Etihad or Cathay Pacific in Y

[Blaqjaq]

Hi All

Travelling PER to JFK in December with my wife and 3 kids (13, 7 and 1 year old). This is my first Y flight for a while, so will be a bit of a struggle, but with the 5 of us anything better get too $$.

Currently about to push the button on air fares, Etihad and Cathay have excellent fares currently.

Option 1:
Etihad
PER to AUH is on an A330
AUH to JFK is on an A380

Return has the JFK to AUH on a "Etihad on Jet Airways Configuration" 777
AUH to PER is on an A330

Option 2
Cathay Pacific
PER to HKG on an A330
HKG to JFK on a 777
Return is the same

Flight times are very similar, Etihad is a little cheaper (Just under $1k less all up so less than $250 per seat cheaper)


Important to me is:

Seat Comfort
Ability to secure a bassinet position
IFE
F&B

Your expert opinions would be greatly appreciated

 

[yohy?!]

I wouldn't see significant differences in economy for either carrier that would override choosing the best price, your preferred mileage program to credit to may be a consideration

 

[TomVexille]

I wasn't too impressed with the EY a330, the IFE screens were awful (content was okay). The 777 sounds like one leased from Jet Airways, so I don't know much about it, but could be 3-3-3 instead of EY's usual 3-4-3. The a380 will be better but I'm not sure that it would make up for it.

Also most reports seem to be that the EY "nanny" service is anything but and is just a marketing gimmick.

 

[clazman]

I always do the trip from PER to JFK with CX but in business, next trip is planned to go via the middle east simply for a change.

I sat in economy on CX from Perth to HK (A330) for about an hour, 4 weeks ago, and was surprised at the amount of room I had compared to domestic Y in QF

The guys I was traveling with who traveled in Y, all said that they were happy with the seat, food and service

 

[clazman]

Sorry forgot to say what I like about CX is you can connect to the JFK flight with a few hours in HK or if you want a longer break wait until the afternoon flight and shower, have a feed and shop for about 6-8 hours.

 

[Blaqjaq]

So you'd advise paying an additional $850 to fly CX over Etihad?

 

[Blaqjaq]

Ended up booking CX – a few reasons
The A380 on Etihad is no doubt brilliant, but the 10 row 777 on an Indian lCC hard product in the way home sounded terrible
Only 1 hour connection on the way over there, shaves 5 hours off the trip when the kids will be most excited. Plus it arrives at a better time
I can get QFF points on CX
I have booked a two day stopover in Hong Kong on the way home, will be nice to have a few days in local time zone while still on holidays, plus break up the flight a bit for the kids
All in all, worked out about $1200 more than Etihad but hopefully will be a better journey

 

[greenfish]

Ended up booking CX – a few reasons
The A380 on Etihad is no doubt brilliant, but the 10 row 777 on an Indian lCC hard product in the way home sounded terrible
Only 1 hour connection on the way over there, shaves 5 hours off the trip when the kids will be most excited. Plus it arrives at a better time
I can get QFF points on CX
I have booked a two day stopover in Hong Kong on the way home, will be nice to have a few days in local time zone while still on holidays, plus break up the flight a bit for the kids
All in all, worked out about $1200 more than Etihad but hopefully will be a better journey

I hope you checked your fare class CX to make sure you do earn QF points. The cheapest fares often earn nothing on QF - or only accrue at 25% of mileage flown.

Something to consider fo next time, with family pooling you'd potentially earn most of the SCs required to reach VA Gold (still need the 4 flights on VA codes though).