VA 101 CHR-MEL => ET 461 MEL-A.D.
Recently travelled to and from Athens to Australia and New Zealand. The specific return flight was the middle leg of the Christchurch-Athens sequence, the first operated by the Virgin Australia which allocated us in the fine and serene Air New Zealand Lounge in Christchurch. Let us go ahead with the analytical essentials:
The Airbus A 380 where I was led mistakenly from the low level entrance and had to climb the stairs (strained because of hiking in NZ) was unnecessary and it seems that they do not check diligently the boarding passes!. When reached Melbourne with the odd spaced Airport the Etihad Lounge was meant to open in an hour. The guys are exceptional. Having one flight to cater for, the 461 to Abu Dhabi they open the Lounge (for the 7 + 9 first and business class passengers) a la 'their' carte! Emirates located in the opposing door is in continuous operation. Why don;te they collaborate slotting in another lounge? on such an instance The transfer passenger from Christchurch is heavily inconvenienced and no-one takes responsibility, everybody direction the unlucky fellow to Etihad. Adding injury to the insult we had the good fortune on the 460 flight A.D. => Mel July 12 not to have loaded a piece and to had to wait in Perth | Australia for three days for the missing bag and TO COLLECT IT OURSELVES because of the late flight in order not to wait for the next delivery after 12 hours.
The Airbus Business class configuration rests on the inverted seat positionw. Half of the passengers seat in the direction that the aircraft flies and the other half (of the middle section) in the opposite. Also the boxy-tower seat compartments eliminate in cabin visibility, the corridor is very narrow, the foot traffic undue and the small aperture window view reduced. Overhead luggage cabin is generous.
Check diligently before you book type of aircraft, seat configuration and all related specifics. The 747 or 777 may be more passenger friendly to the albatross-whale character of the super jumbo. Etihad, well staffed and proper, goes through the Abu Dhabi Airport with delays in the outgoing flights because of the Oman congestion and does not handle overseas problems with the ease and prowess it should. Golden lettering does not suffice.

For a non stop flight by SIngapore Airlines I had to pay roughly 1.5xs the tickets by Etihad. As this is a personal trip, we took Etihad. Etihad's pricing wins many other airline in the same class. But this also means you are frequently in a full airline.

This is my second round trip using Etihad. The first was to Frankfurt a year and a half back. This time, it was from Singapore to Düsseldorf

Positive ->
food is good in economy.
Service is ok (far from Singapore Airlines but better than most American and European Airlines)
Amenities provided is ok (eye shade, ear plugs, blanket etc)
Pillow-> innovative in that it allows you to use it as a neck support too
Good big screen personal entertainment

Negative ->
The leg room is sad. I am only 1.57m and I feel it's already pretty tight. My spouse at 1.81 had lots of difficulty.
If the person in front reclines, your space is very limited
Limited movies -> not showing many of the current movies
You have to stop at Abu Dhabi. This airport needs upgrading desperately. It cannot manage the number of incoming flights. I have used this airport 4 times and I have never used an aerobridge before. Not enough seats, toilets have long lines, slow boarding, sometimes the aircon is too cold etc.

The worse thing that can happen to you on holiday is if you lose your luggage amidst the Abu Dhabi madness. And that's exactly what happened to my spouse. Etihad could not find his luggage for 4 days. They claimed that the system in Abu Dhabi airport broke down because of the hot weather (come on, Abu Dhabi is IN hot weather. Isn't your system built for it!). We have yet to claim for this from Etihad but will do so and I understand only a paltry Usd30 is allowed per day. We had to buy more than 3 sets of clothing and toiletries and not to mention the extreme inconvenience.

So unless you are traveling cheap, I would give any stop over at Abu Dhabi a miss.

Great in-flight experience. Aircrafts are new and crew is helpful. Good choice of in-flight entertainment. Immigration at Abu Dhabi makes this very convenient option for travel to US. Only gripe is that you cannot chose seat for the travel and invariably end in the middle seat on the long flight from Abu Dhabi to US.

I travelled as 2 adults and two children. The seat comfort and service was great. The inflight entertainment kept the kids and us adults entertained. The inflight kit consisted of a neck pillow so no need to pack one!, socks toothbrush, paste etc. Kids got an activity pack in a nice rucksack that kept them busy.

The only downside is the connection from the plane to the terminal is via bus and on the busses it gets tight your almost pressing each other.

Overall a great flight, nice food and great service!

Etihad has probably the best business class lounge in middle east. It has also excellent seating in business class. But almost each flight I flown it has also delays. Twice I've missed my connection and etihad ground staff was not very helpful...