Etihad Airways
Reviews and Complaints

I am extremely disappointed with Etihad Airways due to their misleading fare rules, lack of transparency, and poor customer service. I booked an Economy Deluxe fare for my return trip, specifically because it advertised free changes and cancellations. However, my experience has been nothing but a series of frustrating roadblocks and contradictions.

1. Unjust Fees and Misleading Policies:

When I attempted to change just the first leg of my flight (Mumbai to Bangalore), I was quoted a price higher than my original round-trip fare.
I was later told that the most restrictive fare rules apply to the entire ticket, despite paying extra for an Economy Deluxe fare, which explicitly includes free changes and cancellations.

2. Unacceptable Refund Offer:

I was offered a €35.41 refund (plus 2,259 miles) on a ticket I paid €747 for, which is completely unreasonable and unjustified.
Despite multiple requests, Etihad failed to provide the Terms & Conditions for my ticket, further raising concerns about transparency.

3. Wasted Time and Poor Support:

I spent over a week and engaged in six customer service chats, only to receive conflicting, incomplete, and often evasive responses.
I was told I couldn’t escalate my complaint until after I flew—an absurd policy that prevents customers from resolving urgent issues.

-Resolution I've been seeking:

*A full refund or fair compensation for the portion of the flight I cannot use.
*A correction of the unjust fees applied under misleading fare conditions.
*Transparency in fare rules to prevent other customers from facing this same issue.

Etihad Airways has failed to honor their fare conditions, wasted my time, and made the resolution process intentionally difficult. This is unacceptable for a premium airline, and I will be escalating this issue further with consumer protection authorities. I hope others take note of this experience before choosing to fly with Etihad.

I booked a roundtrip ticket from Dublin to Kolkata to Dublin. My flight to Kolkata was delayed in Dublin for around 1–1:30 hours. Cabin crew missed offering any tea or coffee. The flight was again delayed in Abu Dhabi. This time the cabin crew forgot to offer any dinner. The inflight entertainment screen was not working. 

My flight from Kolkata was delayed by almost 12 hours. I reached the airport at 6 p.m. on November 27th. Refreshment was given at 11 p.m. Shabby hotel (Krishna International) was provided in a slum area at 12:30 am. The hotel was unsafe and had no standards at all. We were asked to be picked up at 4 a.m. I stood outside the hotel for an hour because no transportation was available. In Abu Dhabi, our connecting flight was booked after almost 14 hours. We reached Abu Dhabi at 12:30. Refreshment was given at 5:30 pm. Hotel was provided at 7:30 pm. We were picked up at 11:30 for the onward flight. 

I had very important meetings in Dublin on November 28th, which I missed because of delay. I feel sick after 2 sleepless nights and a terrible experience with Etihad Airways

After posting my poor experience of flying with Etihad on this site on April 15th and on July 2nd 2024, I was shocked to see this site claims that my complaint has been resolved ... This is not true.
No wonder as of today 29 August 2024, Etihad scores 3.8 out of 5!
For a more accurate customer feedback score visit Trust Pilot where their feedback is completely different to here!

I'm an Etihad Guest member and have a Silver tier. As a ADCB Excellency bank client, I am entitled to a fast-track upgrade to Gold tier within two weeks of completing a roundtrip flight on Etihad that was paid using my ADCB Etihad Infinite credit card. I pay a fee of $720 to have the membership that makes me eligible for this tier upgrade.

Despite the fact that I met these criteria on 22 June already, my status has still not been upgraded. I have been unable to speak to anyone in the 'concerned department' because the call center stonewalls me. I've opened two cases with no response and ADCB hasn't had success either.

I am truly disappointed in the fact that Etihad is providing such poor service to loyalty members, and not meeting its legal obligations. It smells a lot like fraud to me.

I used Etihad for years but find their customer service to be extremely bad.

After posting my experience on here on 15th April of being sold a train ticket by an airline (if I want to arrive at my destination airport by train, I would go on a railway website).

I now fly Emirates. I have used Emirates twice now and will continue using them as they are far better than Etihad.

I tried many times to use their customer complaints link on their website but I could never send my complaint.

I booked a return flight from Abu Dhabi to Birmingham England on 7th April to 14th April 2024.

I was shocked to find out my return connection from Birmingham to London Heathrow was actually a TRAIN TICKET!

I called customer service and was told that although my TRAIN TICKET had a flight number, I had to take a train from Birmingham New Street at 0300am.

I had to cancel this and get a taxi as anyone who has experience of riding trains in the UK especially at night is exposing themselves to become a victim of crime... The taxi added an extra 1,000AED onto the cost of my journey.

I also paid an extra 240AED for reserved seating on the flight only to find out my purchased seat had been sold to someone else and I had to be seated elsewhere.

I have most my phone and contacted lost and found to create a ticket number. I can track my iPhone and I can see that my iPhone is at the airport till now and they are not answering their phone numbers and not replying to my email.
My complaint ticket number is V26779/24
Flight number is EY002 and my chair was 10F on November 18 from NY to Abu Dhabi.
I am a gold member on Etihad and I have been totally ignored! This is totally unacceptable. I left my phone number and my email and yet nothing happened.

