Last month I had the opportunity to fly with Etihad’s new A350-1000 in Business Class from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam. Etihad is one of my favorite airlines so I was very curious to see what the new Business Class cabin in the A350-1000 would be like. Based on earlier flights with Etihad in Business Class, my expectations were very high. Please read my review below to find out if my expectations were met!
Etihad A350 Business Class Cabin
Etihad’s A350 Business Class Cabin consists out of 11 rows in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration. One thing to note is that the front row, bulkhead seat is exactly the same as all other seats. Sometimes airlines take the opportunity to provide more legroom to the bulkhead seats, but Etihad didn’t opt for that. Unfortunately I may add, since I did manage to grab the bulkhead seat for this trip but again, this didn’t come with some extra space.
This extra space would have been very welcome since these seats have the same annoying feature which is shared by most other herringbone seats as well; a very tight and small legroom space. When you’re taller than 6ft, you’ll find the legroom very small even though the seat in lie-flat position is 79 inches long (200cm).
The width of the seat is 21 inches wide which is perfectly fine. Entertainment screen is a 18.5″ touch screen. Last thing to mention is the door of the business class suite, you can close for more privacy. Every new Business Class product comes with this privacy door nowadays, and Etihad’s new Business Class in the A350 is no exception.
Meals, Service, and Amenity Kit
It’s always a pleasure to receive Etihad’s amenity kit. The cube style bag – there is also another bag with ‘sand dune pattern’ – comes in different colors and contains everything you expect. Cosmetics are from Espa.
Only on flights longer than 9 hours Etihad provides pajamas. So on this specific flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam no pajamas were provided. Etihad does always provide a mattress topper though.
The Etihad Business Class Menu contains all time favorites such as the Arabic Mezze, the Shortribs as well as the Steak Sandwich from the ‘all day’ menu. But if you get bored from these dishes, Etihad does mix it up with other Starters and Mains. There are 3 Starters and 4 Mains to choose from which is a very generous number of options. For this flight, I’m going with the Arabic Mezze and the Shortribs. These have been brilliant in the past, so no reason to change a winning team!
However, maybe I should have changed the Shortribs selection after all. Because this time, the main was really not good. The shortribs consisted out of 80% fat, which was not nice. Something definitely went wrong in Etihad’s Quality Control to let this slip through. I send most of this dish back. The flight attendant didn’t comment on this though and couldn’t care less…
Fortunately, the ice cream was almost good enough to forget about the Shortribs experience…
The service felt a bit under par this flight. This specific crew was more busy exchanging travel experiences among each other, than servicing the cabin. After the first meal service, I rarely saw the crew coming by anymore. Normally, I’m expecting the question whether I still want something small to eat before arrival – such as the steak sandwich – but that didn’t happen this time. I certainly had a lot more positive experiences with Etihad in the past.
Conclusion
I had high expectations of Etihad’s new A350-1000 Business Class. Knowing what other airlines can do with the A350 in Business Class – Air France with their latest A350 is the perfect example – I expected Etihad to deliver a top product. However, their seat in lie-flat position isn’t the best especially when you’re taller than 6 ft. Also it’s a pity they didn’t take advantage of the front row and provide an extra spacious bulkhead seat.
On this specific flight, the service wasn’t at the level I’m used to and the main dish wasn’t very good. Before this flight, I took a flight from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi. That was with Etihad’s 777. The 777 has Etihad’s oldest Business Class Cabin. So I experienced Etihad’s oldest and newest Business Class cabin on 2 connecting flights. Both cabins aren’t the best in Etihad’s line-up. Read my review of Etihad’s Business Class product on the 787 using the staggered layout; one of the best Business Class cabin in my opinion!
Also have a look at the video I made of this trip on my Youtube Channel:
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