Review of Etihad Airways flight from Beijing to Abu Dhabi in Business

Hey guys, welcome back to another flight review. This was one of a few flights the girlfriend and I took together during the national holiday (this means for food pics!). Of course she made these trips far more memorable and I can't wait to share our experiences. 

The following are the flights we took and my plans for future reviews. 

1. Beijing Daxing -> Abu Dhabi Etihad 787-9 
2. Abu Dhabi -> Lisbon Etihad 777-300 ER 
3. Porto -> London Gatwick British Airways Airbus A321 
4. London Heathrow -> Dubai Emirates A380 
5. Dubai -> Beijing Capital Emirates 777-300 ER 

This was my first ever time taking Etihad Airways, considering the predominantly positive reviews and it being a five star airline, I was extremely excited. Please join me and experience all the ups and downs of this journey!

Daxing takes around an hour to reach from the city center, with T2/T3 being far closer alternatives with more airlines. Etihad is one of few major international carriers that exclusively fly out of Daxing, with Qatar being another notable mention. 

I love the shades of gold that Etihad use at their checkin area, really adding to the sense of luxury of what's to come. The economy area was also quite empty, which seems to be the norm for all departing flights from Daxing. 

Since we took this flight around the Chinese national holiday, there was a large celebratory display underneath the Chinese flag which is there yearround. I later realized I also accidentally snapped a few Etihad crew members in my shot. Daxing airport's architecture really is something else, never fails to be mesmerizing!

Security at Daxing tends to be rather slow even if there aren't that many people. They seem to have a stricter procedure than that at T2/T3, but nonetheless didn't take too long time time around. We also moved past customs rather quickly. Since Etihad doesn't have their own lounge, we were given access to a shared one which I didn't have high hopes for. However, the lounge was rather lovely, but before that a quick side story which didn't leave the greatest first impression of Etihad.

Right after security, I headed to Starbucks for my routine Americano. There was only one person in line, but also only one lady working and she seemed extremely busy making drinks for the couple who just ordered. I walked up behind the person in line to browse the menu, I guess it wasn't perfectly clear that I was in line, which is when two Etihad crew members walked up and stepped right in front of me in line. I wasn't really too bothered since I thought the line would move quickly, but I guess what I disliked was that I gestured to the crew members that I was here waiting, but never did they really acknowledge my presence nor ever spoke to me despite obviously being aware of my presence. SInce I genuinely didn't mind too much I just let it slide, but it seemed their only interest in me was looking at me in a way that made me feel really uncomfortable, as if they believed they were above me. Unfortunately, the non-Chinese crew member ended up working my side of the cabin 
:(

Anyways, moving on

The lounge was quite empty, and is shared between most non-Chinese carriers. Usually shared lounges in China can be a hit or miss, but this was definitely the former. They had one of the best buffet selections across any lounge I've been to anywhere on the planet. I may be biased, however, since 90% of it were spicy Chinese stir-fry, which are my absolute favorite. Dishes ranged from spicy beef, kong pao chicken, stir fry spicy mushroom, with the mushroom being some of the best I've had anywhere. Unfortunately for the girlfriend, who was fighting some stomach issues, the lounge experience wasn't as great :( 

They also had a decent a-la-carte menu, with us snatching the last piece of salmon left. But our excitement was shortlived as it tasted like the salmon had been frozen for weeks and microwaved. The shrimp noodles were alright, but seemed like instant noodle powdered broth.

There were also lots of fruits and snacks on offer, and we grabbed a few for our flight in case we got hungry.

Before leaving the lounge, we walked past this sign at one of the lounge gates. Oh the bittersweet:( China Southern were the only mainland operator featuring the giant A380 in the fleets, which have all sadly been retired. One day, maybe one day, we will see this gate be in use once more :( .

Leaving the lounge, we headed over to our gate which was just nearby. We caught a glimpse of this massive heart art which can interestingly also be seen from far as soon as you pass security. There's a picture of how it looks from distance in my previous review of Xiamen Air. Up close, it's just as stunning. There's never a lack of unique artwork across the terminal, one of its many perks.

