Etihad Airways
reviews and complaints

I had a flight from hyd - ord with reference number jegaqp I had covid-19 just before the travel because of which I couldn't travel and called in customer service and submitted my report. They have approved my request and said would refund the whole flight charge to my bank account and asked my bank details which I shared with them. They said it would take 45 days to get my refund after that on 45th day when I called they said they are missing swift code for my bank which I shared at that moment and they said it would take 7 - 14 days from that time and I called in again after 14 days to check my refund status and they again took me back to day1 and asking if I submitted my covid test. I had informed everything from starting and he again said me to wait 10 days to get my refund. This is being ridiculous that they aren't refunding my amount and not giving proper update and I had to spend hours to explain every customer representative. They do not have proper information and they seem to be less use full. I know they have the transcripts of our conversations with them promising me a full refund. I have had extremely poor service and have spent many hours on the phone.

I write in total disgust at the way my family travelling by Etihad from Mumbai to London via Abu Dhabi were treated by the ground staff at Mumbai International Airport with regard to their baggage.

Etihad ground personnel Ms Prachi, Ms Kajal and Mr Sachin were the ones who not only do not know the first thing about customer service, they were downright abusive to my family, by using threatening behaviour.

My family travelled on two trip locator references GBXNKB and WRGOEF.

At the check in counter at Mumbai on their return flight on 18 April, they were told that the check in baggage was actually 10 kg less than their total allowance and that their hand baggage was within the ticket allowance of 7kg + 5 kg.

However, at the boarding gate when they were just about to board the flight, they were stopped by the above three personnel and their baggage weighed again, this time with a crude hand-held device, the readings of which were not disclosed to my family. My family was simply asked to pay Rs16,000 excess for overweight hand baggage! Else they were threatened with offloading their entire baggage and they would not be allowed to board the flight!

Prachi was in particular very threatening and abusive to my family. She went on to tell her colleagues that since we will give them a bad experience rating of the Etihad experience anyway, it would be better to offload them (as if it was her god-given right to offload passengers who she imagines would give her a bad rating...!)

Sachin was rude by asking could my family not see that the baggage tag for the hand luggage was written as 7 kg...it was 7 kg and we were ok with it because it was correct! we were allowed 7 kg as per our ticket plus an additional 5 kg...all written on the ticket!

Kajal immediately brought the card machine and was the one who told my son not to throw any excess baggage as we were already charged (when she had clearly not charged them yet!)

This is not the first time we are flying internationally to be abused by these three.

This is total abuse of power and a direct threat and harassment, leading to severe mental distress!

We want to know what action you will be taking against these three personnel please?

If there was a weight issue, why wasn’t this pointed out at the check-in counter itself? And how could the person at the desk say it is 10 kg underweight and also put tags on the baggage which said the hand luggage was within the 7 kg + 5 kg allowance as per our ticket but the hand luggage suddenly miraculously became excess baggage by the time they reached the boarding gate? We also could have easily shuffled the weight to check in more as we had 10 kg spare under our allowance there.

I must point out that staff on board the aircraft itself, namely Joanna and Lester, were exemplary in their sympathetic understanding of the issue when my family narrated the unsavoury incident to them after boarding the aircraft. They took great care in ensuring the rest of the trip was comfortable.

Joanna has also promised to drop a note to yourselves explaining the situation. Apparently, we were not the lone victims of Prachi's abusive behaviour.

As this extra baggage was not legitimately charged by Etihad, but we had to pay under threat of being offloaded at the last minute, we request the following:

1. A full refund of this amount INR 16,750

2. The strictest possible internal action against these three personnel - no other hapless passenger should suffer the mafiosi tactics of these three ever again!

My family and I are UK citizens and we will ensure we knock on all doors within Etihad to get full justice as allowed by law for ourselves and ensure we get an apology from the concerned persons!

We are hoping it would be sorted by writing this complaint as I myself have been a very loyal customer of Etihad over the years and really enjoy flying with you, at least till now!

