Etihad or KLM to manila?

Been looking into flights to Manila, I can get Etihad for £705 or KLM for £739.. I think the KLM is slightly faster with just an hour stopover in Amsterdam, but which is the better flight???

I have tried Etihad but not KLM to Manila before..

Cute girls on the flight huh?? Not sure that would be a deciding factor, in fact the flight that gets me to my mahal is perhaps the one I will choose, but things like service and the menu.. Etihad usually have a pretty good menu, not too bland thanks to the middle eastern base. But what are KLM in flight movies like?

klm food is usually good, movies are movies big selection available if the movies in teh real world were crap the last few months then they will be crap on KLM it's pretty current.

KLM I like, I like the one big long flight and actually I like to get the early fight so I can spend extra time in schipol as I like the airport.

I expect either are a great deal better than EasyJet which I've just been on for two hours (stuck in poland again ) or Wizz which is my usual mode of transport over here.

By the way I've flown KLM to UK to Manila 19 times, the other two times were on Emirates which was also good but not so good in the flying and total travel time.

Thanks oss.. The KLM flight I am looking at is a Manchester to Amsterdam flight, 1 hour stopover (no doubt just enough to join the line to board the next flight). Then a flight straight to Manila....

Not stuck to a single flight for that kind of length, might try and sink down some night nurse or something. Or just load up the movies and watch each one.

It's a good flight, I usually sleep 4 or 5 hours watch 2 movies and drink as as much white wine as I can coax them into giving me, helps me with the sleeping bit

I really like the long single flight and the short hop across the north sea

Even though there is a £35 difference in favour of Etihad, I am liking the idea of KLM more and more, got some feedback from a friend who travelled to the USA with them years ago, his favorite airline

I would prefer KLM too. Flying from Cardiff or Manchester, we get a 3 hour stopover in AMS, and whilst Etihad is cheaper (from Manc airport), the stopovers in Abu Dhabi can last for many hours. I've learn't that whilst stopovers in the Middle East with carriers such as Emirates, Qatar or Gulf are always cheaper, the quality of service is hit and miss depending on the airline and stopover airport. At least with KLM, its only AMS to deal with, which is a much nicer airport than some in the Middle East.

I like Schiphol airport, to the point that I always try to get the earliest flight I can get so I get to spend some time there.

It helps that I had KLM lounge access in the past which sadly I no longer get, at least not without paying, the free champagne and a bit of hot food used to be good and getting internet access and the ability to recharge the laptop for free was good too, but I often didn't use the lounges and just ended up wandering round the shops or at my favourite pub upstairs near the Gate E pier.

I found the stop over in Dubai for 6 hours the first time I went over was a bit onerous, once you get over the somewhat awesome architecture of the airport and vast array of expensive duty free offerings there is really nothing to do and the only pub in the place was a bit depressing.

My stop over at Schiphol is usually about 5 hours and I was lucky at Christmas to have chosen the early flight as all the others that day got cancelled.

It's not really 5 hours to spare as you normally get called for boarding an hour before the flight takes off, so I usually have an hour round the shops an hour or so relaxing and a couple of hours in the pub before take off, not healthy I know but it helps me sleep on the flight just after they serve dinner, as I am usually knackered after a very early start to get to the airport. This helps a lot as I usually fall asleep about the same time as my family in the Phils so I've done a bit of the jet lag adjustment before I get there.

On the return leg it's always a much shorter wait, you get about 75 minutes before you have to go to the gate.

The City Hopper flights on the Fokker 70 and 100 series aircraft are getting pretty shabby these days, I remember flying on one of them to Sweden about 14 years ago and they were quite nice back then, service is still pretty good and the food on the short hops is ok, the international flights on the 777-200ER and the 777-300ER are much better.

Personally I always get a window seat and take a pillow as it is easier to sleep with your head against the bulkhead or close to the window.

If you do choose KLM Sean then use Seat Guru to check out the aircraft to get the best seat you can. If you check-in online right at the start of the 30 hour limit you can pick a really good seat the 777-200 has a better layout and they seem to have reduced capacity as I have not seen the 777-300 on this route very often these days.

Awful aircraft, cramped even for me, I'm only 5'3". Luckily the KLM Manchester feed into AMS uses 737's. Eventually, the Fokkers will be retired to replaced by ERJ's - the Cardiff KLM service uses them already.

Yeah I know what you mean, I am 5' 10" and a bit heavy and they are not comfortable planes but it is fortunately only a short trip

I've flown from Manchester a good few times and yes I think it was 737s from there.

Glasgow and Liverpool are still assigned the Fokker 70 and 100, sadly plus they are the ones that always taxi to the tarmac and have the long long bus trip to the terminal on a freezin cold winter morning.