Review: Etihad Airways Business Class (787-9)

Following our up-and-down experience with Gulf Air’s unique single-aisle business class, we started our journey home from the Maldives with Etihad Airways 787-9 twin-cabin product. This flight was exciting for me as flying Etihad Airways has always been aspirational, even before I knew anything about miles and points.

Let’s find out if Etihad Airways business class on the Boeing 787-9 lives up to the hype!

Booking Etihad Airways Business Class

To book this flight, we took advantage of an incredible sweet spot in the Aeroplan award chart. Since Malé to Abu Dhabi measures a total distance of 1,876 Nautical Miles within the Atlantic Zone, the award flight redemption should be priced at 25,000 Aeroplan points per person in business Class. 

However, when searching for the flights, it was priced lower than expected at 20,000 Aeroplan points plus $205 in taxes and fees per person.

Initially, I booked this flight in economy class for 12,500 Aeroplan points, which is still great value as the economy cash prices are $500 per person.

This means that even if you don’t get lucky and find business class space, your Aeroplan points are still worth $0.03 each for this economy class redemption, above our estimated value of $0.02 per point.

Cabin Arrangement

We flew on Etihad Airways 2-cabin 787-9. Etihad also has a three-cabin layout that includes a first class cabin. In the Etihad business studio layout, there are 28 business class seats, arranged in a 1-2-1 format.

The forward-facing middle seats are the go-to choice when traveling with a companion (as I was), particularly for a nighttime flight that won’t include much scenery. For this flight, we were seated in row 11.

It’s not very obvious on the seat map, but for a solo traveler, you will want to select A or K seats as they offer significantly more privacy and three windows. You can see below that 9C doesn’t even have a window and is exposed to the aisle.

Ground Experience

One of the benefits of flying business out of MLE is an entire security and immigration section dedicated to premium cabin flyers. While cash costs aren’t necessarily worth the upgrade, the 7,500 Aeroplan points extra per person was worth it to avoid those long lines.

The check-in and bag drop also had priority access for business class passengers.

Similar to our experience with Gulf Air business class, we had issues with online check-in. However, the butler from the St Regis Maldives, who was escorting us through the airport, said this was normal for Etihad Airways. After a bit of confusion regarding passport numbers, the staff happily checked us in and were able to connect our bags through to ORD, even though I booked AUH-ORD on a separate itinerary. 

Once bags were dropped, we proceeded through the First & Business Class line to immigration.

The business class lounge provided was comparable to many of the Priority Pass style lounges we see in North America; it was nothing notable. 

The final ground experience perk we received as business class passengers was a semi-private bus transfer with the rest of the business class cabin. Rather than fitting as many people on the public transit-style bus, we took off from the boarding gate with only a few people on board.

Seat

As we boarded, the mood lighting was set to compliment the seat beautifully. The signature Etihad Airways “abstract” lamp was an exceedingly elegant touch.

My initial impression after sitting down is that these business class seats are not very private. You can see your seatmates across the aisle with the backward and forward alternate setup.

Luckily, the business class cabin was pretty empty on this evening’s departure. Quickly after we got settled a flight attendant took my dinner order and showed me around the seat. She pointed out where I could find my headset and that there was a bottle of water there as well.

Just in front of the storage compartment is the walkway, if you can call it that. All business class seats do feature direct aisle access which is a plus.

The seats were functional and offered lots of adjustments and a massage function. When it comes to business class seats, I prefer the Air Canada Signature Class massage function, though.

One criticism is that the front of the seat felt short. Like the back of my knees didn’t have enough support.

The handheld in-flight entertainment console remote was easy to reach and didn’t need to be removed from its holder to perform basic tasks like pausing your movie.

Just behind the IFE controller was the tray table release. It was a rather unique setup coming out of the wall, unlike most that release from under the entertainment console.

The middle seats felt similar to ANA’s The Room business class, but without the privacy doors, it was noticeably more exposed.

My final notes regarding the seat are that the center divider is quite finicky and will either not move when the buttons are pressed or unceremoniously start moving! The armrest next to the center divider is also smaller than average and only partially usable.