A reply back from the Etihad has now instead blamed us for not following baggage policy (when clearly we were!).

Hoping this will be addressed soon.

I'm very disappointed with Etihad's customer service quality.

I had filed a complaint on my baggage damage in Jan 22 via Etihad Guest Portal. After multiple follow up for more than 2 months, in April I had finally got a reply that I'll be reimbursed for my damaged luggage.

I had submitted the necessary documents and again with follow up emails and despite speaking the guest relations team, I'm still not getting any response on my refund till today.

Dear Sir,

My husband and myself were passengers on your flight EY18 to Sydney via Abu Dhabi on 11th May 2022. All passed very well, without any delays or hold ups. The problems arose on our return flight on 31st May. The plane EY19 was delayed at Abu Dhabi airport. The plane should have taken off at 08.20 1st. June. We had boarded the plane and were waiting for departure when an announcement was made saying take off would be delayed due to arriving passengers. Take off was delayed for more than 30mins. This impacted on our arrival time at Heathrow.

At Heathrow we experienced a further 40mins wait for our baggage to arrive on the carousel.

We had advance train tickets for our journey home, and in normal circumstances we would have caught our train without any problem. Unfortunately, due to the lateness of our arrival we missed our train by only a few minutes. We were obliged to wait 3hours and pay an extra £25.50 each for tickets.

Etihad ticket no.[protected]

Etihad ticket no [protected]

Dear sir,

I flew back with my wife on EY9 from Abu Dhabi to London yesterday. Having tried to check-in online 30 hours prior, the online system was not allowing the selection of seats. Having tried multiple times in the day, still no success, except the message told me to check in at the airport.

I reached the airport 3 hours early to enable check-in, only to be told at the desk that the flight was over-booked and they could not allocate us seats. I was shocked and requested the manager (Ali) to explain what is going on. He gave some excuses of operational reasons, and said I could travel on the 2am flight which was 12 hours later, getting me Heathrow today 6.45am. I mentioned to him this would be not acceptable as my wife risked losing her job for not getting to work due to this delay. Ali asked us to wait for 30 minutes and he would see what he would do. At this point my wife was very upset and stressed. Half hour passed and I had to chase Ali again. I asked him if the flight EY9 was taking off, he said yes. I then asked, how many passengers have been singled out and not allocated seats for something they have booked and paid for. He said once again operational reasons, he cant put me on the flight and the 2am flight was the only option. But again asked us to wait for another half hour.

Anyway eventually whilst flight was boarding he managed to give us boarding passes for the flight. My wife and I really stressed at this point had to run to the gates and we were seated away from each other.

Reason I choose Etihad airways was not to experience such a situation and because of the good reviews I had read. But my otherwise great experience in Abu Dhabi was ruined by the stress we have to endure. I need to understand why such an occurrence happened, and whilst you take passengers mobile numbers, you did not alert us in advance of this?

Thanks

Rashmikant Pandya & Paru Pandya

I travel back from Abu Dhabi to Manchester on 29 March 2022. My flight had been changed many times during Covid and eventually we managed to get away. I booked economy space seats at an extra £45.30 each for me and my wife. Total £90.60. When I got to the airport in Abu Dhabi my seats had been changed to Economy basic. I went to reception and they fobbed me off stating I will have to take this up with Etihad when I returned home. I have contact and spoke with Etihad and I have had various responses from the seats are none refundable to promising in me with a full refund for the £90.60.

I paid extra money to Etihad and they did not provide me with the service I paid them for. If it was my fault I would expect to lose my money however they have failed to do the right thing and reimburse me for the service they failed to delivery by over booking the seats. I know they have the transcripts of our conversations with them promising me a full refund. I have had extremely poor service and have spent many hours on the phone.

Dear Sir/Madam,

ETIHAD TRAVEL BANK Service IS A SCAM -

They have said that they will not refund my Cash Payment; eventhough I have not used it, or their services, or received any item from them.

