Trip Report: Etihad A380 Business Class London to Abu Dhabi

Today, I'm going to be taking an aircraft that shouldn't still exist, on an airline that I'm surprised still does. I'll be flying on the A380 down to Abu Dhabi in Business Class. A few months back it found it was short of planes - didn't have very deep pockets, and rediscovered it's old fleet to it's exact specification in effect parked around the corner with lots of miles left in them.

Which is why with little fanfare it quitely brought them back again, just for the London to Abu Dhabi route.

The Business Studios are laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration, with alternating forward and rear-facing seats. This makes seat choice particularly important, unless you like to fly sitting backwards in the aisle sitting backwards.

But first, I have to get there, so we have to pick up the saga at 6am, with checkin at London Heathrow Terminal 4.

Fasttrack security took under a minute, as I head to Etihad's lounge at Terminal 4.

Etihad Lounge London Heathrow Terminal 4

Etihad Airways has returned to London Heathrow's Terminal 4, and also taken back control of it's dedicated lounge. For some years it was shuttered, and then run by a third party operator, but now the Etihad Lounge has reopened for its first and business class guests, as well as Etihad Guest Platinum and Gold members. The lounge has a separate dining area as well as a children's playroom too, which we looked at in our Etihad Lounge London Heathrow review.

The lounge is down in the basement of Terminal 4, so you have to take the lift or the winding staircase down to the Etihad Lounge, which is one level below the main concourse.

The food options are pretty good, with a full sit down a la carte restaurant, and you can order from a menu that is Arabic in flavour, but also with a decent buffet including a full cooked English.

I started off the day with an Arabic Shakshuka which is tomato and paprika salsa with feta & eggs, and very popular it is gulf states like Iran or Iraq for breakfast.

All washed down with a cup of tea, and lashings of fresh lime juice. The lounge also does great Arabic coffee.

There were plenty of places to sit in the main lounge, however there was plenty of evidence of the now long gone glory days Etihad, with the old six senses spa in the corner of the main room now used for storing towels; the spa is very unlikely to return.

There is a quiet decent bar area here, with some good new-world wines. The cocktail list is good, and will mix up cocktails even for the early morning 9am departure.

Bubbles this morning are the Joseph Perrier Champagne, with a pale yellow gold. Delicate yet lively with small bubbles with notes of apple and pear it's round and most refreshing on the finish.

Etihad also have a lovely English sparkling wine. It's the Nyetimber. Grown in the chalk soils of Hampshire with the gentle slopes of the downs allow for the best possible exposure to the English sunshine, ensuring the grapes achieve the optimum level of ripeness before harvest.

Alas the only window looks out over the main arrivals corridor at Heathrow and every single person arriving peers in to look at the wonders inside.

Etihad A380 Business Class Seats and Cabin

The gate is virtually outside the lounge, so only a brisk stroll. Note that Etihad are rigorously checking for oversize - or overweight - hand luggage.

Etihad calls their Business Class on the A380 'Business Studio'. This is located on the upper deck, along with First Class, and the inflight wine bar and the 'The Lobby', which is a circular lounge shared by First and Business Class passengers.

There are also huge overhead luggage bins on the A380 - but unfortunately no air vents

Business Class seats are in a 1-2-1 configuration - every seat has aisle access. Alternate rows alternate either forward or backwards facing - if you sit backwards not only are you very exposed to the aisle, the window is a long way away. The forward facing seats are much better.

The seat is in effect a large squishy armchair, with a great side lamp in Etihad older style perforated aluminium look.

There are some good sized side stowage bins, a small remote with a screen.

And on the edge of the shelf there are simple buttons to recline or raise the seat, a light for preusing the menu, and one touch buttons to put it into recline or drinking cocktails mode.

Under the vast TV screen there is a cubby hole so in bed mode you can lie down, fully flat.

And there is a big fluffy blanket in there when you want to shut yourself away from humanity.

Beside the seat is a lift up buddy seat, under which is a great storage compartment which contains the water and headphones.

After I sit down, the menus arrive, and then pre-flight champagne.

Today it's Devaux House - an 18th century manor in the Cote des Bar. With fresh, floral aromas with hints of ripe white peach and apricot on the nose.

Great to see warm towels are making a comeback too.

Etihad A380 Business Class amenity kit

The amenity kit looks good - but the actual content is pretty poor. It comes in a lovely orange pouch.

But inside all you get is a small tub of hand cream, a perfume sampler, and some hand gel.

Along with the usual toothbrush, paste, socks and eyeshade.

Etihad inflight entertainment

Etihad Airways' inflight entertainment system offers films, TV series, live TV, music and games, and a bunch of films that hit the rocky shore, and went down with all hands. Idneed, the problem is, there are very few new releases loaded, unless you include some box office bombs.

