Airline review: Older plane offers extra space in economy (if you choose wisely)

THE FLIGHT

Etihad flight EY463, from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi on board a Boeing 777-300. Economy class, seat 53H (aisle). The flight time is 13 hours, 33 minutes. Etihad flies the route daily.

THE LOYALTY SCHEME

Etihad Guest. Virgin Australia Velocity members can also earn points flying with Etihad and vice versa.

Economy seats on Etihad's Boeing 777s flying from Melbourne haven't been upgraded to match the improved seats on the airline's Dreamliners.

CARBON EMISSIONS

Two tonnes. Etihad has committed to net zero emissions by 2050 and has several projects working towards this, including its "Greenliner" Boeing 787 Dreamliner used to test new greener aviation technologies.

CHECKING IN

There's no queue at all at Melbourne Airport, which is a shock, but the staffer tells me that 20 minutes ago the line was full. Everyone, it seems, is arriving three hours before the flight, while I show up with a little over two hours to spare and breeze through check in and security.

THE SEAT

Economy seats are 17.5 inches (44 centimetres) wide and offer 31.5 inches (80 centimetres) of pitch. I check out the site map and select 53H at the rear of the plane (incurring a $US30 fee for preselecting my seat). Here, where the tail tapers, the layout changes from 3-4-3 to 2-4-2. This means the aisle next to my seat is wider, allowing me to stretch my leg out without fear of tripping a flight attendant or having a cart bash into my knee. I'm not sure if it is specific to this part of the plane but the temperature is inconsistent, ranging from freezing cold to quite warm during the flight.

BAGGAGE

One checked bag up to 20 kilograms and one cabin bag up to seven kilograms. Given widespread baggage problems around the world, it seems a lot of passengers are flying with carry-on only, as there is a distinct lack of space in the overhead bins.

ENTERTAINMENT

There's a solid range of new movies and old favourites, with a smaller selection of TV shows. I'm looking forward to catching up on Curb Your Enthusiasm on the HBO Max channel, so I'm disappointed to find there's only three episodes available. The touchscreens are inaccurate which means taking a few stabs to hit the selection you want. The seat has power, USB port, serial and network ports (you don't see those last two much these days). The system is a bit flaky - twice during my movie it freezes, forcing me to restart and fast forward to where I'm up to. I overhear a couple of other passengers complaining of similar problems to the flight crew.

SERVICE

The Etihad crew is polite and attentive throughout the flight, doing their best to help out passengers with the flaky entertainment systems.

FOOD

The choice is honey soy chicken with jasmine rice or vegetarian pasta, served about two hours into the flight. It comes with a grain salad, white mousse-like dessert and a freezing cold bread roll. A mid-flight chicken sandwich is offered, followed by another meal before landing. It's chicken and rice again, so this time I go for the alternative - pasta with cheese and vegetables. Serviceable.

ONE MORE THING

On a long-haul to Europe, it's always worth checking what sort of stopover specials Etihad has on offer through its website. I find that, upon my return, the airline is offering free hotel stays for passengers with transits of 10 hours more - which makes my 13-hour stay at the airport (booked because it was $600 cheaper than a quicker transit) a much more pleasant experience.

THE VERDICT

This is an older plane for Etihad and the airline's Boeing Dreamliner I board for the second leg of my journey has better seats, larger overhead bins and sharper, more responsive entertainment screens. That said, it does not have the extra space the tapered rear of the 777 offers. But if you can't get one of those seats, the Dreamliner is a better option.

OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE

★★★

The writer flew at his own expense.