Etihad Airways
reviews and complaints

Dear Sirs,
my name is Dieter Robert Stump, I am a long-term Etihad customer and have chosen to fly Etihad on very frequent occasion. If not for the occasional use of the loyalty card, I would hold at least gold standard by now.

On 13 September 2019 I had accompanied my fiancée Karyani to the Frankfurt / Main International (FRA) airport, to board her flight to Jakarta (via Abu Dhabi). Truth be told, the passenger Karyani exceeded her luggage allowance by 9.5 kg. Based on previous experiences where I had flown by utilizing less than half of my allowance, I politely asked the counter staff, to subtract a small tolerance amount at her discretion. She immediately turned extremely unfriendly and obviously intent to demonstrate who is in charge. Every one of her subsequent statements was snappy, and she even overcharged us for the excess baggage by rounding up. Her entire behavior was just hostile.

Adding insult to the incident, Ms. Karyani learned on the follow-on flight Abu Dhabi - Jakarta, that her seat neighbor - a Lombok/Indonesia native- checked in 12 kg of excess baggage, without being charged a dime. If I combine this data point with previous observations, it appears that many of your staff (and this is a consistent observation across multiple geographic locations) give Emirati nationals or people of Muslim faith preferential treatment.
I am not playing the discrimination card lightly, but the consistency in data points is overwhelming. I can cite numerous other incidents, affecting fellow passengers. It is well understood, that you have clear rules, terms and conditions in place - however they are certainly not applied in a consistent manner to all passengers equally.

I expect your proposal for reconciling the obvious disadvantage at which I was placed, and the discrimination to which I was obviously subjected in this case.

Thank you, and Best Regards,
Dieter Robert Stump

I would like to advise the travelling public that Etihad is the most non-compassionate airline that I have ever experienced in all my years of travelling a wide variety of airlines. They are holding my 16, 000.00 AUD for 2 business class tickets that I bought a year ago to take my elderly mother on a trip from Sydney to Ireland which was her the last wish she had on her bucket list. Unfortunately and unforeseen my mother became ill with pheumonia and was not fit to travel. Medical documentation was submitted to Etihad confirming of my mothers inability to undertake long distance travel.
After many approaches to Etihad requesting a refund, or, approval for a change in name of my mothers ticket to another family members name, or alternatively, just a credit for future travel, all requests have been denied with a straight, no, no, and no to each consideration.
I would be interested to know what their "unfit to travel" policy is, and what their reaction would be if I attempted to take my mother on their flight to Dublin in her current health state. My mother is now dying with only limited time to live and Etihad's attitude, inflexible consideration, heartlessness and unfair and unreasonableness has left a sour taste and memory for my mother. Her last wish now is for me to take on Etihad due to their cold hearted, greedy and distasteful customer service.
Etihad - you have caused my mother great stress and undue anxiety re this non-compassionate approach to customer service in her dying days ... I hope your'e pleased for the dis-satisfaction you have provided! Shame on you Etihad Airline.

We travelled from Athens to Abu Dhabi on Sunday 28.6.15.
The staff at Athens Airport apparently found the we had 84 kg extra luggage. We left that morning from airport at Rhodes and there was no issue with the luggage. NO EXCESS.
We were made to pay 6900euros or no go on the flight. We have approached the airline directly numerous times and always get a generic response. They are not willing to even try and get the story right. I think that they should listen to their customers and their complaints and treat the customer with respect. I would like a refund in any form.

Hello, I would like to inform that the departure check in line is so chaotic and there is no one to direct anyone. There is no clear distinction between the check in line and the drop off line. We wasted more than half an hour standing in the line at the back and later realized the check in line was in front. There was also an airport uniformed female staff who came by. But when I tried to ask her, she was so abrupt and said she is not from Etihad. I am sad to see such bad service and in Canada. Kindly rectify these errors since this is the most important to have customer satisfaction.

So I'm a very strict vegetarian I've never eaten meat in my life and been brought up a vegetarian! On my flight home from Brisbane on Monday I was given chicken and when I questioned if my food was vegetarian the attendant told me that it was in fact a vegetarian meal! I then had a bite and another vegetarian on the flight asked a different attendant the same question who then took away their meal and I then said this is the same for me I was worried too! She came back and it was in fact a chicken wrap! I'm very upset about this as you can understand the information given to me was incorrect!

