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See inside Etihad’s ‘The Residence’ suite

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The one genuinely interesting thing I found at World Travel Market last week was the Etihad stand.  Etihad is about to start its first A380 services and London will be the first route to receive it.

Press coverage of the A380 has focussed on ‘The Residence’ which will set a new benchmark for luxury on a commercial airliner.

It is a (admittedly tiny) private apartment for two people.  It will only be available on the A380 and there will only be one per aircraft.  It contains a ‘proper’ bedroom, a sitting room and a private en-suite bathroom complete with shower and bathrobes.

There was a full-size mock-up, albeit without the bathroom, of The Residence at World Travel Market and I was lucky enough to get access.

Here is the bed:

Etihad Residence bed

And the teapot (!) :

Etihad Residence tea tray

And the sitting room and the legs of a female Residence butler, apologies for the angle of the picture but it was impossible to fit it in otherwise:

Etihad Residence living room

You can find official pictures and a video on the Etihad website here.


How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (October 2024)

Etihad Guest does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, with any airline.

Comments (27)

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  • James67 says:

    I really thought BA might do something like this with the launch of their a380to secure their TATL market. Just shows how things are changing. If Etihad follow Qatar and introduce a380 on BKK or HKG route i may be tempted to build some Etihad miles too.

  • Kiran says:

    I think residences are overkill for a commercial airline. I would rather they concentrated on a good business class product instead. BA definitely need to take a hard look at their CW offering. The CW cabin feels too crowded when compared to even US Airways. And I do think US Airways is just one step above a low cost carrier.

  • Danksy says:

    How many Etihad miles are required for this? 50,000 one way?

    • mitpat474 says:

      way off dude…. looking around 2million 1 way LHR to AUH

      • Rob says:

        Yup, a Residence redemption is not a great deal. Etihad F is 110k return so cheaper than BA F. Etihad business is 88k I think so 8k more than BA.

        Using American Airlines miles Etihad F is only 80 or 90k I think return. Business is definitely 60k return with AA miles.

  • Gordon says:

    Etihad seems to have blocked all availability to london. I have a one way trip in the spring and had to book into Paris. Miles for first from abu D are about 53,000 one way

  • Eshaq Choudhury says:

    The 20% MR bonus is tempting along with the MBNA 20000 miles offer. I might just bite the bullet and go for it. It was between this and moving my MR to Hilton.

    • Eshaq Choudhury says:

      Thanks for pointing that out. Forgot about that. Now I’m not sure which way to transfer lol. What would you do? What would work out as more value?

    • Eshaq Choudhury says:

      Actualy just did some calculations.
      I have 35k MR points.
      MR to Hilton is 1:2 = 70000.
      MR to Virgin is 1:1 = 35000.
      Virgin to Hilton is 2:3 = 52500.

      Unless my calculations are wrong, MR to Hilton would be better would it not?

  • James says:

    I could not find any A380 award seats in the First Class Apartment for the whole of 2015.

  • amer says:

    Looking at these photos alone makes my upcoming F Suite return trip to Abu Dhabi next week seem dated.. On the other hand I can’t see myself booking an F redemption on EY A380 till next year when things cool down..

  • James67 says:

    OT: qatar goes daily from EDI from 5th May. All flights 787. Should ptovide a few more avios redemption seats. There also appears to be premium cabin availability on a380 switched fro LHR to BKK.

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