Etihad Airways
Reviews and Complaints

Reference: Booking GSSWSY

Dear Madam or Sir,

I have a business flight booking (see above).

I want to change the second leg of the booking from Abu Dhabi to Munich on 14 March to 21 March to extend my stopover for business reasons.

Simple ? Not at all!

1. Cannot be done on the website.

2. There is nowhere else to contact them but in their call center.

3. The customer call center charges 1400 Euro as at 24 Feb, for the simple change of date, and cannot do anything else since "the system“ does not allow.

This shows clearly that „the system“ is laid out for taking advantage of customers which is not agreeable and not in line with European Transport Authorities Guidelines.

Unless Etihad change the charges to 255 Euro as agreed in the chosen tariff, I will make an appeal to the Central European Consumer Agency (www.cec-zev.eu) and other consumer protection agencies applicable under European law.

If they choose to ignore this mail, I will directly contact your management in Europe after my return via my lawyer to take legal action immediately.

Looking forward to your reply.

Dr. Ruediger Hoppe

M: +[protected] (Germany)

M: +[protected] (India)

I have been speaking with your call centre staff regarding this ticket since January 2022. I originally contacted them asking the tickets that were cancelled by Etihad in March-May 2020 to be re-issued so I could use it to travel to the UK, same leg (Abu Dhabi to Manchester) in July 2022.

They have been incompetent in resolving this only to tell me more then 13 months after my original call that no refund or ticket re-issuance would be possible.

Relates to the following ticket numbers:
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]
History as follows:

14-Jan-22 - I called to request re-issue.
09-Feb-22 - I called to request re-issue, spoke to Charmaine who said need to get tickets re-issued so can be changed.
16-Feb-22 - I called again spoke to Charmaine again who said no response will escalate and call me back.
21-Feb-22 - Charmaine called back still waiting, will call back.
01-Mar-22 - No further call, I called again to follow up, spoke to Katrina requested to talk to Supervisor and re-issue the same ticket.
08-Mar-22 - I called to follow up, was told it has been escalated to Quality team, advised representative to re-issue ticket.
18-Apr-22 - I called again to follow up, advised only refund is possible as now is over 2 years (i.e. March 2020 until March 2022). I said this is unacceptable as I have been calling since January, within the 2 year period. Was advised that it will be escalated and call back.
25-Apr-22 - I called again still no progress.
10-May-22 - I called ended up speaking to Charmaine again, she promised to call back.
12-May-22 - Charmaine called back, advised Belgrade office has said only refund available. I said unacceptable, please escalate.
13-May-22 - Received call from Francis, who said is account supervisor. Discussed with Francis that the fare I wanted to book is now over AED 9,000.00 to book, and AED 8,740.00 online.

Escalating and raising complaint to Guest Relations, up to 28 days.

21-Sep-22 – I called 1pm UAE time. Did not get name of call centre staff. Everything gone cold, she cant find any records, the records she does find relates to different ticket numbers and it says refund has been processed on 17 July 2022.
21-Sep-22, compliant submitted, Feedback case number is [protected].
and [protected].
14-Oct-22: Email asking for phone number.
09-Nov-22: Called and followed up Abdul Khaleel, Bangalore office, said he would call and follow up.
22-Feb-22 Received call from Jovana, Belgrade office:

- Advised that they had done an investigation and could not find records of any of my phone calls before May 2022.
- I advised this was very strange as Eithad advise on each call that the calls are recorded. She agreed they were.
- I advised I could get evidence of all of the calls from my Mobile phone provider.
- She said it did not matter the decision was made and no refund or ticket re-issuance was possible. She had raised this with superiors and they said no. I asked which superiors in which department, she repeated the "concerned department".
- She stated that no compensation would be offered, on the basis that I have “refused” the refund in May 2022 as this was the deadline for any flights cancelled during Covid.
- I corrected her on several occasions stating that I said a refund at that stage was “unacceptable” as the flight prices had increased substantially for July 2022 compared with when I requested the flight change in January 2022. This was what was advised to one of their supervisors on 13 May 2022 who said he would raise a complaint with Guest Relations. I heard nothing back hence I raised my own complaint in September 2022.

