Etihad – DUB to AUH (EY42) [A320/A330] in Business Class – Review

Flight: Dublin to Abu Dhabi

Airline: Etihad

Flight Number: EY42

Plane: Boeing 787-9

Cabin: Business Class

Seat: 5C

This Flight

EY42 leaves Dublin at 08:45 and lands in Abu Dhabi at 19:55, seemingly the flight (at the moment) is operated between Sunday and Wednesday.

The flight was ticked by Srilankan Airlines, meaning I do get OneWorld Tier Points and Avios for the trip…….well in theory……..the flight was several months ago, and BA are still yet to credit it!

Having previously flown with Qatar Airlines, I was excited to see what Etihad’s offering was, and I wasn’t disappointed!

Checking In

The flight leaves from Dublin’s Terminal 1; I am still getting my ahead around Dublin’s Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 departures!

Checking in in Dublin was very easy indeed, I did my bag drop and headed to Dublin’s Fast Track security.

I do have to say that Dublin’s Fast Track is very slow, and by far slower than most other airports ‘normal’ security. However, ‘normal’ Security in Dublin is just as bad!

The Lounge

Once finally through Security, I went to the East Lounge, which I’ve reviewed separately.

I would say that this is the best lounge that Dublin has, unless you’re on the ‘US side’ – however breakfast in the lounge was somewhat poor!

The Plane

My plane for this flight was Etihad’s 787-9.

Etihad operate two versions of the 787-9, one with First Class and one without. This version was without.

Slightly strangely, I was in seat 5C – but this was next to a window and the first row – sort of like 1A. I’m not sure why the seats are numbered like this.

The plane offers a total of 28 Business Class seats (in 7 rows), and 271 Economy seats – Etihad don’t do Premium Economy.

The Seat

Seat 5C is a rear-facing window seat in what would perhaps normally be 1A’s position – its extremely comfortable and spacious.

I’ve reviewed the seat separately, but the headlines are: great amount of space, but real lack of privacy in my view.

One thing that did irritate me was the fact there was no AC nozzles above the seats – meaning I got hot, bothered and annoyed!

Food and Drink

Drinks

Before takeoff champagne was offered, along with water.

Once we’d taken off, pre-lunch drinks were offered. I thought there was a good range of beers, wines and soft drinks.

I was happy to take a Tiger, which was served with nuts.

Food – Lunch

Etihad do things slightly differently in that they offer A La Carte lunch, and no secondary meal. If you want a secondary meal, that is ordered off the all-day menu.

Given the relatively short flight to Abu Dhabi, and the very good lunch – I wasn’t disappointed by this!

To start, options were;

• Arabic Mezze
• Cured Salmon
• Leak and Potato soup

I went for the leak and potato soup, which was excellent!

For mains, the options were;

• Braised Beef Cheeks
• Pan Seared Cod
• Chicken Machbous
• Halloumi, caugette and herb cake

I decided to go for the chicken, which I thought was good, but not excellent!

Desert options included;

• Sticky Toffee Pudding
• Chocolate Tart
• Fruite
• Ice Cream

I went for the Chocolate Tart, but didn’t fancy the mascarpone, so I was delighted with ice cream to accompany it!

Finally, I had some cheese to finish – and by this point I was very full!

Food – Snacks

After lunch I was very full, and towards the end of the flight I fancied a few cookies for a snack. Suffice to say that I was given a whole basket – and they were very good!

Amenities

Etihad provided an Amenities Kit by Acqua Di Parma. I know nothing about fashion – but it looked ver high end!

Inside the Amenities Kit was:

• Eye Mask
• Socks
• Hand Cream
• Tooth Brush and Toothpaste
• Some fragrance thing

I have to confess to being slightly disappointed by its contents – I had hoped there might be more in it!

Wifi

Wifi was available for this flight at a cost of $20. I bought it and found it to be pretty good.

Entertainment

The entertainment system has a large screen, with a remote control for it – if desired.

I was generally impressed by the entertainment options – which seemed to have the latest releases.

One feature that impressed me was the map showing the arrival gates in real time.

As always, I had to watch the moving map!

Cabin Crew

By a country mile, compared to BA, American, etc the Cabin Crew were outstanding.

Even pre-takeoff I was proactively offered top-ups on the champagne, etc. Regular checks, refills, etc were proactive and didn’t feel forced.

If I was to compare Etihad to Qatar, I’d said Qatar have the edge. For example, on my Qatar flight I was introduced to the cabin crew member who asked me if I wanted 6 different drinks – Etihad was more “Water or Champagne?”.

In general terms, the service was just a bit less personal to Qatar – but I am literally splitting hairs. The Cabin Crew were still excellent!

Another feature I liked about flying with Etihad is that I didn’t feel like things were over-announced. Airlines, especially BA, have a habit of making unnecessary frequent announcements at every possible point in the flight.

I was very happy about was that no masks were required during the flight!

Landing in Abu Dhabi

Slightly annoyingly we were landing to a bus terminal, and were bussed to the Terminal.

Although this was annoying, it wasn’t too bad as Etihad arranged a separate bus for those flying Business Class – so were soon on our way!

Once in the Terminal it was a re-check through Security, before going to the Al Dhabi Lounge before my next flight to Colombo.

Conclusion

This was an excellent flight, and the food really good!

Huge plusses for me are the seat, the food, the Wifi and the Cabin Crew.

The less good things were the lack of AC nozzles over the seats, the food quality of the lounge in Dublin – and getting off onto a bus was boring too!

Score

114 out of 126 – or 90%.