After the Freddie Awards, I was headed home through Abu Dhabi and Doha to fly on the world’s longest flight to Auckland. I was supposed to be flying out of Washington but due to the weather, I made the last minute decision to fly out of JFK instead. Luckily there was availability and American were happy to assist the change. For this flight, it cost me 115,000 AAdvantage miles.

I was excited to fly out of New York as I hadn’t visited the JFK lounge before so I was able to review that.

Etihad JFK lounge

Etihad’s First Class on their 777 feature 8 closed suites in a 1-2-1 configuration. The suites are the same design which is found on the A340 and select A330’s.

Etihad 777 First Class

At the time of booking, it was showing F6 meaning the there were only 2 passengers booked but by the time of departure, every seat was taken.

Etihad 777 First Class

I selected seat 1K for this flight.

Etihad 777 First Class

After I was seated the crew came around to greet passengers and offer some Arabic coffee.

Arabic Coffee

As well as the coffee, the crew will ask if you’d like a pre-takeoff beverage. Your beverage is placed at your seat along with some dates, a hot towel and a welcome letter signed by the purser.

Welcome Tray

The crew will also offer a pair of pyjamas and your amenity kit. Etihad has now rolled out their new Amenity Kits across the whole long-haul fleet as they were previously only available on the A380.

Amenity Kit

The departure out of JFK was quite rough for some reason but we quickly climbed to our cruise altitude and the service started shortly thereafter. After takeoff, I choose to have an Orange Fizz mocktail and it was brought out with some hot nuts and olives.

Pre-Dining Tray

Of course, I couldn’t not watch my beloved Suits 😉

Suits

The meal service started with a selection of warm breads:

Bread

Then came the Amuse Bouche which was really quite interesting both in look and taste:

Amuse Bouche

I continued with the Orange Fizz mocktail and still water:

Orange Fizz and Sparkling Water

For the appetiser I went with the Duck Rillette:

Duck Rillette

In between the appetiser and the main course, a lemon sorbet was provided.

Lemon Sorbet

And for the main course, I had the chef’s special steak.

Chef Selection of Steak

And finally, for dessert I choose strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice-cream.

Ice-Cream

After the meal service, I got my laptop out of my bag and was going to start working, however, the Wif wouldn’t work. I tried waiting and it kept failing. I asked the crew what was happening with it and they didn’t know either. Instead, I decided to get my bed made and get some well-needed sleep.

1K made into a Bed

I really do love the star effects in the cabin.

Stars in the cabin

I managed to sleep for 10 hours which I was really impressed with considering I hadn’t slept much the past few days. The crew noticed I had woken up and asked if I would like anything to eat or drink. I choose to have a black coffee and some pastries.

Coffee and Pastries

Shortly after having my coffee, the cabin started to get brighter and the cabin crew started to prepare the cabin for arrival. Here are a few more in-depth photos of the suite:

Seat 1K

The suite has a small minibar type of setup with some small snacks and water. The dissapointing part about the minibar is that it isn’t chilled. It’s more a storage compartment for snacks and drinks.

Minibar

Minibar

Each seat has it’s own reading light and also has its own air-vent which does work unlike China Eastern‘s 😉

Light and Air Nozzle

On the right of the seat, you’ll find the seating control panel.

Seating Control Panel

Also on the right side of the seat is where the IFE remote, In-seat power, headphone jack and USB power outlet is found.

IFE control, in-seat power and USB port

Even though the seat is aged, it’s still extremely comfortable. In my opinion, it’s softer than the A380’s seat and bed.

Seat 1K

Each suite has closing doors to maximise privacy. The suite looks a little cramped but it’s the complete opposite. I find it to be a little more spacious over Emirates’ suites.

Suite 1K

In the amenity kit, you’ll find: a dental kit, a shaving kit, socks, eye mask, lip balm, hand cream, a comb, ear plugs and a sleep/relax kit.

Amenity Kit Contents

To the left of the seat if where the closet/hanger space is found.

Closet

Overall

This flight was enjoyable but not one of the best flight’s I’ve taken on Etihad. The crew seemed to keep more to themselves and weren’t too friendly which is a shame. The other thing that annoyed me was the lack of wifi, on other carriers I’ve been told before takeoff that the wifi isn’t working but there was nothing on this flight. You’re better than this Etihad…