Hi,

I have already emailed my case with no response. However this is regarding a flight on 10/02/2023. Despite being promised for a upgrade for a fee, I was ready to pay the fee differene and the upgrade cost willing to pay, I wasn't provided one. staff kept on saying me to pay the fee at boarding gate, then later at aircraft then being completely ignorant and saying all are sold. I then was promised for a cabin upgrade which I am querying about for my next flight! As well as seat was malfunctioned in the aircraft. Meal didnt have an option, served cold and very ignorant staff. loss of sleep, and increased worry left me traumatized with the experience.

I always travel with other middle eastern airlines and never faced such poor customer service even to the point where the crew/staff do not even listen to the issue despite being utmost polite in my approach., but I was ignored and faced embarrassed in front of other fellow passengers. please may I request if someone can get in touch with me ASAP regarding this issue. This is quite a sensitive issue, please may I require your attention.

Booked a flight on 30-04-2022 from AMS to PHKT. Cancelled the flight and promised acc. e-mail confirmation to get my refund back. It’s now february 2023 and still waiting to get my money back. Contacted the customer service for so many times and get the same mssg over and over “payment has been done, check your back or else contact us after 48H’. It looks like Etihad is scamming their own damn clients for not paying back

I booked a flight with Etihad in 2020 which was cancelled and got back as voucher (travel bank). I used the travel bank to book a flight from Manila to Madrid back in January 2022, however because of being denied boarding on another flight I needed to make another change and eventually placed it on January 17th 2023. During this time my wife has been suffering for depression and I needed to stay with her in the Philippines and because of this I needed again to change my flight date. I contacted the Etihad service on their website and said the best option was to place the ticket as an open ticket, which I agreed to do and he said that I would have to make contact again to book the flight for my desired date of travel. I contacted again a few days later to book my flight for a later date and was then told that the flight and everything was no longer valid and i'd lost the money because the flight reservation had to be taken before October 2022. I wasn't told of this at all in the previous conversation with them and i'm not happy about this at all.

Hi Good day i have a flight from Abu dhabi to Paris last January 29 2023 but the flight its delay more than 5 hours.but after that i have a connecting flight to Amsterdam at this day but i react to paris its to late the plane already fly to amsterdam.then the etihad staff they say after i reach to paris they already what they do.but after a talk to the Air France staff they say etihad they did’t notice regarding this delay flight.i book new ticket its too expensive €449.44.can you help me to return my money back because this is not my fault this is the etihad airline fault.pls help me.my. Contact number is +[protected] Richard.thanks

Purchased JFK-JED-KHI-JFK tkt in Business on 9/212022 for $5600 (+$110 from Travel bank). Travelled JK-JED on 09/12/2022. Return date for KHI-JFK changed after paying $500from 2/21/2023 to 13/01/2023. Facing emergency, and not finding a seat in same class on 10/01/23 requested cancellation on 09/01/23 on promise of refund of $1881. On receiving email re-confirming seat on 13/01/23 instead of cancellation with refund, called the EY center in AUH immediately with follow-up email. Agent reassured that the reservation dept has sent the email in error and that your flight is cancelled, and refund will be issued on time. On 02/02/23 I received emailed informing a refund of $100 to my travel bank account and $186 was refunded to my charged card. This shocked me as this small amount did not first did not reflect the promised amount and second it meant that my JFK-JED tkt cost me over $5300-a charge confirming President Biden's statement of excessive charges by airlines. On contacting NY office on 02/02/23 the agent promised that the matter will be investigated, and I will be contacted within seven (7) days which I have not received any response.

Request full refund as promised of $1881 ASAP.

