Etihad F to Oman (and a bit of London)

[hrshl]

IAD-LHR      VS J (A333)
LHR-AUH      EY F (A380)
AUH-MCT      EY J (A320)
MCT-AUH      EY J (A319)
AUH-IAD      EY F (B789)

The genesis of this trip was a desire to experience the Etihad First Apartment before the AA devaluation. I had also heard good things about Muscat and Oman in general, especially compared to the UAE where cultural history doesn’t seem to exist. Etihad also flies their 787-9 to Washington so it was an opportunity to check out first class on that as well.

At the time of booking, the Etihad JFK route was zeroed out for the year so I decided to position to London, where I’d never been, and spend a few days there. I used up the last of my BIS-earned skymiles to book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class - 62,500 skymiles + $5. Originally it was on a 3-across A340 but it was downgauged to a 4-across A330.

It was only 40,000 AAdvantage from LHR-AUH in F on the A380 and AUH-MCT in J on a A320. UK APD and all that brought the cash cost to $287. On the return, MCT-AUH on an A319 (J) and AUH-IAD on the 789 (F) were 90,000 AAdvantage plus $38.



The flight to London started out normal but ended up differently. As is the case with east coast redeyes to Western Europe there isn’t really enough time to get a full night of sleep. The seat was comfortable if a little narrow.

As we approached Great Britain on the inflight map, I noticed a little loop hold on our path. The captain came on a few minutes later and said that because of heavy fog we were going to have to hold for a while before landing. After about 40 minutes, the captain came back on and said that there was an emergency with a departing American 767 from Heathrow that had returned and closed a runway. He said that we didn’t have enough fuel to continue holding so we were diverting to London Stansted. My first flight diversion! Everyone was calm and the landing was uneventful.

We actually pulled up to a gate for refueling and they opened the aircraft door. Once I saw that, I asked if I could leave as I only had carry-on baggage. It was mid-day, and figured that I could make it to my destination faster through ground transportation rather than waiting to fly again. The flight attendants checked and said I couldn’t leave though.

The total wait time on the ground was about an hour and a half. It was funny when they loaded the new flight plan into the flight computer from London Stansted to London Heathrow:



(For those confused, we were taxiing at 12 mph, the 344 ft altitude is above sea level rather than in air)

I didn’t do anything particularly unique in London, so I don’t have much to share about that. Coming from Washington, I was impressed with the Underground’s ability to competently maintain escalators throughout the system.

When it was time to leave, the Etihad chauffeur was prompt and arrived right on schedule, 4 hours before departure time. Check-in at LHR terminal 4 was a breeze and there was no one ahead of me in the premium security line. The Etihad lounge was a bit underwhelming and claustrophobic, so I opted to spend the last hour or so before boarding wandering the terminal.

Etihad’s newer livery really is beautiful and very impressive in person.
Not my exact plane, but close enough: (photo from later at AUH):



Next up:

The Apartment experience
An overnight in the AUH lounge
Oman!

[sam28]

Nice start up keep it coming

[benjie1305]

So now you just start knocking them out. Huh? 

[hrshl]

So now you just start knocking them out. Huh? 

It's not ancient history, my bigger trips were in January and this month.

Tried to get the word out in time! http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=46656.msg1438953#msg1438953

[benjie1305]

It's not ancient history, my bigger trips were in January and this month.

Tried to get the word out in time! http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=46656.msg1438953#msg1438953

Yep yep. I saw that. Nice to see you follow up so promptly.

[Denverite]

Looking forward to hearing the rest!

[ual902]

looks fascinating.

[AJK]

Looking forward for the rest!

[hrshl]

I’m not going to write up any of the time in London, it was mostly tourist nonsense, but later after the TR is done I’ll add some of the better photos.

Etihad A380 First Apartment



So, where to begin? The First Apartment is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in any form of transportation. If Singapore suites feels like a train compartment, Etihad’s A380 feels like a private cabin. It does get a little cramped with the bed extended, but in what other commercial airplane can you even move around your bed in a closed area?





Not only is there a lot of space with the bed in bench form, the seat is huge too. At one point I sat cross-legged and had a good 8” of space still on either side of my knees.



