Etihad EY51
Abu Dhabi (AUH) – Geneva (GVA)
Thursday 31 January 2019
Depart: 2:25
Arrive: 6:45
Duration: 6.45hr
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Seat: 11A (Business Class)
This is my review of the Etihad Business Studio on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Despite flying Etihad for five years and a being a Platinum Guest for the last three this was my very first flight on one of the airline’s Dreamliners. I have spent many hours in the Etihad Business Studio on the A380 and was keen to see how the Dreamliner version compared.
Booking with Etihad Guest miles
The flight cost 46,874 Etihad Guest miles plus AED 691 cash for a one-way redemption in Business Class. I booked the trip five weeks before departure.
This was unusually good value. Etihad Guest was running a miles promotion at the time. The offer was a 25% discount on the number of miles required for redemptions to a handful of destinations in Europe. Fortunately, Geneva was one of the routes on the list.
When redeeming Guest miles for flights Etihad offers a ‘Miles Plus Cash Option‘. This option allows you to book with fewer miles and make up the difference in cash. I always max out the cash element as it is very good value. You are effectively buying Etihad Guest miles for less than $0.01 USD.
On this route, the maximum cash outlay would normally have been AED 1,201. However, due to the 25% miles discount, the maximum I could pay in cash was AED 691, a saving of AED 510. That’s about the price of a small coffee in Switzerland these days!
At the airport
The one big advantage of a 2 am
The First & Business Class check-in area was empty when I arrived at 11.30pm with several desks free. Check-in was quick and there was no line at the security check-point. From the curb to the lounge could not have taken more than 7-8 minutes.
I had access to the Etihad First Class Lounge as a Platinum Guest. The lounge has been subjected to a number of cutbacks since Etihad began their
However, over recent months the food and drink on offer have been gradually improving. The à la carte menu is longer, the options are more appealing and portion sizes have increased. The lounge staff continued to be as friendly and attentive as ever.
As it was such a late (or early) departure I only ordered a cheese plate. The highlight of the lounge experience was the red wine paired with the cheese. It was a 2013 Argentinian Malbec with a 4.4 rating on Vivino. That’s not bad for an airport lounge wine.
Boarding was via a bus gate. There was a separate bus for First & Business class buses. However, it is not a premium experience. As tends to happen, the economy buses filled up quickly and left for the plane first. Meanwhile, the Premium bus slowly filled up with stragglers from the lounge.
Note to self: jump on the Economy bus next time and make it to the plane sooner. Better to lounge on board with a pre-departure drink rather than on a packed bus at the terminal.
On board
Once on board, there was a friendly welcome and an immediate offer of a pre-departure beverage and hot towel. You can tell quickly if you have a good crew on board and this team was excellent.
With a full day ahead in Geneva my aim was to get as much sleep as possible. I was impressed that the crew made a concerted effort to take breakfast orders before we pushed back from the stand.
On my previous early morning departure from Abu Dhabi to the UK, the crew did not take breakfast orders until an hour after take-off. That did not leave a lot of time to sleep on a short overnight flight to Europe.
For breakfast I ordered the Asparagus & Brie omelette. When it arrived in the morning it was disappointing in terms of
Etihad Business Studio on the 787 vs A380
I sat in 11A which is one of the Business Studios closest to the window. It is also at the back of the cabin and as far as you can be from both the toilets and galley. That means less noise and very little foot traffic past the seat during the flight. All important for an overnight flight when sleep is a priority.
There were a couple of things I noticed about the Business Studio on the 787. The window seat felt more spacious to me than the equivalent on the A380. I am not sure if that is due to the larger windows, the curve of the fuselage or the height of the overhead luggage compartment.
Unexpectedly, there is much less privacy on the 787. On the A380 the Busines Studios are staggered in such a way that there is little or no eye contact between passengers. On the 787 each row of seats are lined up together. It is possible to look straight across the cabin easily and see all of the passengers seated in the same row.
The priority for this flight was sleep. I happily managed to get a solid and unbroken five hours of sleep. The seat was comfortable in the flat-bed position.
The Etihad’s Business Studio seats have an option to increase or decrease the firmness of the padding. On the A380 this function are quite noisy and temperamental. The seats seem to turn themselves on and off at random intervals throughout the flight which can be very intrusive, particularly in bed mode. I am not sure if the 787 has a different generation of Business Studio seats but there was none of the random buzzing and whirring you hear on the A380.
Trip Highs
- Breakfast orders were taken before departure. Crucial with a 2 am
departure . - Window seats feel much more spacious compared to the A380.
- Five hours of comfortable, unbroken sleep.
- Business Studio seat did not turn randomly turn itself on and off during flight.
- Excellent Etihad crew onboard.
Trip Lows
- Bus gate for boarding. The Midfield terminal cannot come soon enough.
- Less privacy on the 787 than the A380.
- Very limited and mediocre breakfast option.
Overall Verdict
This was a great flight. I am not a fan of 2 am departures. However, the airport experience was smooth, the crew were attentive and I managed to get a decent amount of good quality sleep. And for only 46,874 Etihad Guest miles plus AED 691, it was an exceedingly good deal.
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