China: €1,333 in Etihad Business Class from Milan

Etihad Airways Business Class Boeing 777 Seat

Gulf carrier Etihad Airways currently runs a nice sale from Milan for business class flights to Chinese destinations Beijing and Shanghai. You can reach China’s capital for €1,333 while flights to Shanghai start at €1,436 on various OTAs. However, there is a catch with this offer – you have to spend at least 24 hours in Abu Dhabi on the inbound flight to get this great fare.

EY MXP PEK C 1333
A great fare, but a looooong layover on the inbound flight.

Currently, Etihad sends an Airbus A330-200 on its daily rotation to Milan. In their winter flightplan, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner is advertised. The same model operates onward flights to both Beijing und Shanghai. Their business class seats offer a weird 2-4-2 seating pattern in which half of the seats are facing backwards. The positive effect that comes with that is that all seats have direct aisle access.

Search & Book

According to fare rules, these tickets are on sale until October 13, 2019. They are valid for flights between today and June 2020. A minimum stay of four days applies as well as maximum stay of one month. Availability is very good in 2020 to both destinations. If you want to extend your long inbound stay, you can take advantage of the free stopovers included in this fare.

We suggest to use Google Flights to find suiting flight dates (instructions). Once you know when prices are lowest, you can enter these dates in our flight search to find the cheapest ticket available or book directly at etihad.com. We recommend doing the latter, even if prices are up to €100 higher.

Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?

More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:

Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.

If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.

This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.

Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.

This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.

Mileage

Etihad issues these tickets in booking class Z. That comes along with a nice mileage accrual on Etihad Guest as well as frequent flyer programs associated with Etihad Airways:

  • 17,236 Award Miles on American AAdvantage
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Asiana Club
  • 17,236 Award Miles + 2,000 Tier Miles on CSA OK Plus
  • 17,236 Award Miles + 19,888 Tier Miles on Etihad Guest
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Hainan Fortune Wings Club
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Oman Air Sindbad
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Saudia Alfursan
  • 17,236 Award Miles on Flying Blue
  • 16,572 Award Miles on ANA Mileage Club
  • 16,572 Award Miles on Air Canada Aeroplan
  • 15,246 Award Miles on SriLankan FlySmiLes
  • 13,258 Points on Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • 7,322 Extra Points + 1,250 Basic Points on SAS EuroBonus
Data provided by miles.travel-dealz.com. Without guarantee on correctness.

Thanks to our source YHBU!

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