I flew from New York to Chiang Mai on Etihad in business class, and the short version is this: the crew was outstanding, and almost everything around the crew was harder than it should have been.

Why Chiang Mai

I was heading over to speak at CMSEO and LLM Mastery, and to attend AI Mastermind and AI Rainmakers with Charles Floate and his crew. It was also a chance to hang out with some fantastic SEOs, including Joy Hawkins, Kyle Roof, Jabez Reuben and Julian Goldie, plus a host of others.

The conference was incredibly good. Getting there was a story of its own, so here’s how I traveled and what I’d do differently.

Booking: Priceline saved me from Etihad’s own website

I tried to book directly on Etihad’s website on a Sunday. The site kept crashing, so I gave up and booked through Priceline, which also turned out to be a better deal.

Then the first surprise. I had asked for premium economy during the booking. When I pulled up the reservation on Etihad’s site, it showed a basic economy seat with no option to upgrade anything.

Etihad doesn’t allow cancellations on basic fares. Priceline let me cancel anyway. If I had managed to book direct that Sunday, I would have been stuck with a ticket I couldn’t change, so I’m really glad the website crashed.

I rebooked on a fare that could be upgraded, which cost me an extra $1,000 or more, and from there I could finally start working on upgrades through Etihad.

Upgrading: miles, bids and a painful transfer

I used a mix of Etihad’s upgrade bidding and miles to get into business class.

The problem is that Etihad doesn’t accept Chase points or Amex points. My workaround was to convert Chase points to Marriott, then Marriott to Etihad. The first step came with a 70% bonus. The second step wiped out something like 80% to 90% of the value. This was suboptimal.

So I ran the numbers leg by leg. Some legs could be upgraded for 50,000 miles, which works out to about $1,000. For those, buying miles or transferring what I could from Marriott was cheaper than bidding.

The New York to Abu Dhabi leg was a different story. I had to bid nearly $3,500 per person, which is almost as much as a ticket. Also suboptimal.

One thing Etihad did well: they told us in advance that the upgrade had cleared, so we weren’t left guessing at the gate.

JFK: two closed lounges and one bad steak

The Etihad lounge at JFK was closed. So was the Sapphire Reserve lounge, which was a disappointment because I had wanted to visit both.

Instead, we were given two $75 vouchers to use at Hunt & Fish Club, Van Wyck or River Palm Steakhouse. We chose Hunt & Fish Club. We shouldn’t have.

The steak was sautéed, as in pan-fried instead of grilled, and it was terrible. It came out a little overcooked, tough and chewy. The fat wasn’t rendered and there was no flavor or seasoning to speak of. The potatoes were supposed to be roasted. They were flash fried, not cooked through, and far too firm to bite.

The service didn’t help. The staff were pleasant enough people, but they clearly hadn’t been trained. Nobody invited us to sit down, and nobody seemed interested in getting us a cocktail to start.

We ended up at the Centurion Lounge. It is a fabulous lounge for the 1960s or early 70s, which appears to be when it was last painted.

The Etihad Buiness Seat on the Dreamliner

Despite no internet, the chair was pretty comfy, and while not useful, the remote control did have a mini screen on it. Which was so whimsical, I never used it. I’d much prefer internet, as I’m flying for, you know, business…..

New York to Abu Dhabi: a superb Etihad Business crew and spotty Wifi

The crew on this flight was superb. They made us feel completely comfortable and took the time to explain how Etihad’s business class differs from other airlines. I can’t say enough about them.

The Dreamliner was, as always, incredibly comfortable.

The wifi was the weak point. It worked a little for me at the start of the flight out of JFK. It never worked for my wife, and it looked like plenty of other passengers were having the same trouble. While I was trying to watch a movie, a disconnection notice kept flashing on the screen. After a couple of hours there was no internet at all.

Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai: a long walk and no Etihad lounge

We landed in Abu Dhabi with just enough time to walk from our arrival gate to our departure gate. That walk took nearly an hour.

It left no time for the lounge, and there was no quicker way to get across the terminal. After missing the lounge at JFK, missing Etihad’s home lounge as well was frustrating.

On the flight to Chiang Mai, the internet didn’t work at all. Boarding also dragged, mostly because people took far too long to get their cases into the overhead bins.

The verdict

In the air, Etihad business class delivered where it matters most: the people and the seat. The crew from New York to Abu Dhabi was among the best I’ve flown with.

On the ground and online, it was a different airline. The website crashed, the fare I asked for wasn’t the fare I got, the lounges were closed or out of reach, and the wifi barely worked on one flight and not at all on the other.

If you’re planning the same trip, here’s what I’d pass on:

• Check your fare class right after booking. Look it up on Etihad’s site straight away, while you can still cancel.
• Consider booking through an agency. Priceline let me cancel a fare that Etihad wouldn’t have.
• Don’t count on Chase or Amex points. Going through Marriott works, but you lose most of the value on the way.
• Price miles against bids on every leg. A 50,000-mile upgrade beat bidding on some legs. The long-haul bid was nearly $3,500 per person.
• Check that the JFK lounge is open. If you end up with dining vouchers, skip Hunt & Fish Club.
• Leave a long connection in Abu Dhabi if you want to see the lounge. Gate to gate can take close to an hour.
• Download what you need before you board. Don’t plan on working over the wifi.

Would I do it again for a conference this good? Yes. I’d just book it differently.