Flying in Etihad’s 3 ROOM FIRST CLASS Apartment!

today we find ourselves in Abu Dhabi to try out the best first class product the world has ever seen earlier this year atad reinstated their a380s which are the only public aircraft in the skies with a thre room suite that's right today we take an adventure in the residence as it's known on EA's only A380 route at the moment from Abu Dhabi to London etot actually provides a chur service for first and business class Travelers which picks up and drops off right near the entrance to Terminal 3 where they helped me over to the first class entrance speaking of which bonus points for this journey as my timing was comedically horrible as we traveled on the last ever day of the old terminal at Abu Dhabi the date of this journey was October 31st and on November 1st the first flight will have taken place from Abu dhabi's brand new terminal I didn't get the chance to experience that new terminal but they advised me that it would be a space 10 times more wonderful so if I'm ever able to say save up enough money to try this again we can check it out for now for Old Time sake we had the terminal 3 at Abu Dhabi which houses almost entirely atad is slightly newer than Terminal 1 and the only Gates capable of holding the A380 the premier checkin area is nicely decorated and much smaller than that of its emirati counterpart up in Dubai with mostly business class counters and one wall of first class check-in each desk is a consultation style where you take a seat and they take care of everything the only drawback although not necessary but qatar's first class check-in supplies you with hot towels refreshments and fancy luggage tags at check-in now when you say the magic words the residence someone appears immediately to escort you through the whole process it's like saying Bloody Mary three times the agent helping me got me checked in escorted to the front of the security line and then up into the lounge itti HUD has a specific Lounge for res resident's customers your escort will take you up into the first class lounge and then to the back corner into the secret room only for people in The Residence at the moment there are multiple hours between A380 flights which is great because they only put one residence worth of people in the room at any given time meaning no more than two luckily for me the previous London flight had no one in the residence so I got into the lounge about 6 hours before boarding this bace really is incredible and it felt a bit weird to be here after seeing all the YouTubers in this room over time so finally being in the room myself was kind of strange the decorations were wonderful but personally I feel that they may be starting to show a bit of age so I guess the move is right in time although it sounds like it will take a few weeks to finish up before they move to that new terminal there's a few different places for people to hang out from the main seating area with two full couches and two chairs remember you can only put two people in the res residence so maybe other first class passengers are invited in if traveling with residence passengers along the walls are bookshelves I honestly couldn't tell if the books were for reading or just for Ambiance and at the risk of breaking something I left the books alone and watched Tik toks on my phone instead kids these days man there was a dining table capable of seating four although next to the entrance door was what seemed to be another slightly larger dining room a counter was there with the typical Lounge Refreshments in addition to the alart menus including still and sparkling water along with Arabic coffee and sweets to go along with it and then this beautiful bowl of fruit all this Glitz and glamour but all I really want to do is down that whole bowl of fruit there was this back hallway with one room for prayer and ablution it seemed and then right next door was the private lavatory with shower it was honestly all just a bit surreal to have all this space to myself for 8 hours one of those outof body experiences if you figure one four below me is the usual hustle and bustle of an airport terminal with yelling passengers missed flights hourlong lines and here I was in a lounge bigger than my own apartment back home we had two menus one for Beverages and one for food as a Californian it hurt only seeing one California wine but there were other great options of drinks including some great mocktails one of the nice things about Middle East airlines that travel to so many dry countries then there was the food menu where there was food of different courses and meant for different times of day although it was all a cart although a couple times I found it a bit tough to flag someone down and just had to stand awkwardly in the doorway until one of the employees finally saw me I started with drinks ordering a sparkling water and an espresso Martini then I had to get some of this great food it sounded great and I hadn't eaten in a little over a day so as a starter this this crab and avocado stack with pickled cucumbers was one of the greatest things ever I'm not sure where they get crabs in the Gulf here but it tasted so good it wasn't even worth questioning that was followed up with the main course of paner Kaa with rice and some form of bread maybe Roy prata or something ever since y'all roasted me endlessly on my Air India video for calling the paneer tofu I have actually decided that the paneer dishes are some of my favorite foods from India and the Middle East this dish