I paid about £403.00 to ETIHAD AI using my Credit Card (Capital One) to get a Credit of 50% of my Cash payment added to my initial amount.

They placed it into a 'Travel Bank' service.

I have recently received an eMail from ETIHAD stating that 'my credit' will be cancelled if it is not used shortly (they have said within 2 years which is ending shortly).

Well, I never gave credit. I gave cash.

I understood that they gave me 'a bonus credit on top' of my Cash in their 'Travel Bank'.

I called to have my INITIAL CASH PAYMENT REFUNDED, but

they said I was denied.

they said the reason was that I was paying for the 'service'!

Flights on the Etihad website where unavailable at the time I may have travelled to Hong Kong.

When I asked about flights to Hong Kong (from Manchester) he said they where available !

When asked how much cost?

He said, £6,800 to £7,000 - staggering ! RIP OFF !

One Way and not business class ! This is unbelievable ! I said it is a 'rip off' !

I have to ask him 3 times to confirm this ! He said go to the web and look.

Previously, flights where £500 to £800 for Return, Economy!

Well, I received nothing! I made no bookings! I was never aware that I would loose any money, especially my cash payment using my Credit Card.

At least, maybe they can cancel the credit and keep it; but not cancel and keep MY CASH !

I humbly request that they ETIHAD AI REFUND MY CASH PAYMENT of £403.55

Yours faithfully, Michael

eMail: [protected]@hotmail

Note 1). I requested to speak to a Manager and also to make a Complaint to the 'help desk'.

They did not let me speak to a Manager and also Did not give me a Complaint Reference Number because 'he' said it was an Internal complaint and they do not give such.

He advised making a 'Feedback' by using their website when I requested How to Make a further complaint. (Direct Complaints are not available via website it seems as their Search show 'none').

Note 2). i have not booked, nor have I travelled using this 'Travel Bank service'.

I have not travelled (I had to click a travel date in the box on this form.

I have received an email confirming a flight ticket #VISXKV which I did not authorize. I am located in the US and the flight is a 2 ways from Abu Dhabi to Hamad on 5/24/22 and return from Hamad to Abu Dhabi on 5/27/22. Upon trying to cancel this flight online it was asking me to reach out to them.

Friday May 13th 2022:

I contacted an agent on the general number and requested to cancel and simply said we have no access to do so it is best to try on the website.

Monday May 16th 2022:

I Spoke to agent and explained that someone booked a ticket under my name and that it was a staff as I have no ability to cancel it on my end or on the portal.

She mentioned that the credit card used ended with 0000 which is a ghost card usually used by corporate companies to hide all CC information. She referred me to the number +[protected] for the Staff department. I have contacted the number and received exactly the same agents without staff access to cancel the flight just to get charged with $50 dollars extra for calling internationally.

Tuesday May 17th 2022:

I Spoke to Kaushak Nanda an agent and escalated the matter to his supervisor Aib Ahmed (Banglor India). I Explained that no Booking was approved/made on my end and that there was a breach of privacy on their end. Aib Ahmed promised that they will escalate the matter to the legal and fraud departments and I would be reached back through email.

I am still waiting for a response from either their legal or fraud deparments to find a resolution to this.

On 19th April we received an email to say our flights have been changed to the 2nd may. we did not authorise this change. upon speaking to an adviser we were told that a call was made to etihad for the change but as i stated earlier we did not request this change. In order to change the fights back to the original date we were charged over £900. no proof was given that a call was made nor was any explanation given. we believe this was a company error.

Hi,

I am very disappointed my experience of recent flight EY242 LHE-AUH on 9th May 4:50AM. We were issued boarding passes, cleared the Immigration, got the exit stamp and waited till 7AM after that we were told that flight has been cancelled later rescheduled for 10th May 2:30 AM (22 hours delay).

We cancelled our boarding passes, collected the booked baggage and went home after wasting 10 hours on airport. Surprisingly, when we came for the rescheduled flight (10th May 2:30AM) it was delayed for 1:30 hours as well.