On october 2, EY20 was delayed for 3 hours and my connecting flight EY663 was cancelled for operational reasons. When I landed in AUH, I had to queue for nearly an hour to find out that I was rebooked on EY661 Which was taking at 0920. This meant that I’d arrive over 7 hours late and I’d have to spend the night at AUH. Etihad refused to offer any accommodation despite CAA UK requiring it in such a case. I had to pay for my own accommodation at AUH terminal hotel. An airline cannot cancel a flight and expect a passenger to sleep on chairs over night.

I booked my tickets half a year ago just to make sure I can catch up with the F1 Hungary Grandprix. I checked via official website, the departure time was right. But last week I occasionally saw my ticket will be a day later so I will miss the game.

Etihad customer service said it was because of a 5 minute "schedule change" and they "surelly informed" me while no emails at all and my reservation info is still the same on the booking website as they got no information from Etihad either.

If I want to fly on the original date, Etihad would be glad to do refund and let my fly on my original flight at twice the price as the time I booked...

I had paid yesterday for a seat upgrade and other seat changes.

Due to aircraft change I have been forced to be seated in another place where there is no extra leg room.

Very poor information and support or service on the ground when asking how to proceed. Felt un respected, disappointing

Reservation number NS5CVP

I flew Etihad Airways from Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi then Abu Dhabi to jeddah my suitcase was locked with a heavy duty lock. When I collected my bag and tried to open it at my hotel I found that the zip was clean broken my jewelry was stolen. I flew on the 15th of March 2024, 2:10. Also my bag was mutilated so badly. The fabric was torn and the wheels were broken off. My flight number EY313.

I am travelling from Abu dhabi to New york with a valid ticket booking confirmation. The Etihad lady staff asked me to wait for boarding as flight is over booked. They are not responding on any questions. What fault the customer is at ? This is the service that Etihad gives to customers? I am standing at airport with no clue where to go and what to do.. the Flight is EY103 from gate B10 of abu dhabi airport

Name: Pro. Sarath Nonis

PNR: R5MOWQ

I purchased a ticket online from Etihad and selected to take advantage of 1 night free stop over in Abu Dhabi, as advertised.

I attempted to get my one night stay after purchasing the ticket. The system did not recognized my PNR. I emailed "[protected]@etihadholidays.com," they informed me that I have to stay 24 hours to be eligible. I called Etihad to say that the 24 hour minimum stay requirement was never mentioned when booking, they said they could not assist me either based on rules they have to go by.

I am now stuck in Abu Dhabi for 20 hours without hotel accommodation. If I was informed about the 24 hour requirement before I booked, I would NOT have selected this option.

We 3 family members were supposed to fly in 2:45 pm flight to dammmam on 16th Jan, today. At the time of check in at 12.30 pm the staff requested saying that flight is over booked and we have to take 9:15 pm flight, I told our children have special classes we paid more money for that and I have back pain and knee pain that I can’t wait long.

Ms. Laila the supervisor promised me that she will provide hotel stay with food and taxi, also she will give compensation for the loss of our children classes and travel cost.

After making us wait for 4 hours around 3.30 pm she come out with other staff and said she can’t provide anything only food court voucher she can provide which is of no use for us … after she put us in pain and all stress she ended up giving nothing.. all I take with me is pain and stress

The 12/01/2024, me and others customers missed our last connection flight because Etihad made us pick up our suitcases at Sydney airport instead of delivering it straight to Auckland (= final destination). I was flying all the way from France, and when I have been told in Paris I had to pick up my suitcase in Sydney with only 1 hour 55 min of transit in Sydney. I asked to speak to a manager that must have been in a hurry because after 5 minutes of discussion, she lied to me saying she would arrange the luggage pick up at my last destination. I have proof of that.

In addition to that, arriving in Sydney we had to stay 10 extra minutes in the plane that was landed because of whatever problem.

In addition to that, I had to convince immigration agents to let me out to pick up the luggage and get the Jetstar boarding pass.

In addition to that NO ETIHAD REPRESENTATIVE to help us at Sydney airport.

I had to pay of course for the flight Sydney-Auckland from my own pocket.

Booked a return flight with Etihad Airways, including a Transit Connect stopover. Promised a free hotel stay for layovers 10-24 hours. Managed to book for outbound journey but unable to secure for the return. Despite multiple emails and inquiries, received vague responses about 2024 contracts. Misleading promotion, lack of customer support, and unresolved concerns. Seeking resolution and the right to book as advertised. Disappointed customer.

I just purchased extra legroom for my son on flight from London to Melbourne on 4 December. Your customer service person (Aditya) said the price would be 42 pounds. However, when I received the receipt (see attached) it says I paid AUD 115.90. The normal exchange rate at the moment is about $80. The highest you would pay for £42 for any online purchase would be about AUD 90. It is outrageous to charge me an extra $25 on top of that without warning me. There can be no justification whatsoever. I expect a refund of at least $20. It was paid on my credit card ending in 9630.

My name is David J. Richardson and my email address is [protected]@hotmail.com.