Etihad Airways is the latest airline to reduce the included services in its business class fares. This was reported by Vielfliegertreff, citing a notice sent to travel agents. According to the announcement, the new fare structure will apply to tickets issued from tomorrow (March 4, 2025).
For the lowest fare, Business Value, the following changes apply:
- Lounge access is no longer included.
- Seat selection will incur an additional fee.
- Ticket cancellations will no longer be possible (currently allowed for a fee of around €370).
Only elite status with Etihad Guest could mitigate the first two drawbacks. Starting with Silver status, lounge access in Abu Dhabi is included, while Gold status provides free seat selection and expanded lounge access at other airports.
Passengers booking at least the Comfort fare will continue to receive the usual included benefits. The price difference varies: for instance, both on Dublin – Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt – Bangkok, the surcharge is currently just €66 more, which is a reasonable price compared to paid lounges. However, the gap may be larger when special promotions are available.
Bottom Line
Etihad was the last major Gulf carrier to regularly offer Business Class tickets to Asia for less than €2,000. Going forward, we have to expect these fares to become deceptive: They may still be labelled as Business Class, but key benefits will cost extra.
Etihad is following the example of Emirates (since 2019) and Qatar Airways (since 2020), which have already introduced similar fare models. It is likely that, following Finnair and Air France-KLM, more European airlines will adopt similar changes.
Translated and edited by Ditmar
Comment (1)
voli economici – anche con scalo – in business per Orlando (USA) a/r a luglio