Etihad business class fare sale ex-India to Europe - book by 18 June 2016

Etihad is currently running a sale in business class for various destinations in Europe, ex-India. The destinations do not include the mainstream cities such as London, Zurich, Paris, Brussels, etc, but are quite impressive nonetheless. The sale has a booking deadline of 18 June 2016, for travel till 30 April 2017, as long as the stay period is at lest 3 days and a maximum of 6 months.


You can access the sale, which boasts a price of Rs 99,999 for city pairings in business class, here. However, all my researches using different city-pair and date combinations, did not reveal a single case where the pricing was Rs 99,999. However, the promotion terms clearly state the following:
The fares mentioned above are ‘starting from’ fares and are valid for booking until 18 June 2016. ... All above fares are travel from Mumbai. Fares are inclusive of applicable taxes; however, Airport and Government taxes not included, the break down will be shown during the online booking process. ... Please check the individual fare rules for detailed terms and conditions. ... The airport taxes are subject to change without prior notice and will be confirmed at the time of booking. Weekend surcharges may apply. [Emphasis mine]

That said, there are some reasonably good deals at the Rs 100,000 mark, excluding airport taxes etc (basically, the base fare + YQ surcharges). India, and some European countries, levy relatively high airport taxes and fees, so expect final fares to be in the Rs 120,000 mark for return tickets.

Here are the cities covered under this sale:

Catania, Nice, Bucharest, Palma Mallorca, Marrakech, Alicante, Ancona, Barcelona, Bari, Bilbao, Billund, Bologna, Brindisi, Budapest, Florence, Madeira, Genova, Goteborg, Graz, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsinki, Innsbruck, Krakow, Lamezia Terme, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Malaga, Malta, Napoli, Palermo, Pescara, Pisa, Prague, Reggio Calabria, Salzburg, Sofia, Tirana, Turin, Toulouse, Trieste, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Warsaw.

Etihad A330 business class seat

For instance, for a round trip on the BOM-WAW-BOM route, Etihad is clearly showing the lowest price, though it is closer to Rs 120k than Rs 100k.


The route includes travel with codeshare partners or Etihad Airways Partner airlines.


And here's the fare break-down.


Clearly, a good part of the total price is made up of airport taxes and charges. The base fare + YQ add up to about Rs 101,000.

Conclusion

Note that all the Etihad Airways flights will be ticketed in the Z fare bucket, which is the fare class for Business Breaking Deals. And while you'll earn 115% of miles flown, that fare class does not entitle the passenger to chauffeur services. And the other big disadvantage of this sale is the fact that mainstream destinations are not included. That said, many of the fares seem pretty good, compared to normal prices, so this may be a good (if not the best ever) opportunity to try and fly Etihad business class..

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