AUH Etihad First Class Check-in

November 2013

We had pre-arranged a taxi pickup for 7:00A and our taxi was waiting for us. Not quite as relaxed or polished as our driver the night before, this morning's driver was determined to set a new personal speed record both to the airport and between speed bumps. I'm thinking new brakes every 10,000 kms. 12 minutes and 30.25 AED later, we arrived at T3.

Very nice facility with separate F and J check in counters/desks. This and some of the lounge pics courtesy of Short hair Francis who has many more pics of the EY First Class Lounge in his recent excellent TR.

Courtesy SHF

Since we already had our boarding passes, we headed directly for passport control and (what passes for) security here. It is essentally PreCheck for all, nothing out and everything on. Makes you wonder why the farce in US.

Courtesy SHF

Although we were flying J this morning, my "we are connecting from F" was good enough for entrance to the promise land. The Etihad FCL is located just beyond the main lounge entrance. Small but very attractive lounge with direct access to a Six Senses Spa.

Courtesy SHF

Since we passed on the Westin breakfast, we headed to the beautiful dining room.

Courtesy SHF

And a looked at the menu over a glass of Billecart.

Since everything on the menu was available and since we had "breakfast" about 13 hours earlier, we opted for non-breakfast starting with the delicious mushroom soup.

Mrs. SFO had chicken.

While I went with the amazing grilled salmon. Absolutely delicious.

After our leisurely "breakfast" and a pit stop, we headed for Gate 41, which was a lower level bus gate. We arrived just as Business Class boarding had started. And a bus gate first for me at least... a separate uncrowded bus just for premium pax.

February 2017

Our Jumeirah driver was waiting for us when we arrived in the lobby just before 5:30am. About 30 minutes later, we were at the airport.

Terminal 3 First Class entrance.

And Etihad First Class check-in...

Just inside security was the entrance to the First Class Lounge.

The lounge is very nice but I'm not sure why Etihad felt compelled to close it for 2 years and renovate. The old FIrst Class Lounge seemed perfectly fine to me and not that different.

Since we had a really early dinner yesterday, we were both pretty hungry.

Excellent service as our glasses were consistently refilled and breakfast was served within 10 minutes of ordering.

My Eggs Florentine were delicious.

After breakfast, while Mrs. SFO777 relaxed, I explored the rest of the lounge including the new Cigar Lounge.

August 2017

Our Emirates First chariot to AUH.

At 4am, there is not much traffic on the main highway to Abu Dhabi, and a little over an hour later we arrived at Abu Dhabi International Airport... the poor sister of the ME3 hub airports.

At the far end of Terminal 3 is Etihad's First Class entrance.

Which was pretty much deserted at 5:15am.

And no First Class check in staff.

So we headed over the Business Class to check-in. As we checked in, I decided to inquire about the possibility of buying up to The Residences since it was available on our flight today. This request was above the pay grade of the check-in agent, who excused herself and disappeared to consult with a manager. A few minutes later, a more senior agent returned to advise that yes, indeed a buy up was possible but I would not receive the full treatment like personalized menu and any special orders, since they wouldn't have enough time. If that was OK, she'd consult with another department and advise the price. We waited in the comfy nearby seating area while someone at Etihad decided how much they might charge. We both agreed that $2,500 maybe $3,000 would be the most either of us would pay. Another 5 minutes and she returned to inform us that yes, indeed they could upgrade me to The Residence for 77,000 AED... or roughly US$21,000. LOL. She explained that it was so high because they would be charging the difference between the fare I paid and the basic Residence fare. Since I was on an AA award ticket, they considered that next to worthless. LOL. No wonder Etihad is having financial problems. Hardly anyone buys The Residence. Monetize the thing with at last minute buy-ups and make some money because you can't be getting much revenue on the product that way it's priced. It's basically a one person suite as the bed is really too small for two people. I thanked her for asking and we headed off to security.