Review: Etihad Airways Business Class A320 Abu Dhabi to Cairo

Flew Etihad Business A320 from Seychelles - Abu Dhabi and it was amazing. Great service, seat, and food for a 4 hr flight! Puts US & European regional flights to shame IMO.

Imagine what the "other passengers" thought about you... Haha.

But I totally get what you mean - hate it when there are rude people on board. And you feel so bad for the flight attendants, who (at least outside of the US) somehow manage to maintain awfully polite. I am always left feeling so insensitive, as I would probably have snapped and started an argument instead.

Lucky,
I really appreciated this report and your observations of other passengers. As a western raised Arab, I offer the following: Unfortunately, this is the norm in most Arab countries. The governments are not as organized and structured as in Western government, and the population have to be very aggressive to get what they want. If flying from western country to another, I doubt you would see this behavior. But when flying within the Arab states, they have this aggressive/chaotic mentality to try to get what is best for themselves. Everyone wishes it was more organized, but a huge cultural shift has to take place.

Dear lucky, I love the blog. Just for your information, you wrote that the entertainment controller was East to use. Keep up the great work!

@ Benjamin -- Whoops, fixed, thanks.

@Lucky - Interesting that you too have an issue with swinging carry-ons in Cairo. I always pick the last row when flying to/from Cairo just to avoid being nailed in the face. I fondly recall a bloody nose on a CAI-SSH flight some years ago that prompted this course of action! It seems to be a Cairo thing for some reason - don't have that problem on any other routes in the Middle East.

Interesting trip report. I've been interested in traveling more of the Middle East. Will keep this report and SeanM comment in mind.

$25 entry fee?? Tourism is way, way down and they still have these crazy fees!

@ Willy -- Agreed. And funny enough they raised it recently, I guess due to lack of tourism. That's a great way to encourage more people to visit, eh?

Lucky, were the setbacks as filthy as they appear in your photos? Probably no dirtier than any other, but actually seeing it make me want to run and wash my hair! Do you catch colds very often, or are you immune to everything by now? Do you take any precautions at all, such as wiping down surfaces with towelettes? (Thanks for the great report!)

@ Mairi -- Hah, actually didn't notice that. For the most part I only get sick VERY rarely. Think I'm immune to most things by now.

Besides being as informative as always and with good visuals for better understanding, today you made me laugh hard with this TR. The scene you described of the shouting kid on the aisle & people hitting you on the face as they boarded due to all the junk they're carrying on, is just priceless. Keep up the good work Ben and thanks for a great TR!

@ Lucky -- was the interior, specifically the color scheme, done by the same people responsible for Korean Air cabins you love so much? 😉

@ Ivan Y -- Hahah, it sure seems like it!

@ Lucky -- at least, with Korean they are using their signature airline color* but not sure what's Etihad's excuse.

* -- apparently, Korean's color is "Celadon Green" which "represents the characteristics of Korea" (per Wikipedia). I presume Wikipedia refers to pale green-blue color of a glaze and ceramic wares from X-XIII centuries.

I love this site for airplanes or airports first class travel is a dream to me/the passengers on this filght is like the middle east ,just waiting to go off any time,think they need to live iceland to cool off,great work/ps i love heathrow as its 20 min from me

The food looked amazing!!!!!

Hi, it is an old report but interesting , I liked how you described everything and also EVERYONE, but unfortunately I feel from your report and the others' comments that you just come with the negative behaviors and attitudes of people "from your point of view" and did not see any positive thing although these cases I faced a lot in my travelling and life from different nationalities (Americans, Europeans Asians wherever) negative attitudes have no specific nationalities or places but they are only depends on people and how they want to see the other people !!!

Excellent information. Very helpful. I am planning a trip from Bangalore to Cairo and this information really helps me feel more comfortable about what to expect. Thank you.