Tagging Miles

  • Saverocity
  • Home
  • About
  • Ask Tagging Miles
  • Support Us
  • Store
    • Reselling Tools
  • Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide to Fulfillment By Amazon
      • Start Here
      • Setting up an account
      • Analyzing and adding a product
      • Shipping 101
      • Shipping 201
      • Ungating Product Categories
      • Amazon Seller App
      • Amazon Seller App Part 2
    • Expert’s Guide to Fulfillment By Amazon
      • Dealing with Returns
  • Mile High Reselling Club

Review: Etihad Airways A380 Apartments Abu Dhabi to London

May 13, 2015 By Trevor 2 Comments





From the outset, I want to be clear: I was quite giddy about this flight. I got even more excited when I boarded. And the flight was great compared to most every other flight I’ve taken – but. There is always a but.

As my wife or my friend Saianel would say: I can be a diva sometimes. Perhaps it’s ironic that I was watching a Sir Elton John concert on In Flight Entertainment (IFE) as I wrote my notes (over breakfast, still on the A380).

Let me start from the beginning:

Boarding the flight was marvelous-and I don’t use that word lightly- it was amazing to board the plane, and be shown to the largest seat/suite/apartment in the sky that I’ve ever had.

In fact, I found myself standing through most of boarding, because it was so roomy. There was so much to explore, and, maybe even get a peak at the Residence.

First Apartment

First apartment seat

First apartment seat

Of course one of my first questions was if there was a Residence passenger-there wasn’t.  But it was kept closed the entire flight. That’s ok though- I totally get that they want to keep it fresh.

Boarding consisted of three or so glasses of Bollinger Champagne-certainly a favorite, much more so than Krug. Enrico, our onboard chef informed us that Etihad had just changed the champagne the day before. Now *that* is a change I like!

Pre-takeoff champagne

The amenity kit was in the powder/make up area, with the different things taken out and put into a variety of slots. It just so happened that I ended up in my wife’s seat, and she in mine. The three glasses of Bollinger meant it took a moment for me to realize the differences–they are kind’ve subtle after all. For the purists that like to save their amenity kits in the plastic wrap, this might’ve been a problem.

We were provided pajamas-I’ll note that they were different from the PJs I got even last month flying an A340.

I provided my order for the flight to Enrico, it consisted of a grass fed beef tenderloin after take off, and a breakfast taster before landing.

Once we were in the air, my beef tenderloin was served quickly, I will say it was one of the better I have had in the sky

Beef Tenderloin

Beef Tenderloin

After a few short minutes my wife and I decided we should check out the “lobby,” en route we chatted with the Cabin Manager and the Cabin Butler-Roberto. The Cabin Manager-his name escapes me-was only on his first or second flight. He was specifically on board to test some improvements for the day flight back to Abu Dhabi.

We chatted for a bit, then he excused himself, no sooner did Enrico join us, where we offered some suggested places to visit in Washington, DC, which ironically he would be in a few short weeks, and I ended up running into him and Roberto, at Aviation 15. He also offered some suggested places to visit in Italy-his native country.

A word about the Lobby: I’ve got to say, while the concept sounds cool, it really was wasted space. It just wasn’t clear what the point was. Yes there were some board games, like chess, but, I didn’t get the kind’ve feeling that I’ve gotten from some of the onboard bars, like Emirates’ or Korean’s A380.

Before long-since this was only a 7 hour flight- we excused ourselves to grab some shuteye. We were seated in 3K and 4K, which had the partition, which was stowed to let my wife and I see each other while we rested. It’s not a full double bed like Singapore Airlines but its still nice.

Beds made prior to takeoff.

Beds made prior to takeoff.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Turn down service

A word about the bed:
Normally I sleep better in the air than I do on the ground. This was different. Because the bed is sideways to motion, it feels different. We had a good bit of turbulence,  and I found myself waking up throughout the flight because of it. Normally, turbulence would just put me into a deeper sleep.

Time for a shower:
My wife snuck in her shower request before me, so I “opted” to take my shower about two hours before arrival. Shortly after I woke up from the turbulence,  it was time to take my shower.

The shower room–by my perception–is the smaller of the two lavatories in the cabin. It felt very tight. I know, I shouldn’t complain, I’m showering at 40,000 feet after all. But as a man of 6’2″, and about 200 pounds, it was close quarters. Add to that, the actual shower area was quite slippery. I stepped in having an idea it might be, thanks to Lucky’s post. That said, I had a hand on the safety bar for probably half the shower. It didn’t help that we had turbulence the entire time-but luckily I didn’t need to return to my seat.

20150302_230908

20150302_230904

Shower controls

Overall though, I have to say, I was not impressed with the shower. At first I thought that maybe the novelty was wearing off, but I sure enjoyed my two showers on the Emirates A380’s a few days later.

After my shower, I enjoyed a small breakfast taster.

20150302_233151

Other random thoughts:

The headphone connection is magnetic. While that is cool, it proved to be a bit of a nuisance, anytime I moved around I’d knock it out pretty easily.

The service, despite having 4 cabin staff for 9 people, was also a bit lackluster, I did use the flight attendant call button at least a few times.

Wrapping up:

Etihad definitely did amazing things with the Apartment. I really enjoyed the seat itself, but found some of the other aspects of the Etihad A380 to be confusing. Clearly, Emirates’ Shower spa and onboard bar work. I kind’ve look at Etihad’s shower/lav and the Lobby as if Etihad broke what didn’t need fixing.

That said, I’m currently scheduled to fly the Etihad A380 on a longer flight, from Sydney later this year, and despite my criticisms here, I am still quite looking forward to it.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • LinkedIn

Filed Under: #Avgeek, Awards, Travel Tagged With: A380, Etihad, First Apartments

Comments

  1. vinh says

    May 24, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    Nice trip report. I’m looking forward to my flight now.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Saverocity Observation Deck 2015 Award Nominees – Part 1 – asthejoeflies says:
    December 22, 2015 at 12:50 pm

    […] top of the Residence, the first class Apartments themselves are a pretty big deal (Trevor seemed to like them okay), and Etihad took a slight step ahead of Emirates in the escalating first class arms […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stay in touch!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Topics

  • #Avgeek
  • Airline Programs
  • Ask TaggingMiles
  • Awards
  • Cashback Portals
  • Credit Card Match-ups
  • Credit Cards
  • Destinations
  • Dollars and Sense
  • Editorial
  • Events
  • Frequent Flyer 101
  • Giving Credit to Credit
  • Hotels
  • Manufactured Spending
  • Mileage Run
  • Miles and Points
  • Podcasts
  • Portal Update
  • Random
  • Rental Cars
  • Reselling
  • Saturday
  • Savings & Loan
  • Tagging Miles
  • The Brass Ring
  • Travel
  • Travel Insurance
  • Travel Programs
  • Uncategorized
  • Weekly News Roundup
  • Where Credit is Due

Recent Comments

  • double btc.com on Get Ebates Cashback In-Store
  • john nicholas on Tagging Miles Portal Updates – 10 December 2020
  • daftarnova88.info on Why I’m not a fan of the Amazon Seller App enhancements
  • ion club on Why I’m not a fan of the Amazon Seller App enhancements
  • Rachel on Introducing Tagging Miles Portal Updates!
Note: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The owners of this website may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links and advertisements posted on this website. For more information, please see our Legal Notice.

Copyright © 2021 · Tagging Miles

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This website uses cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze traffic. Our ad partners may combine this information with other information you have provided them or that they've collected from your use of their services elsewhere. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.OkNoRead more