I found a good deal on Expedia, not featuring an ex Dublin, simply seats left in a fare bucket which meant that booking my business class return LHR to ADL (LHR-AUH-MEL-ADL-MEL-AUH-LHR) was near £500 cheaper than booking direct with Etihad.
Purchasing my tickets via Expedia meant that I did not qualify for any EY financed chauffering so it was a taxi which delivered me to Terminal 4 on the 25th January for the first leg of my journey, the EY20 to AUH, an A380 airbus. But first a couple of hours lounge time. I like the EY lounge, the food and booze offerings are excellent, the staff are fun and proactive.
Nothing wrong with the A380 either, I have flown several times on the A380, exclusively on Emirates until this. The plane is comfortable and the business suite was fine. This was primarily a day time flight, leaving London 14.05 and arriving in Abu Dhabi at 01.20 local time the following day. So I knew I wouldnt sleep so instead enjoyed their hospitality. As with all my EY experiences the crew were efficient and friendly. As I have said before I am in happy mode on these jaunts, so neither look for nor cause aggro.
The cheapness of my ticket had a downside in that I had over nine hours in AUH, waiting for the next flight.. Not a problem, I thought that I would sleep in the premium (business and first) lounge.
Best laid plans of mice and men 1
The lounge was very busy at first but then quietened down...except the departing passengers were replaced by cleaners. I did not sleep at all, although having plenty of sofas which I could possess. Not a critic at all of the lounge but some form of designated “sleeping area” would be useful.
So then, of course, I was looking forward to the near 13 hour non-stop from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne as a chance to get some sleep.
Best laid plans of mice and men 2.
I get to the security check at the gate, put my boarding card on the reader and up comes a message "access denied, contact the operator". So I speak to the Etihad girl at the gate, she takes my boarding card and says "try this one instead".
I had only been given an operational upgrade to First. FIRST FFS. FOR FREE. My first ever free upgrade from any class, my previous first experience, on EK, having been paid for with miles. I am gold with EY but have no idea why I got upgraded, I haven’t flown much with them recently.
So then, like Aerosmith, I could not sleep because I didnt want to miss a thing.
I got into my suite (2A) on the triple7 and there I sat, discussing what I wanted from the menu and when with the onboard chef, while slurping Bollinger La Grande Annee 2005 champagne and trying to decide whether my white wine should be one of the great premier cru Burgundies or one superb New Zealand sauvignon. And then I had to choose a red!
I wasted about four hours of the flight sleeping. For the rest of it I had a simply wonderful time, lovely food, lovely booze and I made extensive use of the wifi (US$21 for the flight....which I thought reasonable until I discovered EK s free first 10mb and then $1 for 500mb on my return).
I reported back to EY on the wonderful crew looking after me, Signon the chef and Barbara the cabin crew, both excellent. And not only was Barbara Hungarian but she also owns a HWV.
Sadly we landed in Melbourne on time, I would happily have gone round again, and after an easy passage through security I collected my suitcase for the next leg, my VA domestic to Adelaide.
In summary, this flight was wonderful in every way it could be, on reflection I can think of nothing I could improve.
And I left with a view that I must have done something spectacularly good in a previous life.
Regards,
David
PS I had to abandon my trip as my parents-in-law were suddenly quite ill. Winemakers throughout the area were probably relieved, however Australia will still be there when things are sorted here. I took the first plane I could get out of Adelaide, this was on Emirates where I could use my miles to upgrade from Y to J.
The photographs are of my simply wonderful indulgence in First. Thank you the gods of upgrades.
Last edited by HWVlover on 07 Feb 2016, 18:38, edited 3 times in total.
