Etihad

My flight to Singapore cost $50 in airport tax.  The ticket was free because I used my Etihad miles.  Etihad is the "National airline of the UAE."  It's much smaller than its Dubai competitor Emirates - which is close to becoming the world's biggest airline.

I fly Etihad because it has a direct flight to Chicago.  I like getting on a plane in this country and getting off close to home.  By being an Etihad member I get free flights like this one and access to the premium lounges before I fly.  (The lounges are nice:  Free food, free internet, and free drinks.)

Etihad doesn't charge for luggage and has luggage allowances nicer than any American carrier - 70 lbs per bag.) They give free in-flight drinks and the food is usually pretty good.  On my trip back the dinner was outstanding!  I wanted more!  How often do you hear anyone say that about airline food?

They also offer on demand movies and TV shows with a decent sized 9" screen. (I've been on Delta and United flights with on-demand movies on a tiny 6-7" screen.  Yes, size does matter.)

They also offer this feature:

At any point in the flight you can see the distance from where you are to any two cities in the world.  As we were approaching Singapore I checked it to see that I was over 10,000 miles away from Cedar Rapids.  I was pretty much on the other side of the planet.  (The Emirates is 7000 miles away from CR.)

I really love Etihad.  They have great service and by using their credit card I rack enough miles to fly free twice in one year.  Yippee!

Unfortunately, they are not a high quality company.  They serve Pepsi.