Etihad had officially celebrated become the latest member of the coveted 5 stars club! Congrats!

They will join the following airlines:

•All Nippon Airways (Star Alliance)
•Asiana Airlines (Star Alliance)
•Cathay Pacific (Oneworld)
•EVA Air (Star Alliance)
•Garuda Indonesia (SkyTeam)
•Hainan Airlines.
•Qatar Airways (Oneworld)
•Singapore Airlines (Star Alliance)

Course: Etihad, Instragram pictures of Etihad celebrating!

I thought Etihad wanted to be out of the Skytrax ratings?

Why did they make a return to Skytrax? The airline was complaining once.

Finally! And to all the whiny divas who complain about economy: Business class is a thing (and in other airlines premium eco). Also many others find it to be no prob so stop biching!

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

Etihad FO here

Gone down very well in the offices this morning. There is of course a fee to be with skytrax, but they of course judge you your service and award you.

Etihad are the best airline in the Middle East by far, not just for customers but also its employees!

bgm wrote:

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

Yet another one who believes that paid companies like this publish their outcomes exclusively based on the reality of facts and own reliable research...
This subject always comes back, just compare the reliability of this company with Trip Advisor, for instance.
Sorry for you my friend.
I hope you do not use this list to choose your airline ...

ojjunior wrote:

bgm wrote:

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

Yet another one who believes that paid companies like this publish their outcomes exclusively based on the reality of facts and own reliable research...
This subject always comes back, just compare the reliability of this company with Trip Advisor, for instance.
Sorry for you my friend.
I hope you do not use this list to choose your airline ...

Or maybe look over here: http://flight-report.com/en/rankings/

TripAdvisor isn't necessarily a great reference since people tend to comment more after a bad experience than after a good one.

Now, Etihad truly deserve their 5 star rating, I can't think of any reason to argue that.

AsiaTravel wrote:

ojjunior wrote:

bgm wrote:

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

Yet another one who believes that paid companies like this publish their outcomes exclusively based on the reality of facts and own reliable research...
This subject always comes back, just compare the reliability of this company with Trip Advisor, for instance.
Sorry for you my friend.
I hope you do not use this list to choose your airline ...

Or maybe look over here: http://flight-report.com/en/rankings/

TripAdvisor isn't necessarily a great reference since people tend to comment more after a bad experience than after a good one.

Now, Etihad truly deserve their 5 star rating, I can't think of any reason to argue that.

Indeed. I am not questioning the Etihad's merits, they are fantastic,
I mean the source of the prize, that's all.
That's why you quoted another website in you link...

WoW 2nd 5 star airline in the middle east. I always supported Etihad not being rated cz they are a class of their own. Anyway, Qatar Airways has company.

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

haha, ignore the net ninnies demanding a source. that was pretty funny, and likely true!

Have they abandoned their dislike of 10 across 777s in the face of economic reality?

bgm wrote:

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

He doesn't need one. Its well known that's how Skytrax operates. The airlines pay them for the audits, and then they have to pay Skytrax for the 'Consulting' afterwards to help them 'develop and improve' their score. Those who buy the most consulting get the best marks.

they do deserve it, but how come KE not here? they are one of the best airlines i ever flew.

JAL should be on there, they are even better than KE

APYu wrote:

bgm wrote:

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

He doesn't need one. Its well known that's how Skytrax operates. The airlines pay them for the audits, and then they have to pay Skytrax for the 'Consulting' afterwards to help them 'develop and improve' their score. Those who buy the most consulting get the best marks.

Ding ding ding! This is exactly how it works.

I'm not saying Etihad don't deserve high marks, but SkyTrax and their star rankings are a complete sham.

winginit wrote:

I'm not saying Etihad don't deserve high marks, but SkyTrax and their star rankings are a complete sham.