The IFE is called E-Box which sounds rather retro 1990s, but the screen is big - it's a large 18.5-inch touch-screen is fixed directly in front you.

Noise-cancelling headphones are provided - they're not the best, but they do save lugging around your own pair.

Etihad inflight entertainment in Business Studios is excellent, with a wide touchscreen. It is usually out of reach unless you have your seat forward, so that's why next to the seat is a secondary screen with controller, which is useful for navigating content when you cannot reach the main screen. If you really want it can also be used as a secondary screen for viewing content such as the moving map, or even live telly.

Next to that is a third touchscreen to move the seat, and turn the plethora of lights on.

However the IFE was rendered totally pointless for me, as the previous occupant of their seat had left part of their headphones in the socket - and it was nearly impossible to remove it. After the crew tried, and failed - and incidentally received some nasty cuts in the process - I finally managed to extricate the pin with a knife and fork.

Etihad's A380 was one of the first of the Asian carriers fitted with Live TV - and it was a revelation at the time, a decade back - and it still works. CNN, CNBC, Sport 24, and yes, there is the BBC News Channel - now sadly merged with BBC World of course.

The aircraft was fitted with Wi-Fi and plans start at $3 for a chat package, or 10 dollars for full surfing - that is a major reduction compared to the last year when it was $30 for 300 mega bites which represented awful value.

But if you Etihad's Frequent Flyer scheme Guest, even without putting your frequent flyer card into the booking and just logging on with it, you get free messaging and email, which did me just fine. On the chat package of course you can't send photos - but who wants to send a picture of their airline meal from 30,000 feet anyway.

Etihad Business Class inflight meals

The crew asked when I wanted to dine as Etihad has a dine-on-demand service, but equally they mentioned that as the flight was short I could either dine now, or in an hour or two. Despite breakfast I had a rumble in my tummy, and through it best to grab the food while it was going. Previous experience tends to show that while the dine on demand service is offered, the reality can be different.

The menu looked very good indeed:

Starters

• Arabic Mezze
• Poached Prawns
• Tomato soup

Mains

• Braised short rib - parsnip puree, pumpkin, fava beans, and jus
• Stone bass
• Chicken Biryani
• Rigatoni with peas

Cheese

Dessert

• warm sticky toffee pudding
• chocolate marquise
• fruit
• ice cream Haagen Dazs

There was also an excellent wine list:

Champagne

Devaux Grande Reserve Brut

Bellini

Cipriani - Peach pulp and brut Prosecco

Wine white

• Charonnay Reserva Escudo Rojo Chile 2021
• Sauvignon Blanc Allan Scott Marlborough New Zealand 2022
• Chemin Blanc Terre Noire Ken Forrester South Africa 2021

Red wine

• Merlot Chateau des Landes Lussac Saint Emillon France 2018
• Shiraz Riebke Teusner Barossa Valley Australia 2020
• Cabernet Sauvignon Alto South Africa 2018

Dessert wine

• Beerenauslese Exquisit Gebruder Nittnaus Bergerland Austria
• Grahams 10 year old Tawny Port

The crew came straight out with my drink of choice while we were over Belgium, and I went for a Bellini.

This is a classic mix of peach pulp and brut prosecco., and named after the renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini. It was first knocked up in the late 40s in Harry's bar in Venice.

The wine service had begun at what, UK time was 10 in the morning, so it was time to start off with a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc.

The Allan Scott wintery is in the heart of Marlborough, right at the top of the souteherly island, and the glacial deposit give the wine a lovely mineral quality, with a sharp acidity with hits of gooseberry.

There is a huge meal tray which folds out from th seat wall. It slides out and up, and when solid is very it is down.

For pre-lunch wine I selected the Philippe de Rothschild. This vineyard is known for producing exquisite wines. Escudo Rojo Reserva Chardonnay is made from carefully selected Chardonnay grapes grown in the best vineyards in the Valle de Casablanca. It is a brilliant, golden yellow colour with an intense bouquet of tropical fruit aromas, a subtle vanilla note, and a long, satisfying finish.

For the Entre I selected the Etihad version of the Arabic Mezze. The airline's competitor, Emirates, does a huge and very classic Mezze plate with three bowls, which is amazing. Etihad goes down a different route.

Instead is a Warak Enab which is very popular in Lebanon, and it's in effect stuffed vine leaves like a giant Greek Dolma.

The giant Cornish pastie is a Sambousek Lahme: a Lebanese pastie filled with meat and potatoes. It's delicious, and goes well with the humas, and a bit of tabbouleh.

To accompany I selected a Chemin Blanc, made by South Affrica's top producer of the grape, Mr Chenin, Ken Forrester. It's packed with gentle white peach and melon flavours, and has a long finish, thanks to the unique terror of the black soil in Swartland.

I was really looking forward to the main course.

