"Alcoholic beverages will not be accepted in either carry-on or checked baggage for this flight," read the email reminder I received two days before flying from Hamburg, Germany, to Abu Dhabi onboard Etihad's factory-fresh Airbus A321LR.
That's the first time in my more than 1,000 lifetime flights that I've ever received such a notice. While packing some bubbly certainly would've been appropriate for this unique flight, there was still plenty of celebration to go around — even before we eventually popped some bottles of Champagne once airborne.
The jet is Etihad's first single-aisle plane to feature lie-flat pods in both first and business class. Thanks to its roughly 1,000-mile range increase relative to the airline's existing A320 family, it'll unlock a bunch of new routes and unique deployment opportunities for the airline.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on The Points Guy Articles.