Skytrax is probably flexible and willing to deal based on perceived quality (based on a completely subjective measure) so they could at least try to seem objective and scientific (with their amazing methodology and scoring that they refuse to release any details about). Someone like Spirit would probably have to guarantee their next 20 years of profits to Skytrax in order to get 5 stars, along with a hefty down payment. I'm sure Etihad's fee wasn't that extreme.

APYu wrote:

bgm wrote:

Polot wrote:

They returned because they reached an agreeable payment amount with Skytrax for the 5 stars.

Don't suppose you happen to have a source to back up that claim?

Thought not.

He doesn't need one. Its well known that's how Skytrax operates. The airlines pay them for the audits, and then they have to pay Skytrax for the 'Consulting' afterwards to help them 'develop and improve' their score. Those who buy the most consulting get the best marks.

Nailed it. I think most of us experienced fliers would exhaust dozens of resources before turning to SkyTrax.

Even road warriors who are points junkies and airline loyalty enthusiasts (but not AvGeeks, because there is a major difference) would stare blankly back at you if you asked them about their knowledge of SkyTrax. It is basically a marketing tool that airlines employ just as a baseline comparison for self-promotion value.

Well, well, well, looks like some folks realized that Skytrax is so reliable as the Krusty Krab menu prices and left the forum...

Anyone who regularly flies Etihad knows the appalling state of their ground services and customer support staff. Anyone in the Etihad Guset program could tell you this. But posters seem to think that everything on this airline is 5-stars because A380's and fancy first-class apartment cabins and because Skytrax says so? Hello?

I see these all the time in my business. Some "magazine" published an article about the "top 10 power brokers in the nation" and what do you know? I'M ON THE LIST!!

They just want to frame a copy and send me a certificate and some copies of the magazine for a small fee. Sounds GREAT!

I’ve flown EY a lot in F and J over the last two years, and all I can say is that the experience is HIGHLY inconsistent. While I will say that the hard product is generally good (but J on the 777 and 330 is not), the service onboard can be WILDLY inconsistent. this summer I flew DUS-AUH on the 787 in J. This was a great flight and I find the J cabin on the 787 to be very comfortable. Food and service on this flight were great. Then, when I left AUH, I flew AUH-IAD on the 787 in F. This was a terrible flight. While the seat was comfortable as always, the service left a LOT to be desired and really dragged down the flight. Bad attitude and bad service from all crew I encountered. Earlier this year I flew JFK-AUH in F on the 380, and that was very good, then AUH-LAX on the 777 in F – another great flight. And over the last two years I’ve flown all over the world in J and F. What I’ve noticed, besides the inconsistent onboard service, is that quantity and quality of onboard meals in all classes has declined. I know several people who work at EY in headquarters who have confirmed that budgets for onboard food/beverage have been cut drastically. and it shows. Furthermore, many have said that their CEO has stated many times that the quality of the food/beverage can be reduced because what’s most important to passengers is the hard product/ seat comfort. YMMV, but that’s not what I want to hear from the CEO of a supposed 5 star airline. Either way, in my experience, EY provides a comfortable seat sometimes with variable service. If the price is right and they’re going where I need to go, I could fly them, but I would not seek them out. To each their own I suppose.

In what world is ANA a 5-star and JAL 4-Star? JAL is the best of the best, better than the ME3 combined.
Skytrax wouldn't publish my bad experience with Qatar. They said "that can't be true".

TK is Europe's best airline according to Skytrax. Except when it comes to landing on the actual runway, providing edible foods, a clean cabin, courteous cabin crew or a working IFE.

JAL and SQ are the only airlines in the world that deserve a 5-star rating in customer satisfaction.

OMAAbound wrote:

Etihad FO here
Gone down very well in the offices this morning. There is of course a fee to be with skytrax, but they of course judge you your service and award you.
Etihad are the best airline in the Middle East by far, not just for customers but also its employees!

I must chime in: I agree. Despite all the hype about Emirates and Qatar, I think Etihad's long-haul product bets both of them. Some of their (older) short-haul aircraft could use a little spiffing-up, but, all-in-all, they are the best of the ME3.