Etihad Airways has a pretty solid reputation as an airline, especially if flying in business or first class. Even in coach, it is known to be fairly decent. I had some nice flights on my way to South Africa (blog posts to follow). But be warned, sometimes the flights are Jet Airways flights, on Jet Airways metal, operated by Etihad. That’s when it can get sketchy, or at least it did for me on the flight from Abu Dhabi to New York last week.
I understand that Etihad Airways (a United Arab Emirates airline) and Jet Airways (an Indian airline) are program partners, but why would an airline such as Etihad which works so hard to protect its reputation for good flight experience, actually operate a Jet Airways plane? From beginning to end, the experience was horrific.
There is a lot of security at Abu Dhabi AUH Airport, especially for flights to the United States. Having seen the World Trade Center Towers fall on September 11th with my own eyes, I am thankful for heightened security. For the flights to the US, after going through regular airport security, one then goes a second time.
First, we waited on line “upstairs” for clearance to leave the UAE . The lines moved painfully slowly.
The wheelchair line was longer than those for flights to Miami.
From there, we proceeded “downstairs” for US Passport and Customs clearance. I was so happy to see that they had a Global Entry machine! I breezed right through!
And then, we were cleared to go to the gate. Gate 59. I should have known when I saw the mass of people (“gate lice”) swarming to the plane, and the gate agents barely able to control them, that this was not going to be pretty.
The flight was filled. It was stuffed to capacity. It felt like it was beyond capacity. I saw it coming: I asked the flight attendant if perhaps there were any business class seats left for sale, but to my chagrin, they were all taken. I was too late. (The flight attendant did bring me a bowl of hot nuts as a consolation!).
People were all over the place. They were unruly.
The plane was freezing cold. The older Pakistani women next to me wrapped herself in 3 blankets, and when I got up to use the rest room, she added my blanket to her collection.
The crew was understaffed and the passengers were rude. The one saving grace was the flight attendant, Mohamed. He was amazing. Passengers were complaining to him, and practically ganging up on him for every little reason, including things like there being no chicken dishes left for the dinner meal. He tried his best to make everyone happy.
Mohamed was a great flight attendant!
Speaking of food, it was rather atrocious. I’ve had pretty good meals on Etihad flights – this was not one of those flights. Everything was tasteless, doughy, high on carbs, and low on everything else.
I’m not a fussy eater, but this vegetarian meal was inedible. Thank God for that little Nestle Crunch bar!
One mid-flight snack was supposed to be a chicken salad sandwich. It was heavy on the bread and light on the chicken.
theoretically, a chicken salad sandwich
can you see the chicken salad?
I’m sorry to say this, but many of the passengers were pigs. They threw garbage all over the place.
Finally, at one point, I looked around and said that I felt like I was in a refugee camp, not a plane. I’m sure that the striped blankets contributed to this feeling.
The entertainment systems are crap. They are hard to navigate, and, if you don’t use the remote, you have to tap so hard and often, that you disturb the person in front of you (like the woman in the seat behind me did).
And then, after 12 or 13 hours, the slow descent began. Yay, I was almost home. Suddenly, a faucet stream of water came pouring down on my head. It was almost comical, but it wasn’t. It was not merely condensation or a few drips of water. Was this a new variation of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? Chinese torture? I jumped up and didn’t really want to sit back down as the seat was now wet, but the plane was full, we were landing soon and I had no choice. Mohammed found some unused blankets and covered the wet seat so I could sit down for landing.
I do not want to sound like a snob or an ingrate. If anyone knows me, they know that I strive to accentuate the positive rather than the negative. But sometimes the negative has to be told. The positive here is that I got to my destination safely, and for that I am grateful.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
Your Mohammed sounded like my McNeil on what I deemed the worst Etihad Airways flight on which I experienced as a passenger:
http://thegate.boardingarea.com/the-worst-etihad-airways-flight-i-have-ever-taken-and-why/
Our experiences from Abu Dhabi to New York were almost identical; and mine was a “pure” Etihad Airways experience.