included for dessert I had to go with the raspberry option including basically a little pie with Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream and a wafer of sorts on top very bery but very good after I ate they asked if I wanted a blanket and pillow in order to get some rest since there was still about 5 hours until boarding I accepted and they brought me a super comfortable blanket and set the lights for rest I thought sleeping on the couch would be weird but it was 10 times more comfortable than my bed at home good enough to sleep within a matter of minutes when I got up I still had a couple of hours left and in today's episode of things we learned about Patrick if I'm alone for this long I start to go a bit crazy to sleep or not to sleep to work out or not to work out or maybe cave in and read one of these books but definitely not break anything what better way to pass the time than food so I got a small snack before boarding this time just a plate of fruit and a turkey coffee that was half powder granted I've never had Turkish coffee maybe the powder is all part of the experience but I'm going to guess not when I first got to the lounge they asked if I wanted to be the first or last to board so that they could escort me to the gate while I was in the lounge they momentarily took my boarding pass and passport for what seemed like the immigration checks so that that was all squared away and then 5 minutes before boarding was scheduled to start just after showering and actually putting on some actual Formal Wear three ettihad agents showed up to take me to my flight I know I'm in the residence but y'all I am not this important I am not deserving of three escorts like a dang president gate 32 was ours and was the first gate after the duty free shop after getting a quick look at our airplane de Heath throw gate lice was in full effect not to worry though as my escort walked me right up to the front down the Jet Bridge and passed me off to the purer of the flight who took me the rest of the way to my private seat one of the only things that could ruin a trip this good would be finding out your internet data your passwords or any other of your personal devices information had been stolen recently I worked with nordvpn in order to create a discount for any of you guys looking to encrypt your online data using my link below nordvpn.com Patrick Shay you can get four free months in addition to any 2-year plan that you purchase purchase at no 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y'all and let's head back to Abu Dhabi peace I now welcome you to perhaps the best first class cabin in the world in my humble opinion I think etihad's first class Suites or apartments as they call them are superior to the likes of Emirates and Qatar partially and it's crazy that I have to say partially due to their roughly 40 square foot apartments that can be kind of joined if you're traveling with someone else also partially because atad is the only other Airline besides Emirates to have showers for all first class passengers in the forward Labs nothing however can compete with our seat today if you can even call it that as we reach the front left of the cabin and find it the Residence technically seats one A B and C on the seating chart the 125 ft three room apartment in the sky for reference my apartment in college was 110 square ft 15 squ ft less than my airplane seat today the first of the three rooms is the living room this is the area that must be occupied for takeoff often landing and has two seats each reclining and each with a seat belt across from the Ottomans and the largest TV screen I have ever seen on an airplane we pushed from the gate almost an hour late which gave me plenty of time to check out the areas of this seat starting with the two main seats in the front room they are not only the most cushion seats ever but also ginormous so if traveling with a second person you won't be cramped at all they also had the three throw pillows good for accents or lumbar support in addition to the two throw blankets on the ottoman to either side of the seats there are countertops each with the same features in the little Cubbies you'll find storage but also the charging ports and headset Jacks the TV remote and this little screen to control the seat adjustments lights windows and more we also have the very large tray tables that slide out and then up from the armrest also one of the few things that wasn't renovated it seems in these Suites as we see new carpet bits and colors than before the co times then there's an additional panel for seat and light adjustments with buttons as opposed to the screen panel in front of us is the Ottomans for people in these seats two of which have a very large storage area accessible with just the push of a button the other one with a mini bar full of sodas still and sparkling water and drinking glasses this this is also the only room with Windows personally I'm a big fan of the a380s upper deck windows with two shades one for filtering the light and one for blacking out the light and then the last thing in the room is the coat closet located directly behind the TV from there there's a hallway that takes this Suite to the two other rooms the restroom and the bedroom also with one of my favorite Parts the incredibly comfortable carpet the restroom isn't the largest in the world much smaller than Emirates and qatar's A380 first class Labs but this one is for me and only me all of these amenities the sink the toilet and especially the shower