On Sunday I took the inaugural Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles, which was a pretty cool experience. I was a bit surprised by the lack of festivities/buzz about the new route at Abu Dhabi Airport, though the opposite couldn't have been more true at LAX. Since this was the first time…
Continue reading: Video Of Inaugural Etihad Airways Plane Landing At LAX
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Doesn't LAX usually have several active runways going simultaneously? How did the spotters know where to be to get the shots of the approach?
@ john -- They do have two runways for landing, usually (while the other two are used for takeoff). That being said, they know in advance which runway a flight is scheduled to land on, so I suspect they positioned themselves accordingly.
Definitely not an IF. They have fleets of planes.
Sadly, neither the VIP and VVIP aircraft operated by Dubai Royal Air Wing nor Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight have impressive liveries.
Qatar Amiri Flight is also not impressive.
Best one of the bunch is Saudi Royal Flight.
not really etihad related... since the cockpit windows open, are they locked and cannot be opened during flight? i hope so
@ mangoceviche -- Much like the emergency exits, I would suspect that due to the pressure at altitude they couldn't open.
Ok, among etihad emirates and Qatar, which is your preferred first class for ultralonghaul flights from Middle East to US?
@ Francisco C -- Since Qatar doesn't offer a first class product to the US, I'd say Etihad.
inaugurals are always fun: are you going to try out the inaugural Garuda Indonesia AMS-LGW 777-300ER on sunday 7sept2014? there is a very sleek First Class suite 515€vv Business staggered 315€vv and spacious Economy 3-3-3seating 99€vv or maybe you can use skyteam miles for that aswell: http://www.ausbt.com.au/garuda-jakarta-amsterdam-london-boeing-777-flights-from-september
Don't fly Etihad's AUH-LAX Route if you are connecting from Pakistan or India within 3.5 to 4 hour window. They have history of "Creating" delays on days when they overbook AUH-LAX. (AUH-LAX leaves at 850, your flight from Pak or India which was supposed to get to AUH at 6am will get there at 8 and you won't have enough time to go through on-premises immigration.
Then they will get you into east coast to Washington at 11am Gulf time flight and put you on grey hound American or United domestic flight for 6 hours.. Pay a little extra and Fly Emirates DUBAI-LAX and save time, emirates is much better with timing.
@ Syed - this is very interesting; are there threads on FT or some other forum that talk about that?