Hello, I had a flight on 10/08/22 from Mumbai, India (BOM) to JFK with a layover at Abu Dhabi (AUH). The first itinerary of the flight (BOM to AUH) was with Air Arabia and the second part of the itinerary from AUH to JFK was with Etihad Airways. When I went to Mumbai airport on 10/08/22, I was given a boarding pass for only BOM to AUH flight and not for AUH to JFK flight. I was told by the Air Arabia representative at the check-in desk that I can collect the boarding pass for my AUH to JFK trip when I reach Abu Dhabi. I had a layover of 1 hour and 40 minutes at Abu Dhabi airport. When I reached AUH, I went to the Transfer Desk of Etihad Airways at Terminal 1 and was told by the Etihad representative that they cannot issue me a boarding pass for my AUH to JFK flight. They asked me to contact the customer service repeatedly and informed me that there was some technical issue in their system and they cannot provide me with the boarding pass. I had my boyfriend also calling customer service multiple times just to be told that they cannot help. After almost 4 hours of waiting at the transfer desk, they finally booked me on a different flight which was going to fly at the same time on the next day 10/09/22. I asked them if they could provide me with some kind of accommodation and food vouchers/coupons that I can use during my stay at Abu Dhabi airport, but they refused to provide anything. The representative present at the transfer desk asked me to talk to his manager who was present at a different desk instead of calling her and speaking to her. I went to the location where he said the transfer desk for Etihad Airways but could not find it. Finally, I booked a hotel named "Abu Dhabi Airport Hotel" which was located right next to the Transfer Desk at Terminal 1. I stayed there for 18 hours (12 pm on 10/08/22 to 6 am 10/09/22) and the total hotel charges came to 328.94$ and food which cost me 15.63$, with a total expense of 344.57$. I submitted this complaint to Etihad Airways (Case Reference No. [protected]) on 10/12/22 asking for reimbursement for the amount that I spent at Abu Dhabi airport but haven't received any resolution from Etihad Airways. After repeatedly calling Etihad Airways, the Guest Relations representative named Rhizlan finally sent me an email on 12/05/22 stating that "The technical issue was with Air Arabia" and asked me to contact Air Arabia to address my concerns. I contacted Air Arabia (Case Number 2052941) and they reached out to me saying "For all inquiries related to Etihad Airways flights operated by Air Arabia Abu Dhabi (Codeshare Flights), we advise customers to contact Etihad Airlines customer service". I have been repeatedly calling Etihad Airlines customer service since October 2022 to get updates on case #[protected] that I submitted to Etihad in October 2022, but my case has still not been resolved.

I have been waiting Since November 23, 2022 for a refund we we're told would take 10-15 days back on December 20th to complete.
Here is the refund confirmation from the support person at Etihad Airways who provided a confirmation for my refund request...

---------------------------------------------------------------

On Wed, Nov 23, 2022 at 12:45 AM Aisha Morilla Astejada wrote:
Dear All,
Guest has been charged for PCC Override because of the CCNV edit and was unable to present the original or copy of the CC used purchasing the ticket. Kindly do the necessary to refund the amount charged from guest CC account.
Regards,
Aisha Morilla Astejada
Reservation and Ticketing Agent, Hub and Midfield Operations
Etihad Airport Services – (Ground)
PO Box 35566, Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
M: +[protected]
E: [protected]@etihad.ae
etihad.com
kindly note the refund will take 10-15 working days , please request the customer to follow up with the bank . in case the bank can't find the transaction please request the customer to dispute with their bank .

-----------------------------------------------------------
Tomorrow will be 11 weeks and counting since the refund request was submitted and approved by the staff at Etihad Airways customer service counter in Abu Dhabi.
All I have received for my follow-up requests has been an automated response that the issue has been resolved but to date no refund has been provided to my AMEX credit card that was used for the original transaction back on July10.2022.
In addition, we had to pay to repurchase the same tickets back on November 23rd and promised that the refund would follow 4-6 weeks later.
We have been extremely patient but the lack of professional and unethical behavior of a supposed global company has been disappointing to say the least.

This is Sunday the 5th February 2023, I returned to Bordeaux France after Travelling to Hyderabad India, between the 27th January 2023. Trying to be kind it was horrendous. I would have preferred to travel by Ryanair or EasyJet because whilst it may be basic you do arrive with your luggage.

