Questions and Answers

Hello folks,
Having a hard time deciding between the two for my trip to India next year from LAX

i) Etihad is on a Boeing 777 which obviously is not anywhere close to their A380 but there is
availability in First
ii) Cathay first is top rated,however what I see available is Business class for the flights from LAX.
Plus the Wings lounge at HKG looks enticing.

Key considerations for me are- > Seat comfort,service (incl. ground) and lounge.
Food/drinks not much. Anyone who has been on both can chime in ? Much appreciated !

@NeelK
Is this an award booking using AA miles? Or are we talking about paid ticket? Or some other miles currency?

If AA you can not route true Asia to India
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/06/08/american-aadvantage-award-routing-rules/[/URL]

Alaska will let you route to India on CX.
[URL]http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/award-chart/award-chart-Africa.aspx[/URL]

The LAX flight should be on this type of aircraft
[URL]http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Etihad_Airways/Etihad_Airways_Boeing_777-200LR.php[/URL]

Review here
[URL]http://first2board.com/pointssummary/2015/03/26/etihad-airways-lax-auh-777-200lr-diamond-first-class/[/URL]

Personally I have not tried the EY 777-200LR since EY have so few of them so can’t give you a personal impression. But in general F is always better than J for seat comfort if the cabin is done right.

Lounges are a bit fucked up in AUH at the moment since the F lounge has not yet opened if I remember correctly.

Just make certain you stay away from Jetihad out of SFO
[URL]http://travelskills.com/2015/02/04/etihad-vs-jetihad/[/URL]

The final question might be where in India are you going, and what type of airplane are EY and CX flying there and what are the schedules?

A 4 hour red eye on a narrowbody vs a widebody as an example might just be the deciding factor for me.

Thanks No Name !
Yes, I’d seen the info on first and fourth links. Wasn’t aware about AS routing though.
Don’t have lot of AS miles ; gotta start showing my love to BoA.

Plan is to use AA miles and use Avios for HKG-HYD if going through Cathay.
Schedules to HYD are okay on both options.

Option1 :
Book Cathay J for LAX-HKG and HKG-HYD using avios.
Cathay first is rated very high by Lucky and others and so,if last minute First space is released,would jump on that. If not,would be losing out on Option2 below.

Option2:
Book EY first for LAX-AUH-HYD. If Cathay first opens up,change the award (change fees on AA).

Slightly inclined towards Option2 as it’s First vs Cathay Biz and so, unless experts here think Cathay Biz is still better than EY first on 777 would go for EY.
Thanks for reading !

I would say go with Option2, but then I’m fond of sure things. Think CX F might be better than F on this EY plane, but there is no guarantied it will open up and you did mentioned that food/drinks did not matter that much.

Getting the Alaska visa would be good start if you plan on returning to India anytime soon. Picking up the both Private and Business versions should get you 50K points for just the annual fee and a first purchase.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/best-current-credit-card-offers/airline-credit-cards/[/URL]
And also be on the look out when Alaska have sale of miles, sadly the last just ended on Oct 6.

Of course there is also Option No. 3; fly out on one airline and back on the other? CX out, if you find F space that would also give you access to the Oneworld F lounges in LAX and HKG. Then EY back?

Then you can tell the rest of us which is better.

I would absolutely go with Option 2 (or Option 3 as [USER=268]@No Name[/USER] suggested).

[B]Option 1:[/B] 55,000 AA miles + 37,500 Avios. If we use Ben’s valuations, that’s ~$1500 worth of miles.
[B]Option 2: [/B]90,000 AA miles, so ~$1600, and you’re getting First.

Even if you’re not flying on the A380, Etihad still has a solid first class product. I flew one of their oldest A340’s last week, and that was [I]certainly[/I] much nicer than any business class — including Cathay Pacific’s.

If using AA miles, I would even probably take Jetihad first over Cathay business (partly because I haven’t done the former yet).

Thank you Tiffany and No Name. That is exactly the expert opinion I wanted to hear !
Yes, Option3 sounds good but I’m eyeing for EK first on the return 🙂
(OMAAT effect).

Sound like a plan, a A380 beats a B777 most days of the week.

There is of course the EY A380 to JFK if you were willing to not take a direct flight back to LAX?

Probably the only F product that is even better then a EK A380 available on points.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] I would be very careful with Jetihad. I’ve only flown them once from AUH to DEL on a 777 but the seat was in rough shape. Peeling veneer, suite doors that wouldn’t stay in position and kept sliding around the whole trip… Definitely didn’t feel first class. Plus AUH ground services are pretty poor from my experience.

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] — Saying AUH ground services are pretty poor is a dramatic understatement, from what I’ve experienced!! ;p