Return trip report - EY F NRT-AUH-MXP Feb 2011

[Carfield]

As promised, here is a return report on my set of flights flying from Tokyo Narita to Milan Malpensa via Abu Dhabi. There will be fewer pictures on the Diamond Suite cabin (and you can always search for my earlier January trip report), and there will be more pictures on the older generation of Diamond suite seats, as I was on a daytime flight on this non-renovated first class – I was on the same 332 A6-EYK on my way over to Abu Dhabi.

February 14, 2011; Monday
EY 871 NRT-AUH Lv2050 Arr0430+1 Airbus A340-500 A6-EHB
Link – http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8QbNHDNy5bqS6w

Planespotting at NRT:
Double ANA Boeing 767s at Satellite 5


ANA Boeing 767-300ER JA614A Star Alliance heading to Singapore later


ANA Boeing 767-300ER arriving from Honolulu and heading to rest in remote apron


Austrian Airlines Boeing 777-200ER OE-LPD heading to Vienna – delayed flight




Check-in at NRT:
Flight Information Display System:


Well I flew in to NRT on United from Taipei and the Taipei agent had no clue on what Etihad Airways was, and just could not even interline my bag through Narita, which resulted in a rather unpleasant three hours wait in the public area. However it has nothing to do with Etihad, and Narita was quite nice and I had a nice relaxing lunch in a Japanese restaurant and did some plane spotting. Narita had plenty of room and seats for waiting passengers. ANA is the ground-handling agent for Etihad and uses Aisle J. The counters opened around 5:30pm, and there was no early check in service like flying other Star Alliance carriers. There were separate lines for first, business, economy and on line check-in baggage drop-offs. With my early arrival, there was no line, and invitation cards were already prepared in advance. My hand luggage was given a diamond first class tag, and I was off towards the crowded immigration and security area. Security was okay, but passport lines were busy as there was a huge wave of tourists, mainly Taiwanese and Hong Kong folks returning home after the Chinese New Year vacation, and the last wave of Asian late flights.

Etihad Airways Signage at ANA counters:

[Carfield]

ANA Check in at Aisle J







Lounge:
To no surprise, Etihad Airways uses All Nippon lounges located at Satellite 5, and due to Etihad’s late departure times, all first, business and elite passengers used the “Suites” lounge. I am not impressed because I paid first class fare, and NH really toned down the service. There was no longer hot food available, only basic sushi rolls, sandwiches, rolls, and sweets. Noodle soups are available only till 7pm, when business class lounge closed after the departure of its flight to Taipei and Hong Kong. I presume NH’s own Honolulu flight used the main lounge located in the other satellites. The printer also chose to go out of order, when I forgot to print out my log. However after some persistence, the kind agent allowed me to print it out from their staff laptop and office printer. It was an ordeal but the Japanese staffs were always good with it. However the lounge experience was overwhelming at best.

[Carfield]

Food





Boarding:


Gate 53 is the unofficial Etihad Airways gate, and after resting a few hours in the tarmac at NRT, A6-EHB, our aircraft for the evening, was towed to the gate two hours prior to departure. The lounge provided a good look at this beautiful Airbus A340-500. The load was very light this evening as reflected in the gate area. I was the only passenger in first class, and 12 in business class, and 60 something in economy class. Etihad has already spent much money in advertising the airline but they need to boost up their efforts. Just an example, I read this popular Japanese aviation magazine, “AIRLINE” and in fall 2010, they featured all three Middle Eastern airlines, which have started service to Narita and opened other routes to other Japanese cities. Emirates was featured first, as the journalist got a seat in business class, and for the other two airlines, they were offered an economy class seats. Just guess, which airline got the best coverage? With such an empty premium cabin, I think EY can afford to bring more travel journalists to fly its premium cabin and to promote its good premium products and transit at Abu Dhabi. The lounges at Abu Dhabi were excellent and those could boost Etihad’s profile. Anyway, back to boarding, it began at 8:14pm, and Valerie immediately welcomed me on board and offered me the usual pre-takeoff beverage, amenity kit, pajama, menu, and newspapers. Xing, the other first class F/A and a Singaporean too, then offered me Arabic coffee and dates. As the only passenger, the service was personalized. However I noticed one “enhancement” in February – the small box of chocolate was no longer offered in this and next flight. No big deal but we notice those changes, Etihad!

