Etihad Adds First Class Service To Singapore

It also looks like a decent value proposition to transfer Citi TY points to them, as well.....A little more miles, but not by much...your opinion?

So Ben, you're saying it's worth it to get AA points even if you never fly through the US or American?

we don't really overlook those special values on AA chart... but most of us don't have the same flexibility as you do and we just don't fly between those regions too often.

Lantean +1

while these products do look amazing, i just don't really care to travel to the middle east at all. If I'm going to use my hard earned miles, it's going to be to get to a destination that interests me.

once i went out of my way to fly SYD-AUH-JFK on EY F + EY J, with a 34 layover in AUH (just enough to tour Dubai)

didn't come cheap at all - 120K+ AA miles for those 2 legs (which are 2 different awards since AA has very strict transit region constraints)

When you say no fuel surcharges, what are you going to pay in cash for taxes etc..? Thanks

Right you don't want to just travel to Abu Dhabi to experience this. What's being suggested is travel though.. Abu Dhabi or Dubai is a wonderful stop over city. We stopped at Dubai for 3 days on hour way to hong Kong on emirates a380 first suite. We will be doing same thing at Abu Dhabi on our return trip from Sydney back to Seattle next spring... Just to experience the etihad 1st apartment and arrival lounge, and their new 1st lounge at Abu Dhabi. When we mention our trips to people some raise their eye brows with expressions on their face why middle east?!? My sister in law literally told us she is worried about our safety... Oh please sister! 🙂

I have to disagree with the comments above. Thank you for posting these stuff Ben! Most people think that these info aren't of much use to them, in fact, if you map out itineraries on a more macro level, people would be surprised how useful they will be

That has made a great day even better. I booked (paid) F return flights with Etihad LHR->SIN at Christmas. Your review of First was so good, that even though we're not going to Singapore and in fact are going to Phuket, I deliberately booked that flight as it was one of the rare places where Etihad actually maintained First the entire way after we had to swap in Abu Dhabi. Now I get to experience First Suites the entire way on 2 brand new planes.

Hi Ben,

This is awesome. I actually booked SIN-AUH last week using AA miles in first class. At the time of booking, the aircraft they were using was A330-300. Just looked at my itinerary and the aircraft has been switched to the 787-9. I'm excited that I get to try this as well as the apartments.

Thanks.

"As far as I know, this is the only Etihad destination in Southeast Asia which will feature a first class cabin."

EY also operates 13 weekly 3-cabin to Kuala Lumpur. 1 daily on EY A333 and 6 weekly on Jet Airways B 77W. The only 2-cabin flight is the Sunday EY 413/416 rotation operated by VA B77W.

It's an even better value if you have an AAdvantage credit card that refunds 10% of all miles used (up to 10,000).

When you say getting to London/Europe is great on EY, you mean from AUH-LHR right? EY doesn't fly from the US to London AFAIK. US-EU on EY would be an incredible use of AAdvantage points!

@ Ken -- Yep, that's correct. They don't operate any flights between Europe and the US.

@ Craig -- Hmmm, interesting. I was looking at inventory in fall, when the route seems to exclusively be operated by two cabin planes.

@ John -- Awesome deal indeed!

@ Tom C -- Awesome!

@ Scott -- Shouldn't be much at all. Probably under $50 each way.

@ Lantean -- Agreed, though in fairness also have a lot of readers based outside the US, and they always complain my posts are too US-centric. So was trying to mix it up a bit. 😉

@ Jubbin -- Absolutely, they have some great redemption rates on their oneworld partner airlines.

@ pointie -- That's a fantastic option as well, good point.

Actually etihad also uses a 777-300ER to Kuala Lumpur so its not the only place in south east asia with Etihad first class. It also uses a A330-200 but that does not have first

Correction I found out that etihad had flown MANY planes with first class to south east asia.

It uses 3 77W Daily to Bangkok

Uses 2 77W to Manilla

And uses 1 77W to Jakarta

@ Johnson -- The 777s to Jakarta and Manila are all two cabin planes without first class.