all for me then the last room the bedroom a full double bed with seat belt able to fit both people using the residence there's headset Jacks and charging ports on each side of the bed with storage Cubbies counter and a space for water bottles not to mention a second TV I've talked about which beds in my travels have been the most comfortable on airplanes but nothing beats a real bed with real sheets real pillows and the comfiest of comforters all made a bit better by only using accent and indirect lighting as opposed to the harsher direct lighting with ports next to the bed and storage available I couldn't have planned a more comfortable place to enjoy a flight if I tried and while I was getting settled into into the seat one of the ground staff that escorted me to the gate with my luggage was able to stash it in the storage areas underneath the bed there was also a few lighting adjustments on the side panel one for the lighting across the ceiling one for the reading lights that shine on each side of the bed and then one to adjust the accent lights that run along the floorboard the accent lights on the wall were controlled by their own buttons right on the base of them and then to make everything a little better and to help with the privacy of all of this there's not only a door that shuts to the suite itself but there's another door to the hallway to the bedroom in the lavatory meaning that you can completely separate the living room from the private space in the back the amenities of this Suite were incredible as well as expected every 5 Seconds my personal flight attendant appeared with more goodies starting with the noise cancelling headphones we were also given the amenity kits which are given to first class passengers while there wasn't too much much stuff inside the amenity kit the quality of the aqua deparma amenities were great they also asked what I'd like as my predeparture beverage and I could choose from anything in the menu so I went with the lemon mint which came with a hot towel and dates then they returned shortly after with the Arabic coffee which I am always glad to accept to help us get comfortable we also had the assortment of pillows located on the seats as well as the blankets located on the Ottomans back in in the bedroom there were a couple more amenities starting with a robe that was great after getting out of the shower next to that was some PJs that were a bit big for me but extremely stretchy and comfortable they also went with some slippers that were on the ground this was a great time for me to change out of my less comfortable suit clothes and into the much more comfortable pajamas we also got our menus similar set as in the lounge but with different content of drinks and food similarly the drinks menu had mostly wines and Champagnes then spirits and apars mocktails and ending with soft drinks coffees and teas the food started with a welcome letter before three pages of food first off was the alicart menu which had most of the items available on this flight then was the breakfast items and the available items in the lounge the last page was for the lounge and Grill menu allowing for a mix and match of different items as we taxi out from the old budabi terminal for what will most likely be the last time a pre-flight prayer played on the screen and through the speaker but we can't talk about anything else before addressing the cost of this flight historically this flight has been one of the most expensive ways to travel albeit the most lavish and worth it to some by the way when I say expensive I mean you'd be spending in the 20 and 30,000 range for a flight from places like Sydney or New York that was the preo times however since then ettihad retired and then unretired some of their A380 Fleet and the structure looks a bit different instead of the residence being its own class of service you can now access it as an add-on to a regularly booked first class ticket for example I booked this journey from koala lumur to London via Abu Dhabi with a second leg being first class the base Fair of the ticket was roughly $2,000 and then I paid an addition 2100 for the upgrade to the residence making it a grand total of $4,100 by far the most expensive flight I have ever purchased but fortunately as soon as they announced the return of the A380 I couldn't risk missing out so I began setting aside money bit by bit for it and this was much cheaper than I was expecting while expensive it is definitely much more attainable than it was previously for [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] after takeoff the crew came by to ask if the temperature in the cabin was all right I mentioned I was a bit warm and they came back a few minutes later to check and see if I was better Lov that I then wanted to look through the entertainment system where once launched the homepage has all of the categories of entertainment options maybe not as much as Emirates but still an impressive selection you can see here with the movies that there are categories although most of them are for languages or regions of the world there were a fair amount of movies personally I was satisfied with the selection of new movies available between that and some of the classics there is more than enough for a 7-hour flight to London you are also able to save things to a playlist not only that but you get to name the playlist I chose to go with the very creative name Patrick stuff as usual there are far less TV shows most of them being about Abu Dhabi itself the comedy section had