Pre-takeoff beverage


Flight information:
Boarding was completed at 8:35pm and we pushed back two minutes prior to our departure time. It was a quite evening in Narita, as the evening rain shower became steady, we took off from R/W34L at 8:53pm, with the fellow Qatar Boeing 777-300ER following us heading to Kansai. The takeoff roll was long, and I presumed the cargo load was pretty good this evening. Flying time was eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes, and the routing took us over Central Japan in 34,000 feet, and then we headed towards Korea and passed Incheon. We climbed further to 38,000feet before reading Dailan, a major Chinese port, and then cities of Tianjin, Beijing, Hohhot, Baotou, Urumqi, and Shache. Then we entered Pakistan and passed by Islamabad, and then climbed to 40,000feet. We crossed the Pakistani portal city of Gwadar, briefly overflew the Arabian Sea, and then overflew the Oman city of Muscat. Then we began our descent towards a very quiet Abu Dhabi in these early hours.

Flight route:



Seats:
Diamond first class suites are nice especially to sleep on, as I slept very well on this flight, and my only issue is the poor lighting. Please focus the lighting of the seats better on the dining table, or simply allowed the table to slide towards me. For some reasons, EY thinks moving the seats towards the dining table was a better idea than allow the table to slide towards you. I hope they can fix this problem, as I don’t like using flash, and my meal pictures in this sector came out really bad.

Here is a link to the photo album on my outbound flight, if you want to take a look at the seats and don’t want to search for the earlier trip reports:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8QbNHDNy5bqS44

Service:
It was a straightforward twelve hours flight, and Etihad offers the usual a la carte flight service for first and business class passengers, and economy passengers got the usual dinner after takeoff and breakfast prior to arrival. To be honest, most F and J passengers followed this schedule, and I chose to have my dinner after takeoff and then breakfast two hours prior to arrival. As the only F passenger, things were easier to arrange. I chose to have the Japanese Kaiseki menu for both meals, since I am departing from Tokyo and food are prepared in Tokyo. As a non-Japanese, both meals are pretty good and of course, EY does not have rice cookers but things come out fine. I appreciate the time put into the presentation of the meal as well.

[Carfield]

Beverage and amuse bouche



Here is the wine list and menu for this flight! Wine list is only slightly different from my inbound flight to NRT a month ago.

Wine List (Specially modified for Japanese flights)
Champagne
Bollinger La Grande Annee 2000
Cattier Brut Rose NV

White Wines
Louis Jadot Chassagne-Montrachet 2004, Burgunda, France
Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Marlborough 2008, New Zealand

Red Wines
Chateau Camensac Haut-Medoc 2005, Bordeaux, France
Terrabianca ‘Il Tesoro’ 2005, Tuscany, Italy
Carmen Reserva Merlot 2007 Rapel, Central Valley, Chile
Mt Difficulty Roaring Meg Pinot Noir 2009, Central Otago, New Zealand

Dessert Wine
Gramp’s Botrytis Semillon 2008, Riverina, New South Wales, Australia

Japanese Beverages
CHOYA Premium Honjozo, Nara, Japan
CHOYA Premium Junmai, Nara, Japan
FC-BEV-JAPN-0111-VER 1

Diamond First Class Menu
A la Carte
Choose from our a la carte menu, our specially created Kaiseki menu or select individual dishes from our kitchen anytime menu. All the dishes on the menu are available at any time during the flight.

Starters
Asparagus, tomato and artichoke salad/Creamy truffle dressing
Clear Vegetable Consommé/Root Vegetable/roasted chicken/bread crouton
Pea and Hazelnut soup/cherry tomato/ sautéed wild mushrooms

Main Course
Grilled beef tenderloin
White beans and brown lentil/ beef jus/ pan-seared baby new potato

Machboos rice
Braised chicken/ aromatic rice/ cashew nuts/ raisins/ onion rings

Medley of Vegetables
Cauliflower/ shallots/ squash/ bok choy/ snow peas/ shimeji mushroom

Roasted lamb loin
Steamed baby carrots/ sautéed spinach/ baked spring onion/ shallots
Root vegetable consommé/ whole grain mustard

Served with a side of:
Organic five-leaf salad
Sautéed peas/ red onion
Sautéed carrots/ orange zest
Gratin potatoes
Steamed white rice
NRT-AUH-F1-FM-0111-suite

Kaiseki



Sakizuke
Green tea and white sesame seeds tofu/ crab meat/ okra/ iwa-take mushroom sauce


Zensai
Roasted salmon sushi/ steamed prawn/ quail dumpling/ rolled herring with seaweed
Steamed egg cake with sweet black bean


