Etihad Airways
Reviews and Complaints

I was traveling to Delhi - Abu Dhabi - Rome on 16 April, 21:10. Flight no. EY223. I checked in 8 pieces of luggage, the support staff at the counter just checked in 7 pieces and didn’t tag the 8th piece. I lost my 1 piece as I didn’t have the tag slip of the 8th luggage which went missing, I got to know that on reaching my destination Rome. Worst airlines ever. Has never encountered such stupidity by any airline staff ever. Never travel with Etihad.

I am extremely disappointed with the service provided by Etihad. I canceled my ticket in August and was supposed to receive a full refund within 45 days, as per their policy. However, it has been over 8 months now and I am yet to receive the refund amount. Despite contacting the customer service department multiple times (almost 40 to 45 times), I have received no response or resolution to my issue. This lack of accountability and customer service is completely unacceptable.

Several oncologists including myself attended the San Antonio breast cancer symposium traveling to the US ETIHAD AIRLINES. Returning from San Antonio to O’Hare airport in Chicago, then to Abu Dhabi airport, was a nightmare. We lost our luggage! Tracking of all our luggage showed that luggage reached Abu Dhabi safely, and nobody knows where they are. Luggage was lost at the airport and apparently and most likely they were stolen. We experienced a feeble response from the airline staff and the company's customer support services, and we have been struggling with them for almost 2 months. Lately, they admitted that the luggage was lost (stolen) and offered financial compensation. What they offered was ridiculous, close to $900 only! Some empty luggage for some individuals costs more than the compensation provided. I personally lost my expensive personal effects including expensive suits, shirts, and ties, several electronics for shaving and teeth care, gifts, perfumes, new shoes, etc. Despite we provided enough documentation and receipts to prove what we have lost, the airline customer care service remained deaf! The painful experience is still ongoing for four months as we rejected the preposterous offer. My best advice to all my colleagues attending medical conferences in the USA or traveling for other purposes is please avoid ETIHAD AIRLINES or don’t check any bags!

I tried to buy a ticket last night on April 10th around 10.13PM.

From JFK-BKK on May11, 2023 depart at 10.40PM

and return from BKK-JFK on June7,2023 depart at 08.25PM.

I used an Etihad credit account to cover partial payment which was 438 USD to be exact (or 15,044.86 THB)

When I finished the transaction, I got a message from my credit card application that the transaction had been made and the amount is pending but the website said there was an error with the transaction, no confirmation email was sent to me, and no booked flight on my Etihad guest account.

I tried to contact Etihad through several chat assistance, the call center, and also the call center manager. The answer I got was there was a problem with the transaction so no credit card went through and no plane ticket was purchased if I want a plane ticket I have to buy a new one. They tried to assure me that the amount will be refunded.

But my most concern is I have to buy a new ticket but I don't want to pay in full amount, I want to use my Etihad credit account combined with my personal credit card because it's expiring in July 2023, but I couldn't do that because it takes time to refund Etihad credits, one person said it would take 24-48 hours, the other said 1 day and the other one said 15-30 days so I don't know which one is correct.

I tried to ask them to come up with other urgent solutions because the longer I wait the higher the ticket will be and why should I be the one paying more than I suppose to because of the system problem? One of the solutions I ask them to consider is if I could buy a new plane ticket with the same amount of what I paid with my personal credit card and Etihad doesn't refund my Etihad credit amount, that means I pay the same amount I intended to pay with the Etihad credit that has already been deducted. But they said all I can do are either buy a new ticket with the full amount or wait for the Etihad credit to be refunded which they don't know when because that would be up to the credit team, and buy a new one later. One of the call centers I spoke with said that she has already forwarded this issue to the credit team and they will do their best and solve this problem. Later after I spoke with Etihad for almost 4 hours, I found out from another call center that the credit team didn't know anything about my case and hadn't started any process and the only way for them to start the process is for me to send an email directly to them, so I sent them an email at 1.37am. At that moment I felt like I was lied by the call center that they already contact the credit team and inform them about my situation.

I called back to the call center checking with them if they have any response from the credit team, what I got was the credit team didn't see any Etihad credit amount that was used that's why they weren't able to process anything, but no one from credit team replies to me that they have this problem. So right now only the backen team(not sure about the exact name) has the authority to check where the Etihad credit went and how much was spent, and I have to wait for another 24-48 hours for them to check, not including the refund period. I was shocked that every time I call in, I have to repeat my situation in detail several times. More than anything else is that the duration of communication between departments, and the information each department have are never accurate at all, they somehow always have wrong information or couldn't find my information, and that slow process. The last update I have is to wait for the backen team to find out what happened, where are my Etihad credit that was spent, and how much it was spent.

I am very disappointed and frustrated with how I have to repeat myself every time that the process is very slow and each department never has the correct information.