Something I haven’t seen written up much is how nicely decorated the entire first class cabin is. I have never flown Emirates first, (and today’s news makes that a ways off), but from what I’ve seen of photos there’s no comparison. The Apartment is tastefully decorated with nice textured wallpaper and two individually controllable lamps, and just looking down the aisle towards the stairs you see a nice starry design.



I was in seat 4A. The travel bloggers suggested that 4A and 4K are the best seats for solo travelers, and I agree with them. Seat is forward facing and near the window. The IFE is some kind of Android-based system called E-BOX that was very impressive, if a little laggy. The airshow had like 10 different modes- my favorite was the 3D view of the aircraft’s attitude and instrument readout- it was like watching a SpaceX launch webstream.

I didn’t get a chance to try the shower, the timing wasn’t quite right and I decided I’d rather spend time napping then dealing with the hassle of changing twice.

I probably missed covering a lot of things that folks are interested in, please let me know if you have any questions!

Overnight

So my flight to Abu Dhabi was scheduled to get in around midnight. Early in the booking process, I was evaluating my connection options to get to Muscat. The logical connection is a 3am flight. However, I foresaw a lot of issues with a 4am arrival there, probable minimal airport staffing, and the likelihood of having to pay for an extra night at the hotel. So I went for a connecting flight at 9 something, arriving a little after 10. You know what that means! Overnight in the AUH premium lounge!

The premium lounge in AUH was fun (the exclusive First lounge is not yet open). It was massive though, and totally a madhouse with few open seats when I got there at about 1am. 3am is “rush hour” in Abu Dhabi (I think Dubai also). I got a buzzer to queue for the shower and it went off after about a 15 minute wait. I took a relatively lengthy shower, and when I emerged the place was deserted as everyone had left for that flight bank. Even the shower attendant was gone. A few employees were walking around mopping the floors. I was one out of maybe three travelers, when a short while before there had been hundreds. 4am:



It was too bright to really nap on any of the couches, so I just watched videos to pass the time. Around 6am the place became a madhouse again.

Short Hop Over the Mountains

The A320 to Muscat was at a remote stand, so everyone went downstairs to a bus gate. Kindly they had a “business class” bus with better seats and air conditioning, compared to the buses for economy passengers. The airplane seat, as expected, was very comfortable with superior legroom, and service was vastly better than any regular US first class.



When we landed at Muscat, we taxied past a massive new terminal with dozens of jetways, but sadly it is not open yet. Another remote stand, and a bus to the terminal. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but sometimes you can just feel the developing-world-ness when you enter a building. Reminded me of India and TLV Terminal 1. You have to line up to purchase a visa at one of two currency exchange companies, then get in line for immigration. No questions asked, the agents seemed more interested in gossiping with each other. I grabbed a prepaid SIM card from a local company, and hopped in a taxi to the hotel.



Next up:

• The mountains
• The city
• The hotel

[Denverite]

Wow, awesome!  I've been to a lot of places but Oman is not one of them so can't wait to hear about your adventures and I loved your quote about the general feeling of "developing-world-ness" when you arrive certain places.  I grew up in the "developing world" and based off of too much experience I try my best now to avoid that feeling, which does affect my travel itineraries!

[AJK]

Gotta say, there's something clean and efficient about your style. I like.

[hrshl]

The Hotel

I decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt because… I had points? I booked four nights, three of them for 15,000 points each plus an annual free night certificate from the Hyatt CC. At check-in, even as a lowly Platinum, I was offered a room with an sea view and access to the club lounge. I was still fairly early and the upgraded room wasn’t ready yet, so I went to go check out the beach.





They didn’t know what they were in for with giving me lounge access. While making sure to adhere to their strict dress code, I subsisted on free lounge snacks quite a bit during my stay.

View from the outdoor portion of the club lounge:



The lobby was amazing and ridiculous. It was set up with gigantic indoor bedouin-type tents. (sorry I don’t have any photos, but check here).

The hotel at night:



The Mountains

Oman has some breathtaking nature so I made sure to venture out to see it.  I joined an organized day tour, which made it much easy to visit without having to plan logistics. The tour was headed up near Jebel Shams, the tallest mountain in Oman. En route, we stopped at the ancient city of Nizwa and the 17th century fort there.







Next we drove up into the mountains, where recent heavy rains had littered debris over many of the roads. 4x4s mandatory! Near the top, we went on a hike for a few hours in Wadi Ghul, “Oman’s Grand Canyon.”









