Might be great whn Abu Dhabi airport had been bulldozed and rebuilt! (Etihad Airways)

Member Name: John Ellerton

Product:	Etihad Airways
Date:	16/02/09 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New planes, good in-flight entertainment system

Disadvantages: Abu Dhabi airport T1, inconsistent flight crews, some safety concerns

LHR-BNE and SYD-LHR Feb 2009
Superficially Etihad is comparible with Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, etc. However the actual customer experience leaves a lot to be desired. I flew five sectors with them - stopping in Abu Dhabi and Singapore on the way out, and in Abu Dhabi on the way back. All five sectors had different crew, and there was no consistency in service offererd. Some of the crew were very attentive, but many were surly and uncaring. Some of the sectors had good food, some had undercooked poor food. On some sectors I was offered more drinks than I could sensibly consume; on others I got off the flight thirsty.
I agree with comments made by other reviewers here that the crews ignore the passenger call bells. What is more concerning is that the seatbelt lamps stayed illuminated during most of the duration of the flights for no reason, and therefore the passengers got accustomed to ignoring them. This meant that during episodes of clear air turbulence, passengers were still walking around the cabin.
The in-flight entertainment system was very good - lots of movies and programmes to watch. However a significant proprtion of this is Arabic or Asian, and the english-language content is almost exclusively US-centric.
Arabic is clearly the first language of the airline - and all the passenger announcements are made first in Arabic. I also noticed that some of the flight crew seemed more comfortable conversing in Arabic, and therefore Arabic speaking passengers got much friendlier service - and were asked to fill out the in-flight customer surverys!!
All of the above are just minor niggles however when compared to the biggest problem with the airline: Abu Dhabi airport. This is truly awful, and is a place I never want to visit ever again! Terminal 1 is still used for the majority of flights. It is a small terminal building, roughly 30 years old, with the internal acoustics of a railway station. It is about as clean as a railway station as well. There is very little seating capacity, and few shops. Terminal 3 has just opened, but is carrying little traffic at the moment. It appears to be a great improvement on Terminal 1, and both times I ended up going to sit in the corridor linking T1 and T3 as it is the only clean and quiet place easily accessible from T1.
So my recommendation would be to avoid Etihad at all costs until the new Terminal 2 at Abu Dhabi is built and opened in a few years time. Otherwise you risk spending a miserable 3 hours in the worst airport terminal I have ever experienced!

Summary: Avoid at all costs, for now.