings about the experience. On the one hand, service was top-notch, as you’d expect. The seat and bed, while no longer industry leading, were quite comfortable. I did find the food and beverage a little below par; maybe I just expected too much based on the excesses of Etihad’s past. But overall, objectively this seemed like a solid experience.
For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, though, I felt somewhat let down. Again, maybe I just expected too much based on the airline’s past, something that largely no longer exists. Or maybe EVA’s Business Class just blew me away to such an extent that nothing else would compete on this trip. All that said, if you can get this as a saver award, it’s still a nice redemption.
