Hot on the heals of Qatar’s sale, Etihad have launched their own business class sale. Flights must be booked by 24 May, 2017. Outbound travel dates are from 11 August, 2017 until 20 March, 2018. As usual there are no fantastic bargains like the ex-EU Qatar sale fares. However, many of the UK fares are similar to the Qatar sale fares. Overall, most fares have risen since the last Etihad sale.
If you can find an accommodation inclusive fare, even with one night’s stay you could potentially save at least another £100 using TopCashback. I talked about this method in this article. For example on Ebookers I could find Etihad flights from Edinburgh to Sydney with a one night hostel stay for £2788. You would have earned £111 in Ebookers bonus+ credit plus around £100 cashback bringing the fare to £2577 which for a good airline like Etihad, is a good fare from the UK.
In this post:
Where to credit miles
Etihad has its own scheme, Etihad Guest which is a very flexible scheme for redeeming. Etihad Guest have family accounts similar to the BA household account where you could pool your miles. They also do a range of other options such as part pay miles & cash, cash in points for money and shopping vouchers. You could also credit to Air Berlin, Malaysian or American Airlines which would give you status in One World and therefore BA depending on how far you had travelled. They also partner with several Star Alliance airlines such as Scandinavian as well as Korean air from Sky team.
The Business Class seats
New business class seats for B777 at ITB Exhibition
The new Business Studios are available only on the A380 and 787 Dreamliners currently. The London to Abu Dhabi route currently has the A380. The rest of Etihad’s fleet offer their older business class which still has fully flat beds. At the ITB Exhibition they revealed the next generation of business class seats which will go onto the B777.
The Business Class Studio features a 22-inch wide seat which converts into a fully-flat bed of up to 6 feet 8 inches. Each seat has direct aisle access.
Business class features:
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- mood lighting providing a relaxed ambience throughout the flight
- in-seat massage function and personal lighting, controlled at the touch of a button
- a turn-down service including a mattress, luxury loungewear and slippers on ultra long-haul flights
- noise-cancelling headsets.
- range of connection ports and mobile or Wi-Fi connectivity on board for selected flights.
- 18.5-inch touch-screen TV (Business Studio)
- 15.4-inch touch-screen TV (Business Flatbed)
If you are reading via email you can view the Business Class Studio video here
Etihad feature Food & Beverage Managers as well as “Dine Anytime” meaning you choose when you want to eat. The Food & Beverage Manager will guide you through the menu options and recommend the perfect accompaniment for your meal, whether it is a mocktail or a glass of Champagne from the wine list.
The Lobby on A380
The A380 also features the impressive Lobby lounge which is shared between First and Business class and was inspired by boutique hotels. The Lobby seats up to six guests and is fitted with seatbelts, power supply and connectivity ports.
Prices
These are the lowest fares advertised from any of the 3 UK starting airports. For some of them, the prices vary significantly between the starting points, so it could be worth a positioning flight to get the best price. For example, Sydney was around £700 cheaper from Edinburgh. Be aware that the cheapest fares will not include the chauffeur service.
- Bangkok £1826
- Colombo £1859
- Ho Chin Minh City £1983
- Hong Kong £1987
- Kuala Lumpur £1852
- New Delhi £1735
- Singapore £1809
- Sydney £2777
You can find the Etihad sale page here.
4 comments
The airline industry throughout Europe is not so generous, in Business Class 2017/18, due to Qatar holding off on their sales. I assume the new Q-seat is already taking a hugh amount of Qatar’s income and somebody needs to pay for those suites after all. Most of the Airlines are tuning into Qatar’s every move and applying similar prices accordingly. BA are still offering some good deals out of AMS-BKK, but the product is sub standard to Qatar which means people are generally hoping that Qatar will move in the sales market. I would not expect too much this year, so if you see a deal graph it why you can.
Thanks Ian. Good point about BA Amsterdam deals but as you say most people would rather fly Qatar. It’s a shame Etihad don’t seem to do the same ex EU bargains that Qatar do.
I think Etihad won’t release any ex EU bargains unless Qatar do. I also understand Etihad are currently making some serious cutbacks and therefore are unlikely to repeat the 1200 euro fares, from AMS-SIN last year. Even their amenity kits seem to have disappeared on their Business Flights under 6 hours, so all does not seem well in Abu Dhabi land.
The Middle East airlines are all struggling at the moment apart from Qatar who are heavily subsidised. At least there are still some ex EU Qatar bargains though the weak pound doesn’t help prices.
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