Anyone flown with Etihad or Emirates??

[Jackleman]

Hi,

I am planning to fly to SE Asia, either Bangkok or Singapore next month, both of these airlines have reasonably priced flights but reading reviews they seem to get average or bad reviews generally. I could fly with Qatar who are very good, but about £100 more and also from Heathrow rather than Gatwick which is a bit of a ball ache.

Any one flown long haul in cattle class with Etihad or Emirates? what are the seats like?

[paprika]

Both are excellent main stream airlines.

Good aircraft, good comfort, realtively easy for long haul.

[moles]

Flew to Aus with Emirates was better than BA/Qantas in cattle class. Only airline I preferred to them was Air New Zealand but that was because the plane was newer with a better entertainment system.

[Daxed]

To Aus with Emirates. Very good.

[deeen]

I think Etihad are Heathrow or Manchester, while Qatar do have some flights out of Gatwick?

To answer your question, I would happily fly with any of those 3 again, if forced to choose, I would say Emirates just slightly better overall experience, but only 1 return flight so not definitive.

For Singapore, Singapore Airlines £586 for direct flight from Heathrow would get my vote.

Edited by deeen on Monday 10th January 11:25

[bobbylondonuk]

I fly Emirates to India regularly. They revolve their business with transit passengers from west to East...and so their services are catered for long haul travel. Qatar, Etihad, emirates are all very comfortable with good seats, service, entertainment.

[Cupramax]

Flown Emirates to Perth, Aus. First leg LHR to Dubai was horrific, sat centre row of 3-4-3 in the middle of a bunch of very smelly (B.O.)arabs, bad move. Very cramped. Next leg Dubai to Perth was fine (the plane was virtually empty...) Planes and service otherwise was fine. Good entertainment system on the 777-300's.

[Melman Giraffe]

Flown Emirates Bangkok to Hong kong in Business which was excellent and the food was first class.

[Jackleman]

Got as far as booking a ticket on the Emirates website but it does not give you the option to choose a seat - what is that all about?

[NickHKent]

If you have to fly goat class Singapore Airlines is one of the better... their business class is sublime.

[Jackleman]

After spending the morning mucking around on loads of different websites I have managed to get Qatar Airlines return for £536 including a seat with extra leg room. Pretty happy with that.

Thanks chaps and here is to 5 weeks of backpacking around Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia!! happy days. :-)

[smifffymoto]

I hate you,I'm not jealous at all.

[5potTurbo]

Jackleman said:

After spending the morning mucking around on loads of different websites I have managed to get Qatar Airlines return for £536 including a seat with extra leg room. Pretty happy with that.

Thanks chaps and here is to 5 weeks of backpackingshagging wes around Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia!! happy days. :-)

ETA

[DaGuv]

I flew Etihad to Abu Dhabi and also Bangkok. Excellent airline, great inflight entertainment, a choice of meals from a menu and metal cutlery. I was surprised by the latter due to hijacking etc.

[Jackleman]

5potTurbo said:

Jackleman said:

After spending the morning mucking around on loads of different websites I have managed to get Qatar Airlines return for £536 including a seat with extra leg room. Pretty happy with that.

Thanks chaps and here is to 5 weeks of backpackingshagging wes around Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia!! happy days. :-)

ETA

GIT :-)

[Mattt]

I used to fly regularly with Etihad, found them much better than BA etc.

Their lounge at Heathrow is excellent.

[308mate]

Used Emirates for my last 3 trips to Perth, via Dubai.

Good planes, good in flight entertainment, good service.

Thier have a good fit-out on their A380 which also has excellent cattle class leg room too. Dubai is a good airport.

The only gripe I have is that last trip, they kept offering the old "lamb or chicken" option, knowing full well they didnt have the lamb anyway, hoping I wouldnt ask. I always did and alwasy got told theyr were out.

But thats the first time thats happened.

I would recomend them.

As said though, if youre going to Singapore, try and get Singapore Airlines. They are probably the best carrier on that route in my experience.

Edited by 308mate on Tuesday 11th January 13:38