Direct or not???

[Big_Brian 179]

Well, it's that time of year again, time to pick a flight. For the last few trips I've been paying a bit extra to travel direct but I'm tempted by Elthiad this time - £375 inc taxes!

 

The bad bits for me are;

it's not direct - duh...

a 7 hour layover at Abu Dahbi on the return flight (00:15-07:30),

 

The good bits are;

price!

a fast changeover on the way out,

both ways it starts in the evening - I'm a long way from London so I need time to gewt to the airport,

the return ends early enough that I can easily get home that night - last year I made the mistake of flying EVA and had to take a sleeper train in the UK to get home. That sucked, and not in a good way!

30Kg baggage allowance, even in economy.

 

So, here's the point of this post - does anyone know any good reason not to book Elthiad? I've done a search and, barring Manchester flights being rescheduled, I can't see one.

 

Oh, I want to travel on 29 Oct and I'll be taking golf clubs. Also, I'm a fat bastard so info on seat sizes would be useful.

 

Thanks.

[neil324 0]

Your a brave man that stopover on the return is a nightmare

Edited May 30, 2006 by neil324

[PhillipUK 0]

I fly etihad every time. I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't fly etihad.

[hillbilly 81]

flying with eithad in july , go for it

[Chivas 0]

If you're going to use indirect flights and on the basis that you got a sleeper home before (so guess you live further north) when you flew Eva, then why not pay a little more and use Emirates out of Birmingham or Manchester, who have the best frequent flyer package of them all ? Do Etihad even have a frequent flyer club ??

 

Remember once you have Gold status on Emirates for every 4 return flights you get a freebie.

Edited May 31, 2006 by Chivas

[Guest Fatboyfat]

Brian,

I think you'll find the Gatwick service with Etihad better wrt stopover times. (not sure whether your £375 deal applies).

Having said that tho' Cornwall - Gatwick is obviously a more fraught journey than Heathrow: Unless you pay the extortionate BA/Brymon flight fares from Newquay~Gatwick.

[safc 6]

big brian why dont you fly to london from where ever you live in scotland.i fly to lhr and lgw often for £65 inc taxes from newcastle,check ba.com.flown ethihad also and no problems.

[WoodyAmsterdam 0]

look here: http://www.airliners.net/discussions/trip_...ead.main/76396/

[Big_Brian 179]

Thanks all.

 

I actually live in Cornwall so the northern flights don't help.

Etihad out of Gatwick leaves too early in the day, I can't get there.

WoodyAmsterdam, thanks for the link.

Fatboyfat, BA/Brymon flights from Newquay~Gatwick aren't trustworthy, a bit of sea mist and they can't land at Newquay!

 

No one has come up with a "don't use these idiots" so I'll book it - but not tonight, I'm pissed!

[spacebass 0]

If you are a man of class forget a 7 hr stopover, it is a nightmare (based on 4hrs in Bahrain which is more civilised than Abui Dhabi very smoky) you could easily spend GBP20 in 7 hrs passing the time.

 

A short wait on the way out leaves more room for missing the connection and maybe an overnight stay (as happenned to me with Gulf Air, when Heathrow ATC broke down for 4 hours!)

 

This has nothing to do with Etihad or Gulf air it has to do with stopovers and comfort.

 

It is well worth GBP100 extra to fly direct if you have the dosh IMHO.

[Big_Brian 179]

I found a better option! Same airline, same departure times, but leaves from Heathrow and returns to Gatwick - same same for me, it's a train to Reading instead of a bus that's all. 1 hour 45 at Abu Dhabi on the way out and 1 hour 40 on the way back, so no long changeover.

 

£393 inclusive. Damn! It was £373 last night but I was drunk and wanted to see it sober! You snooze you lose I suppose.

 

spacebass, as to cost, I usually do one trip a year, this time I'm trying to make November and February so I'm triming budget where I can. It'll leave more to pay for all those sick buffalos.

 

 

It's booked now so thanks all for your help.

[Guest Fatboyfat]

Just a final one Brian. Etihad do allow you to return to a different airport on return leg (according to their website) so you could try for a price quote with Heathrow outbound and Gatwick on the return leg.

 

Yes, I have suffered greatly with Brymons inability to fly due to "a smokey exhaust on the A38" before as well !!!!

Edited June 1, 2006 by Fatboyfat

[rascall 130]

Get there as quick as you can. Dont waste precious time, its false economy. Fly direct.

[farman 11]

Your a brave man that stopover on the return is a nightmare

What stopover????

 

Have flown with etihad 5 times in last year and it has always been 1-1 1/2 hour stopover going there AND coming back!!! Flying from gatwick and back to gatwick

 

In fact i have just got back to england today and the stopover was same same.

 

Liked the new fleet of aircraft lots....... and th IFE was great.

 

Guess what.....????

 

Have now just booked my next holiday over there for sept. 16th.

 

Etihad everytime!! £375 return cant be beaten in my books

 

 

Edited June 14, 2006 by farman

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Etihad everytime!! £375 return cant be beaten in my books

 

 

Both Qatar and Emirates FF programmes make them cheaper than Etihad in the long term. Not such a big deal for the guys flying once a year bet for the more regular travellers the mileage is a big deal. That said, Etihad's new 777's are getting excellent reviews and their biz class is the best deal by far for a true flat-bed product.

