Etihad or Cathay to London in J

[turtlemichael]

I'm planning a quick business class solo trip to London (maximum 8 days there) from Melbourne in June to see the Test Championship at Lords. I have tickets for the first 3 days. Woohoo!

I've looked at a lot of flight options and, after the initial sticker shock, I've come down to a choice between CX and EY. Both are priced in the mid $8Ks. There will be no city stopovers and the only use of lounges would be before the return journey and for 5 hours in HKG on CX on the return. The EY trip departs 0500 so I imagine all Melbourne lounges would be closed. For personal reasons I need the ability to cancel without too large a penalty right up to departure. Both offer this with a cancelation fee. The new aria seats don't look like they'll be on the flights on CX I'd chose. CX will also acquisition of QFF points.

I'll stay at the Hilton Canary Wharf (again after sticker shock) as it's on the Elizabeth line from LHR and Lord's is on the Jubilee line from Canary Wharf.

I'm particularly interested in which airline others see as preferable - sleep quality, seat, food. (Last flight on CX was more than 10 years ago and never on EY) and any comments on Hilton Canary Wharf. Iplan to book flights in the next few days. TIA.

 

[Forg]

Do corporate owner ethics play any part in the decision?

 

[AIRwin]

Chauffeur service if your ticket is in Business Comfort/Deluxe:

https://www.etihad.com/en-au/plan/etihad-services/etihad-chauffeur

 

[turtlemichael]

It would be in Comfort (in order to have the refund opportunity) but I understand the chauffeured car is only available in UAE.

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 2:21 PM

Do corporate owner ethics play any part in the decision?

Honestly, probably not on an airfare.

 

[Balad2005]

I'm planning a quick business class solo trip to London (maximum 8 days there) from Melbourne in June to see the Test Championship at Lords. I have tickets for the first 3 days. Woohoo!

I've looked at a lot of flight options and, after the initial sticker shock, I've come down to a choice between CX and EY. Both are priced in the mid $8Ks. There will be no city stopovers and the only use of lounges would be before the return journey and for 5 hours in HKG on CX on the return. The EY trip departs 0500 so I imagine all Melbourne lounges would be closed. For personal reasons I need the ability to cancel without too large a penalty right up to departure. Both offer this with a cancelation fee. The new aria seats don't look like they'll be on the flights on CX I'd chose. CX will also acquisition of QFF points.

I'll stay at the Hilton Canary Wharf (again after sticker shock) as it's on the Elizabeth line from LHR and Lord's is on the Jubilee line from Canary Wharf.

I'm particularly interested in which airline others see as preferable - sleep quality, seat, food. (Last flight on CX was more than 10 years ago and never on EY) and any comments on Hilton Canary Wharf. Iplan to book flights in the next few days. TIA.

Both airlines are fine. I usually travel on Qatar or Emirates .
I travelled on EY about 16 months ago. The flight was full ,service was average on the outboard but great on the return.The EY lounge in Abdi Dabi was full , hard to find a seat , food was average fare.
I haven't been on CK for almost a decade, but as I was platinum with Qantas they looked after me.Their London lounge was great ,the staff even ( actually get up from the desk and find you in the lounge when it was time to board.

You are right most Melbourne lounges don't open until 5am or later. However, flying early from Melbourne has some advantages such as seamless check in and security , minimal if nil queuing.
I travelled to London almost 12 months ago on Qatar, an early evening flight .Airport was crowded even the business checkin was long and delayed boarding. Flight was what one expects from Qatar and better when I left Dubai as it was an A380.
Recently I travelled to Europe on Emirates , early morning flight , seamless checkin and boarding , and an aircraft only 2/3 rd full.
Brunnettti’s in T2 is open at the time , coffee is usually good and the cafe is not overcrowded.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In terms of seat, i would rank the ‘old’ cx seat ahead of etihad’s. If you get the new seat, bonus.

The only other consideration would have been if you were VA plat and could have got the Etihad Fcl lounge. But Inthink that’s come to an end now, or will shortly.

I think CX also wins in terms of IFE.

 

[turtlemichael]

I flew MIA-DOH-MEL in a Q suite on Qatar last year and loved it. This time Qatar and Emirates are 50% outside my budget.

 

[zainman]

I would choose EY

 

[turtlemichael]

In the end I decided on Cathay. Thanks.

 

[SYD]

In the end I decided on Cathay. Thanks.

I suspect you won’t regret it. Recent reports suggest the in flight service has bounced back. I hope so, I have 8x CX J flights this year - including a couple of recent changes to include the Aria seats!

 

[clifford]

I suspect you won’t regret it. Recent reports suggest the in flight service has bounced back. I hope so, I have 8x CX J flights this year - including a couple of recent changes to include the Aria seats!

I have flown CX and EY business class several times recently, and in my book CX wins hands down. CX service tends to be consistent, whereas EY service is rather unpredictable, IME. I had a really poor experience with EY late last year, because of a very pedantic and unhelpful purser (they tend to be UAE locals). However the flight attendant assigned to my area was very nice (she saw the stressful exchange with the purser and brought me 2 glasses of champage before takeoff). And we won't go anywhere near ethics or cultural issues.

Further, if you are a Qantas FF member, then the points and SC's might be handy, and there probably is less oportunity to use FF benefits provided by EY.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have flown CX and EY business class several times recently, and in my book CX wins hands down. CX service tends to be consistent, whereas EY service is rather unpredictable, IME. I had a really poor experience with EY late last year, because of a very pedantic and unhelpful purser (they tend to be UAE locals). However the flight attendant assigned to my area was very nice (she saw the stressful exchange with the purser and brought me 2 glasses of champage before takeoff). And we won't go anywhere near ethics or cultural issues.

Further, if you are a Qantas FF member, then the points and SC's might be handy, and there probably is less oportunity to use FF benefits provided by EY.

Agree.

There were a couple of highlights on my EY flights, particularly that the FA asked the passenger in the row in front of me to stop using their phone without headphones!! Not once, but twice!

Which was good.

The food was ‘ok’, it was nice to have something different on the menu, but it wasn’t outstanding.

CX is a bit more consistent as you say, although more predictable in terms of menu.

 

[kpc]

I stayed at Hilton Canary Wharf twice pre Covid...small OK Exec lounge, rooms on small side...quite far from LHR...took 2 hours by road in morning peak hour!

I hate to think how much a room cost now!

On a side note: My daughter just sent me a photo of a $35 ramen she had in London last might....similar ramen was less than $10 in Japan last October and about $20 in Sydney!

 

[turtlemichael]

I stayed at Hilton Canary Wharf twice pre Covid...small OK Exec lounge, rooms on small side...quite far from LHR...took 2 hours by road in morning peak hour!

I hate to think how much a room cost now!

On a side note: My daughter just sent me a photo of a $35 ramen she had in London last might....similar ramen was less than $10 in Japan last October and about $20 in Sydney!

Small room is okay as I'll be alone. As others know, prices are through the roof in London. My entry level room is near AUD600 per night. Bankside Hilton, where I've stayed 4 or 5 times in the past and enjoyed, is nearer AUD800 for my dates. While this cricket match is not enough to influence London prices, all the chains in Adelaide are in the $700's during the Ashes match in December.

As stated above I'll take the Elizabeth line which according to Google Maps takes 1 hour and 1 minute to C.W. station, including the 11 minute walk at the end. The line does apparently have some reliability issues.