My booking reference is WERZ7V. I arrived into Abu Dhabi this morn on EY 405. I called on the 4 th of April to book my car service from Abu Dhabi to Al Barari on Dubai. I got an email confirmation which I am attaching to this complain. When I got to The lounge to get my car I was told I had no car service booked. I spoke to the relevant people in the lounge and was told they spoke to a supervisor named Mr Milap and they could not arrange a car to take me home. If I had known I would have got my car to fetch me. I waited for an hour and inspite of complaining I was told I had to find my way home. I am presently in a taxi on my way home. This is really not acceptable. Please look into this matter and get back to me ASAP. My local no is

+[protected] I need to know what happened and how you are going to compensate me. I am really upset with this service.

Hi Team,

I am trying to reach Etihad Customer service after the 72 hour response about the exception of ticket cancellation.

My Ticket reservation Nbr :AVBWTN

Name : George Mathew

email Id: george.[protected]@gmail.com

Phone : [protected]

I am unfortunately unable to travel on these dates due to USA Legal Immigration issues, so i was told there will be a consideration on the exception and do some sort of refunds, but I have not heard back yet.

Kindly please reciew my case and do the best needful.

Thanks,

George

I have booked Etihad Airways return ticket from Berlin to Ahmedabad on 04th May and return on 27th May. I needed to change outbound booking date and i felt looted by the charges. I preponed my booking date to 30th April from 4th May.

Flight price on 4th May- 448,71 Euro

Flight Price on 30th April - 524,71 Euro

Additional charges i paid to change ticket from 4th May to 30th April is 471,84 Euro.

Explanation i got from the customer care is, 205 euro for change request and other are fair difference.

Who can explain this?

Dear team, I have applied for 48h transit visa for Abu Dhabi. I will be traveling from India through Etihad Airways. My application status has not changed from "Waiting for request creation approval".

Below are details of application number. Please help:

1. 0001027780092023424711381

Meet Rajubhai Mehta

2. 0101027780092023424773216

Jagriti Yadav

Same status is shown for both.

On 30th March 2023, I was trying to do my tickets to India. After going to through multiple websites and multiple options I zeroed down on Etihad Airways. The sector I tried for was RDU-HYD.

The first time I filled in all the details for a certain date (I think I had tried 7th sept 2023) in the ticket and tried to make the payment using my debit card - it just went circling around for more than 20-25 mins and it said transaction timed out / expired.

And to reaffirm this - I had not received any e-mail confirmation of the tickets. So I obviously thought the transaction had failed.

So I tried doing the tickets the second time and this time around I tried for 6th sept for some reasons. (Just changed my mind and felt maybe I can afford to get my son to take 1 extra day off from school but atleast I will be done with my jet lag the weekend I reach India).

I went through the same process and same damn ordeal the second time too. After entering all the details and submitting the payment - it just kept circling for a very long time and it just left the screen plain and blank. And again to reaffirm this too - I did not receive any email confirmation for the tickets done. So I obviously assumed that the transaction failed.

I have done ticketing multiple times. If the transaction gets through you get a message immediately that it was successful and the customer receives the ticketing e mail too almost immediately. I did not receive either confirmation.

It was late in the night and got tired so I just left it.

Yesterday on 4th April I see that Etihad has charged my account with both the transactions and they haven’t as of now cared to send me the tickets but have managed to take my money from my account.

I called them immediately and told them how the hell did you guys take the amount when there was no confirmation of the transaction getting through either via issuing tickets through email or whatever. They said they have raised my concern and asked me to call them back today. I call them today just to be told by them that they will not refund my amount cos it was a non refundable ticket.

My question is - if your website did not throw a googly at me why would I have attempted to try for the tickets the second time for the same two people? I clearly know I am not going to be present on both the days (6th&7th) to take the flight from the same destination right?

It’s because your website did not confirm to me in anyway that my payment got through - I tried to do the ticket the second time.

I have tried talking this out. All I get to do is manage to talk to you telecasters who don’t understand a thing and are just talking about rules and policy to me while I am freaking out with my 2500$ stuck with you guys.

I am still ok to stick to one of the days ticket but I need the refund of the other ticket that’s been charged without my knowledge.

To: The Complaints Department Etihad Airways

Cc: Antonoaldo Neves

I and my family are Australian Citizens and planned a niece's wedding trip to Islamabad. I assume due to the recent network change at Etihad, I and my wife started getting several "change in itinerary" messages from Etihad Airline. It was not 1 or 2 messages. It was numerous messages where the itinerary of paid and confirmed tickets were changed from one to another date/time again and again by the airline.

At the time there was a message that I / we must change or confirm the new itinerary within Two months, even though the flight was still several months later. Both departure and arrival date/time were changed by the Airline. Under pressure to change within the stipulated time I gave an arbitrary and most likely date for the departure flight. We did not change the return flight as we wanted to change that at a later date.

