[vigsom]

Introduction

This is an account of my experiences at the all new Terminal A at Abu Dhabi International Airport. As a bonus, one more new Terminal of an Indian airport will also be featured here - Buy one get one free

What's in scope and what's out of scope

This account covers my experiences at arrival and departure areas, but does not include lounge experiences or transfers. I'd urge readers to chip in with their experiences with transfers at Abu Dhabi International (AUH) and, one of the USPs of this airport - the US preclearance.

[vigsom]

This was an impromptu trip

I have been yearning for quite sometime to leave the shores of India on a break, but it took me over to six years to execute that; and when an opportunity presented itself, I seized it and the first task was to look for tickets. There were only two daily flights to Abu Dhabi ex- Bengaluru (BLR) and on all my choices of dates, they were astronomically priced - INR 95k for two for a round trip BLR-AUH-BLR. Similar scene for BLR-DXB-BLR by Emirates. However, on closer look I found that there was this connection BLR-MAA-AUH by Indigo that was turning out quite competitively priced.

When I dug deeper, I realized that Chennai (MAA) had three airlines operating direct flights to Abu Dhabi - three daily flights by Etihad Airways, two by Air Arabia Abu Dhabi (on a few days, it was one flight), and one daily flight by Indigo. I then went on to the Etihad Airways site, and with some adjustment of dates, managed a round trip for two of us at just INR 49.6k, almost half of what was offered ex-BLR. I grabbed the tickets without delay.

Three days to departure

With tickets done, I wasn't sure if it was worth attempting visas via the airline given the less days at hand. I got the visas issued by my relative in Abu Dhabi - application in the morning, and visas in hand in the evening via a travel agency. No extra charges at all.

How do we go to Chennai?

Does the train man have to worry about that? I was able to manage tickets by Vande Bharat Express onward and the evening Shatabdi Exp on return.

Journey to Chennai and the brief stopover there

An uneventful 4 hours 15 minute ride by the Vande Bharat Express and we were in Chennai Central. We managed our bags ourselves, found our way out of the station to a friend's waiting Zen Estilo, and got dropped off at our folks' place. We relaxed there for a few hours before setting off for the airport in the wee hours. Ola's pre-booked cab ditched us as expected, but we used Uber and were well on time at the airport.

[vigsom]

Buy one get one free

This is like the freebie coming before the actual one in discussion; and the freebie here is Chennai's new Terminal T2. Approaching this terminal might get confusing if one misses the right road sign, but we were anyways there, welcomed by a large crowd. Entry wasn't too difficult and we were at Etihad Check In rather quickly. Early birds, so we got some quick attention and when the staff knew I was a frequent flyer once upon a time and was travelling with them after a long gap, they took even better care. Good show Etihad Airways!

At Chennai (MAA) Terminal2

What I liked

* Terminal looks a lot better than the earlier international terminal
* large bins at security check
* Super fast immigration

What could have been better

* upkeep of washrooms
* washrooms could be spotted only around Gate12; not sure of more
* security check took much longer than expected due to roadblocks - passengers taking way too long to place their items in the bins, and coupled with that, ribbon barricades put up at each security check point restricting the total passengers that could go up to the bin carousel
* some of the signages have started to come off

Chennai's T2 departure level drop off - never seen so many white cars together at Chennai Airport






Entry


Check In


Immigration - never expected so many counters - very swift


View of departure gates from immigration level


Proceed down to Duty Free




Tanjore paintings on display


Way to the washroom


Barista


Sofas at departure level area


Flight information


One of the 1s missing at 11B

[vigsom]

The flight

Late arrival from Abu Dhabi but the delay was reduced at departure. Leg room was far from satisfactory. Despite an AVML being booked for both of us, one was an AVML while one was a western vegetarian. Anyways, since it was a wee hour departure, I settled for the croissant, and some tomato juice and tried resting.

Below average leg room


The meal (or part of it)


Cabin lights off


Arrival into Abu Dhabi

One of the best touchdowns I have experienced all my life - and more than that, it was a pleasure to see passengers disembarking in an orderly manner, something one NEVER sees on domestic flights in India.

