Thanksgiving 2023 EuroTrip: Part 6 (Etihad narrow body business to Cairo)

At this point, I realize that I’ve really been powering through all these flight reports, but it’s March and I’m still working through my last 2023 flights. Next year, I think I will just do my “plans for 2025” posts at the beginning of the year even if I haven’t finished the 2024 flights. Or I could just post more than once per week…

After the overnight flight from London to Abu Dhabi, we were only one flight away from finishing our marathon travel day. Both Scott and I were beat, but we were almost there.

Our flight arrived into Abu Dhabi’s new Terminal, which had just opened a couple days prior. We first had to clear connections security, which was basically instant.

We then were let out into the massive terminal space.

It was truly massive.

The signed route from connections security to the Etihad lounges is odd and indirect, but we found it without too much trouble. I’ve read that the best way is actually to use a cut through somewhere in the terminal, but I wasn’t aware of it at the time.

The way this lounge works is that it is a combined Business and First lounge, like in London. However, there is actually a separate First Class Lounge entrance and First Class Lounge area within the massive lounge. The showers and such are in the Business Class area, not the First Class area, so that’s where we’ll start. I will note that the standard access procedure to this lounge is to enter at the First Class entrance and then they will call the First Class area on the sixth floor to warn them that you’re coming.

Inside the lounge were a couple gates that allowed you to board the plane directly, which is fun. From the looks of it, these were only for A380s; our narrow-body A321 was definitely not leaving from one of these gates.

This section of the lounge was remarkably long and narrow. In general, the lounge is very long, but usually not quite this narrow.

This was my first time in the Middle East. What I learned very quickly is that their idea of luxury is having someone else do things for you. So, in this particularly empty part of the lounge, doors were opened for me, there was bathroom who kept following me around, cleaning up after me and replacing towels. And then ran after me to open the door on my way out. I was not a fan.

After Scott finished his shower, we made our way to the First Class area upstairs. I learned a second part of Middle Eastern culture pretty promptly: never even come close to admitted you’re wrong to a customer. Since we had not proceeded directly to the First Class area, when we did finally proceed there, the woman attempted to deny us entry because we were departing on a Business Class flight. That was incorrect because we had arrived on a First Class flight and there was no First Class on the connecting flight. She called the First Class entrance desk, who told her that we did, in fact, have access. Instead of being polite and welcoming, we were just told “Oh, it’s fine because they let you in downstairs”. As if she was still right and was just doing us a favor, which is ridiculous.

Anyway, when we entered the first class area, it was actually very nicely appointed with deep colors. And a lot of gold.

Scott and I found two seats and rested for a bit. Unfortunately, I wasn’t hungry and didn’t try any of the food. Though honestly the vibe I got was that I should just fill up a plate and then eat none of it to feel “luxurious”.

Scott’s main complaint with the First Class section was that there was no bar. So he left to go to the main lounge and visit the bar, which was clear on the other side of the lounge.

So we walked

and walked

and walked

and walked

and finally made it there.

then walked a little farther.

Scott was far more into the bar than I was, haha, so I headed to the plane a bit earlier than he did. And what a nice plane it was!

And what a nice plane it was!

Etihad’s A321s have their business class set up with 2 rows in a 2-2 configuration. The seats are recliners, like you’d find in Domestic First Class in the US but have much more space and a deeper recline. My understanding is that this is what retro (international) business class seats used to be like in the 80s.

The seats do have power plugs, though. And tons of legroom.

The blanket at the seat was also very plush!

Upon settling into my seat, I checked out the menu. But there wasn’t a good way to take a picture on the plane, so I took these pictures when I got home:

What immediately struck me on the menu was how similar the business class offerings on this regional route were to the First Class offerings from London. I guess there’s only so much you can do with airplane food, aside from just adding more courses.

The TV was so small:

Meal orders were taken before take-off. I reserved the chicken, but I wasn’t hungry since I was still recovering from the previous flight, but Scott did partake in the meal. It was remarkably hard to decline the service offerings. Every time took two tries to decline whatever they offered me, and half the time, it seemed like they just wouldn’t take no for an answer. Which was odd when it wasn’t even like they were trying to sell me something. I guess that’s just how customer service works in the area.

Scott ordered the sea bass:

I did get some nice desert views when I wasn’t sleeping though:

In summary, this business class flight was pretty lackluster given the context. It’s perfectly reasonable for what one would expect for a short-haul business class flight, but, at least in theory, Etihad competes with Emirates on this route. Emirates flies an A380 complete with lie-flat business class and first class seats. The lounge in Abu Dhabi was fine, minus the annoying staff interactions (4/5). The seat on this plane was fine. It beats the equivalent seat you’d expect on a non-premium route in the US or Europe, but it was a bit weak given the area (3/5). I didn’t partake in the food, but Scott thought it was great (minus the pinot noir in the champagne) (4/5). It was definitely note-worthy that the difference between business class and first class food is, for the most part, just more courses, haha. The service on the flight was decent, but it really annoyed me how many times I had to say no to the food offering (3/5). Finally, the TV and movie selection was unremarkable. The TVs popped out in a very retro fashion, which made it hard to multitask from one’s seat. The flight also didn’t have WiFi (3/5). Overall, the flight gets a 17/25, which really speaks to how this flight was just a short regional connection and nothing more.

This flight was booked as part of the Aeroplan redemption to Cairo. The ticket was complicated enough (and Scott booked it) that I can’t really speak to how many miles this part cost, but I can confirm that I got no points or status credits on any airline from the booking.