Etihad Airways A340 First Class Abu Dhabi To Los Angeles

As I mentioned over the weekend, yesterday I flew from Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles on Etihad Airways’ inaugural flight.

I’m a big fan of Etihad Airways, and was especially excited about this flight. Not only is it Etihad’s longest route in the world, but it’s also the longest nonstop flight into LAX (beating Emirates’ Dubai flight by about 50 miles).

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While a full trip report will follow, I figured I’d share my initial thoughts on the flight:

Etihad Airways Diamond First Class Suite

Etihad Airways’ A340-500s are configured with 12 first class suites. They’re spread across three rows in a 1-2-1 configuration.

The cabin is simply gorgeous. Unlike Emirates, the cabin is somewhat understated (well, minus the “diamond” on the bulkhead) and soothing.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class cabin

Each suite has a door, and the seat is plenty wide and bed plenty long to spread out comfortably. The entertainment selection is also impressive, and ranks among the best out there.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class seat

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class seat

Purely in terms of hard product, Etihad’s first class cabin ranks as one of my favorites. And on a 16+ hour flight, that’s pretty important.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class bed

You know you’re on a long flight when the airshow can’t even capture the whole route on one screen. 😉

Etihad Airways airshow

Etihad Airways Diamond First Class Food

Etihad Airways is so, so close to having the world’s best first class catering. So close.

They have an onboard chef in charge of the first class cabin, and when they introduced the concept I thought it was mere puffery. However, over the years they’ve really fine tuned the chef service, whereby they can customize just about anything for you.

There’s a huge menu with a “freedom dining” concept, whereby you can eat what you want when you want.

Amazing ability to customize on Etihad Airways

And you’re not limited to what’s on the menu. If you want something else they can most likely custom make it for you as well. For example, I asked the chef what she recommended for dessert, and she said she’d make her “specialty,” which wasn’t on the menu.

For the starter I had the arabic mezze.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class arabic mezze

Then for the main course I had a beef tenderloin with vegetables and fries (the novelty of having them on a plane hasn’t worn off for me yet) and a tomato concasse. It was prepared exactly to my specifications. Amazing.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class main course

And then for dessert I had the chef’s specialty, which wasn’t only beautifully presented, but also delicious.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class dessert

Now Etihad’s catering concept is absolutely brilliant and I love being able to eat what I want when I want how I want. The only slight problem is that apparently none of that applies more than halfway through the flight.

The flight time was 16hr15min. I had a three course meal after takeoff, and then about four hours out of Los Angeles I was hungry again and wanted to have a pre-arrival meal. I was really excited, since I had been eying the biryani on the menu, which sounded delicious.

So I told the flight attendant I’d like to place a food order, and she sent over the chef to take my order. I had the menu out as she approached me, and she said “unfortunately we don’t have anything on the menu left, so let me tell you what we do have.”

So after telling me what she had, she suggested she just bring it all to me, which she did. That consisted of:

• A pastry basket
• A breakfast “starter” with smoothie, yogurt, etc.
• A bagel
• Chicken and beef satay

I had no interest in having anything “breakfasty,” given that the flight departed Abu Dhabi in the morning and at this point it was afternoon in Los Angeles and late night in Abu Dhabi — certainly not breakfast time anywhere.

Etihad Airways A340-500 Diamond First Class pre-arrival potluck

C’mon, seriously? So it seems that you can eat what you want when you want… as long as it’s in the first half of the flight. For what it’s worth this isn’t the first time this has happened to me on Etihad. On my outbound flight in Etihad business class they didn’t have my preferred starter or main course on a half full flight when I ordered it even before takeoff, and on my past flights in Etihad first class they also ran out of food.

So while I love the “dine when you want” concept, I almost wish they didn’t offer it if it means you simply can’t eat before landing and have to “front load” all the good stuff.

Etihad Airways Diamond First Class Service

This was probably the best Etihad crew I’ve ever had. The purser, Andrew, was incredibly hands-on, friendly, and attentive. Then the first class flight attendant and chef were great as well.

That being said — and maybe this is just me — service on Middle Eastern airlines (and this applies across the board) is just different than on the top Asian airlines.

When I fly Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines first class, I have to beg not to be served a dozen glasses of champagne before takeoff. They’re so attentive, and the moment your glass is more than half empty they’re there to proactively refill it.

I’ve just never received that level of attentive service on a Middle Eastern carrier. For example, we sat on the ground an hour before pushback, and I got offered one glass of champagne the whole time.

So service was good — the best I’ve had on Etihad — but still on a somewhat different level than Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines, for example.

Etihad Airways First Class Amenities

Etihad Airways has Wi-Fi. Woohoo! $21.95 for a 16+ hour flight is cheap, if you ask me. And aside from a brief service interruption over the North Pole, service was consistently available.

In terms of other amenities, Etihad offers first class passengers nice pajamas and amenity kits. The pajamas are improved over the ones they offered a few years back, in my opinion.

Etihad Airways first class amenities

Etihad Airways first class amenity kit

And then I received chauffeur service on both ends, including in Los Angeles, which is always a nice perk.

Etihad Airways chauffeur service

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles Inaugural Festivities

This was my first inaugural flight in over five years, so I was kind of curious to see what the experience would be like.

At check-in I was given a really cool “prop” in celebration of the new service — what a cute idea!

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles inaugural flight “prop”

I was a bit surprised that there was nothing special at the gate, and not even a mention of it being the inaugural flight. That may have to do with what a disaster the US immigration pre-clearance experience is, or maybe that’s the norm. I’m not sure. There were a couple of guys in suits standing around observing things.

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles inaugural flight gate

Aboard there were a couple of mentions of it being the inaugural flight, and prior to landing I was offered an inaugural flight certificate — now that’s awesome!

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles inaugural flight certificate

After the gate experience in Abu Dhabi I wasn’t expecting much on the ground at LAX, but boy, was I wrong. As the plane pulled up to the gate there were quite a few people on the tarmac taking pictures, as the pilots held out the UAE and US flags from the cockpit windows.

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles inaugural flight arrival gate

As we deplaned, there must have been 50 people there to greet passengers, from ground staff to Etihad PR people. Very impressive! They were handing out some goody bags as well.

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles inaugural flight arrival gate

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles inaugural flight arrival gate

On an unrelated note, the guy seated across from me was interesting. He was traveling either with his granddaughter or girlfriend, I’m not sure which. And while he didn’t know it was the inaugural until he boarded the plane, once he found out he thought he was making history. How do I know? Because every five minutes for 16 hours I could hear him say “we’re making history” in one context or another. He thought he was Buzz Aldrin. I mean, I guess he had the “buzz” part down…

More to come with the full trip report!

If you’ve flown Etihad first class, what has your experience been? Have they run out of most food options like on my flights, or am I just consistently unlucky?