Unfortunately, the glass panels were doing its work now that the sun had set. I couldn't get a great view of our bird, sorry for the massive reflection! But this was our first look at the 787-9 taking us over to the UAE tonight!

Welcome aborad! Here's the first look at our cabin, in a 1-2-1 configuration with the middle seats alternating between honeymoon suites and ones further apart. The former was perfect for the two of us, and we headed over to the back of the business cabin. I really enjoyed the first look at the plane, the sleek modern design and solid brown finishes highlights Etihad's elegance. This was in huge contrast to the far older 777-300ER Business cabin we had on our second leg. 

Here's the first look at our "honeymoon suites". Despite the presence of a divider, which was lowered for us, you really felt as if the two of you were sitting right up against one another. This was my first time sitting in a honeymoon suite, and I can definitely say it's the best way to travel as a couple. Another added bonus is the partition can easily be raised in case of any couple's spats :)

Waiting at our seats were a pillow, amenity kit, menu card, duvet (on the footrest) and mattress pad. 

Without a doubt, my favorite feature of this cabin. This light parallels the one on AF's La Premiere, honestly maybe even surpasses it in terms of design. A++ Etihad, awesome design!

There was a bottle of water in the storage area along the seat's armrest, which had ample room to place your passport, earphones, waller, and whatnot. 

Adding to hard product features I loved, the duvet also had one of my favorite airplane duvet designs. Something about the simple yet sleek black design does it for me, certainly doesn't hurt that it's provided by Armani. This also proved to be extremely comfortable, and if you know me, I unwrapped it and tossed it over my legs as soon as I sat down. You can also see the footspace was decent, and for someone who's 6 feet, I never felt too uncomfortable or squished when fully reclined. So far, so very good.

i took a snap of the seat across from me before the gentleman later arrived. I soon realized, despite the wonderful proximity between my girlfriend and I, there same could be said for me and the gentleman:). Without any blockades, and the addition that his seat was closer to the aisle than the window, the two of us had an equally romantic trip as I did with my girlfriend:) 

Let's check out the menu, 1 full meal would be on offer today with various snack options available throughout the flight. The menu was also translated into Mandarin and Arabic, included those in case anyone was interested.

This was the first time I've seen so many words on one page for any airline menu, I guess it's a way to conserve paper, but it came across more like comprehensive instructions to assemble a complicated home appliance rather than food list:) What do you guys think, do you like how Etihad present their menus?

After so many compliments on their hard product, here begins my issues with the soft. The crew member who worked my side of the aisle, as I mentioned earlier, was one of those I ran into at Starbucks with the rather dismissive attitutde. Fortunately for my girlfriend, a different crew member worked her side, by far the livlier and more polite of the two. She constantly came around to check on us, offered to help with luggage and introduced seats, and the cherry on top was she could fluently speak both English and Mandarin which was perfect for my girlfriend who much prefers communicating in the latter. This was evident when she came around to welcome us, and gave suggestions for juices when my girlfriend asked about what was best. Unfortunately for me, my crew member seemed completely disinterested when asking my welcome drink. Nonetheless, here's a snippit of our first cheers of the trip, despite the disinterested attitude I must admit Etihad's welcome champagne is among the best I've had in business class.

Towels were also provided. Initially I felt that having a bagged one as opposed to the usual option of presenting it opened and on a tray took some of the elegance away, I surrendered to the lovely scent and freshness of it. I think this beats out the towels offered on Qatar. 

We played around a bit with the partition and realized you would definitely have no problem sitting in these honeymoon suites even with a stranger. This goes up so high it's essentially a literal wall between you and your neighbour.

USB charging ports and the handset to control your IFE

I didn't really end up using this second small screen feature, but it was a nice touch. All in all, Etihad's business hard product was shaping up to be some of the best I've seen.

I took a quick trip to the restroom to change into my shorts. There were already some amenities on offer, and the area remained quite clean throughout the flight. I also appreciated the tile design on the walls and floor pattern that continued to reflect Etihad's sleek cabin design. 

Heading back to my seat, we opened up the amenity kit which had all your essentials. My favorite was the facial spray on the very right, which I have almost finished using back home. 