Besides the psychological stress I struggled with, I experienced office backlash, hectic journey and bear extra travel expenses. I am really frustrated to use Etihad this time.

Etihad Airways is processing a refund for flights between London UK and Brisbane Australia from October 2020. These were initially rebooked for October 2021 and then refund agreed due to further cancellation due to COVID. The value of GBP1703.32 was debited from the Travel Bank account on 5 January 2022, but funds have not yet been paid to me (Barclaycard VISA). Please complete this refund

Original flights VQSBCA; new reference JCGQOP

Travel Bank Account #[protected]

Email address [protected]@gmail.com

Sir/madam

I would like file a complaint to refund my ticket ,it was 1 sep 2021 flight EY 242,

Ref MWQJOF

Was cancelled, until now its 9 months already but refund nothing,I ve co reaching the agent to whom I bought the ticket,he has baan never helped full neither Clint service brussel, I ve called the them multiple time ,but use less,I travel always etihad airways it never happend like this, but now it's too much,so big company take so long to verify n refund my legal money,I request u ppl to help me to refund me plz

With kind regards

Khan nasir

Date of birth 07 April 1978

Belgium

We purchased an offer through Etihad airlines at the times of covid pandemic during the year 2020.The offer is to give 50% of additional value to a customer that purchases travel bank funds during this period and will able to use to buy air tickets..

Due to covid restrictions the travel is not fully functional and most of the travel bank accounts are expiring by June 2022.

Reached out their zero customer service several times and finally learned that they will not extend the expiration of account and has to be utilized with in the expiration period.

When I looked up the prices to book a ticket 11 month from now and prices are ridiculously 100% higher than other airlines carriers like United or Emirates.

This is totally a rip off and they should come out with proper explanation why the prices are 100 % higher than other carriers( I looked to book a ticket to India 11 months from now and the price quote for a return ticket is $ 2850 and other carriers are charging $1250 to $1475. How this increase in price is justifiable. They are forcing customers to utilize the travel bank account and charging 100 % more than other carrier. Never use this unfriendly and unreasonable carrier.

We booked a flight with Etihad for Riga with one stop over at Frankfurt for yesterday. When we tried checking in at the airport, apparently one stop over was changes to two stop overs with an additional 3 hour transit at Budapest. No information or support was available at Abu Dhabi airport at Etihad counters. They were saying that its not their problem. Its Air Baltic that changed the plan. But we booked with Etihad using their web site and Etihad should be responsible for this change. They should have sent us an email or called us, we could have cancelled and book different flight. we paid more to avoid two transits.

On top of that, they sent us back and forth between their help counters and it took us more than an hour to check in. They were happily suggesting that if we wish we could cancel this flight. There was no apology and they seem to be fine with the chaos. After going back and forth, we pushed and managed to get the boarding pass for Frankfurt to Budapest but not from Budapest to Riga.

This is really poor service by Etihad which claim to be one of the best air lines. Support at the airport was pathetic and they did not seem to be bothered by the stress we were in! This should be reimbursed!

I booked a ticket back in 2020, the ticket was cancelled by Etihad due to Covid. I have been having issues trying to get a refund, Etihad advised that I could get a refund if my travel agent cancels the ticket and claim the refund - however my agent hasn’t been able to access stage ticket as it is now expired- Etihad generated a new booking ref - [protected] but the agent is still not able to access this ticket. I have been chasing this refund for a long time, it is frustrating having to make numerous calls with no result.

Please deal with this matter!

Being Clostrophob, I usually buy Isle and front seats.

I paid and reserved 08C Isle seat on the ET2317 on 30-04-2022. while checking in, they said at the airport that a random window seat was reserved, after checking, they unblock the 07C for me.

For my EY3187, [protected], I just saw that instead of my paid and confirmed 09C, I was given the 17A!

I am travelling tomorrow, and want to have the seat I bought and have confirmed on my e-ticket back!

And on the 9th of May, I have a trip to Paris, and have 16C confirmed and paid seats, for the return ticket, I hope to have the same booked seats please!

