Review: Etihad Airways - an Excellent Flying Experience

Etihad Airways are one of the lesser known Middle Eastern airlines but they are one of the most popular airlines for flights from Asia to Europe. I flew on Etihad Airways recently from Bangkok to London round-trip and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had flying.

I booked the flight online after doing many searches for affordable flights to Gatwick airport in London. Flights to England are very expensive nowadays due to the taxes the British add on, plus the very high gas surcharges, so finding a cheap flight wasn't easy. I searched for about 2 weeks before finding a flight from Bangkok to Gatwick via Abu Dhabi. Where other airlines were charging over $1,000, Etihad had a flight with perfect flight times for only $878, which was quite a large saving. I did some research and found several websites that had very positive customer reviews for Etihad's international flights, so I booked the flight.

Before even leaving, I was already happy with the airline because it had the exact times I needed available. I was meeting my parents in London for a quick stopover and then onto Spain, and I wanted to arrive at Gatwick around the same time they did. The Etihad flight arrived 25 minutes before their flight from New York. Perfect!

The flight from Bangkok left in the early evening and I was deliriously happy when I got on the plane to find out I would have all three seats to myself for the entire flight. Then, when the flight actually took off on time, I had already guessed it would probably be a nice flight. After take-off, the flight attendants came around with hot towels and glasses of water or orange juice followed by headphones to watch the movies.

But, not just movies were available on the flight. The plane had personal screens on the back of the seats in front of you, so you could watch any movie you wanted (and they had a great choice of movies) about 50 TV shows, play computer games, learn a foreign language, listen to a huge selection of music and much more. I was in seventh heaven.