Landing in Abu Dhabi International - with Terminal A in the background


Orderly disembarkation - no "mara mari"

[vigsom]

At Terminal A - Abu Dhabi International Airport

Likes

* All Digital Passport Control for repeat visitors and residents - scan the passport, look into the camera, and once validated, the gate opens
* Advanced security scanner - no need to place laptops, mobiles, chargers etc. on the tray
* Pillars aren't pillars but shaped like flowers (some pics will showcase that)
* Self baggage drop (but still controlled manually)
* Washrooms at several locations during the walk to Passport Control - ever seen a washroom just as one exits the airbridge and walks towards the walkalators on arrival? or at every alternate gate in the departures level?
* Superfast time from exiting the aircraft to exiting the Terminal - I estimated it to be just 25 mins

What I didn't like

* Air bridge took a while to be connected
* No walkalators beyond a point as one moves towards arrivals/transfers

I'll let the pictures speak!

View from the Air Bridge


Towards arrivals and transfers


Walkalators






No walkalators beyond the first few


View of the check in area from arrivals gate level - note the flower shaped supporting structure


Straight ahead to transfers, turn right to arrivals

[vigsom]

At Terminal A - Abu Dhabi International Airport (Contd.)

Steep escalator/ stairway to Passport Control


Sample emergency exits


Continuing towards Passport Control




Passport Control - first time visitors need to get biometrics registered. For repeat visitors - scan passport, look in the camera, and if all's validated, the gate opens


Baggage Claim - we didn't get held up anywhere - but the bags were already on the belt when we arrived


Exiting Terminal A




View of the Terminal building


At Terminal A parking - self pay before hitting the parking


And the barrier opens if the system recognizes that you've paid the parking ticket



Feels good to ride in a BMW X5 (XDrive 35i)

[vigsom]

Departure Abu Dhabi International Terminal A

VAT Refund on purchases in UAE

All visitors are eligible to get a refund of 85% of VAT paid for goods that have been purchased in the UAE. From what I was told, one would have to carry a) invoices of such purchases (in excess of AED200) and b)the goods that have been purchased. These would need to be shown to the Planet kiosk before check in, and once the entry is made by them, the refund can be claimed in cash OR by a credit card credit at the Planet kiosk past Security check.

(Disclaimer: I'm only posting from my first time experience with a VAT refund. Information that I've presented here need not be accurate and complete. Please validate)

Arrival at Terminal A for departure

Beautifully lit Terminal A when viewed from a distance




Parking at Terminal A


Walk to the terminal


Elevator to check in area


Etihad Airways Check in - there are three queues here - queues at E are Agent assisted check in, agent assisted bag drop, and on the opposite side D is the self bag drop (also agent assisted)


Flight information


Entry to the terminal from departures drop off

[vigsom]

Glitch at Self baggage drop

Having already experienced the "self" baggage drop at BLR Airport's T2, I was looking forward to a better experience in Abu Dhabi's Terminal A. Same story here - there is an agent who manages 2 or 3 bays.

- scanned my passport, and it showed a baggage weight limit
- asked me to enter the number of bags, and then asked to place the first bag
- system weighed the bag, then printed the bag tag, then asked to place the tag on the bag and place it on the belt
- system scanned the tag, opened the shutter, despatched the bag, and then closed the shutter

So far so good. The second bag was placed, tag generated, bag tagged and placed on the belt, shutter opened, bag despatched, but got stuck and didn't move to the main baggage carousel.

Solution : System was reset by a supervisor after we waited for 10 mins, bag was reversed in, old tag removed, and same process of passport scan repeated. It retrieved the booking, showed that one bag had gone and 2 remained, and the second and third bag got seamlessly despatched after tagging.

Finally, the baggage receipt was generated but it showed only tags of the second and third bags. The first one's details were then entered manually. So, it's going to be a while by when this system goes agent-less and fully digital.