I am travelling with Etihad from very long time, but today, I am really disappointed!

Ive been trying to book flights with etihad for 2 weeks now. The flights are there and i navigate the pages as per, until payment. I keep getting an error message. When i call up the people are no use at all and either just fob me off wiyh try again, try mobile site or cutting me off. I then tried twitter on 19/04/22 and have been dealing with them ever since but it took until last night to finally move this forward with IT now involved. Several phone calls, frequently cut off with no call back afterwards. Its been so long now that the price has now risen £250! I signed up for your travel bank offer and after trusting your airline when you needed liquidity during covid i now feel ive been taken for a mug. Now i must use your airline for essentially the same price as other carriers so my investment is wiped out. Poor show etihad. Ive been trying to book from LHR to Tokyo on 19th Oct, then Tokyo to Abu Dhabi on 31st. 2 day stopover and fly back to LHR on 02/11 at around 10.30. Please can you help me? Thank you.

hi my wife came from Pakistan for Eid on 1st may 2022 flight pa430 time 3:00 am terminal 2 and she did not receive her 1 big bag 20 kg they told her to go to terminal 1 to check when we go there they give as one paper it has complain number AUHPA12510 and told as we will look for your bag and call you is been 5 days now i did not receive any call or any update about my wife bag al her new clogs and my kid clogs and other things are in side the bag and is very expensive please look in this soon as possible my # [protected]

I have a travel bank credit worth of $4500 and set to expire in June 23 2022 . I was planning to use the credit towards my travel to India but due to COVID restrictions I couldn’t do it . Now when the restrictions are eased I don’t have any purpose to travel . I have plans to travel in August of 2023 for my kids summer vacation . I tried to reach out to customer care to request for extension of validity so that I can use the credit towards for the trip .

Can someone help me with the concern

I flew from Bangkok to Dublin yesterday via Abu Dhabi landing this morning as i regularly do. I am a Gold Member of Etihad and regularly upgrade to Business Class as i find the service excellent, however this morning was not so. The check in and flight from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi was excellent and the flight crew were extremely attentive, professional as they usually are. They were exceptional on this flight, in particular Vera the Business Class cabin manager. The problems began when we disembarked and headed for security. The ground staff would not allow any of the Business Class passengers use the dedicated channel and when i tried to explain that we were the first group off the plane and that i was very familiar with the operations of the area, I and my fellow Business Class passengers were told to get to the back of the line of Economy passengers that had now gathered as there were other flights landing at the same time. This was extremely embarrassing but i understand that things like this can happen occasionally. I went to the Etihad Business Lounge to relax as i has about a 2.5 hour layover. When i preceded to the gate 53 for my flight back to Dublin, again the dedicated lane was being used by economy passengers which i understand can happen, however no member of staff came through the line to ask if there were Business Class passengers waiting. When i tried to approach the desk i was politely asked to wait even though this queue had now cleared and all of the passengers ahead of me had got onto the economy class transport bus which was transferring passengers to the parking stand where our jet was located. At this point i was directed to the Business Class transport bus along with approx 10 other Business Class passengers. We were left waiting approx 20 minutes before a driver finally came and boarded the bus to drive us to our plane. At this point everything was quite rushed to get to the plane as we were the last passengers to board. Normally i enjoy this part of my journey as i can usually have a refreshing beverage and look through the food and wine menu as the Cabin Crew pass through Business Class making everyone feel comfortable and relaxed. The flight crew were then obviously a little flustered that most of the Business passengers were last on the plane and it did not give them a lot of time to prepare for take off, however the Cabin Crew performed excellently, especially Nicha who could not do enough for me, bravo to her and the rest of the Business Cabin Crew. I do not like to have to write this criticism but i feel that you would like to know so incidents like this can be avoided in the future. Thank you and i hope the points i make in this email may be taken on board. If you could reply to me that would be great. i was on EY 45 to Dublin and my name is Terry Kelly. My Guest member number is [protected].