My luggage was lost 3 times over 6 flight Bordeaux to Paris (CDG), CDG to Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad.

First loss was my checked in luggage, it did no make the connection at CDG, it was eventually located on the day I departed Hyderabad. I followed all the process at the airport in Hyderabad, this was a nightmare and took nearly 2 hours, 2 hours of sleep in required. If I hadn't been quite assertive it would have not happened.

First thing to do in Hyderabad was t delay my meeting whilst I bout essentials.

On my return no Wi-Fi at Hyderabad, well is but you have to enter your country number followed by your number then an SMS is sent and your on. Nup it doesn't work, I tried 18 times. Contacted a Etihad employee, who could care less and they said it doesn't work and directed me to go right and find the helpdesk. this is a desk with a lady slumped in a chair under an umbrella. She explained that it doesn't work but with a code she put in it worked. Motie t get refreshments. On flight and landed Abu Dhabi. hand baggage taken, immigration a joke. so called Police drinking coffee, official in chaos, insufficient staff and too many travellers all protocols broken. baggage scanned no need for belts or laptops just shove it through, trouble is baggage through but customers in que, so watches, wallets going through and it was lost stolen and it was chaos. My bag didn't make it. Advise Police/Officials but to bust doing nothing and couldn't care less and very reluctant to help. When I became a bit assertive told to calm down we need to finish our coffee and its your fault. Spent two hours trying to get help. I was exhausted. Eventually went to Etihad business lounge two senior people were really helpful. but they too struggled, no wonder we do as travellers. Its on the plane, go here went there, its not on the plane. Just no help stopped by the coffee drinking police at every move. My belt came off and on more times than I can remember and I must have walked 6 miles. I'm lucky to be alive

Dear Etihad

I had booked a round trip from JFK to AMD with a layover in AUH each way. On my way to AMD, I had a connecting flight from AUH to AMD operated by Air Arabia. However, due to some technical issue on your end, my status for that trip was not set to ok, causing me to wait for around 2 hours at the AUH airport, and over 10 hours over 2 days on phone calls with your customer service representatives just to change the status of that trip.

It is unacceptable to expect me to spend 12 hours of my time to do what the airlines are supposed to seamlessly do. Since I cannot risk similar errors from airlines jeopardizing my trip again, I asked Etihad to provide me an alternative trip back to JFK without Air Arabia operated flight, as that is the basic level of service I expect when I register the trip directly through Etihad website. However, I was told by the call center that I will have to pay $200 fee right now and register a complain to ask for a refund.

I think the bare minimum you can do to make things right is not charge me a cancellation fee for an airline change (of less than 24 hours) I made solely as a result of your mistake in the first place

Hi,

During long conversation about my travel bank issue, they officially send mail with travel Bank ac and validity 25/01/2023 10:13AM.

In that mail its clearly mention that the validity was 365day from issue date.

Few days later, while try to new booking, they told me your travel bank ac was zero.

I send mail to travel bank department, they reply the validity was end in next day with one account transaction history.

Again, I send mail with their official mail copy to show what informed me before (issue date and validity), their reply was

[we appreciate your comments about travel bank validity. There have been no changes on the policy with regard to extending validity and credit nonrefundable]

My point was they inform me officially like one year validity and very next without inform me the validity was ended.

It’s a clear case of cheating, and i need to raise a case against them.