Mukozuke
Light roasted puffer fish/ wakame seaweed/ ponzu jelly/ grated white radish with chili


Sunomono
Marinated sword fish nanban style/ shredded leek/ onion/ red capsicum


Suimono
Ice fish/ yuzu/ okra/ fish broth

[Carfield]

Dainomono
Grilled alfonsino fish yuann style/ mushroom sauce with yuzu/ beef sukiyaki/ taro potato
Simmered shitake mushroom/ pak choy



Nimono
Bamboo shoot/ wakame seaweed

Gohanmono
Steamed rice/ black sesame seeds


Tsukemono
Selection of seasonal pickles


Kanmi
Seasonal Fresh Fruit/ Green tea panna cotta
NRT-AUH F1-Kaiseiki-0111

Dessert
Warm Stewed Fruit
Star-anise/ vanilla syrup/ berries/ crème anglaise

Trio of desserts
Apple tarte/ rosemary cream yogurt/ fruit skewer/ mango coulis



Seasonal Fresh Fruit/ Green tea panna cotta

Providore natural ice cream/ selection of flavors

Cheese
Selection of cheese/ dried fruit
NRT-AUH-F1-DES-0111-suite

Kitchen anytime
Fish and chips/ minted mushy peas
Gourmet pizza/ crisp leaf salad/ balsamic vinaigrette
Steak Sandwich/ roasted cherry tomato/ red onion jam
Selection of cheese/ dried fruit
Apple Tarte Tintin/ crème fraiche
Providore Natural Ice Cream/ selection of flavors
Potato crisps/ selection of flavors
Assorted crudités/ mayonnaise
Prawn crackers
Baked cookies/ madeleines
Swedish crisp breads
Arabic baklava [T]

Breakfast
Selection of breads and pastries
Assortment of Cereals/ Full Cream milk/ low fat milk
Fresh cream yogurt/ blueberry/ bran flakes

Continental breakfast
Cheese/cold meat/ boiled egg

Traditional English breakfast
Scrambled egg/ chicken sausage/ baked beans/ potato/ grilled tomato

Cinnamon pancakes/ fried banana/ chocolate sauce

Seasonal fresh fruit/ green tea panna cotta

[Carfield]

Japanese Breakfast


Sakizuke
Clam/ carrot/ edible flower


Kobashi
Egg tofu with shrimp/ daishi sauce/ wasabi


Yakimono
Grilled mackerel/ egg rolled with unagi/ grilled fish cake


Miso Soup
Japanese miso soup with leek


Gohanmono
Steamed Rice

Tsukemono
Selection of seasonal pickles

Kudamono
Seasonal Fresh Fruit/ Green tea Panna Cotta


NRT-AUH-F1-AM-0111 Suite

Flight attendants:
Well I really don’t have much to say about the purser, as he only said his hello shortly after takeoff. He was definitely the less active purser that I ran into during the five EY flights during the past two months. Valerie was the food and beverage manager, and in charges of me in the last half of the flight. Xing, the Singaporean F/A, served me during dinner and first half of the flight. Valerie took the meal order, served the canapé after takeoff and then Xing took over, as Valerie had to handle the food ordering in business class too. Xing was a nice gal to chat with, and I found out how living in Abu Dhabi is and some of the pros and cons on living far from home, and the Etihad working experience.

Arrival:
Descent began at 3:25am Abu Dhabi local time, and it was a quiet approach towards R/W31L. We landed at 3:52am, and parked at gate 28/Bay 309 six minutes ago. The arrival experience at Terminal Three was much nicer than Terminal One. It was very quiet as we were the first flight arriving at Abu Dhabi. The aircraft had a few hours before heading to New York JFK.

A6-EHB resting here at Abu Dhabi’s Gate 28




Transit:
Of course, transit was easy and after a quick security check, I headed towards the Etihad Airways first class lounge, which was featured on my earlier trip report. I had a nice shower and then had a quiet stay at the lounge before the European bank began to arrive. Luckily the departure gate for my flight to Milan Malpensa was also at Terminal three, which made life easier. The new terminal was just nicer to navigate and had more windows, which made taking pictures fun. The staff at AUH was friendlier than DXB and other Middle Eastern airport. I had a fun chat with the security officer, who had just been to Hong Kong and had a good time. He had fun with the girls over there, but too bad, I was in the other team. LOL!

