Help me pick – Jet Airways vs Etihad from LHR to BLR!

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Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • MarkivJ
    Participant

    Hi folks,

    I’m flying into London from my home base Seattle for a couple of days (flying VS, ticket already purchased). From there, I need to fly to Bengaluru (all J class). This time, I’d like to try Jet Airways or Etihad (so I can collect miles on Skyteam or AA respectively). I’d also like to my port of entry in India to be Bengaluru which rules out the daily Jet Airways 77W from LHR to DEL and BOM.

    Option 1: LHR > AMS (KLM) > BLR (Jet, A330-330)
    Option 2: LHR > AUH > BLR (Etihad)

    I truly truly want to try Etihad (esp their A380 business suites and all), but I keep reading so much about their cost cutting I’m not so sure now (for the record, I don’t care about chauffeur driven car and all cos I’ll be staying in Sofitel T5).

    The edge that Jet Airways has is that it’s cheaper, and lands at a friendlier time in BLR (12:15a versus EY’s 3am, only flight with less transit time in AUH). Jet’s 77W reviews seem good, but haven’t read any about their A333 J class.

    Thoughts?


    MarkivJ
    Participant

    Also, I’ve decided I’d like to try these 2, so in the spirit of making your responses more efficient, please help compare/contrast Jet and Etihad versus suggesting other carriers that fly this route. I’ve either flown them (QR, EK) or don’t care/won’t get miles (Oman Air, Gulf Air, etc.).


    PrakashMehta
    Participant

    Markiv, I’ve travelled on both, Etihad and Jet a few times over the last couple of years in J (to LHR, LAX and JFK from BOM). While it’s true that Etihad has cut back on a few things recently, here’s my take on the two:

    Cabin and Seat: I would prefer Etihad any day over Jet. The A380 is very comfortable with enough personal space and privacy. Jet has herringbone configuration, which I personally don’t like. It feels too open and lacks space and privacy. If travelling Jet, I would take the last row in J, which seems to offer a little more privacy. For me any Etihad wide body would easily beat Jet. A narrow body aircraft is another story.

    Food: I normally eat vegetarian food and Jet scores over Etihad here. Etihad has dine on demand, which is good, but on my last couple of flights they have run out of my choice of snacks by mid-flight (part of the cut backs, I guess)

    On board service: While I’ve been fortunate to have had good service on both carriers, I personally prefer Jet Airways, whose crew I find more friendly and warm as compared to Etihad.

    Frequent Flier Points: I’m indifferent to the two as I collect my points on Jet irrespective of whom I’m flying with.

    So, in summary, it would depend on what’s important for you. While I prefer the Jet food and service, I would choose Etihad just for it’s hard product.


    Inquisitive
    Participant

    For such not so long journey, it does not matter which one you choose for comfort. Especially with Etihad, each leg will be pretty short and you can just enjoy the service.
    If you intent to sleep a little bit, Jet will be better due to a slightly longer leg.
    In my opinion Jet business is more attentive than Etihad, but A380 is a much superior aircraft.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    I honestly think that without establishing a set of selection criteria and weightings, it is almost impossible for anyone to provide a meaningful response.

    Were it me, I’d be looking at

    – schedule convenience (5)
    – price (3)
    – seat comfort (2)
    – F&B (1)

    The above is why I book BA WTP on flights to the ME, it gives me the best set of trade offs.

    But others may have completely different drivers and that will drive different outcomes.


    MarkivJ
    Participant

    Thank you all for your responses. I’m more inclined with Jet based on this feedback, and particularly because that long stretch of rest/relaxation is important to me.

    PrakashMehta – like you, I’m veggie and F&B is very important to me when I fly. Plus, you raised a good point about wide vs narrow bodied, because EY flies an A320 to BLR (unlike EK and QR that fly 772 or 77W, and EY’s J class doesn’t look all that impressive on J class!). it’s a 4 hour flight and I want to make sure I get my money’s worth.

    Inquisitive – yes, I’m more inclined on choosing Jet simply because of the straight 10 hours I get to relax.

    FDOS – thanks for your input. As I had written in my original post, I had already considered schedule and cost. My query to the BT forum was around the soft and hard products of both.


    IanFromHKG
    Participant

    It’s a bit old nw, but here is a review I wrote of a shorter flight on Jet’s A330

    http://www.seatplans.com/users/profile/53426#

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