My girlfriend asked for another glass of orange juice before departure, which was promptly provided by her purser. She also had her dinner order taken. There's also a closer shot of the amenity kit design, which I really liked. Strangely, we received a far smaller kit on our second leg departing out of Abu Dhabi to Lisbon, even though the flying time was around the same as our inbound flight to the hub. 

I later realized the smaller screen mainly served to control all the different lights on your seat. Nice touch!

After what had been a very solid impression of the hard product, we took off out of Daxing airport at 19:03, 12 minutes ahead of schedule. Traffic is generally light at any time at Daxing, and delays (unless mechanical ones) are very rare. Onwards to our 8 hour and 48 minute journey! 

Excitement filled as the beginning of our European adventure finally arrived. My girlfriend has always known my love of aviation, and despite taking a few domestic trips together, I was beyond ecstatic for our first long haul journey. What better way to kick off this trip than with an old fashioned? I also went with a sparkling water and hot nuts were offered. One of my favorite parts of travelling together is seeing her excitement at such little things that if travelling myself I would just look past. The heated nuts, as opposed to cold ones, was the first example of her peculiar sense of joy. 

Since she was still fighting some stomach discomfort, but simultaneously trying to suppress that desire for alchol, she ordered a Cipriani Bellini to, in her words, "just check out what it looks like and you can drink it". No problem! This was a bit too sweet for my liking, but the color was very nice. 

It was at this point, I realized something when re-browsing the menu. Wait, did she come take my order? I was so busy indulging in the thrill of vacation and champagne I genuinely couldn't remember. Surely she did and I just forgot right, this is a five star airline in business we're talking about, and everyone around me got their orders taken. Let me just ask her to double check. So she comes over, and says "yes you did order your meal before takeoff". Just when I was completely flabbergasted because I could not for the life of me remember doing so, she proceeded to say "you had the mezze and the lamb biryani"… Yeahhh…. no! I informed her that she definitely did not take my order becasue I knew I wanted the pasta and a different starter but for a short while it seemed she was ready to start an argument with me. Eventually she checked at the back and realized she had completely forgotten to take my order. Honestly, just like the Starubucks incident, I was more frustrated with her overall attitude than the problem itself. Again, no genuine suggestion of being apologetic or really even caring to be honest? Sigh..

To make things worse ,this was the longest period of time between takeoff and the first main meal service on any flight I've taken. I promise at least a full hour passed before service began. There were also no srong winds or turbulence of any sort, and people were becoming impatient as they wanted to get some sleep.  

Finally, I received my correct appetizer, not what she thought I had ordered. I went with the pumpkin soup, and my girlfriend the beef. I didn't want to go with the mezze mainly since the portion size is usually quite large, and that was confirmed when my neighbour's was brought over. The soup was alright, nothing too special. 

For any Chinese food enthusiasts, the beef appetizer should look familiar as its essentially "jiang niu rou", a traditional Chinese beef starter dish. Chilled spicy beef hit the spot perfectly for me, and we ended up swapping appetizers :) Another perk of travelling as a couple!

After lots of confusion and even more delays, I finally received my pasta dish. Although the presentation wasn't anything special, I actually enjoyed the dish. I'm not a huge fan of lamb biryani nor the description of the e-fu noodle. My girlfriend went with the chicken breast (sorry for not having a picture of it) so I went with the safe option. Her chicken was also a safer option and being a big potato lover, she appreciated the side. I also liked the mushroom gravy adding some savory taste to her dish. Overall, not the most glamorous meal service but a solid one. 

If I had one compliment to give my crew member, it was that she was happy to bring me as many desserts and I requested. Another one of my girlfriend's passions is dessert, and we definitely overindulged as my crew member brought us all four that she could offer. 

Personally, I'm more of a savory over sweet type of person, and so the cheeseplate is usually my go-to and by far my favorite. Luckily, another one of the girlfriend's passions is fruit, and so the Haagen Dazs ice cream and fruit plate were both gone in seconds. Unfortunately, the chocolate cake was rather disappointing. It was far too sweet by itself and the creamy sauce only added to that. It became extremely greasy but luckily everything else compensated for it.