That candy bar was not a Nestlés Crunch bar, but a Tiffany Break bar made in the United Arab Emirates — still good, but definitely an imitation.
Karma for purchasing a mistake fare?
I don’t know, this flight sounds fairly typical of any long haul flight where a lot of people from lower income countries and warmwr countries are passengers. Your pistsnacks of privilege, and hopefully you’ll understand that fora lot of your fellow passengers this is a once in a lifetime trip where they’ve spent a lot of money and its probably not always that they fly.
Have some empathy and don’t get all privileged. Your experience is still vastly better than how most of humanity travels in crowded trains and buses.
Well once in lifetime and being poor does not mean they should stop using all rules of civil life. Being poor is no excuse for being rude and I’ll mannered
Don’t you think their being rude and ill mannered is in some ways the proximate cause of them being poor?
Or vice-versa. However, I never said that the people who were rude and ill-mannered on my flight were poor, or of Indian descent – and I don’t think that the majority of them were….
Sorry to hear about your experience 🙁 I’ve only flown Etihad once but was in a premium cabin so I can’t really compare. However, I have flown the JFK-DXB route on EK economy class over 30 times and will say I’ve had a few experiences similar to yours but only when the flight was full full (either in the weekend or during the holidays) and it was on the A380! When the flight was at less than 70% capacity, the flight was fine.
As for the other passengers, at times I really think it just depends on the culture or the types of passengers who are travelling with you. I’ve flown on ANA and JAL in their economy cabins JFK-NRT on full full flights but the plane still remained immaculately clean. I’m not sure exactly why that’s the case but it was what it was!
Based on your review and other’s, I highly doubt I’ll ever fly the AUH-JFK route on Etihad (Jetihad or Etihad) during peak periods. I have a feeling that flight would be more manageable if the flight weren’t full.
Thanks Joey. I do agree that this was largely a function of the flight being full. But the airline knew this, and could have done more to prepare.
I’ve flown many airlines in coach.
I’ve also flown Emirates – I even wrote a blog post entitled “I flew Emirates in coach and it didn’t suck” – I felt that it was superior to the Etihad flights I was on. Perhaps its just a luck-of-the-draw thing.
my recent flight on etihad and air india. the pakistanis, indians passengers were talking loud, they somehow brought curry dishes in the plane from their home or restaurants and were eating with their hands on big bowls. very smelly and loud, some of they even had small music stations and listening to their muic with its speakers/
It was a total HELL
I recently did the JFK-AUH-JFK route. First flight was Jetihad, second flight was Etihad. I was on the mistake fare, but upgraded to business both ways. I found that the seat was more comfortable and the lav bigger on Jet than on Etihad. Though the food was better on Etihad than Jet.
I did 3 JFK_AUH roundtrips on Jetihad coach this year(mistake fares) are they were fine. Yes the timing is hard (3AM) and AUH airport is crowded etc. but i actually prefer the Jetihad Y seats,
Entertainment is exactly same on both EY and 9W operated. There is nothing ‘hell’ like on this flight. I would take it again anyday in coach over EY
Sorry about the flight. So, this is the second blogger I’ve read use the term “gate lice.” As a common economy passenger, wish you refrain from labeling people that way (those who are not in priority business/first lanes). I guess you are making the point they are not following lines/rules, but at the end of the day they are people just trying to catch their ride……
Using the term Gate Lice, I wasn’t referring to the class of service of the passengers, just that there was an unruly mess of passengers and it was blocking others from boarding. Those “others” were in Y, but in other Zones – not better or worse.
We have Jet tickets from JFK to JNB via AUH in Feb. 2016 and happy as I am to be going to South Africa, I have been dreading it, without knowing much more than Jet is a budget airline. I saw some reviews of the seats and that has been the focus of my worries. I’ve been hoping that as Feb. is not a super busy time, the plane would not be full. Now I have more things to worry about 😉 !
However, I almost always fly coach and I have done many 27 hour trips (door to door) from my home on the west coast to TLV. Hopefully my Jet flights will be no worse than those!