some familiar titles however there were multiple episodes of each show although only a few not full seasons like other airlines Unfortunately they do however offer live TV which is fun and becoming less and less common then was the music where we found plenty of songs across multiple genres but not much hip-hop so I checked my backup genre of country where I found some Luke conb with a whole album full of songs the flight path page had access to the map external cameras and the kibla compass while they did have my favorite type of map the TV wasn't touchscreen unfortunately but I was able to use the screen on the remote the about ettihad section had all kinds of fun info that I admittedly didn't view but if you want to learn about the airline airport cabins or Abu Dhabi this is probably where you'd want to start the comms made it so you could chat or call with other seats or the crew then was a solid collection of ebooks but personally I feel like reading off the TV the whole flight would give me a headache I don't know they actually had a solid collection of games although usbekistan Airways Remains the only flight that I actually played the games you could also access the food and beverage menus on the TV as well as putting an order together next was the news and weather which had worldwide news as well as worldwide weather and lastly was the radio section which seemed very similar to the audio section in my opinion the TV in the bedroom has all the same content and in order to help you they make it pretty easy to share screens so that you can either watch the same program on both TVs or pause it and resume it in the other room perfect if you plan to get some sleep mid movie iot does have inflight Wi-Fi and it's pretty easy to connect by tapping on the Etihad wifly it should take you automatically to their website where you can purchase a wide variety of plans fortunately for residence passengers you do have a code for free full-flight Wi-Fi by entering that I was able to quickly connect to my Wi-Fi and stay connected the entire flight honestly it was a pretty respectable speed as well they also mentioned it would take a little while to prep the food and asked if I would like a beverage in the meantime I really wanted some carak chai but I didn't see it on the menu she said they had it for business class passenger so they could find some for me on board it was given to me along with some little snacky items while I waited for the majority of my lunch service it wasn't long before they began the place settings complete with the sparkling Ros and a coke it was great however of course right when we hit turbulence and then we had to get a little bit crafty to fit everything on this table the meal began with their caviar service it was absolutely incredible and a great Touch of some of these first class services that was followed by my appetizer of the Arabic mesap platter it was smaller than I anticipated but considering I was already getting a bit full I welcomed it gladly and it was still very tasty we were then given a lemon sorbet as a pallet cleanser before we were served the main course by this point I was stuffed but in for a penny in for a pound so out came my entree which was a grilled salmon it was actually one of the better airplan dishes I've ever had so I ate as much as I physically could before having to tap out and skip the dessert for now at least now that I was just about ready to either throw up or go into a food coma they brought me a cappuccino so I drank enough that it looked like I made an effort at least and then it was time to completely crash for the next 6 hours first things first I was curious how much adjusting these seats had considering they were already comfortable and we had a full bed stored separately the answer not much you can see here by holding the relax button it gets into a slight recline not going to lie though it was still extremely comfortable as an added bonus I found that one of the other buttons actually moved the ottoman closer to the seat which was great for those of us who aren't 7 ft tall with that set I was actually really comfortable but I was also done playing games I mean I had a full bed around the corner what was I doing here the fully made double bed was waiting for me and in my lethargic State at after that meal it was time to finally relax to the fullest it goes without saying but this is the best bed I've ever had on an airplane it has more than enough space for you no matter how you sleep and you could even fit a second person if traveling in tandem in addition I know the whole thing is a closed door Suite but with the bedroom specifically once that hallway door is shut it becomes by far the most private space I've had on an airplane and with how quiet the A380 is it's possible to forget you're even on an airplane especially with noise cancelling headphones on to the point that the first time we hit turbulence while crossing the Alps it actually made me jump for a second but was also my cue to buckle that seat Bel that spans the bed I have never been so comfy while working on an airplane I really wanted to sleep but with only a 7-hour flight I didn't want to waste any of it sleeping instead I guess I'll just hold out hope that they bring it back to longer routes and then hope that I'll be able to afford it again in the meantime I'm enjoying watching a show while using my remote to monitor our flight progress and working on my computer while chilling in a double bed at 40,000 ft with the captain darkened there was