On my trip didn’t get to check out the iconic Wadi Shab, but there’s always next time!

The City

I spent one day hopping around Muscat. First up was the sultan’s palace area:





The port area is a bit livelier. There was one giant boat docked there that I though must be some kind of cruise ship but it was actually the sultan’s yacht:



It has a main drag with commercial establishments, with a souk behind them. The souk is fun to wander around, but nothing special if you’ve been to a few before.





I felt very safe during my entire trip, other than one particular spot here. It wasn’t actually anyone threatening or anything like that. I just noticed as I stopped for juice at one of the places along the corniche that I was at a crowded, exposed area full of tourists. Again, nothing particular to the country, it just isn’t a situation I like to be in, whether in the Middle East, East Asia, Latin America, anywhere.

I spent my other full day basically just relaxing on the beach. Sometimes you just have to let vacation be vacation, you know?

I have a feeling that Oman will become a hot tourist destination in the near future.

Next up:

Trip home, including AUH preclearance
Random London photos

[ual902]

WOW Love your report, thanks for sharing.

[shwarmabob]

nice TR, waiting for the rest

[hrshl]

My flight departing Muscat was around 5am, so I decided to just stay awake through the night. I checked out of the hotel at about 2:30 and hopped in a taxi. Business and first class check-in for airlines other than Oman Air is handled from a single desk. There wasn’t any line, and the agent was able to print boarding passes for both flights on generic stock.

I made my way to the lounge. After a few minutes though, I was feeling very sleepy in the dim lighting and comfortable chairs and got worried that I would pass out and miss my flight. So I decided to make my way towards the gate where the consequences of falling asleep would be less dire. When I got there, there were no seats left so I sat on the floor with my back to a column and napped using my backpack as a pillow. Sometimes, even when flying on an F ticket, you gotta do what you gotta do.

The short flight to Abu Dhabi was fine. I will say there were some passengers who had serious B.O. problems. One guy walked past who was almost radioactive. I feel bad for anyone who had to sit within four rows of him in coach.

One thing I didn’t like was having to effectively go through security four times on this itinerary for just two flights- initial scan before check-in hall at Muscat, regular security at Muscat, transfer security at Abu Dhabi, US flight security at Abu Dhabi. None of those took very long, however.

I got the “business class” bus from the remote stand, and went through AUH transfer security and back to the main lounge. The IAD flight seemed to be the last of a morning bank of flights, so most of the lounge patrons cleared out before me. I did leave plenty of time for the pre-clearance process as I’ve heard some horror stories.



Pre-clearance actually was fine. It could be because the NY flight was already through and I was still somewhat early for mine, but I didn’t have to wait in any line longer than 3 people. I used the Global Entry machine. Oddly, after getting the receipt they made me walk all the way to the other side of the immigration hall, in front of all the lines and beyond the “wait here until called” signs until I got to the other end and turned in my receipt. The lounge after pre-clearance was small, but reasonably comfortable. It’s not a super luxurious experience compared to other lounges, but the trade-off is pretty great to basically be a domestic arrival and go directly to the baggage claim after landing in the US.





First class on the Etihad 787-9 was great and spacious. I was in 2A and there was an empty seat next to me. The FAs offered to set up the other seat as a bed but stupidly I declined. I forgot that the 787 windows can’t fully blackout and in direct sun it can be hard to sleep. As usual, the 787 is quieter and more comfortable with the lower cabin altitude and higher humidity. There were only four people total in the eight-seat first class cabin so it was very calm and quiet. Pretty sure the occupant of the seat in front of mine was a certain former chairman of the Federal Reserve. The IFE was the same EBox system as the A380, though the pitch and roll indicators on the airshow were broken and stuck at 0°. Hope the instruments in the cockpit weren’t like that  . The flight path had us making a bee line over Iraq, but thankfully we turned and went over Iran instead 





On arrival at IAD I went straight to the baggage claim and found the couple dozen chauffeurs right away. They were surprised how fast I got off the plane. Pre-clearance sure helped with that.

Overall, I had great experiences on Etihad and would love to fly them again. Shame about the AA devaluation, though. Hope you guys enjoyed the TR!

Now, some random London photos:

[benjie1305]

Looks like you had a great time! Certainly enjoyed your TR!

[AJK]

Good stuff.