Passport scanned and booking details being fetched




Bag tagged and being scanned


Shutter opens, and first bag is ready for despatch




Second bag past the shutter, shutter closed, but bag wasn't ejected into the carousel hence error message


System restarted - showed 2 bags left


Bag drop complete


Reference :

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Indigo's unhelpful new baggage system : Indigo have introduced a new passenger operated baggage check-in system with machines. It is supposed to be automated but basically has the passenger replace the check-in counter staff member at every step without the flexibility of a human staff member. At both Delhi and Bangalore the system was a mess to put it politely, the staff on hand were untrained and unhelpful

[vigsom]

Fully digital Passport Control

Scanned my passport, looked up at the camera, and the gate opened, telling me to get lost!

Advanced Security scanner

Placed all my stuff inside the bag (laptop, mobile phone, chargers, headphones, wallet, belt etc.), walked through the detector frame, picked up my bag and left; as simple as that. The scanner is capable of detecting everything in the bag and deciding if it's good to go.

Support structure - flower shaped


View of the top level (top level arrival walkway) from the departure level


Several small washrooms enroute to gates


Walkalators aplenty - washroom spotted between every alternate walkalator


Sample gate at Terminal A


The return flight to Chennai and the drama that unfolded

The flight was going fine until just before descent - the Captain announced that no flights were permitted to land in Chennai due to poor visibility (read fog), and thst they would be considering routing to Bengaluru. All this lasted for another 30 mins post which the Captain said they'd got clearance to land in Chennai, much to everyone's delight. The flight landed, and visibility was indeed low. Pleasant surprise - from leaving the aircraft to leaving the terminal was a mere 35 mins - again a record of sorts in India.

Arriving in low visibility


A snapshot of delayed flights at Chennai that day


Our aircraft


A SriLankan A330


Mighty Emirates Boeing 777-300ER


Walking to Chennai immigration


Baggage claim at MAA T2


Summing it up

1. Quite impressed with the quick exit time for international passengers in Chennai
2. More impressed with the advanced security scanner and the overall look, feel, and systems in Abu Dhabi International Terminal A
3. Surprised to see fog impact operations in an otherwise hot city like Chennai

Thank You for reading!!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[VJ05]

I made a trip to Abu Dhabi Feb last year, new terminal wasn't open that time. Old terminal seems like 80s Airport.

Experience Etihad US clearance facility in Oct and it was such a breeze, immigration completed in 5 minutes Tops.

[gvivek75]

I used AUH as a transit point in early Jan, and here are my notes.

1. The new terminal exclusive to Etihad opened up in Nov-23 and while it is largely operational, there still are quite a few retail outlets and sections that are yet to open. It may take some more time to be fully up and running, but they'll get there soon enough

2. Looks a lot more modern/contemporary as compared to the old one. Isn't huge like Dubai, and for me personally that's actually a good thing. Unlike the 3 concourses A/B/C in DXB Terminal 3 that requires taking a train ride (B <-> A), or a long long walk (B <-> C) Abu Dhabi's terminal A is a typical hub and spoke structure which means you're never more than a 10 mins walk from your gate

3. Made use of the Pearl lounge using Priority Pass and stayed couple of hours on the outbound leg of my journey. It is deceptively big from inside. Instead of being a long linear structure, it has several nooks and corners so you don't feel you're in a crowded place. In any section of the lounge, only a few people are visible to you. They even have small isolated rooms where you could take work calls, and this is without charge is what I could gather. Food and drinks are regular lounge fare - nothing stood out but all ok anyway

So the moot question: Does this influence my future booking plans so that I start using AUH as a transit point?

My answer is NO. Not because of the airport as such, but due to the carrier itself. If you're playing the airline loyalty game which I am, then Emirates makes more sense in every way.

The strategy of middle eastern carriers like Emirates and Etihad not to join any alliance means you realise good benefits only if you stick to one airline all the time. After having hit gold status on Emirates skywards, the perks are too many to forego by choosing other carriers.

So, unless I don't really have any other option or the price differential is too high, I'm not flying through Abu Dhabi.