Bed

After finishing my remaining champagne from meal service, I decided to try the lie flat capability. I’m happy to say that the fully flat bed on Etihad Airways 787-9 was significantly better than our previous flight on Gulf Air business class in regards to the seat width.

While I was impressed with Gulf Air’s bedding, Etihad’s bedding was sublime. The blanket had a similar feel to the robes at the Ritz Carlton Toronto.

The pillow they provided had a fun design, keeping Etihad’s signature abstract triangle design from the lamp.

The seat felt kind of private when in lie-flat mode. But I could still see my neighboring seatmate if I had one; this is where a suite with a door would go a long way in improving privacy.

I found the bed was at its best when the seat was set to the softest setting. I managed to get some shuteye for about 1 hour before we landed in Abu Dhabi.

An important note for side sleepers: whichever side you prefer to sleep on can impact your seat choice. I like the left side and had enough room as my knees sat in the “walkway” to the seat. If I had been in my wife’s seat, I would have felt cramped as my knees would bash into the seat divider.

Amenity Kit

Unfortunately, no amenity kit was given on this flight. A surprise as it is longer than 4 hours!

Dining

Dinner was the only meal served on this flight and I was very impressed by the quality of the food and the attentive service. Below is the menu onboard for our late-night departure.

Upon arrival to our seats, the flight attendants provided orange juice and the option to order champagne.

The pre-departure service also included a hot towel and warm nuts.

Once we were up in the air, the dinner service began. The cutlery is branded for Etihad Airways, and the appetizer was served with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. I opted for the Mezze.

The bread was highly unique, it is two different types of dough baked together into one loaf. This was the first time I’ve seen this from any airline! The other appetizer available was a caprese salad.

When the main course arrived, I was offered to change the champagne I had been drinking. Even though a red wine would have suited the steak I ordered better, the Devaux champagne was too good to pass up.

Beef is a hard thing to get right at altitude, but Etihad nailed it. It was easily the best steak I’ve had in the sky. The potatoes lacked character, but the beef made up for that.

Marta chose the spinach fettuccine, which had an amazing presentation.

For dessert, we were treated to a fabulous chocolate cake. It had a tremendous amount of flavor and a wonderful texture and was a highlight of the meal.

After dinner, my white tablecloth was promptly removed, and I was offered tea or coffee. As we still had a connection to navigate, I chose an espresso which was served with a chocolate.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

The in-flight entertainment (IFE) system on Etihad’s widebody aircraft is labeled as an E-Box. Even on our next flight after this with their A350, it was largely the same setup and feeling.

I was impressed with the interface of the system. Everything was easily controllable from the handheld. The remote had a few issues, though. It has a gyroscope inside that’s not always accurate, which can make for some interesting controls. You can see here even though I have the remote sideways, it still thinks it’s upright.

The selection of movies and television shows was vast. It was much larger than Gulf Air’s offering, and probably one of the best I’ve ever had the privilege of browsing.

The headphones provided are unique to Etihad Airways and carry the same look and feel as their lamp and pillow. They did a nice job of noise cancellation.

There is a great feature to share movies with other passengers, namely the travel companion you’re sitting next to.

Live TV was also offered. It was cool to see they covered various sporting events live, such as the NBA, Cricket, F1, Rugby, and Champions League.

There was a large selection of games for younger (or extra bored) audiences.

The flight map feature was also unique to Etihad Airways and quite intricate. I will give credit to Etihad for investing in a high-quality and engaging system.

If you get deep enough in the entertainment menu, you can find the dining section, which describes all the available drinks.

I attempted to order through the system, but it wasn’t an option on this flight or the A350.

WiFi

WiFi was available for the short 4-hour flight. As there was a full meal service, and I wanted to get some sleep, there wasn’t enough time to bust open the laptop to get some work done.

Conclusion

Often considered Emirates’ younger, less flashy sibling, Etihad Airways can get a bad rap. However, I think this 787 is a great product to fly, especially if you can find it on shorter haul routes. While I prefer Etihad Airways business class on the A350 and its privacy doors for long-haul flights, the 787 is an excellent option if newer planes are unavailable. I would much prefer this over Gulf Air’s A321!