Niece changed her wedding date due to new arrival date not knowing we had already changed to be present in time. Similar issues were triggered due to the change by Airline in arrival date/time for flight back to Sydney for resumption of office duties.

I called Etihad Airways to re-book the ticket to match the new wedding date and was told that I had to pay AUD 700+ for each ticket for one way change. For 2-way change it could be AUD 1400 + (this was an AUD 400 Fare difference and AUD 300 penalty). I found lower fare tickets (to my tickets purchase price) on Etihad website but I was told Airline system takes the highest fare. Additionally, I did not rebook the return flight back to Sydney so I had not availed the free return flight change. However, Airline is not ready to change even the return flight back to Sydney even though I did not avail of the One free change for return back.

All this is not fair that I have to pay thousands for the whole family due to the change in itinerary triggered by the Airline itself.

Kindly please consider a relief for our family by agreeing to change the tickets both departure and arrival without fare difference and a penalty.

Asif Zar - Reservation: RCVMOY - Mobile +[protected]

Rayyan Zar - Reservation RAVJNV

Humera Zar - Reservation RYYNTL

On Sept. 15th 2022 we went to Chicago counter for flight EY 150 (ORD to AUH) trip to India AMD, base on I did not have proof of credit card full 16 number (Although I Gave last four number of my credit card and e-Ticket number and Email from Etihad) Ticket was paid in FULL On APRILL 1st 2022

We bought 5 tickets on April1st 2022, 3 for my wife and family friend AUGUST 20th 2022 first card 2 for myself and my Son for September 15th 2022 paid with another card WHICH I left Home in Texas by mistake

I had to purchase next day flight for September 16th 2022 and pay Extra

higher fare ON OR ABOUT 2AM

I was booked to fly from Abu Dhabi International airport to Manchester Airport on 7th September 2022 on flight EY0015.

I was flying with my wife and son.

When I went to check-in my luggage I was told the flight had been over booked and there were no seats left for us.

After a lot of heated discussions my family and I were put onto flight to Dublin airport Ireland. From there I was put onto an Aer Lingus flight to Manchester Airport. This flight was delayed and we reached Manchester Airport at 6pm on 7th September instead of 7:25am. Because we were all so tired after the almost 16 hour journey both my wife and had to take a day off work the next day.

My family and I were due to fly to Melbourne Australia for a family wedding tomorrow (22/3/22).

I did two bookings

- one for me, my husband and my daughter who lives with us in UAE - Etihad Airways reference is: UVOOCK

- one for my daughter who lives in UK (4 leg journey) - Etihad Airways reference is: QSOWFE

Unfortunately my husband has been admitted to hospital in an emergency and is very ill and so we are unable to travel.

When I called to cancel the flights I was told they are non-refundable and I have only been refunded the tax for the three tickets on reference UVOOCK.

For the 4 leg journey ticket for my daughter (QSOWFE) the 2nd and 3rd leg have been cancelled (i.e. the Abu Dhabi to Melbourne and return) and the 4th leg, i.e. return to Manchester has had to be reissued and I had to pay for that privilege.

I am very disappointed by this.

I would like an explanation for why given the medical emergency circumstances, I cannot get a full refund (with a minor penalty which I would understand)

I would also like to know why I have to pay 510GBP to reissue a ticket when I am not getting anything additional i.e. I am not getting even a tax refund on the 2nd and 3rd cancelled leg and she is travelling as planned on the fourth leg.

Is this how you treat your guests?!?

And during a very stressful time for me and my family.

Is there anything I can do?

Can I not get credit to rebook the tickets later in the year when my husband is hopefully well again?

On 14th March I bought two tickets to Vienna for $5,362.44 which is now pending on my account then on Friday 17th March Etihad withdrew another $2681.22 twice for the same ticket.

I've called Etihad customer service and requested that they release the first payment of $5,362,44 as I need the funds to pay my mortgage. Etihad advised that the payment will be released in 7-45 days and there is nothing they can do about it.

This is unacceptable, unfair and fraudulent. They claim that they took the payment for security purposes which is a lie since the payment was processed through 3DS and my bank sent me a secure code to verify the transaction.

I have a mortgage to pay and other bills, I'm not sure how they expect anyone to be okay with being charged $10,724.88 instead of $5,362.44. Clearly, the customer service team nor Etihad care about their customer's circumstances.

In the name of system update Etihad made our lives miserable and customer reps start laughing and make fun of the customers when they cannot do anything.

I don't understand what Etihad reps or supervisors do when they cannot change/ refund/ cancel a ticket. Etihad is the worst flight service who i had to deal with for the past 4 days. this is a complaint in frustration and after dealing with them for 4 full days.

we even went to their offices at Dulles airport and still no response.

this is cheating at a different level.