Options included Chiken Biryani or Rigatoni with peas.

But I went for the Braised short rib with parsnip puree, pumpkin, fava beans, and jus.

It was pretty poor, with tough unrefined meat. The gravy and mash were just edible - and that's being kind.

The crew could sense my disappointment - and offered the reassuring words that at least I hadn't ordered the pea rigatoni.

However the wine continued, and was free flowing.

I tried a merlot: the Chateau des Landes Lussac Saint Emillon France 2018. My glass presented dark fruits and generous tannins. It is well balanced... between my fingers, as I got through at least a couple of glasses while I was begging for my tray to be removed.

Mind you even the green salad with a couple of tomatoes that are on their last legs is better than the slab of dead cow on my plate.

Seeking a diversion from the emptiness of flavour - or even hope - that is Etihad catering, I longed for flavour by dosing myself up with a peppery Shiraz from the Barossa Valley.

The Riebke Teusner is a terrific. It's Shiraz sourced from the Riebke vineyards in the famous northern Barossa growing area of Ebenezer - originally settled by Wendish Lutherans.

With the cheese it was simply listed on the menu as assorted. Now I would love to tell you what the cheese is. I'd love to - but I can't. And neither could the crew.

There is a stilton, a cheddar and a camembert in there. Along with a couple of apricots. And a few biscuits which I needed to eek out as there appeared to be a dire shortage.

To go with the cheese, we need port. Etihad have followed every other airline by just stocking Grahams 10 year old Tawny Port

Although when I asked for it you'd have throught I asked the crew for the moon... and not one made of cheese either, who spent a good 20 minutes rooting in the galley before I had room for the Chocolate marquise. A marquise is a chilled chocolate dessert, like a very smooth rich mousse with butter, eggs and sugar. This was sprinkled with granola, with a strawberry on the side, and presented rather like a Christmas pudding.

The dessert wine was the Beerenauslese Exquisit Gebruder from Bergerland. It's got a Luscious peach and tropical fruit aromas rather like drinking liquid treacle.

Just to ensure I'd worked my way through all the wine - and I mean all - I diverted back to the Alto Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. The 2018 is the best Alto from Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape. It's got a full-bodied, fruit-driven character. And the tannins in it mean you don't need to wake up for wee if you're kipping on the plane.

After such a huge dinner, I had time for a lie down on the wonderfully comfy A380 flat bed. There is a great duvet, pillow and mattress topper.

I had a lovely long sleep of... nearly two hours... that for me is a long time on a plane... and I woke up appropriately enough over Shiraz in central Iraq.

Etihad Inflight bar and lounge

There is one more treat left on the A380. The inflight wine bar. Called the lobby it's hidden up the front of the plane, and not many passenger seem to know about it.

Much smaller than Emirates bar, the Etihad Lobby lounge and bar, is accessible to business and first class and located in between the two cabins.

It just has six seats facing a coffee table, and then there is a rather useless corridor where the wine bar is located, and you have two wine fridges, for white and red.

There are free pour spirts. This would be great if there were any mixers for them, but you have to ask the crew for soft drinks, but you can pour as much booze as you like.

Which seems a little odd.

However, Etihad are one of the few airlines to stock Irish Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin. Knocked up in a tin shed in County Leitrim, it's rely not a bad drop at all.

Etihad A380 Business Class review

It's great that Etihad Airways is bringing its superjumbo back to the US after nearly retiring it during the pandemic.

They spent three and a half years stored in of all places Spain, where it was pretty much assumed the entire A380 fleet was going to be broke up for parts, until suddenly Etihad found it had a load of passengers again, and they loved the A380. Passengers rather than accountants ruled, and Etihad carried out the world's first 12-year check on an A380 and brought four of their ten A380s back to fly, solely on the intense London to Abu Dhabi route this year, for a very short term, time limited fix.

Alas there are no doors on the Etihad seats: you've got to fly on British Airways or possibly Qatar if you want a door on your Business Class seat.

But I like it. Etihad's A380 business class seat, which it calls the Business Studio - has been superseded by its A350 and upcoming new 787 seat, but it remains a very strong product and will likely be around for hopefully some time to come.

The aircraft is really quiet at the front up top.

The Ebox system sounds as old as the plane, but it works.

If only Etihad could get their inflight meals sorted. They use Do and Co at London, the same caters as British Airways, but BA meals are always so much better.

But on the whole I had a great flight, and I really enjoyed it.

Long may the A380 live.

See the full Trip Report: Etihad A380 Business Class London to Abu Dhabi video:

Trip Report: Etihad A380 Business Class London to Abu Dhabi
Lux-traveller.com rating:7 out of10
Seats:	6 - Great if somewhat dated seats
Food:	4 - Mostly surprisingly good, but a poor main course
Service:	7 - Decent, not exceptional
IFE:	7 - Good, does the job