Has anyone traveled with them? How would you rate them compared to PIA, BA etc?
Re: Etihad Airways
Because they're still amassing a fleet, their service is inconsistent. It's hit or miss depending on the sector. Sometimes Europe/N.America is comparable to Emirates or Singapore. Sometimes it's horrible, especially if you're travelling anywhere East of Abu Dhabi. Their Business Class sucks.
If you're looking to fly to Pakistan from N.America, go with PIA's latest 777s. The planes are immaculate, the crew is behaved and most importantly the journey is short. Especially if you're from Toronto (14 hour direct flight). PIA's economically priced Business Class product also does a good job muting the baby zoo back in Economy.
Re: Etihad Airways
I haven't travelled on Etihad myself yet, but I know a lot of people who have. And hskhan's reply above is the first time that I'm hearing something negative about Etihad.
Re: Etihad Airways
From Toronto to PK - I'd vote for PIA. I have travelled with them more than once & no complaints. I haven't travelled by Etihad myself though, so cant say much.
Re: Etihad Airways
I have travelled with both PIA's 777 and etihad airways. I am a frequent etihad traveller now but they indeed were a hit and miss in the beginning, specially planes wise. Like from abudhabi to europe, their services are top notch but to Pakistan or SL or India, not so much. Whereas other companies like emirates, will have consistent planes and services throughout. However, Etihad are better even on these sectors now. They have been voted the best new airline for some reasons right?:)
PIA's new 777 are excellent, service was great and crew was surprisingly pleasant. Really enjoyed travelling from pia, for a change.
Re: Etihad Airways
My uncle travelled on Etihad from Khi to Abu Dhabi on 18th of last month and due to engine failure the flight landed back in Khi 20 min after take off.
Re: Etihad Airways
Nope, never tried Etihad. I always travel PIA when going to Pakistan and the service is good. Like the ppl above said, the new 777 are great :k:…I didn’t really have any complains when I went from USA to pak twice in 2005 using PIA :k:
Re: Etihad Airways
PIA has luggage weight restrictions from North America. Just keep that in mind if you plan on carrying the usual 32kg.
Re: Etihad Airways
^ Havent been keeping up with that
Mehnaz, whats the current status? Wasn't it like 32kg or something?!
Re: Etihad Airways
It's 20 something now ... which is why we opted not to fly with PIA. Plus, we needed to go to UAE anyway. Etihad still allows 32kg. Emirates is flying from Toronto from the end of October, which will be another good alternative ... but I don't know if they have any luggage/weight restrictions.
Re: Etihad Airways
Dang 20 something? 
PS - I heard they stopped PIA from Chicago. Can anyone confirm this? Is it still flying from NY to Lahore? If yes, where does it stop in between (i.e. Manchester?!) ?
Re: Etihad Airways
I travelled from lahore to manchester thru eithaad and it was pretty ok, not so bad.
Re: Etihad Airways
^ Havent been keeping up with that
Mehnaz, whats the current status? Wasn't it like 32kg or something?!
Yeah, as of last month it's 23 kgs or 50 lbs for US and Canada.
Re: Etihad Airways
I can't make general statements about Etihad, since I haven't seen all their aircrafts. My parents travelled from Lahore to London (via Abu Dhabi) on Etihaad in May en route to San Francisco (last segment travelled on Virgin). Their experience was outstanding. They were all rave for the airline in terms of timeliness, ground service, ticketing, food, comfort and baggage handling. Their experience may be a bit skewed since they travelled by Business class, and so they had access to business class lounges in both Abu Dhabi and Heathrow.
Re: luggage allowance, to my understanding, most airlines who travel over Atlantic have gotten to 23 kgs (50 lbs) allowance. Some airlines that fly over Pacific (Singapore) still allow 32 kgs (70 lbs). This change is in effect since summer last year. If this is important for you, do check from the airline. My suspicion is that it has something to do with how much weight should airport employees be required to lift, and this may be something coming out of Europe (so flights with stop-overs in Europe are impacted). Not sure, though.
Re: Etihad Airways
For me it was too many stops, so I am sticking to BA.
Thanks everyone for replying.
Re: Etihad Airways
Guess Im late to answer but two members of my family have seen the best and the worst of etihad.
one family member bought extremely cheaply priced ticket. was asked to sit in business class by the security officer although his ticket was of economy class. he said it was the best travel all in terms of comfort, service, food, etc. uncompared with any other airline's business class that he has travelled from earlier.
another member had to experience the opposite with etihad. highly priced ticket than normal (maybe due to unavailability of seats), 3+ hours delay, poorest ground and crew service, bad aircraft, inedible food, they had to stay hungry through the flight.
the only difference between these two travels was that the first member travelled when the airline was still new and probably promoting the name. the second member travelled just recently. in the first week of sept.
personally, while going to Pakistan from anywhere, I have found PIA to be good.