[Carfield]

February 15, 2011; Tuesday
EY 87 AUH-MXP Lv9:05am Arr1:00pm Airbus A330-200 A6-EYK
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...8QbNHDNy5bqS8o

Etihad Airways’ Airbus A330-200 A6-EYK at Gate 34




Fi livery – almost on all EY aircraft


Morning tarmac at Abu Dhabi


Boarding and flight information:
Terminal three was quite busy as it was the morning European/Australian/Asian bank. Boarding was already way under way for Coral economy in gate 34/Bay 303 by the time I arrived at the gate. There was a separate first and business class boarding line, and the agent was proactive in helping premium passengers. I was the first passenger boarded the plane, as I wanted to take some empty cabin shot. I flew EYK on the way over to Abu Dhabi, so I knew I would get the older seat when I saw the “K” on the nose of the plane. Nonetheless I was able to give you a detailed photo shoot on this wonderful seat as well. Benjamin, my favorite food & beverage manager in EY as of now, immediately came by, hung my winter jacket, brought the usual amenity kit, pajama, and served the pre-takeoff beverage and hot towel. Menu and wine lists were passed out next – no leather folder (or portfolio, as called by the EY staff), as it was not a Diamond suite flight. Twenty minutes later, a German couple joined me in the cabin, and with only three passengers, it was another wonderful flight to Europe.

My assigned seat: 2A


Pre-takeoff beverage:


Door was closed at 9:06am, and we pushed back two minutes later. There were a bit of traffic, as many EY flights were departing. We took off from R/W31L at 9:24am, for our seven hours flight Milan. Headwinds were quite strong, so we arrived late in Milan despite our on time departure. We flew across the Persian Gulf, as we climbed to 38,000feet, and then we headed towards Kuwait, Hillah and Baqubah, and then we climbed further to 40,000feet, and headed towards Mosul, Elazig, Sivas, Istanbul, Sofia, Kragujevac, Krk Island, and then descended towards 34,000feet and overflew the Adriatic Sea, and then towards the Italian city of Venice, and finally Milan.

Flight route:

[Carfield]

Cabin shot of the older generation of diamond first class seats:
View from front




View from behind




Seats:
Honestly the older generation of diamond first class seats is perfectly fine, especially on the daytime and medium haul flights. Of course, the seats are less private but the cabin was a bit more open. There are a few places for storage and a small bar on the seat console. The seats had two preset positions – one recline and one in full flat position. But you can pretty much adjust the seat to any position with lumbar support. While in flat bed position, the legroom was a bit restricted because of the tray table design. Interestingly, there is a mirror located in the tray table.

Upright position:
Features – seat console


Bar hidden


Side storage bin:

[Carfield]

Side light


Tray table/Personal TV


Mirror on tray table


Mini closet for coats and suit jacket/Bedding is also kept here


Pre-set recline position:


Bed positions:


Note the tight leg space


Flight Attendants:
Benjamin was the food and beverage manager and in charge of serving the meals throughout the flight. Yes he was quite handsome, which scored some major points with me. LOL! But he was really good in his job especially in giving out recommendation regarding food and beverage, and paid attention to details. He was the only crew, who brought me real mint leaves to go with my Arabian mint tea, which was my choice of beverage for this flight, and most flights. Throughout this flight, Benjamin did the serving for both meals, as there was another F/A preparing the food in the galley. Etihad in general has two F/As in working first class (I presume the purser will help out in F when cabin is full) – the F & B did the serving, while the other prepared the meal in the galley. Of course the crew on my NRT to AUH have worked out their schedule differently possibly due to the light load, but it really depends on the crew. Anyway, Benjamin did a memorable and wonderful job, and it made this flight my favorite Etihad segment out of five.

Memorable mint leaves – small difference that make a big different in perception of service



Food & Beverage:
The a la carte menu features mainly breakfast food for the first meal, and the kitchen menu featured a few additional non-breakfast items. I ended up choosing mostly breakfast food. With seven hours, I chose to have breakfast after takeoff, and then a three-course snack (fruit plate, bagel, and chocolate dessert) prior to arrival. Benjamin was very flexible with the meal schedule. But to give EY credit, the breakfast came with an interesting appetizer/amuse bouche plate, which features strawberry & kiwi skewer, mini-pancakes/blini, yogurt, and mini waffles with apricot. It is an interesting and excellent concept. My only comment was that a few more non-breakfast entrée items or hearty soups will be great for the kitchen menus. Most passengers had a cooked breakfast in the lounge, so maybe a lunch type meal was more appropriate. Wine list is the same as my inbound Milan to Abu Dhabi flight, so I will not going to repost it.