Jet offers a multitude of special meal choices. if anyone can suggest what is the most palatable, I’d love to know! Other suggestions are most welcome too! Thanks!
Get the seafood meal.
I was never unhappy with that special food option.
By the way, I traveled the same exact route as you earlier this year — New York to Johannesburg via Abu Dhabi — and posted several trip reports on it.
@ Brian, Thanks!
I just read your post about your worst flight (link was in your first comment) but I will go look for the others as well.
And thanks for the suggestion on the seafood meals. We’ll be sure to request them.
I agree the seafood meal is good on Etihad. If you like Indian food, the regular meal is not bad either.
…and that was in February of 2015.
I understand that many meals on many flights are inedible but why to point out that vegetarian meal was inedible.
Although to be honest that looks inedible
I would’ve loved some broccoli, cauliflower or brussel sprouts. In fact the best items on any of the Etihad flights, in my opinion were the bean salads.
Calling people from poor countries “pigs” and “refugees” and “lice” is highly insulting. Shame on you!
I wasn’t calling out people from any one country or culture, or anything. Not one of those comments was derogatory against a group, nationality, race, creed or otherwise.
Good for you, don’t that politically correct crap anyway, you’re not running for office. I liked your honesty and frankly my jealousy over not flying more is gone after reading this. Staying home ain’t so bad.
“Staying home ain’t so bad” if it is economy. Otherwise business or first is different. I did Jetihad AUH-SFO in business and that was also barely doable.
Much the same as any Spirit flight into or out of Fort Lauderdale, in my experiencee, except no mention of goats getting barbequed over electric grills in the aisleways. These folks must have been really poor.
Yes you do sound like a snob and rude.
You should have paid for business class.
Get over yourself.
You know, its funny, I almost flew a Jetihad flight (in business or first, I can’t remember), but was able to change it last minute to fly ex-IAD. I was totally dreading it… have heard the cabins are pretty worn. I couldn’t even imagine doing such a flight in the back… but, would never have expected anything dripping on me!
Trevor – the premium classes looked fine. I didn’t worry about upgrading since my experience with the UAE carriers – even in coach – had been good. And, whenever I checked the seating plan, it looked as if the flight would be half empty. Oh well – at least we got to our destination safely.
To the credit of all the poor third world country folks on the flight, atleast they are not freeloaders or flying on a fare-mistake. They are at the very least paying for their fair share of the flight, unlike most bloggers and their readers here.
“all the poor third world country folks on the flight”….
a lot of readers are jumping to unfounded conclusions about the socio economic status of the passengers on these flights. There is no data whatsoever on this.
We had a similar experience two weeks ago flying AUH-JFK in economy on Etihad metal. Service was pretty good but, like your experience the other passengers’ behavior was atrocious. Stealing other peoples’ blankets/pillows, throwing garbage all over the floor, physically harassing the flight attendants by caressing their faces (barf), etc.
A lot of commenters here are jumping on you for a perceived discrimination, but this really comes down to how you treat the tiny environment you and a hundred other people have to live in for 13 hours. Regardless of your socioeconomic or cultural background, nobody should expect others to live in your garbage for 13 hours, or be okay if you swipe their blanket. The Golden Rule, people, c’mon.
I have flown Jet Airways and will agree the service, meals and experience is subpar to Etihad. I don’t think your statements on the passengers is offensive vs. just saying many of the travelers are not frequent travelers and Jet Airways would not be considered a high-end airline
I also did experience 09/11 locally in NYC and don’t think it has ANY and I mean ANY relationship to security in the Middle East as no foreign plane or lack of their security caused the tragic events that day.
Shame on you!
You refer to people as “gate lice” – yet you are the one taking advantage of Etihad. – definition of parasite!
“It felt like a refugee camp” Do you even have an inkling of what it feels like to be a refugee? The anxiety, the fear, the uncertainty, the perpetual fear??? You should thank your lucky stars you have no experience – yet!!!
