It was with some trepidation that we booked with Etihad as we had never heard of them, bought purely on price and were a bit nervous about flying with an Arab airline. We could not have been more wrong.

The flight was very comfortable. We had selected our seats via the internet when booking and were where we wanted to be. The food was very good indeed with choices between international and Arab. We mostly selected the Arab food and it was tasty and interesting.

The attendants were very pretty and with perfect English, modest and good at their jobs. Alcoholic drinks were available. There was a good selection of in flight entertainment to suit a variety of languages and cultures.

The one disappointment was that the entertainment console was hard to manage. The software seemed buggy and results were not predictable. Eventually you could see/hear what you wanted, but it was not easy.

We stopped over in Abu Dhabi for a couple of hours in each direction. The duty free shop electronics prices were around 25% more expensive that US prices (even after adding on sales tax). Do not buy there without knowing the going rate for what you plan to buy.

Our friends had an overnight stay in Abu Dhabi and were so impressed that they changed their booking to spend a couple of nights there on the way home.

If you are flying to Bangkok and do not mind the stop in Abu Dhabi I would give Etihad a strong recommendation even if they charge the same. When they are significantly cheaper there is no contest at all.

... and no, I do not work for them :)