All-time high in Etihad first class

"IT'S pretty good up here, eh?" The Australian art of understatement has never been more accurate.

Escape etihad

"IT'S pretty good up here, eh?" The Australian art of understatement has never been more accurate.

I was flying home from Paris with Etihad. I had a first-class ticket in one hand and a glass of pink Bollinger in the other.

The Sydneysiders sitting behind me uttered those prophetic words when they overheard my accent. We clinked glasses in agreement and my new friends asked the steward to leave the bottle while the back of the plane filled.

Economy air travel with Etihad is good. Business class is comfortable no, very comfortable. First class is truly worth every cent, although I acknowledge most travellers will never be in a position to put that to the test.

Interestingly, first class was full on all but one of the four legs I flew with Etihad on my June trip to the Middle East and Europe.

Some of the passengers were wearing shorts and T-shirts. Others carried designer bags and wore watches that banks would accept as deposits on a first home.

There was only one person I saw who gave the crew a hard time, and he was a plonker. He dropped his book down the back of the seat and became angry when the crew couldn't retrieve it. As you would expect, the crew could not have been more helpful.

The thing about first-class travel is that passengers eat and drink when they want so the crew is constantly on call. Etihad has won numerous awards for its food, and rightly so. The choices are broad, the food fresh and it didn't taste as if it had been prepared earlier and reheated.

For those of you who won't get the chance to sit up front, here are my thoughts. For starters it's not called a seat, it is called the Diamond First Class Suite. And it is deserving of such a fancy title. The all-important seat itself is like a reclining leather lounge chair. You have a personal wardrobe to hang your clothes after you have slipped into your all-black sleep suit. My wife's sleep suit had a diamante-encrusted zip. Nice touch. There are sliding doors so you have the option of sitting in complete privacy or, if you are feeling sociable, there is a seat opposite in case you want to ask one of the other passengers to join you for a meal.

The seat itself has myriad positions, from the upright take-off and landing position to a flat bed. Now I'm a reasonably big bloke, and stretched out, I couldn't touch the end of the bed. With the push of a button the bed also gently massages you.

If you still can't sleep, then slide open your personal beverage compartment, have a couple of drinks and watch the 23-inch television loaded with more than 600 hours of entertainment.

As soon as we took off I had the crew make my bed. Surprisingly, they refused to tuck me in and sing a lullaby. I managed to sleep for nine hours straight. My wife watched four movies, had three meals and a bottle of bubbles. She didn't want to miss anything.

When we changed planes in Abu Dhabi we went to the lounge where we had time for a free massage and an a la carte meal, before boarding for the final leg home. My next flight was economy between Brisbane and Melbourne. That's not quite the same thing.

For information and bookings, call 1800 998 995 or visit www.etihad.com