My girlfriend also ordered her own fruit plate along with the fruit tart, which she gave a 5/10.

With the extensively long lull between takeoff meal service, by the time we finished eating there was only around 5 hours of flight time remaining. I also found it hard to fall asleep since it was only around 22:00 local time, and I had woken up at noon that day (oops).

We sent our seats into recline mode and here's what it looked like. There was no turndown service offered so we unpacked our mattresses, which were very comfortable and also in the sleek black color, I also liked how the pillows matched the scheme too. Despite not getting any real sleep, this was only of the nicest business seats to lie down and relax in.

I didn't end up trying the IFE or the headphones since we spent most of the flight eating or yapping to one another. But they did look comfortable and promised noise cancellation. We briefly played around with the IFE system and saw a decent movie selection. Sorry for not having more thorough information on this!

There was wifi available, I can't remember of the top of my head if business was free or if you had to purchase it. I didn't end up using it anyways.

Prior to our flight, we had done some research on Chinese social media about Etihad's reviews. The one thing that continously jumped out at us was the beef sandwich mid-flight snack. Trust me when I tell you the praise that this dish received was far beyond anything I've seen. So we had to give it a go.

Here's what it looked like. Although not the prettiest presentation, the sandwich tasted quite good. Being a huge cheese lover, the melted slice really accentuated the overall taste. The chips that accompanied it were also perfectly salted and I'd love to have this anywhere on the ground. Was it as GOATed as the Chinese netizens say, maybe not, but still a strong contender for a top midflight snack. 

Before long, we began descending into Abu Dhabi. The timing of this flight was awkward since it was too early for me to get any sleep on the flight, but upon landing it would be around 3-4 am Beijing time, then I needed to stay awake for another two hours before my next flight, almost causing 24 hours without sleep.

Given this was a nearly 9 hour flight, I must question whether a second full meal service should have been provided. On our next flight, which was actually an hour shorter than this one, two full meals with midflight snack options were offered. I think this was the first time I took a nearly 9 hour flight with only one full meal service. I've received two meals on a 7 hour trip on American before, and given the lounge food options you will soon see I really did wish we got some pre-landing breakfast.

We soon touched down at Zayed International Airport at 23:53, 14 minutes early. Trust me, the craziest part of this trip report occurred during transit, stay tuned.

When we were going through security during transit, I was moving my bags out of the security check buckets and about to place them in the stack when a British gentleman standing behind me yelled "pick up the f***ing buckets, you "f***ing waiting for someone to do it for you?". Keep in mind, most of the people in line were Asian and from our flight, so I'm assuming he didn't expect me to understand him nor to respond. I turned around and said "can you calm the f*** down yea?, calm the f*** down you prick". Here might be a good time to share I have somewhat of a British accent, so you could imagine his surprise. He resembled a little boy being scolded by his parents as lots of eyes were on him, and he decided (probably for the better) to remain silent for the next few minutes as we awaited everything to pass through. Absolutely disgusting behavior, but I must be honest it felt pretty good telling him off. 

Onto better things I guess. I don't usually include transit lounges since they're not technically part of the flight, but I'm unsure if I will make a fll review on the Lisbon trip since I literally passed out from boarding to landing but I think my girlfriend might have enough pictures and can share her experience. So we made our way to the business class lounge.

The lounge was really an exceptional piece of architecture, I recall it had three floors and an incredible overall design. Elegantly colored just like the earlier cabin.

There was a small buffet area but options were rather limited. The only other offerings other than that in this picture was some fruit and either penne pasta or lamb biryani. I did later realize there was a scan to order a la carte option, those were mostly for cocktails. 

The food wasn't too bad and did do the job to fill my stomach, but the options weren't really on par with Middle Eastern business class lounges of their competitors like Emirates and definitely not that of Qatar's incredible lounge food.

Small dessert and salad area.

Seating space

We only had around an hour to kill before heading to our gate. Nearly 24 hours without sleeping I was absolutely knackered and almost blacked out on my way over!