one stop I had to make before we arrived between business and first class is the inflight bar it's admittedly a bit smaller than the one on Emirates but I also feel like they use the space a bit better I do like the circle of seats with the table in the middle but I also appreciated having charging ports between the seats in addition to the bar being behind the seats and the wallmounted TV with live news playing it was a great place to hang out and enjoy a drink or two although In First Class when you can put two people in each Suite in flight at least there isn't a huge need for the bar area hence the reason it's more directly connected to business [Music] class as I walk back to my Suite one thing that struck me is you can see the width of the nor noral doors to the rest of the first class Apartments versus the enormous size of the double doors to my first class residence really sets the tone for just how big these seats are all of this and my two favorite parts of the flights were still yet to come first off I placed my order for my final meal on board I was still full from lunch so I just got a fruit plate as I worked in bed it only took a few minutes before they came with my food but not on plates instead being on a a big tray that way they could put the tray right on the bed it brought a whole new meaning to breakfast in bed it may seem simple but was genuinely one of the best experiences I've ever had on an airplane that brought me to my next favorite part of the flight my personal shower within my personal laboratory it took the flight attendant roughly 10 minutes to set it up with a full towel face towel bath mat and robe but once that was done I had 10 minutes of water just like with the Emirates showers you can turn the water on and off if you'd like to conserve your 10 minutes and even though I just showered in Abu Dhabi before leaving for this flight I personally love that fresh feeling once you get out of the shower so being able to land fully refreshed is a GameChanger honestly I'm a bit stumped as to why more Airlines haven't started adding shower Suites I'm assuming it has to do with the weight of the airplane when loaded with water tanks multiplied by the amount of showers making the payload not worth it but it does give people a reason to choose Emirates or Etihad if it's within their price range we actually began our descent towards the end of my shower which was probably one of the stranger feelings it's also how I learned that the speaker in the shower is a different level of loud and even though the shower and bathroom are much smaller than Emirates being able to have the whole Space to yourself is kind of a game changer having been introduced in 2014 the residence is truly a game-changing airplane cabin I do wonder if we will ever see anything like it again in commercial Aviation although barring new aircraft inventions I seriously doubt it the reason is that the upper deck of the A380 is kind of the only space in any airplane that logically fits this space since the cockpit isn't on the upper deck there's extra space towards the front most Airlines use it to make one enormous lavatory on each side of the staircase instead etti had opted for two slightly smaller lavatories on one side of the stairs still with a shower too this opens up the other side of the staircase to build this Suite the shape of the airframe doesn't allow for seats in that area so there isn't really a loss of cost instead making it possible to make extra thousands of dollars per flight at the cost of just making the first class lavatories a bit smaller that being said there's only a few Airlines with a380s still and they've all announced retirement plans or just recently renovated them anyway so ettihad may Remain the only airline to ever pull something like this off unfortunately as with other aspects of Aviation Co didn't do good things to the residents before Co atti had used their a380s to four continents including destinations like New York Sydney London and soul and most if not all of the residence destinations had their own special residence Lounge as well rare for outstations after coid it seemed that the A380 of edad had flown its last flight this year brought the good news of the return of the r 380s with the drawback that it would only fly to London anot has said that they have no plans to bring it to any other destinations at this time as they've only pulled a few out of storage so I also wonder what happened to those residence lounges at these other residence lounges that have since become useless I've heard rumors from sources that will stay Anonymous for now that there is talk about returning it to Toronto and another city that started with a be although the accent was too thick for me to understand if we see etod pull more out of storage I could see New York and Sydney making a return as well while nothing's official or even officially rumored one can hope since as amazing as this flight was 7 hours was just not enough time to take it all in I mean I didn't even get to sleep in that amazing bed there just wasn't enough time but maybe another day soon [Music] [Music] [Music] final thoughts on this flight are easy there's nothing better in the skies besides a private jet the seat itself or should I say the small house itself was almost an overload on a 7-hour flight it's one of those seats you could spend a week in and still not have taken it all in the length of the flight was truly the only Pitfall part of me wishes I would have traveled with a friend and shared