Emirates Airlines

[owon 0]

I was going to fly with Thai Air again from Belfast to Bangkok via Heathrow and just found out that the smoking ban in england comes into place on 1/07/07 and decided to fly with Emirates Airlines instead (11 hours is bad enough without a smoke not sure if I could survive 16-18 hours).

 

Just wondering what the service is like in economy with Emirates and also wondering if you can smoke and drink in Dubai airport.

[soi unwise 6]

Just my opinion but Emirates quality went down about two years ago from excellent to " just good enough ".It's not bad but just leaves you with a feeling that a lack of effort persists.

You can smoke in Dubai,designated areas only and yes there is an Irish pub !

 

Price is always my first consideration as I am not well off and just take the cheapest so have to grin and bear it.

 

Have you tried Etihad ? Change in Doha where again you can smoke,seems all over the airport.

Service very attentive and food very very good,best I ever had on an airplane.Might be lucky on price too,got a flight last summer for £380 from Gatwick.

 

Hope this helps.

[owon 0]

Thx Soi unwise like you price is a factor and the cheapest for Etihad with westeast travel is 607 and airline network is 745 thats from London - Bangkok also the Etihad inbound flight is no good for me as it arrives in at 18.45 and would miss the last flight back to belfast. Also I was looking at qatar but the only flight times that would suit me would mean a 6 hour wait in doha.

[Brown1950 67]

The days of sub £400 indeed sub £500 with Etihad are long gone ! Yes would recommend Emirates - have booked with them for Sept 07 cost £470.00 ex Manchester. Have upgraded on sector Dubai - Manchester to business using miles (able to use executive lounge for 3 hour layover in Dubai) Anybody interested in my Etihad miles 26,000 ?

 

Abu Dhabi airport now smoke free apart from designated smoking booths (like Dubai)

[owon 0]

Thx brown1950 I will be flying with them on 01 sept the flight will cost 550 seen the flight at 470 but the flight times didnt suit me.

[HAPPYDAYS 0]

i fly 4 times a year with emirates via dubia with emirates thats 16 flights good priced tickets good service and you can smoke in dubia more so than most airports,

[CheshireTom 1,377]

The days of sub £400 indeed sub £500 with Etihad are long gone ! Yes would recommend Emirates - have booked with them for Sept 07 cost £470.00 ex Manchester. Have upgraded on sector Dubai - Manchester to business using miles (able to use executive lounge for 3 hour layover in Dubai) Anybody interested in my Etihad miles 26,000 ?

 

Abu Dhabi airport now smoke free apart from designated smoking booths (like Dubai)

 

Etihad is available for next week from Manchester for less than 430 quid incl through Opodo (I used the booking dates 5 and 12 June). Both Emirates and Qatar are a couple of quid more.

Edited May 28, 2007 by CheshireTom

[Guest Fatboyfat]

Owon

 

Etihad fly direct (via Dubai) from Dublin from 2nd July onwards. 685 Euros (approx £460) return in cattle class direct fom Etihad on their website.

Even less "traumatic" smoke free times.

[Brown1950 67]

Apples and Pears ?? I don't think majority of customers can book 7 days prior to flight ? Having looked at

many websites over the last 3 months Etihad prices have usually remained higher than Emirates or Qatar. Last year it was the opposite. For September flights ex Manchester Emirates flights are still cheaper then Etihad however this may change perhaps end of August !

 

I have noticed also on many websites customers having joined Etihad guest scheme have complained about the high prices !

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Apples and Pears ?? I don't think majority of customers can book 7 days prior to flight ? Having looked at

many websites over the last 3 months Etihad prices have usually remained higher than Emirates or Qatar. Last year it was the opposite. For September flights ex Manchester Emirates flights are still cheaper then Etihad however this may change perhaps end of August !

 

I have noticed also on many websites customers having joined Etihad guest scheme have complained about the high prices !

 

Just a cursory check brings up Etihad at 484 quid incl ex MAN in Sep through www.openjet.co.uk (dates 11-18 Sep) ........ seems an OK price to me and I would think quite competitive against QR and EK.

 

http://www2.openjet.co.uk/search.jsp?homeL...destLeaveDay=18

[Brown1950 67]

For my dates 6/23rd Sept Openjet has Etihad £536.90 however i have Emirates at £470.00. with Expedia.(purchased last week)

[Brown1950 67]

For my dates 6/23rd Sept ex Manchester today seached the following sites and found Etihad prices as :-

 

Air Routes £560.30

Airline Network £516.00

Thos Cook £498.50

Opodo £493.90

Ebookers £493.00

Southall Travel £492.90

MyVacations £490.00

[BongoBill9999 0]

Have flow Etihad three times since December last and it seems to me that prices seem to drop if you book within three months of flying. Being retired I can book pretty much as and when and my last trip from MAN returning just 10 days ago was £447 booked (Lastminute.com) about 3 weeks beforehand.

 

Bill

[owon 0]

Thx for all the Etihad suggestons but its not only the price that is the issue for me its the flight times as well man and lon is out of the question as the flight times would mean a stopover and I hate losing a day or 2 in patts sort of the same with the dublin flight as the return flight dosent arrive in until 19.25.

 

So far the best flight for me has been with thai decent food lots of booze and there flight times saved me from any stopovers. If it hadnt been for the smoking ban I would have paid the extra and flown with them again.