My first time on Etihad was a bit of a disappointment and an extremely bumpy ride. Etihad runs an interesting 5th freedom route between Nagoya, a manufacturing hub including parts for Boeing’s 777, and Beijing. For this flight, I would go through some of the worst turbulence I have ever experienced.
There were several disappointments with the flight not all Etihad’s fault. Our flight was late from Abu Dhabi and I was told that boarding would be 40 mins late at check in. However no updated time was ever shown on the FIDs nor was announcements made at gate. As we went past the 40 min delay, again nothing was mentioned by any of the staff nor the computer system of a new boarding time. The boarding time displayed was still the original scheduled boarding time. Maybe delays happens so often in Beijing that no staff cared anymore? Either way multiple passengers had to ask the gate agent directly for the new time.
Passengers were neatly lined up but what was interesting was that no boarding priorities were announced. This meant everyone started boarding at the same time including elderly and people with small children.
Onboard I was in an aisle seat since business class was full and all the window seats were taken. The welcome drinks of orange juice and water were quickly handed out as the rest of the passengers streamed in. The main disappointment of the flight was that the only person who seemed to be taken care of the passengers was the man in the white jacket. The other cabin crew in business did not greet or introduce themselves to any of the passengers while we waited for push back. This is in contrast to my return flight where the FAs went to each seat to introduce themselves and take our meal orders. The crew was much less proactive on this flight and I had to make several request for my meals. The return flight crew was simply more meticulous and went through everything during meal orders including asking if passengers prefer still or sparkling water. It is a short flight with a full business class so there is much more pressure to get all the meals and drinks out in time. Even then, the return flight crew operated at true five star level with lots of smiles and offered passengers the chance to sample wines. This crew despite being fresh from staying overnight Beijing did the bare minimum.
As we started our descent no warning was made from the cockpit about the severe turbulence we would experience for 2/3 of the way down. You can hear how everything was being knocked around and there were some screams from passengers in economy as we went into a strong downdraft. It was not an easy descent for the pilots, and I wondered how hard they try to avoid accidentally pressing the wrong buttons as we were being tossed around. After landing nothing was mentioned by the crew despite some passengers looking quite upset.
Overall, a bumpy disappointing flight with Etihad. The contrast to the service on the return trip could not be greater.
AloJapan.com