the the lounge and cabin space but maybe if I ever end up with a spare 4 grand as does a friend I'll be back hopefully on a longer route if that ever actually happens that being said the privacy of the whole experience was one of the most incredible things I've ever experienced and no point was I worried about what other people were seeing of me other than the walk on and off the airplane the lounge was incredible and extremely comfortable with areas for lounging eating praying and washing Al those seven hours alone in there may have been more than enough the customization of it all is another major plus all aart dining from the lounge to the airplane custom handmade drinks and whatever timing you'd like to sleep and shower since the whole Space is yours interestingly enough it seems there is a definite reduction in the service from the pre-co levels with personal Butlers sweet customization with warm welcome cards and stuff it does make sense why it's at least a third of the cost that it used to be be I'm a bit bummed to have missed that full experience but I would say that it's still worth every penny if you can afford it the crew is still fantastic and I would put it on the ranks of a regular first class service just with this incredible space to yourself which to be fair seems to be how they're marketing it now as well the only thing I will say is that it seems no matter what they do ettihad will be second to emirat I don't particularly think the experience is the reason as I find etihad's First Class spaces to be better than Emirates in my opinion but Emirates just has better brand recognition around the globe and possibly better amenities the one thing I will say about Etihad is that it seems that of the golf carriers ettihad does have the best point-to-point Travelers as opposed to the banked Hub and spoke method of Emirates and Qatar possibly because Abu Dhabi brings plenty of diplomats although I feel this also hurts them as Qatar and Emirates just have many more destinations so people are able to get between a large number of destinations in six continents I would love to see ettihad grow to that size as it hasn't flown to San Francisco my home airport since the mid-20s and even operated that route using least trip 7s from Jet Airways for the later part of that service with eda's Fleet of growing a350s I could see the west coast of North America as well as South America become potential targets for their growth which would be happily welcomed although I don't think we'll ever see the residents reach those places unfortunately as I would bankrupt myself for the chance to fly the residence all the way home to San Francisco what are your thoughts on the residents however not just that but what are your thoughts on etihad's rank within the world's Airline and its golf competitors now when you're flying the residence etot ground staff escorts you through every step that included the cabin crew handing me off to my personal escort to immigration I however had a Connect ction on British Airways to get back home my escort was able to take me as far as the flight connections bus as I had to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 if you know anything about Heathrow you know this is quite possibly the worst connection to have to make my escort was pondering the idea of clearing immigration to take the Elizabeth line to Terminal 5 which she thought would be faster but I didn't really want to mess with immigration if I didn't have to so I opted to take the transfer bus and my God was that the wrong decision honestly ly I'm a bit surprised that residents passengers don't get car service to connecting flights in Abu Dhabi or London maybe with the new larger Abu Dhabi terminal will see that to get to Terminal 5 however I had to take a bus to Terminal 2 which took me around the entire Airfield a roughly 15minute Drive although we had to pull off and let aircraft pass a couple times then you have to get off there and board another bus to Terminal 5 once you get there you can pass through a security check and onto the transit desks and the rest of the terminal I also misread my boarding gate took the train to the seag gates where you can't take the train back so you have to walk the entire way back because why make it easy when you can make it so ungodly difficult finally I reached my gate which was a bus gate for my flight back to San Francisco bringing me to my last and final point I counted five first class flights in my lifetime and by total coincidence I followed all of them up with my next flight being an economy after British Airways to San Jose I flew Southwest to Vegas after Emirates first class to San Francisco I flew United economy in a middle seat to Boston after Asiana a38 first class I flew United economy across the Pacific to San Francisco after Kuwait Airways first class to Manila I flew juer to soul and now after flying the world's best first class on antide I flew British Airways economy back to San Francisco where they forgot to load the second meals for the 12-hour flight so before Arrival all we got was a little cup of Buckwheat and a water at the very least the aisle seat passenger no showed so I was able to escape my middle seat but anyways now that I'm done rounding the world in less than 2 and a half days safe travels and I'll see y'all next time

Channel: Patrick Shea

Views: 662,409

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Id: FOIZQwjFyfQ

Length: 37min 8sec (2228 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 12 2023