What's it like to fly with Etihad in 2018?

I find etihad's hard product to be no worse than it was so thats a plus (its clean and still up to modern standards etc).

I only fly in Y with them and honestly it's okay. 
I fly a lot between Paris/London and Brisbane/Melbourne/Sydney depending how much it cost. 

i flew Etihad recently to Germany in Business and the cost cutting is noticeable. AUH airport in ordinary with crowded lounges with average food offerings. Typically flying A330's on the Germany leg that are cramped in Business. Shut their lounge in Frankfurt and did a deal with Lufthansa which is quite ordinary and reminds me of a United lounge in the U.S. Won't fly with them again.

Whats it like to be a titanic pax?

I tried EY before the big "flying reimagined" launch and it was okay but not up to par with Emirates. I tried it after, on the new A380 ex-SYD, and it was fantastic, business class was among world's best and first class suites amazing and yet prices were incredibly competitive, add the lounges at Abu Dhabi and EY was a winner. I switched a lot of my UK/EU flying to them for a while but when things started to go downhill it was very noticeable. No limo to or from the airport even if you were in first class! Little things like no business class PJs, big things like cutbacks and closures of facilities at the Abu Dhabi lounges, closed their Frankfurt lounge and I fly to FRA a lot so that was very annoying. Now it's lost that shine and I am moving my UK/EU business flying to Qatar Airways.

I flew EY in first from Europe in the apartment quite a few times - it really is (was) the best product in the sky. I earned Platinum and have enjoyed many upgrades to F, and the (still) excellent First Class Lounge in AUH. Unfortunately Melbourne lost the A380, (and now the lounge as well) and F has been dropped from Melbourne altogether I think. I recently flew J from Singapore to Rome and could not really fault the service (or the price!) I do however miss the airport transfers - even when travelling in F! If the price is right, I'll continue to fly - especially ex-BKK where their fares are very good!

Personally, I loved EY! However since I've moved from Sydney to Perth, I can no longer fly EY (EY recently stopped flying to/from Perth.) I've now made the switch to Singapore Air, which have a much better J product.

They left my clients marooned on an Air Berlin codeshare. No offer of help. Moreover, EY is owned by the government of the UAE, a govt which has institutionalised the oppression of women and gay people, and was the first govt on earth to recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. To be avoided.

Took a business class trip Bne to Zurich in Emirates, followed by a Milan to Bne in Etihad, mostly on A380s earlier this year. Hard to categorically say one over the other, but the service was streaks ahead in Emirates (not to mention the Limo transfers) and the food was streaks ahead in Etihad, especially the dine on demand option. Lounges were pretty much on a par.

Interesting isn't it. We all notice it. I'm currently in Abu Dhabi for ADIPEC and flew in on Sunday (SYD A380) in First and will fly home tonight again in First (lucky, generous client). Yes, I've noticed it more in Business than in First. That said the menu just wasn't as flash as it once was. I like a Champers and notice things like this. (QF, they've nailed it on the Champagne front in First, but I digress...)

Flew recently DUB-AUH-SYD in 'J' . Dublin lounge in term 1 is still good, compared to the other lounges there and the lounge in AUH was also good. On board service in for the first leg was excellent, but from AUH -SYD it was nowhere as good. Instead of a meal after take-off I opted to sleep and eat later. However when I requested my meal a few hours later, it wasn't available and they offered me snacks instead. To add insult they didn't offer me breakfast as we were approaching SYD and had to request it instead. No seat mattress, pj's have gone, limo transfer gone, ok its a first world problem but I chose to fly 'J' for the comfort. I'll explore other options next trip.