Wll folks, just thought I'd report back on our trip. I found Etihad (Dublin-Abu Dhabi-Sydney) to be excellent. The in-flight entertainment, food and general level of service was superb. The flight cost was cheaper than other airlines when we booked too. We stopped over in Abu Dhabi and the hotel accomodation, meals and transfers were all complementary. The only minor complaint was that there was a delay in being transferred from the airport to our hotel when we arrived that night, but as I say this was a minor issue really considering it was all free. The hotel too was fine. We stayed in the Al Jazira Sports Hotel [broken link removed]. It's actually part of a football stadium about half an hour from the airport. I agree that the airport is fairly small and was a bit chaotic when we were there but then again, it was the start of the Hajj period when the pilgramage to Mecca takes place so the volume of travellers was higher than normal. In terms of the stop over, for some it might be a bit daunting to be in such a predominately muslim country but the people are extremely friendly and we had no problems. As far as the airline are concerned, I would definitely recommend Etihad and would fly with them again.