After our wonderful stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives (part 1 of 6 for my review here), it was time to make our way to our next destination.
I had always heard that Etihad was a great airline, so I wanted to give it a try.
To be honest, I was disappointed in this part of the trip for a couple of reasons. First of all, they switched our plane from a lie-flat seat to a recliner seat on this four hour flight. This would have been great after the several hours of travel we had already completed via boat and intra-Malidives flight.
Second, I felt that the cabin was a bit dated. Additionally, and I didn’t really notice this until my wife mentioned it, but the cabin had a weird smell. I don’t know what the issue was, but just keep that in mind.
I’ll go ahead and note that we were pretty tired, so I didn’t get a ton of quality pictures. I’ll put in good pictures where I can.
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How I booked my Etihad business class ticket
I booked this flight almost as soon as the booking window opened. For this flight, I used 42,500 American Airlines Aadvantage miles per person. Taxes & fees equaled $130.90 per person.
More specifically, I booked:
2/12 EY 279 Male, Maldives (MLE) to Abu Dhabi, UAE (AUH) departing 7:10PM, arriving 11:25PM
2/13 EY 85, Abu Dhabi, AUE (AUH) to Rome, Italy (FCO), departing 2:25AM (+1), arriving 5:45AM (+1)
Etihad Airways lounge & boarding
Given that you get to Male airport from the hotel a few hours before your flight leaves, you have some time to kill. For this particular airport, Etihad business class passengers are invited to use the Leeli Lounge in the Male airport after security and immigration.
This lounge is used by all airlines for their premium class passengers. I would say don’t get here early specifically for this lounge, but it’s better than hanging out in the duty free section or the gate waiting area for a few hours.
I don’t have a ton of pictures, but it has a small buffet. The refrigerator is full of coke, waters, and other drinks for you to take. Note that there is no alcohol, as the Maldives is a dry country.
My favorite part are the windows at the far end of the lounge. You get a great view of all the planes, many coming from all over the world.
As soon as it was time to board, we exited the lounge, went downstairs, and scanned our tickets through the premium line. We boarded a bus specifically designated for premium passengers and rode over to the plane. We then walked up the stairs and found our seats.
Etihad Airways business class cabin & seats
The business class on this particular A321 had 8 seats, distributed across two rows of 4.
All 8 seats were recliner-style seats, not the lie-flat that most people would assume they would get flying Etihad. When we had originally booked this flight, it was using a larger plane with lie-flat seats. However, it changed a few weeks out, and there were no other options for us. A bit disappointing given that this was our mega-miles trip. However, that is definitely a first-world problem. Make sure to always check your reservation every so often after booking to make sure it’s what you want!
We were seated in the second row on the left side. I sat in the aisle seat (2C), while I gave my wife the window seat (2A).
These seats were bigger than your traditional US airline first class and had a few more features. Seats were comfortable but a bit hard. Each seat had an adjustable headrest that I absolutely used to sleep for a few hours.
Between the two seats were individual reading lights.
Overhead were more reading lights. I do not remember if there were air nozzles.
The TV came out from the in between the two seats. Picture quality was fine for this short flight. Sorry for the blurry picture below.
To my right were the seat controls. They had the old style buttons that changed the recline and foot rest. Man, do I love a foot rest when using those recliner-style seats!
Plugs for the headphones, AC power, and USB power were all in between the seats.
Etihad Airways A321 business class lavatories
There was a single lavatory at the front of the plane. I don’t remember if economy class passengers could use it. I slept for most of the flight, and I wasn’t woken up, so who knows?
It was a traditional A321 lavatory. I’m a tall human, so I normally don’t really fit in most airplane lavatories. However, I remember being able to stand up. It’s not as spacious as a widebody plane lavatory, but it works.
Etihad Airways A321 business class amenities
As you can see in the picture a few pictures up, upon boarding, each seat had a blanket, a pillow, a menu, and a pair of headphones. The blanket was quite soft.
The pillow was more of a throw pillow than a full pillow. However, given the short-ish nature of the flight, as well as the fact that we had recliner-style seats, it worked.
The headphones were unbranded and provided decent sound quality. I’ve used better on other planes.
Etihad Airways business class entertainment & Wi-Fi
Like I said earlier, the plane came out of the arm rest. There were a lot of different in flight viewing options. I mostly just had the flight map going.
I was so tired, I forgot to check for wi-fi. My next flight had a paid option for it, so I’m assuming it’s the same here.
This was the only airline that had a few magazines, which was a great flashback to the pre-pandemic customer experience. One was the streaming guide. This was a proper streaming guide, not just a few pages that also told you what drinks were available.
There was also an in-flight magazine, called atlas. I really enjoyed looking at the network map.
atlas also functioned as a duty-free magazine. I was very tempted to purchase the IWC Schaffhausen Le Petit Prince Big Pilot’s Watch 43 for $75,698.
Etihad Airways A321 departure from Male
Once we sat down, flight attendants distributed a bottle of water. The Maldives does not allow for alcohol to be distributed to passengers while on the ground.
There was the safety demonstration and prayer. We pushed back, taxied out, and had a quick takeoff.
Etihad Airways A321 business class dinner service
The menu for the flight can be found below.
To start off, we were given mixed nuts in a ramekin. I also ordered a sparkling water and a Coke Zero (because it’s the best version of Coke).
To start off, I had the Arabic mezze. This was my first time eating Arabic mezze ever, and I found it to be quite tasty. Additionally, this came with bread, butter and olive oil, and a small cucumber salad. As always, I ordered a glass of champagne as well.
I wasn’t super hungry (I don’t know why???), so I didn’t order the full meal. I just jumped straight to dessert so I could go to sleep.
For dessert, I ate the chocolate mocha mousse cake with berries and vanilla sauce. I don’t particularly remember it outside of the pictures I took. It’s dessert though, so it was good. I ordered a glass of dessert wine to pair with it. To be honest, I know nothing about wine (I’m a champagne guy when it comes to the grapes), but it tasted well with my dessert.
Etihad Airways arrival in Abu Dhabi
After I ate dinner, I fell asleep and slept hard. I have no idea why I fell asleep so quickly. Regardless, I woke up about 30 minutes before we landed as the cabin crew prepared for landing. We landed, went to the gate, and got off the plane quickly.
This is the new airport, and it is quite gorgeous. We had a long walk to get to security and then made our way to the lounge.
I won’t review the lounge, but it was confusing. We had to ask three different people where the showers were before we found it. However, after a shower, some food at the lounge, and the sleep on the plane, I was refreshed enough to function until we settled into our flight to Rome.
Etihad Airways business class service
For this particular flight, I was asleep for the most part. However, the flight attendants were very kind and responsive. I never needed to use my call button, as I could often just wave them down. Service was polished and with a smile for this flight.
I do remember an interesting interaction when boarding. A family was boarding, and one of the children gave a flight attendant a hug, which seemed odd to me. I figured they knew them somehow. However, I overheard the mother telling the flight attendant how much it meant that she had gone out of the way on the flight down to Male.
It appears that that flight attendant had done something to really make the family feel special. Kudos to that flight attendant!
Conclusion
I guess that Etihad Airways A321 works for a short-haul flight. Etihad’s long-haul planes are much better. I also think there are better options on routes between the Middle East and Male. Importantly, if you’re either on a bucket-list trip or want a lie-flat seat, I would avoid it if you can.
What do you think of the Etihad Airways A321? Have you ever flown it?
Feature image courtesy of planespotters.net
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