Etihad Is Cutting Chauffeur Service For First & Business Class Passengers

I was planning a trip in business class for the end of this year but I don't plan to book my flight until august. This is a real bummer for me as I was hoping I could experience the chauffeur. I really hope that the prices will be considerate and not over the top.

Surprising since chauffeur service was one of the few things that gave etihad an upper hand over qatar airways. Still sad to see this go, since even smaller carriers like Oman Air offer Chauffeur service. It wouldve been more appropriate if they had cut business class chauffeur service for Discounted and Promo fares. I also dont get the logic for cutting chauffeur service for First Class passengers. Sucks.

This bid for an empty seat looks interesting.... how do you think the bidding system will work? Same as upgrades? How much will be charged to purchase this service and chauffer do you think?

Please, please, use only one "wow" per week.

Love the idea of having empty seats next to me.

@Danny,

The writing here is so painful. "Am I happy to see these changes? Of course not. But at the same time, I am happy to see the Gulf carriers headed in a more sustainable direction..."

This happens so often. "Is thing good? No, but also equally yes." It's like starting an essay with "Asia is a land of contrasts" or "Webster's defines".

@ Hosea -- Writing a blog isn't as easy it looks.

Ben, I just wanted to say thank you for your awesome blog. I enjoy it every day. Lately I've seen so many "haters" commenting on your use of verbiage, being too detailed in a 10 picture review, etc. It's really disappointing to see these comments so sending you some positive energy your way. 🙂 Keep doing what you are doing.

Here we go with the grammar/style police and then the people who defend Lucky as if he is sitting in a corner crying over the comments... It's exhausting.

I like the empty seat bidding. When I fly ULCCs in the U.S. I like to buy-up to rows in which there are no people (because ULCC patrons rarely buy-up in my experience), but that is sometimes a gamble. I like the idea of having a guaranteed empty seat. The FAs as you pointed out need to enforce it.

No mention of Qatar or the fact that they do seem to run a sustainable operation whilst making a profit. Obviously that would go against the numerous posts you've made on this blog - and can obviously never admit you're wrong

I second Chris's post. Keep up the interesting articles, Ben!

Seems time has proven US carriers argument right : pax only care about lie-flat seats, low prices and an appearance of upscale service. Only a lobotomized individual would buy the argument F class customers prefer navigating all the hurdles in place to determine which transportation provider is most reliable in each market flown.

Most US airlines have an unadvertised policy that allows you to buy a neighboring seat. It's usually under the umbrella of reserving a seat for an instrument or being a "passenger of size"

I believe they give you a second boarding pass you can place on the seat to make it clear to others that you paid for it.

Well there goes my hopes of flying Etihad business or first! I want to do it just so I don't have to drive to the airport!

So if your flight is mostly empty and you just happen to have a whole row to yourself in economy (without having gone through the empty seat bidding process), I wonder if they'll still let you stretch out, or if they'll say you can't since you didn't purchase those seats.

I agree with you this doesn't really affect business travellers since they normally expense the cab/car service to/from the airport and get reimbursed anyways.
It iwll be tricky as well to have those empty confirmed seats when a fligiht suddenly becomes overbooked.

@Hosea
He's not happy to see it personally, but he's glad they are trying to be more sustainable in their operations. This is my interpretation.

Emirates won't follow. They didn't make huge failed investments into other airlines

The only bad piece of writing is the Etihad VP's statement as it is full of jargon: "value proposition" / "product proposition" etc.

@chandan - The discounted biz fares were never eligible for the free chauffeur service to begin with, so no change there.

@ Chandan Bhat: Even before that decision there was no chauffeur service for discounted business fares (definitely not for "Business Saver")

Whilst the economic realities are starting to hit the Middle Eastern carriers, the fact is that their hard product is still very, very good - new airplanes, spacious business class seating, great IFE, innovations like on-board bars and lounges etc etc. So what if they are cutting back on the quality of booze in lounges, offering paid access to lounges and restricting chauffeur flights? The reality is that they will still offer a much better business class than legacy carriers like BA, their fares are competitive and, as they fly from regional airports in the U.K., connecting to Asia and Australasia via the Middle East is far more convenient than having to connect via traditional hubs like Heathrow, Frankfurt or Paris.

Yes it's a shame that the Gulf carriers are cutting back but the reality is that, even with the cutbacks, they are still way ahead of BA (my national airline) for pretty much all long-haul flights with the exception of those to the Americas, where the Middle East's geography naturally disadvantages them.

I just hate the way they communicate these changes as though they are based on customer feedback. Pulling the free chauffer service is not done to "increase choice". I get the economics of why they need to do it, I just don't understand why they feel the need to spin lies in the process.

"The Gulf carriers typically have among the lowest pricing in business class"

-uh...in what universe? Emirates & Etihad have one of the most expensive business class fares..expect to pay at least 7K for a roundtrip LAX-DXB.

@ schar: While you are right in regard to flights out of LAX - at least after just a quick research - you are not when it comes to the prices of Emirates and Etihad in general. Business class tickets from here in Germany to South-east Asia sell for as low as 2400 roundtrip and shouldn't go up more than 3000

Emirates still has their chauffer service, so far. I've used it not just in Dubai, but in other cities such as Houston and Bangkok as well.
And Schar correct, Emirates is one of the pricier options for business and first, even to Europe and Asia.
Finally, Emirates turns a good profit, you can see for yourself on their publicly available financial statements.

Sven, maybe you are right in regards of Germany. However, in Australia they are not the cheapest, and from other comments it doesn't seem they are in many other places.

So perhaps the general rule is they are not value priced, but as is often the case there are exceptions.

They also quietly abolished their business class amenity bags in Business class earlier this year too!

This has been a major reason for my choice of Etihad when booking long haul business class trips. I will now look elsewhere.

One related topic but one not covered here is that of using a Irish chauffeur service for transport about the United Kingdom. Many people, in particular corporate executives, do not wish to use public transport or traditional taxi services when they are in the United Kingdom. They instead prefer the privacy, exclusiveness and class of a chauffeur service. The site http://vipchauffeurservice.co.uk describes why employing a private chauffeur service for London airport transfers or even to tour UK locations works out much better for them and can be more affordable than most people assume.

Though the chauffeur ride is no longer free I don't think that will affect things much. Business travelers who are used to airport transfers by chauffeur are used to the service and typically love it so much that they won't give it up because the free option is out. Even a high-quality service like Cars Exec at https://www.cars-exec.com/ is more affordable than people might think (and they cover just about every location across the UK).

Tried the bidding system in Economy so we could have a spare seat between us. Paid £89 each way to guarantee this. Unfortunately it was a waste of money as they only seem to offer it when the plane is only half full. We could have had a whole row for nothing