We never stop adding reviews! This week we’ll be massively expanding another reviewer favorite, Etihad. Although the Etihad business class doesn’t quite rate as high some business class products, Etihad nonetheless comes in as great option to consider due to a strong hard and soft product. Read on to see what’s new and what’s stayed the same with our expanded Etihad business class reviews, or click here to skip to the main Etihad business class summary.
As a reminder, Premium Travel Insider aggregates reviews from around the web and scores them on a 1-3 scale. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate a variety of categories, the most important of which we call the “Big 5” that are most important to a premium travel experience: seat, food, drink, service, and in flight entertainment. You can learn more about our methodology here.
Expanded Etihad Business Class Reviews Top Line
Etihad comes in with a strong 2.53/3 overall, and a 2.53/3 “Big 5” score. These scores are perfectly correlated, which is a little random and weird, but considering we’ve got reviews from 40+ business and first class products, it was bound to happen. We have an overall level of detail of 2.06/3, but a massive 18 reviews from 11 sites, so we have high confidence in the consistency and quality of these reviews driven by the high quantity of reviews from so many different perspectives.
What Changed the Most?
| Category | Current Rating | Previous Rating | Change |
| WiFi | 1.00/3 | 0.50/3 | +.50 |
| Seat | 2.44/3 | 2.20/3 | +.24 |
| IFE | 2.44/3 | 2.25/3 | +.19 |
| Food | 2.39/3 | 2.20/3 | +.19 |
| Bedding | 2.25/3 | 2.40/3 | +.15 |
| Service | 2.65/3 | 2.75/3 | -.1 |
Nearly tripling our reviews caused a number of changes to overall scoring, generally in a positive direction. The biggest leap was to the WiFi rating, but the overall rating is still quite poor. While inconvenient for business travelers, this is still a minor category in the scheme of things.
Things get more interesting in the hard and soft products. The seat rating jumped up, driven by reviews of some of the newer “Etihad Studio” product found on some planes. This product was well reviewed – IF you were either flying in a window adjacent seat or a “honeymoon” seat with someone you know. Otherwise, these seats were viewed as exposed. The IFE system also was generally given higher marks for good selection. The IFE’s greatest weakness was that the screen quality varied depending on the aircraft.
Aspects of the soft product increased, notably the food and bedding. The food received more positive marks, moving it to the nearly “great” range. Etihad offers dine on demand, and while positive overall, reviewers often found the meals good, but not memorable. Bedding also increased, as several bloggers had comfortable pillows and blankets.
Service dipped -.10, driven by some reviews with crews that weren’t on point. However, with an overall 2.65/3, this is still a category where Etihad does well.
What (Mostly) Didn’t Change?
Several other categories remained largely consistent. The drink score stayed high, at 2.75/3, for a large variety of drinks and good quality offerings. The amenity kit stayed at a decent 2.00/3, with reviewers not feeling the kits were noticeably strong or weak.
Is Etihad Business Class Worth Flying?
Based on our expanded Etihad business class reviews, we can state that Etihad has a great business class product. The hard product – particularly the business studio in “private” seats – is very comfortable. The soft product, while perhaps not superb, is great and enjoyable. While Qatar QSuites are in a class of their own, Etihad won’t do you wrong, so if you’re Abu Dhabi bound, they’re worth a look.
Looking for more details? Check out the full Etihad business class reviews page or look at our full business class reviews for alternatives.