I'm flying back KL from Amsterdam on September 21st 2019, connecting Abu Dhabi via Etihad Airlines. I'm landed in KLIA first thing I notice when get my luggage is the major damage on the wheel and very severe dent on my luggage even though I've fully wrapped my luggage using luggage cover clothes. I want Etihad Airlines to take full responsibilities on this matter and the best part is the luggage that I'm using is brand new Barry Smith and I'm very disappointing that this Not taking care of properly and this Airlines are one of the best / well known in the world, I hope Etihad acknowledge and response to this if not I will uses other alternative via social media twitter etc. So that other people will be more aware and chose the right airlines to travel with. I'm trying not to make fuss of it but my brand new luggage couldn't even roll the wheel it's totally damaged. Please team Etihad do something about this. Flight details EY418
TQ

Was assured multiple times that I would make my connecting flight and when I asked the steward what if I didn't he continued to state that I would and did not answer my question of what if. Turns out I missed my connecting flight and after already travelling for 3 days I then had to sit at the airport for another 7 hours before I could get another flight. I would like to be compensated for the costs I then had to encounter at the airport such as food. If I had of made my original flight I would not have incurred the extra costs. The crew didn't even try to contact the connecting airline to ask them to hold the flight. I am very upset as I have already been travelling for 3 days and am very very sick.

I had traveled on Aug 27 from NY and bit for neighborhood free seats and my bid was accepted, Since I was bit paranoid I called the contact center and they said if the seat is occupied they will refund the money. On the day of travel someone was in the seat I asked the Air hostess they said they I will have to contact them once I land. I called them they said they have to email duty manager and after 4 calls no resolution yet. I was asked to submit a feedback on their website and that is broken it will not allow you to submit I tried all the options it didnt work. All I need is I paid for a service and I was not provided the service and I need my refund.

I am frequent flyer of Etihad Airways. I've been trusting this airline as it has a good service, etc. However, this time, Etihad Airways disappoint me really badly. I had a transit in Abu Dhabi for more or less 7hrs, and once I arrived in Jakarta for my Grandmother's funeral, my luggage was left behind in Abu Dhabi. I had to immediately buy my new clothings, pajamas, shower-kit and stayed awake till midnight for my luggage to be sent to the hotel. Despite of the long-haul flight & all the energy I've put due to this mistake by Etihad Airways, they didn't give me any compensation or even a ‘sorry'.
Now, I'm about to fly with Etihad Airways again from Jakarta to Dublin. Hopefully all the money & trust that I've put into Etihad Airways doesn't turn up like what it did last time. As I need to use my luggage to travel to other city for my Psychiatry Rotation on the same day. Finger-crossed!

Hello Team, I traveled from Delhi to Paris on 20th September via a connecting flight from Abu Dhabi. When I received my bag in Paris it was badly broken from one side. I had to buy a new bag to continue my journey. I am adding the photos of my travel and broken bag. Please help to get reimbursement of my bag cost. Thanks in advance for your immediate attention and actions.
Regards
Kailash Kumar

I used my miles to purchase wireless charger as gift for my husband. After waiting 10 days, product arrived and DOES NOT WORK.

MADE first call to customer service on 14 sept and spoke to manager named Vladimir ( think he is in Philippines ). He promised call back within 24-48 hours. No call. Then spoke to another manager. Did not deliver promise. Then spoke to another lady manager - she did not call me back either. Agents and managers customer service made me feel like an idiot. I am being mucked around and I don't appreciate this. I just want a direction to what to do. I want my miles back and I don't want anything to do with etihad anymore. Disgusting service and made me feel like [censored]