[whitespider 1]

Living close to Heathrow I simply cannot imagine why anyone would EVER fly indirect. Not only does it take longer but there is a good chance it will take even longer than scheduled.

 

However I have read many a convincing argument on the board especially from guys travelling from "non-london" airports. if it takes you three hours to Heathrow then indirect can be time efficient.

 

In addition you get good reports from one guy and bad from the next. For example I always try and travel EVA. From my experience it is easily the best I have flown (over 100 returns) but other guys HATE it, One bad experience can turn you off for life - it can be as simple as getting a grumpy stewardess one trip literally. Others dont take advantage of what is "on offer" - for example many people complain about EVAs poor quality food in economy but haven't swicthed onot the fact that they have a 2self service" regime whcih if you use it is fantastic.

 

From a personal point of view the direct carriers are usually about £30 more than indirect which makes it a complete no-brainer for me.

 

One thing to add - if you choose direct, try and avoid Thai. I swore by them for years but whatever people say they are DEFINITELY NOT the carrier they were 5 years ago. There was a time when thai was regarded as a "premium" carrier but those days are long gone.

[farman 11]

From a personal point of view the direct carriers are usually about £30 more than indirect which makes it a complete no-brainer for me.

Are you sure about that???

 

 

A bit more than £30 me thinks.............

Edited June 14, 2006 by farman

[flighty 31]

Agree with Farman's posts, and chances are a couple of the legs of the journey the plane will only be half to three quarters full, esp the 01.55 overnight back to London.

[farman 11]

Agree with Farman's posts, and chances are a couple of the legs of the journey the plane will only be half to three quarters full, esp the 01.55 overnight back to London.

 

 

[whitespider 1]

Are you sure about that???

 

 

A bit more than £30 me thinks.............

Farman

 

Yes pretty sure but depends on the time of year. My last trip was Early May and EVA was £411 return and etihad etc around £385.

 

Ive just ran a "random" check 28th June - 5th July (dates as the online sites offer automatically and Etihad is £511 EVA is £547 - £36 in that case.

 

Even if its £60-£100 I would still say its better to go direct - peronal opinion of course.

 

Personally I dont book on price but on "value" which is a different argument altogther.

[donny 1]

"Should I fly indirect?" is the long-haul sister question to that short-haul classic "Should I buy the £5 flight at 6AM or the £25 flight at 1PM?".

 

When the budget airlines first burst onto the scene in Europe, we all made the mistake of greedily grabbing the cheapest tickets possible, usually so that we could brag to our mates that we flew to Germany for £15 or whatever. What we had to learn the hard way is that 6AM flights are no picnic.

 

Now, when we sit up all night trying to find the best way to get to LOS, a natural reaction to the hundreds of pounds involved is to grab any saving we can, especially as the flights last year were so much cheaper. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to forget that an indirect flight usually means hanging around a deserted airport all night, wrestling with plastic bucket seats specially designed to stop people lying down. Neither leg of the journey really gives you enough time to settle into any kind of sleep, so, you arrive in BKK exhausted instead of excited.

 

Indirect flights are almost always a false economy. The exception is when you take a direct flight to another S.E. Asian destination, with the intention of experiencing that city for a night or two before taking a short and ultra-cheap Air Asia flight to BKK. That's a good idea if you are interested in seeing that other city and it certainly opens up your options - earlier this year, I got a £350 (inc. taxes) KLM 'Far East Special' return from Edinburgh to Singapore, well worth it because flying from Scotland usually adds quite a whack to the price of tickets. It wouldn't be worthwhile purely as a money-saving exercise but, the way I see it, I got to stay in Singapore again for free!

Edited June 15, 2006 by donny

[gerald 0]

Thats 7 hours less in Thailand ..... Thai air flights can be found for around £430.00. So you save from £30.00 to £60.00. NOW if you were to ask me if i would pay £30.00 to £60.00 for 7 hours in Pattaya it would be a big YES

[bob2005 0]

Re: whitespider's Eva " 2self service regime "

What is that, kind Sir?

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Unfortunately, it's all too easy to forget that an indirect flight usually means hanging around a deserted airport all night, wrestling with plastic bucket seats specially designed to stop people lying down. Neither leg of the journey really gives you enough time to settle into any kind of sleep, so, you arrive in BKK exhausted instead of excited.

 

Indirect flights are almost always a false economy. The exception is when you take a direct flight to another S.E. Asian destination, with the intention of experiencing that city for a night or two before taking a short and ultra-cheap Air Asia flight to BKK.

Unless you live south of Watford Gap it is the "direct flights" that are a false economy.

 

Plenty options to go through Zurich, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich et al without any of the drawbacks you mention.

 

Maybe you should try Emirates service out of Glasgow before spouting total crap about usually spending hours in deserted airports in the middle of the night etc etc.

[Emil 0]

Hi Tom,

 

Things must be different for us on this side of the Atlantic. When I have a direct flight the plane will make a stop to off load some paxs and take on new paxs. Usually about 1 to 1 1/2 hours stop. The flight number remains the same. What I'm hopping for in the near future is direct non stop out of SFO to BKK. Don't think that will happen until the airlines begin to fly the smaller 787.