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The time had come for another adventure and this one was off to a good start with our Etihad Chaffeur picking us up in an black Mercedes Benz and whisking us off to the airport (Etihad discontinued their Chaffeur service for partner award tickets on August 10th, 2016). We booked the tickets pre-devaluation using 30,000 American Airlines Aadvantage miles each way (the new award price between Asia 2 and the Middle East is 40,000 AA miles) and $91.40 in taxes and fees total for the outbound and return segments.
Etihad Business Class Seat
My first thought upon entering the cabin was that it looked like someone had stolen the upholstery from my parents couch and sold it to Etihad. Airlines tend to put a lot of thought into their premium cabins but the striped seats looked like everything about the 1980’s that we don’t want to remember. Maybe they were trying to replicate the fake wood grain on the adjacent side tables, or maybe stripes were super hot when they put in the order for these seats, but whatever the case may have been they weren’t looking so hot now.
Etihad cabins will now be safe from laptops on flights to the US…
We have a new addition to the seemingly ceaseless string of poorly thought out and implemented travel orders emanating from the current White House that promises to make your travel experiences less enjoyable.
Electronic devices banned on flights to the US by Middle Eastern carriers
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently issued an order banning electronics larger than a cell phone from being brought into the aircraft cabin on direct flights to the US from 10 airports in 8 Middle Eastern and African countries. Apparently, while flying nonstop to the US is a threat, CNN reported that an aviation official said that “they believe a threat to the U.S. would be negated if a passenger transferred through a secondary city with additional and more trustworthy screening procedures.”
The Etihad flight du jour.