I traveled from Abu Dhabi to Lahore on Sept 16, 2019 via Etihad flight 241.[Copy of Boarding Pass attached].
At the boarding gate # 48, I had the shock of my life when I encountered an extremely rude, ill-mannered, uncourteous, impatient lady wearing Etihad uniform. From her conduct, I immediately concluded she was recruited in the airline on grounds other than merit. I interviewed and hired so many people during my professional life. To my assessment, she was completely unfit to work for a prestigious airline, to say the least.
The flight EY241 was scheduled to depart at 23:00 Abu Dhabi time. Two Etihad girls arrived at the boarding gate/counter about 30-35 minutes before the boarding time. The girl who handled the Economy Class row had relatively dark complexion whereas the other one handling Business Class had very fair complexion and elliptical face.
I approach the fair-complexioned girl at the boarding counter as soon as she arrived just to show her my two luggage tags [copies below] with a request to check the transfer of my luggage to EY 241.
Without even listening to me she asked me to wait. I reminded her couple of times that my problem was time sensitive and she must listen to me but she did not pay any attention. Finally, when she attended to my problem she realized, I was right when I pointed out the urgency of the matter. She also realized it was too late to check the status of my luggage and request for its transfer to EY241. But she was never ashamed or sorry for her conduct.
Due to irresponsible conduct of that lady at the Etihad boarding counter I did not receive my luggage on arrival in Lahore. I had to wait and finally lodge a report. Go through mental agony for two days My luggage arrived on Sept 19, 2019.
All the above inconvenience caused to me could have been easily avoided if the lady at the boarding counter had proper attitude and listened to me and taken the action at the relevant time. The airlines are competing to make the passenger's convenience as their top priority. However the massive tension both physical and mental caused to me on account of bad work attitude of the lady at the boarding counter did not matter to her at all. Can someone from Etihad explain ?

Flight reference [protected] Flight number PNRSXLHX

THE trip was a absolute disaster my wife has disabilities and these were totally ignored by the airline although assistance was pre booked months before the flight and was noted by the airline even to the point of not being able to book in until arrival at the airport desk. There was no wheel chair assistance from the point of departure to the point of arrival, at Manchester I had to carry my wife to the airplane as the final announcement for boarding was given and still no assistance available so without my actions we would of missed the flight same through out no assistance available a absolute disgrace Seating because of my wife's disabilities she required a aisle seat which on the second leg of the journey she was given a inside seat which was totally unacceptable and ignored her disabilities and her rights as a disabled person .

This airline is absolutely the worst for disabled customers and totally ignored my wife's needs .I spent the two weeks in Hong Kong on the phone to try and rectify the situation for the journey home also filled in feed back forms and was promised a reply also call backs were promised which were lies as I never received any.Unless your consistently on the phone you will not get anywhere you have to keep trying

Never again would we fly with this airline

Terence Owens a very disappointed customer

I booked my parents flight: Booking number : HGRLAB through CheapOAir: from Mumbai to Toronto via Abu-Dhabi
1) My parents passport does not have Surname but in given names have 2 names which they use as first and middle/last name
2) While booking I used first name and last name from given name as its mandatory.
3) On August 4th I paid extra money ~1060 CAD for extra leg space for my parents
4) On 20th September while check-in I called Etihad to confirm if the names are as per passport as surname is empty. They told me to file a request via CheapoAir for name change, 6 hours before the flight. I asked them 2 times, that I paid 1060$ extra for the seat, that won't be effected if the name change happens by offloading the tickets
5) CheapoAir tried to change names (add FNU as first name and last name as given name) but Ethihad did not change it, on the other hand they changed my parents seat number and moved to it less leg space.
6) My parents are tall and old, thus I paid 1060$ CAD to get extra leg space for 18 hour journey
7) while talking to customer care for refund, they told me they cannot guarantee as the tickets were offloaded. I reminded them that later that day they told me that my seats won't be changed if I request for name change and offload the tickets
7) At the end of the day, name change did not happen, my parents got tickets without name change and less leg space and they declined to refund me for the extra money I paid for the leg space seats.

I have never had such worse experience with any customer service agent, where one customer service agent tells something else while the other completely different and declines to refund the amount. Very unsatisfied with Etihad, trying to find out more channels to file formal complain about such service and not refunding the money for the service they charged and never provided.

I booked flights to Sri Lanka and back in January, to travel in August through a travel agent. In April, after the terrorist attacks I cancelled these.
I received a full refund for the outward leg from another airline, but I am apparently not entitled to one from Etihad. This I do not understand or accept.
As far as I am concerned, the refund should have been actioned when I requested it (when the foreign office advice was not to travel) in early May. The fact it wasn't actioned then, has allowed you to add a time limitation after the FO advice changed. So. I was therefore in a position that I had a cancelled holiday that I still had a RETURN LEG flight for only. I don't understand how this is considered a fair policy.
I would like to speak to someone about this. Please could someone phone, not just email. I will be pursuing this claim, so I would like a response from you please.

