Australia / Air China / Etihad

markk

markk

markk

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I'm looking to visit some friends in Aus over NYE and I have been looking for flights. The cheapest I can find are around the £905 - £1100 mark with Air China or Etihad Airways.

I have never flown Air China or even heard of Etihad before, so does anyone have any experience flying with either of these long distance?

Most sites recommend flying Emirates or Singapore. Emirates is ~ £1600 and Singapore ~ £1230 - is it worth paying the extra to fly with them?

Also are prices likely to go up the closer we get to December or would I be able to get a 'cheap' last minute flight?

Any pointers would be a great help.
 
Etihad are supposed to be fine, Air China have good legroom which on a flight that long would be my first priority
 
I flew to Beijing on Air China a few weeks back and the leg room isn't bad in cattle class. The meals weren't fantastic but edible nonetheless. The staff are a little blunt but that's only because they're not completely fluent in English.

I'd fly with them over British Airways any day of the week.

EDIT: Look at Cathay Pacific's prices. They're an excellent airline :)
 
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I've flown Emirates twice and Qantas twice and both were great. I've never heard of the two airlines you mention but pricing goes up as December is their summer time.
 
markf said:
I'm looking to visit some friends in Aus over NYE and I have been looking for flights. The cheapest I can find are around the £905 - £1100 mark with Air China or Etihad Airways.

I have never flown Air China or even heard of Etihad before, so does anyone have any experience flying with either of these long distance?

Most sites recommend flying Emirates or Singapore. Emirates is ~ £1600 and Singapore ~ £1230 - is it worth paying the extra to fly with them?

Also are prices likely to go up the closer we get to December or would I be able to get a 'cheap' last minute flight?

Any pointers would be a great help.
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Emirates are fantastic; I would definitely recommend them. Took my wife home to Australia for a holiday in 2006, and Emirates couldn't have been better.

I also recommend JAL; I originally came here from Australia on a JAL flight, and their service was superb. The stewardesses weren't too shabby either... ;)
 
I would fly etihad, flew with them 2 years ago and were 100%, but it depends on the exact difference between etihad and singapore/
 
there's not that much of a difference between most airlines these days in coach, singapore and qantas are the two best i've flown with to australia though.

all i would say is to try and get a direct flight if it only costs a little extra - it's long enough already without going via Dubai etc etc
 
Service is good on Emirarates but seat space is poor, they out 10 seats across on a 777 where most only have 9
 
markf said:
I'm looking to visit some friends in Aus over NYE and I have been looking for flights. The cheapest I can find are around the £905 - £1100 mark with Air China or Etihad Airways.

I have never flown Air China or even heard of Etihad before, so does anyone have any experience flying with either of these long distance?

Most sites recommend flying Emirates or Singapore. Emirates is ~ £1600 and Singapore ~ £1230 - is it worth paying the extra to fly with them?

Also are prices likely to go up the closer we get to December or would I be able to get a 'cheap' last minute flight?

Any pointers would be a great help.
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Got first class otherwise don't bother.

Really I've done it and it is sheer hell the only other way to see what it's like it to put your chair facing the wall for 22 hours. You can only get up to go to the loo and all your meals have to be eaten facing the wall. DON'T DO IT mate it isn't worth it.
 
emirates are really good, air china for my last internal international flight, i had a cup of water and a bag of peanuts for my meal :O followed up with cockroaches coming out of the galley :S
 
jas72 said:
Got first class otherwise don't bother.

Really I've done it and it is sheer hell the only other way to see what it's like it to put your chair facing the wall for 22 hours. You can only get up to go to the loo and all your meals have to be eaten facing the wall. DON'T DO IT mate it isn't worth it.
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The problem is that first class seats cost so much more than economy - I'd imagine that for many people the idea of spending in excess of £4000 just on flights to meet friends is a bit steep.

Sure staring at a wall for a couple of days isn't fun, but is it really worth shelling out an extra £3.5k to avoid it? That money would more than pay for the rest of the holiday I'd imagine - I'd rather fly economy, have a nice hotel and eat out than fly first class and then sleep on the streets eating out of a dustbin.
 
Thanks for all your comments :)


jas72 said:
Got first class otherwise don't bother.

Really I've done it and it is sheer hell the only other way to see what it's like it to put your chair facing the wall for 22 hours. You can only get up to go to the loo and all your meals have to be eaten facing the wall. DON'T DO IT mate it isn't worth it.
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The flights stop in Dubai or China for about 3 hours so its not as if i'll be doing the lot in 1 go. First class is far too expensive. Give me a few books and my ipod and I will be happy :)

Looks like a will be flying Etihad, after reading some more reviews. Just need to decide how long to for now.
 
flew to thailand with Etihad, can't recommend them enough, food was good, bar was premium brands and all free, great entertainment and the air hostesses with incredibly hot
 
markf said:
Thanks for all your comments :)




The flights stop in Dubai or China for about 3 hours so its not as if i'll be doing the lot in 1 go. First class is far too expensive. Give me a few books and my ipod and I will be happy :)

Looks like a will be flying Etihad, after reading some more reviews. Just need to decide how long to for now.
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okay okay i was hasty in my answer. But with jetlag etc go for minimum 3 weeks. Although the ipod etc are good ideas I still say rather you than me and wouldn't go even with a free ticket :p
 
I flew with Air China a lot before, the hostess as mentioned above is bit blunt but mostly because their English isnt fluent as native speaker. Food's ok~ but then again, air plane food's never good anyways.

Only downside is that they don't provide you freebies and they often show you crap 70s movie (over and over again. I remember once I was forced to watch this stupid movie about bear in the woods like 5 times) Speaking of which, you don't get your own little monitor so you watch movie on the projected screen.
 
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