I bear no shame! The use of the terms Gate Lice and Refugee Camps in the context they were used are metaphors. Moreover, Gate Lice is a term commonly used in Frequent Flyer jargon, and has no relation to ethnicity or socio-economic status. And yes, I do count my lucky stars for so many things.
Just got back from AUH – JFK on ey103 and i have to say this was the worst flight I’ve ever been on as well. from being cramped even in on an aisle seat. the lady next to me wasn’t a large women but she had to sit with her purse to the side of her her arm then poured over into mine and also she had a large amount of coca leaves that she kept using for 14 hours.
the plane was filled with a large amount of kids on a school trip. I’ve never seen a plane so messy on the way off. the only saving grace was the entertainment system and the wifi. without that my sanity would have gone.
maybe it is karma. but if i paid full price i would have been pissed beyond hell! haha
luckily i ordered a special meal but the food people were having around me looked horrible.
note to self – order special meal on Jet Airways/ Etihad flights!
” I didn’t worry about upgrading since my experience with the UAE carriers – even in coach – had been good. And, whenever I checked the seating plan, it looked as if the flight would be half empty. ”
So you were hoping the flight would not be full so those “lice” and “refugees” would not sit so close huh? You call yourself a world traveler yet you hold these primitive views about your fellow human beings?
As someone said higher upthread ” Get over yourself” and remember this – Karma is a bitch missy!!! There may be a striped blanket and a tent crawling with lice in your future!
It is unfortunate that some commenters chose to read in biases and opinions that are not embedded in the post. As someone who will soon take the same flight, I am very grateful for the frank and informative write up because it means I can be now be proactive to try to make it as comfortable as possible. And if you are curious, I bought a $609 R/T ticket. I snapped it up knowing nothing about Jet simply because it seemed too good a deal to pass up. I don’t believe it was ever considered a mistake fare; just low price. But whether I paid $609 or $6900, the amount I was charged should never be seen as an excuse that allows passengers to ignore the Golden Rule. Hopefully it also won’t be seen as an excuse for Jet to cut too many corners in their service.
For example I will be sure to order a seafood meal, I will ask my travel companion to watch my blanket and pillow if I leave my seat, and I’ll mentally prepare myself for a full flight no matter what the seat chart says. I will be arriving in SA in summer, and was thinking of ditching my winter coat in NYC so I don’t have to shlep it around. But if the planes are routinely cold, I’ll bring it and see about ditching it someplace in Jo-burg, retrieving again before I fly home. I will be sure to have things to occupy me as well as the sleeping pills I typically take on long flights. And I will pack my sense of humor, some patience and set my focus on the fact that I am taking a trip to a place I have long wanted to see.
Thanks, Kathy for the post and thanks to all those who’ve added constructively to this conversation. May you all be spared the inconveniences that sometimes come with jet (small j) travel!
I’ve held back my comments but figured I’d throw in my two cents. It may leave some angry, and others nodding in agreement. Personally, I’ve never flown on Jet, and never flown Etihad to/from India. I have, however, flown Etihad numerous times to/from Abu Dhabi, East Asia and Europe, on both paid and “family tickets” and spent many weeks in Abu Dhabi while my significant other worked as an Etihad FA.
The consensus among all the Etihad FA’s I have met and talked to in Abu Dhabi, and even ones that were born and raised in India, was that they ALL hated working flights to/from India. There were stories of disappointment and at times disgust from not just my girlfriend, but also her friends & coworkers of many different nationalities, each time after they came back to Abu Dhabi from servicing a flight from India.
Stories of passengers being rude, noisy, smelly, messy/dirty, constantly pressing the FA button, and being rude because there was no more chicken left, as well as stories of poop-soiled toilet seats and other parts of the lav were common.
It is what it is: a fun, or an aggravating story for some, and reality for others.
People are completely wrong for charging you with prejudice. Although in economy, your fellow passengers from India are among their elite (the ultra-ultra elite in Business class). It can be easier to afford a nice home with servants and a driver in India than afford to vacation overseas. In my experience, the relatively poor in India are polite but the relatively rich (those you encountered on the flight) tend to be rude and arrogant because of their privilege. Just my two cents worth.