Hi. I would like to register a complaint with your claims team in regards to my guitar which was damaged in transit during my flight with Etihad airways. On the 16th evening we checked in at Mumbai International Airport where I had securely wrapped my guitar and put it through the fragile item process at the counter. Upon arriving my final destination at Minsk International Airport, I was disappointed to find my guitar had been damaged from several places. This guitar was clearly not dealt with how a fragile item should be.We spoke to the authorities to register a complaint before we left the airport but we were informed, that we have to contact you directly (we have their recording to prove that). I am attaching photos of the damaged piece and would like to know the claims process. I look forward to hearing from you at the earliest time possible.

Kind regards
Vinayak Dubey
Flight number: EY203 and EY61
+[protected]

On the 26th of August, I Samuel Oluwadamilare Adeniyi was not allowed to board flight 674, ticket no #[protected] at 08:30am. The Etihad manager at Lagos (Mr. Frank Nwosu) refused to give a boarding pass to me. I was at the airport for over three hours on the argument that Dublin (Ireland) authorities do not usually allow Nigerians transiting to the U.S. A to stopover for more than 3hrs whereas the flight ticket that was booked for me was scheduled to stop over for 20hrs stated in the information. We (myself, Aunt) were not aware of the situation of Nigerians not being allowed to stopover for more than 3hrs in Dublin before the ticket was purchased, there was no information on this because if there was, we wouldn't have bought it at all and no information was passed by the Nigerian Government/Airport Authorities. Etihad airline informed neither me nor my aunt about the issue.
Etihad customer service was called at 2am (New York Time). I wasn't allowed to board the flight from Muritala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, Nigeria, on the issue of Nigerians not being allowed to stopover for more than 3hrs in Dublin, I had no idea until I got to the airport for check in. Mr. Frank insisted that he would not issue a boarding pass to me cause he said if he did, he would be fined 2000 European money by Dublin Airport Authorities. All these informations were explained to the priceline representative. The priceline agent was connected to Mr Frank on the phone but he insisted that he would not issue a body pass to me.
I finally went back home with my uncle who drove me to the airport since I wasn't allowed to board the flight. I explained the situation to my aunt (Mrs. Fausat Funmilola Odubiyi) in the U.S. A who happened to be the one who bought the ticket. She was able to get in touch with Etihad representatives at 4:30pm (New York time). The Etihad representatives explained that they were not aware of the situation, stating that the Etihad representative in Lagos Mr. Frank did not explain the situation to them neither did he to the pilot, flight attendant and captain. I was placed on a NO SHOW as per Etihad customer service. The Etihad customer representative explained that we were to pay customer service fee and differential price of the current flight fee. We paid extra $1089 for a new ticket and $30 for customer fee. The total money paid for a new ticket on the 26th of August was $1189. I booked another flight EY 674 from Lagos to Abu Dhabi then to New York, with no stopover in Dublin, reservation code BOCEWV.
Also, while I was in a dialogue with Mr Frank over the issue, some of your representatives were in the process of thrashing my bag stating that they had no idea of the owner and as at that time I was the only one left at that area, in fact, it was another representative of yours that told me to put it there, they didn't even bother to ask about the owner if not for another caring brother who pointed my attention to it cause he himself noticed when I was asked to put them (luggages) there.
Also, please I would like Etihad to explain to me the meaning of NO SHOW cause I won't want to conclude that its means the individual in question did not or was not seen at the airport till the sceduled flight left or is it a term used.
Please I would like Etihad to look into this matter cause its something of discomfort to me paying for the same destination twice whereas it wasn't my fault for not boarding the first time. This is my first time of boarding Etihad airways cause have heard a lot of goodies about the airline, I hope am correct on the acknowledgement and I hope am not dissapointed.
Please I would really like to get a positive result cause your services are too good for me and for that service to now be what would be giving me issues. Thank you

Ref: 734870.
My Email address: [protected]@gmail.com.

My name is Anie George and am writing this is great despair in regards to my baggage which went missing for two days.
My journey was with ethihad airways on 15th September starting from Calicut international Airport CCJ to Birmingham airport BHX via abudhabi AUH and Amsterdam AMS.