[Carfield]

A la Carte
Enjoy full a la carte dining or select individual dishes from the kitchen anytime menu.
All dishes on the menu are available at any time during the flight.

Breakfast amuse bouche (not posted on menu)







Croissant/ Pain au Chocolat

Pretzels/ sweet buns
Toast
Assorted Muffins
Energizer Drink

Bircher Muesli
Rolled oats/orange juice/yogurt/dried fruit


Ploughman’s sesame seed bagel
Turkey/Gouda/Branston pickle/tomato/onion

[Carfield]

Main Course
Onion and tomato shakshouka scramble eggs
Tomato filled with baked beans/grilled chicken sausages/sautéed spinach [T]

Foul medames
Arabic almond dukkah lamb kebab/pine nut laban yogurt/condiments [T]

Poached salmon omelette
Sautéed mushrooms/tomato/potato gratin/hollandaise sauce

White chicken Bavarian style WeiBwurste sausage
Baby pretzels/chive scrambled eggs/sweet mustard



Served with your choice of:
Sautéed red onions
Pan-fried mushrooms

Trio of breakfast desserts
Fig and brioche pudding/cardamom ginger custard/mini French toast




Natural yogurt/honey/apricot/toasted oats
Seasonal fresh fruit/ carrot and ginger jelly



Kitchen Anytime
Enjoy full a la carte dining or select individual dishes from the kitchen anytime menu.
All dishes on the menu are available at any time during the flight.

Steak sandwich/ roasted cherry tomato/ red onion jam
Green leaf Caesar Salad/ warm Arabic crusted lamb fillet/ Parmigiano Reggiano
Braised Middle Eastern chicken en papillote/ semi dried tomatoes/ green olives [T]
Seasonal fresh fruit/ carrot and ginger jelly
Selection of cheese/ organic fruit paste
Providore natural ice cream/ selection of flavors
Potato crisps/ selection of flavors
Baked cookies/ madeleines
Swedish crisp breads

Arabic baklava [T]

AUH-EUR-F4-FB-0211-VER 2-Suite

[Carfield]

Scnery:




Arrival:
Descent began at 12:49pm local time, as we slowly vectored towards Milan Malpensa. The weather was poor, as it was raining, so arrival was slowed tremendously. We landed on R/W35L at 1:23pm, and parked at gate B9/ Bay “507” at 1:30pm. It came to the poorest part of my flight experience. We arrived behind a Qatar Airways’ Airbus and TAM A340 flight, and the lines were long, and an Egyptair A320 and an Emirates Boeing 777-300 soon followed. Because of the lack of a single file line system, the lines were impossible with people sneaking in and out, and EU citizens realized that they had a EU line. Some people think they could jump line and got turned back. MXP really could do a better job. It took me an hour to go through immigration. However I found it strange that the EY crew did not deplane till 2:20pm, while the EK crew came out early, considered their flight arriving later than us. The bags were already out by the time I exited immigration, and I sort of had to find the right baggage claim, as the MXP authority removed all the information. Knowing the long line, they knew better.

Conclusion:
Etihad Airways is definitely a nice experience in first class, and the a la carte/on demand menu was an interesting concept, and the food was very nice. I appreciate the array of kitchen menus, and the Japanese Kaiseki meals were good on the flight heading and departing form NRT. Most EY flight attendants are quite attentive and the crews work together better than Emirates, which have some consistency issues. The amenity kit was an interesting concept – more functional than flashy. Of course a few more cosmetic items won’t hurt, but the computer bag concept was good. The pajama was comfortable and I like the black color design. Seat wise, the new Diamond Suites of course were nice and the seats were soft enough for a good night of sleep. I like the beige leather upholstery, which the older Diamond first class seats lack. The color was quite awful. However I think the lighting issues annoy me and EY can give out some easy fix, such as allowing the tray table to slide, and to refocus the overhead light. Its first class is definitely my top three favorites now along with Singapore Airlines and Swiss. However, I think the real test is the business class cabin, which I will most likely fly often. I planned to do the Europe-AUH-Beijing-NGO later this year, and look forward to see how its business class compares to other. However, the seat looks a bit narrow, but I like direct aisle access. However Etihad Airways is definitely a nice alternative to Emirates, and hope it can fly to Hong Kong soon!

[hsf]

Nice report! Thanks.....

[sutrakhk]

Love your report, and love Etihad!

I want to try EY but they don't fly to Hong Kong! (But they have ex-HKG fare which can go via BKK by TG or MNL by PR)

[haf]

Very pleasing interiors. Enjoyed this!