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Dad’s Review: Etihad First Class Lounge Abu Dhabi
Miles has REALLY spoiled us with First Class everything on this trip! Any one of the five location stops on this trip would make a wonderful destination vacation by itself. And he made the travel to each location a remarkable and truly enjoyable experience by booking us in First Class or better on elite international flights. At little or no cost. Unreal! We had just spent 4 days in the UAE enjoying Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It was time to move on to the south of France and I was looking forward to seeing what the Etihad First Class treatment was like.
IMHO the ground experience prior to the lounge leaves much to be desired.
The airport is old and very congested. The First Class check-in and security areas are too small and too slow. After clearing this area, First Class passengers are merged with a heavy stream of other passengers into an undersized, poorly marked passageway. If you’re not alert, the flow of people will sweep you right past the entrance to Etihad’s First Class Lounge without you even seeing it. As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. This made a bad one on me.
The Etihad First Class Lounge and Spa is located on the second floor.
As soon as you clear security you need to keep to the right to enter a marked hallway that leads you to a Etihad rep checking credentials for admittance. Then you can head upstairs to the reception area, which is roomy, richly appointed and staffed by 2 people. They will assist you with reservations and access to any of the Spa’s facilities and services and answer any questions you might have. We skipped the Spa and headed left into the Lounge.
Upon entering the inverted U-shaped Lounge, the main menu dining area and bar stretch out down the left side of the inverted U. After that there is a buffet area and another bar with windows overlooking the airport along the cross member of the U. Then on the right side are seating areas, a TV room and a self serve beverage area. In general I would say the Lounge is very clean with a place for everything and everything in its place. The service staff is friendly and helpful. The chairs in the sitting areas are large but not very comfortable and there are too few chairs in the TV room. We did not eat while there so no opinion on the food.
It is my understanding that this facility is new – having been open only a little over a year. And granted we did not check out the Spa facilities or services. But I have to admit I left somewhat disappointed.
I have seen traveller polls and read many traveller comments praising Etihad as the best airline in the world. I assumed the ground experience and the lounge at their Flagship location would be the best as well. But what I found was a ground experience that was only tolerable and a lounge that was really nice, but lacked the WOW factor that we experienced earlier on this trip at The Private Room in Singapore, The Wing, and The Pier Lounge in Hong Kong.
You don’t have to stop here. Check out how we paid $5k and took a $125k Surprise trip Around The World to celebrate my Mom’s 75th
Flights:
- Boston to Beijing
- Beijing to Singapore
- Singapore to Bali Roundtrip
- Singapore to Dubai
- Abu Dhabi to Cannes, France
- Cannes, France to Dallas
Hotels:
- Boston
- Beijing
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
- Club King ($250)
- Singapore
- Bali
- Singapore
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Cannes, France
- Dallas
- Grand Hyatt DFW ($150
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
Lounges
- Boston
- Hong Kong
- Beijing
- Singapore
- Bali
- Singapore
- Abu Dhabi
- Etihad First Class Lounge
- Etihad Business Class Lounge
- Etihad Shave Experience
- London
- Nice
- Frankfurt
Afternoon Tea
TIPS:
- When to look for Cathay award space
- How we booked 3 Singapore Suites
- 5 things we loved doing in Singapore that avoided the heat
- Never trust the concierge
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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