Flight details are as follows.
CCJ to AUH - EY 251
AUH to AMS - EY 077
AMS to BHX - BE 114

Due to delay of the flight EY077 for about 5.30 hours, i had missed my connection flight and subsequently was arranged with BE114 which landed at BHx at 10.30 PM. To my dismay i found that my baggage was missing and i waited until 12AM at the airport in the hope that it would turn up and it didn't.
My Baggage consisted of many essential including my house key and sim card. It has caused me great inconvenience to return home at night without these essentials. I had returned from India after my wedding. Thus the baggage also included many essentials from my wedding including the wedding saree which itself costed about £590.
However i raised a complaint file number BHXBE27314 and my baggage was delivered to my home address on 17/09/2019. I was really happy to see the issue would be resolved only to find that the baggage delivered was already UNLOCKED. To my horror i realised Some items are already missing. My saree, MK Ritz watch worth £240 and an adidas original shoe worth £75
are missing. It has caused me great emotional despair that to miss the wedding saree would have been a great blow as it denotes badluck according to the beliefs.

I hereby would like to request you to reimburse for the causing delay of my baggage delivery for 1 and half days and compensation for the lost items. Feel free to contact me for any evidence or details that I may have missed.

Kind Regards
Anie George
[protected]@gmail.com
0044 (0) [protected]

Dear Sir,
I had gone to University of Belgrade for a conference. I had booked my ticket according to the rules. There were no VISA required for Serbia for short visit. My return ticket was Belgrade-Amsterdam-Abu Dhabi-Bengaluru. While check-in at Belgrade airport, The Air Serbia personnel didn't allow me to board the flight saying that you need to change your ticket from Belgrade-Abu Dhabi-Bengaluru. Without VISA, you cannot travel in the flight through Amsterdam. I called to Etihad Airways and he also told that there is no requirement of any VISA to board flight as booked. On the website also it is mentioned clearly of not requirement of VISA in the root booked ticket. The Etihad Airways personnel told me to give the phone to any Air Serbia people, but the Security personnel didn't even picked the call and harshly aside me from boarding.
Then I had to reissue my ticket from Belgrade to Abu Dhabi with extra cost of INR 35009 through the agent in India who booked all these tickets. I had a socioeconomic loss due to the tie-up problems of Etihad Airways and Air Serbia. I was in big trouble with this issue at Belhgrade Airport.
I request you to take action against this matter and help me in getting back my extra money spent. Also, I request you to resolve these kind of issue for which, we customers are suffering. If this kind of things persists, We never travel with this kind of Airways companies.
Kindly, accept my application and take necessary action and obliged.
Sincerely
Dr. Shibesh Kumar Jas Pacif
Assistant Professor
Vellore Institute of Technology
Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India

I booked and paid online for my colleague who was due to fly Sunday 15th October, however he was told he could not board the plane due to having a one way ticket only. After much deliberation we had no option but to book a return ticket but by this stage the boarding gates were closed and Etihad ground staff told Mr D G P O'Donnell that his ticket is a open one and was valid until 8th September 2020.
No worries i went ahead and purchased a return ticket, no problem and contacted Etihad to re book this ticket to be told to contact the booking agent with this number 6076365696044 which we did to be told by them that we to pay a further 500$.
We then contacted Etihad to find out what is going on and then were told this ticket is no longer valid. Why we asked and now it is reported that the reason is because it was a no show. Oh lord what next. This is shocking service and very costly.
This is a message from South Africa Mr Damien O'Donnell.
I don't believe that Etihad is truly interested in helping us, every operator is giving me a different story starting last night when my ticket was changed to an open ticket and today when I was told that I was a no show. Even though I dealt with their representatives at the airport last night starting with my passport being taken to the supervisor who returned and stopped me getting on the flight and eventually speaking to the manager whilst on a video call to my girlfriend, Adelle Naude.

How can Etihad blatantly lie and say one minute it's a open ticket and all we have to do is book a return ticket which we done now be told the ticket is not valid as it is reported as a no show.
Well Etihad i have news for you because as he was at the airport while all this is going on i was speaking to Etihad via messenger to a woman named Rose so i ask your lying staff what is going on. Almost 12 solid hours we have spent sending e-mails trying to sort this out with no all very little response so now you must imagine how angry we are.
NOT HAPPY. I DEMAND A REFUND OR FOR SURE THIS STORY AND ETIHAD WILL NOT END WELL