My visa application status shows " waiting for request creation approval" since past one week. All emails to Etihad visa unit only get one reply that the system is under maintenance. How long will be system under maintenance and when can I expect my visa?

I have paid the fees and submitted all the documents. My travel date is nearing and there is no communication from Etihad visa unit.

Hi

Following on tons of mails and calls that I made to Etihad for more then 7 months!

Can you please advise the exact timing and amount of the refund?

Reference number VOUCPS, ticket number [protected] & [protected]

Reference number MEPMOG, ticket number [protected]

Attaching my father-in-law death certificate, the death was the main trigger for all changes happened in my wife's & kids' tickets

Your representative, by that time, confirmed the understanding and care that Etihad would give for such a death case/situation.. however I didnt receive since then a single call or mail to explain why the refund is not performed till now.. the incident happened in Aug last year and we are in March!

Thanks!

Fathy Heleika

+[protected]

It has been a year now and still my refund issue was not sorted out. I have booked Ticket (real-KGWRFD, duplicate- BMSZQY) from Bengaluru to Charlotte travel on April 6, 2022, and accidentally two transactions happened due to app glitch. I am following from the day when it happened to now no resolution. Initially, have speaking with refund team and asked to submit all proof like bank statements, boarding pass etc. and all submitted. They ask to wait for 45 business days to credit and it went multiple 45 days and finally refund team informed that unable to resolve and ask to raise ticket in feedback portal. This is bad that after 5 months of struggle, it didn’t resolve even though all bank statements proof was submitted. Have raised feedback Case [protected] on Aug 2022 and got call around November that my amount will be refund with 28 business days. Again, multiple 28 days and multiple follow ups no luck. Follow up case [protected] got closed without any resolution comments. Can you please help me to resolve this issue. It is hard earned money please give it back.

My husband, Douglas Warner Pasea, booked return tickets for himself and me, Christchurch / London return, via Abu Dhabi, departing Christchurch on 27 July, 2022, and leaving London to return to Christchurch on 19 January, 2023. The booking reference was DZJVBL, issue date, 16 Jun 22 and his ticket number was [protected].

We travelled to London on 27 July, as arranged, but my husband died on 22 August, prior to the date of the return ticket. My daughter and I have contacted Etihad several times to cancel his ticket and ask for a refund, most recently on 17 January, when I was given a different booking reference: ZXVIHF for my return ticket to Christchurch. I understood that a refund for my husband's ticket - London / Christchurch - would be made in due course to my credit card account - the account from which the tickets had been paid. My daughter sent Douglas' death certificate to [protected]@etihad.ae on 8 January, which received an auto acknowledgement. We have heard nothing further and this is now an unacceptable delay.

During the peak months of COVID in 2020 we got the offer from Etihad to open a travel bank account and by paying in USD 500 you would receive USD 250 on top. Therefore we deposited USD 1000 (around 950 EUR) and we had USD 1500 on the account. A great offer.

As all airlines Etihad suspened the flights during COVID and when they returned and we decided to book a ticket, the prices where outrageous. The tickt price for an exonomy ticket became EUR 2000+, before tickets where max. EUR 900 saver tickets around EUR 600.

Since the the travel bank account has an expiration and after that you would loose the money, if you did not purchase a ticket with the credit. We asked Travel bank to extend the account and they did that too.

Since due to Covid and private issues, we could not fly before the expiration which was September 30th 2022.

Therefore we called the hotline, described the situation and booked a ticket from Frankfurt to Bangkok for EUR 1300, with the information given by the agent: REFUNDABLE/REBOOKABLE.

To make it shortm REBOOKING is possible but not online. we had to call and pay EUR 25 service fee but REFUNDABLE is only POSSIBLE if the money can go back to the ORIGINAL METHOD OF PAYMENT. Since thos method, the travel bank account is closed, the money will be lost. The agents, we called several times. last time has been Alexandra (German Hotline), they say it can be refunded but the money will be gone.

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE. CAN BE REFUNDED BUT THE MONEY IS GONE.

Also emails to travel bank, asking to reopen the account, were not successfull. They just replied: We are sorry for the inconv, caused... Please contact "Feedback"... From one agent to another...

We are quite tired already. IF the agent at September had mentioned that due to the expiration of the travel bank account, a refund would not be possible, we had not booked that open ticket but any other ticket and had flown somewhere to use it.

The ticket is still open, but rebooking to Manila would be another EUR 300 on top. Will bring the total ticket price to EUR 1700 which is out of this world.

You really depend on the agents. no supervisor can be contatced. The MAnila office is not existing anymore.

We were adviced by our laywer to send a registered mail to the office in Germany but I am afraid that office is not existing...