Re: Etihad Airways
Going to Pakistan on Etihad was excellent. However, the return flight for my parents was a complete horrific nightmare.
As written by my sis ... she sent this to Etihad, no answer yet:
Friday Nov 16th Departing Karachi to Abu Dhabi on flight EY 141 was the
beginning of a disastrous, painful, humiliating and exhausting
experience!!!!!!!
Flight EY 141 Karachi to Abu Dhabi was scheduled to leave Karachi at
10:55pm. There was a delay in taking off. It was not a very long delay
and all was still well. Once nearing Abu Dhabi airport the passengers
aboard flight EY 141 were informed that due to fog the plane would not land
in Abu Dhabi and instead continued on to Al Ain and landed there. After
a few hours of waiting at Al Ain we were flown back to Abu Dhabi airport.
This was well after the time that the connecting Etihad flight had departed
for Toronto.
60 passengers on Etihad flight EY 141 were left stranded at Abu Dhabi
airport. No one had any answers as to what was going on and why had they
been left behind. After waiting again for several hours at Abu Dhabi
airport the 60 passengers were told they would have to be flown to London,
England and take a connecting flight from there. They were assured that
Etihad had made arrangements with various airlines to fly the passengers
from London to Canada.
After reaching London some of the assigned passengers such as my parents
went to board British Airways flight 099 as informed by Etihad airlines in
Abu Dhabi. Once reaching the counter British Airways told my parent’s
Etihad had no right to tell them they could take British Airways as Etihad
does not have any agreement with British Airways.
Stranded AGAIN in London, England. Tired and exhausted. My father is 63
and my mother is ill and takes medication. No one cared. No one wanted
to listen or tried to help. They were turned away from B.A after being
yelled at with comments such as” we do not want to hear what you have been
through, that is not our concern.”
Next my parent’s were told they were scheduled to take Air Canada and to
make their way to the appropriate gate #. After running as fast as they
could from the B.A flight, which they had been turned away from to, the
other side of the airport, which is, take a good 30 minutes for person in
good health. They reached Air Canada only to be told all Air Canada
flights have been cancelled due to system challenges.
At this point my parent’s were ready to literally drop on the floor as they
had very little energy left. They were told they would be boarding Air
France flight 2471 at 10am on Nov 18th.
Finally after almost 2 days of non-stop traveling I picked them up at
Toronto airport. Of course their 4 suitcases of luggage were lost in
transit and has yet to be found!!
**Why did the connecting Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Toronto not wait
for these passengers, when they knew there were 60 passengers missing who were delayed in Al Ain?
Who is going to compensate the psychological and physical exhaustion that
my parent’s had to endure?!! The same can be said of myself not having any
idea where or when my parents would be home. Calling Etihad and the
above-mentioned airlines to get some information!!!
Re: Etihad Airways
Wow, that's terrible!
Re: Etihad Airways
Mehnaz, come on!
Compensate the "psychological and physical exhaustion" your parents endured? Who are you kidding? What makes you think Etihad should delay hundreds of Abu Dhabi-Toronto passengers because a handful of people on Karachi-Abu Dhabi encountered bad weather?
You can blame the weather all you want but you cant expect Etihad to stall a flight because some people couldn't make their connection. Etihad did everything they could to get you home in a reasonable amount of time. You're lucky they even arranged for another airline to take you home - thats ABOVE AND BEYOND what most other airlines would be willing to do.
Re: Etihad Airways
After removing all the fluff (personal pain and suffering) what I got out of this tale is that Etihad couldn't land in Abu Dhabi due to weather (fog). Got to Al Ain and then flew passengers back to Abu Dhabi. Rebooked passengers and got them on a different flight to London, and from there did every thing they could to send passengers on to their final destination by working with three (may be more) different airlines. I actually call it spectacular service. With most other airlines, you'd be stuck waiting for their next flight, and there won't be any option to travel on any other airline.
Airline travel is painful as it is, and missing connecting flights is never fun. But at least you want to be stuck with an airline that is actually trying to get you to your destination.
About the only thing left now is for Etihad to deliver the missing luggage. Hopefully after the travel fatigue is over and passengers can reflect back on this experience, it wouldn't appear all that terrible, considering the circumstances.
Till then, the advice is to drink plenty of coffee and bed rest.