Etihad A3501000 Review of Business Class with Tom Otley, Editor of Business Traveller magazine.

Full review here https://www.businesstraveller.com/tri...

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Transcript:
Hello, my name's Tom Otley from "Business Traveller." And here we are, Heathrow terminal three, ready to fly on Etihad's new A3501000 aircraft, from London to Abu Dhabi. It's an exciting flight, because this isn't an actually a scheduled flight. It's just so that we can experience the business class, on this night flight over to Abu Dhabi. So here we are on board. The business class cabin here is 44 business suites, in a 121 configuration. I'm here in 12 A, which is window seat. There are middle seats where there's a divide, so if you're with a couple, those are the ones to go for. So these window seats give you the most privacy, gives you the chance to look out of the window as well. Not much of a view here, but once we take off, and also landing into Abu Dhabi. And there's loads and loads of room in these seats. These seats are the same as the Rockwell Collins seats, you'll see on the British Airways new fleet. There are some differences in the seat, there's a lot of similarities, the sliding door. The storage spaces are slightly different, and also the feel of the cabin is different from the British Airways one, but both of them are very, very comfortable business class seats and a new generation. You've also got the new aircraft, which is the A3501000. It's a big aircraft. It's brand new, and Etihad says it's about 50% quieter than the previous generation of aircraft, which will make a difference when you are trying to sleep, or just interacting during the day. One of the things you'll notice about the seat, one of the first things is these sliding doors. They are locked back for takeoff and landing, but once they're released, it gives you this privacy. Now that's not to say that people can't look over, but the thing is that you only really draw the door, or close the door when you are lying down. And of course, when you're lying down, your heads lower, and you really do get a sense then, of having your own private space. And it's a 79 inch bed, so once you're in here, there's a lot of space. You can lay out all of your stuff. You could have your phone charging while you're asleep, either plugged in or just on this wireless charging area. And there's a real opportunity to unwind. And this is an ultra long haul aircraft, so it's gonna be Abu Dhabi over to The States, for instance, or down to the Indian subcontinent. So although there'll be day flights obviously, it's a real chance to relax, and then when you wake up, you're at your destination. It's a very spacious seat. You've got all the leg room that you would want just for sitting, working, eating. But then of course, when it comes to the recline, you've got, it goes down, so you meet that Ottoman under there, and you've got a 79 inch long bed, which is plenty of room in terms of length for most people. But also you've got the room to move around in the seat. So for those of us who want to sleep on our back, or on our side, there's space to move around, without having to wake up to do so. The seat controls are pretty simple, which is just as well, cause to be honest, I've seen ones that are complicated and people can't handle them. You can see here recline, backup again. This is the important one for takeoff and landing. The light for the seats, as in the overhead light. Take all the power off, because you don't want this shining at you when you are trying to go to sleep. And then you've got these presets as well. So pretty simple, but just what you need. The important thing with these is to have storage area, so that you can put things out, but when it needs to go away. So obviously you've got the noise canceling headphones. There's a point for the headphones. This is an independent unit, so you use it to control the IFE, but you can also watch one set of content on here and another set on the touchscreen. And then in here you've got a USB and you've got power for your laptop, but it's also a storage area. And the same for just here. There's another storage area here, for putting I don't know, passports or phone maybe. Wireless charging, as we've mentioned. And there's another, just down here, I dunno if you can see it. There's another storage area here. Down by your legs, there's actually the USB power separately, so you can charge your phone or iPad. And there's another storage here under the armrest, so it can be down depending on your preference to make the arm wider, but then you can also lift it up like this. And then when you lift it, under here there's room for the bottle of water, that's provided. Lights in the corner, it's a distinctive Etihad touch. It's based on the light that comes through a Palm tree (...)