Thanks

Kelvin Joy

[protected] (whataapp also)

Hi, I booked a ticket from Delhi to Paris with Etihad airline via Abu Dhabi. My booking reference is EUDSCM. Due to technical reasons the flight was delayed for more than 3 hours. I missed my connection to Paris, with etihad again, and also from Paris to Sevilla (Spain) with Vueling. At Abu Dhabi they provided me alternate connections to Paris and also talked to Vueling to give me alternate connection. They told me that I will get my luggage in Sevilla and my luggage is checked through. I suffered 6 hours in the airport. I reached to Paris then I checked my luggage at the belt to confirm whether it is checked through or not. But I could not find it and now I was sure that it will be given in Sevilla, Spain. To my surprise I did not get it in Sevilla. I tried to lodge PIR with Vueling and they denied it as my Boarding pass not having any tag of Vueling airline. They also said that they do not operate with Etihad. I complained Etihad. After 2-3 days of complained, I was told that my luggage is in Abu Dhabi and I need to come to Abu Dhabi to take it back. I told them my luggage was checked through even upto Paris but you did not send it to Paris. They are asking me to contact Vueling and lodge PIR. Vueling is not entertaining me at all as they did not receive the luggage at Paris. why they will take my PIR. Etihad asking me to come to Abu Dhabi to take the luggage. They are not listening anything else.

I checked in at the airport on 23/01/2023 at 05:00hrs to fly to Japan on flight number IUWPDO as I am going travelling around the world, only to be told that the PCR test I had completed was not the correct one to enter Japan. I have had 2 COVID jabs and I paid to get a Rapid Antigen Test at a Randox Centre in order to be covered.

I was told I couldn't fly to Japan as they would send me back home. I asked if I could get on the flight to go to Abu Dhabi where I was stopping off and was told no. I don't understand why I was not allowed to fly there where I could have at got an internal flight to another country from there which would have been cheaper.

I have now had to pay out another £600 in order to start my travels. As you can understand this is really frustrating as its not a good start to what I feel is going to the best experience of my life.

Salam o Alaekum
REF:
Reservation Code JMMDTV
Airline Reservation Cdoe QOMNFV (EY)

On Dec 3 We were told that we missed our flight from AUH to LHE, even though we were at Etihad counter at 1250 for a 1405 departure. First of all Etihad should have let us Board the Flight and send in the luggage on next flight, as there was enough time to do that.

It seemed like there is a Profit Motive that drove the decision not to let us not Board as we found out when the Etihad customer service personnel told us that Change of Flight for 5 of us will cost us $7000 unless we go through our agent which may be cheaper. Our agent tried booking us on next flights but none could take all five of us until Dec 8 or so. This with penalty and Change fees of approximately $3000.
There were seats available on Gulf on Dec 4th-AUH to Bahrain to LHE. for approximately same amount, so we took that to LHE.

Next day, Etihad told us that our Return Seats on Dec 29 were Cancelled. This is what was Totally Wrong. We did not cancel our returned seats. Etihad Had NO Right to Cancel Our Return Seats. On top of that, Charged us Additional Change fees. Etihad Sold our Confirmed Seats for December 29, 2022 because no seats were available for us to fly back on that day. So we had to cut our vacation short as we could only find retun seats on Dec 24, 2022.

I tried to forget about it but I can not as it was completely wrong of Eithad to cancel our Retrun seats. It completely ruined last part of our vaccation as we spent hours and hours to discuss our situation with Etihad and the Agent via email and over the phone.

I am supposed to travel on January 19th from IAD to Delhi on Business class. I just tested positive for Covid and PCR report has been sent to the airlines.

But the airlines refuse to reimburse my ticket or even allow date change without a penalty. This basically means they are saying it's ok for you to board the flight even if you are Covid positive. What if other passengers fall sick?

How will they react if they know they have to sit in a long 15 hour flight with a Covid positive passenger because the airline did not allow waiver for changing ticket. This is highly irresponsible for Etihad to not help customers and I am their business class customer. I will never fly Etihad again.

Etihad credit cards from local banks offer upgrade vouchers, which are supposed to provide a class upgrade on any flight and any booking.
Depending on the bank, either one route upgrade is guaranteed after spending AED 128.000 (USD 35.000) or a return at an expenditure of AED 200.000 (USD 55.000). Although these are contracted features with the Etihad Guest credit card at the banks, Etihad simply ignores this and puts numerous artificial restrictions that the vouchers are barely bookable, especially for the return route. Additionally, these vouchers expire in a relatively short timeframe.

As a high-value expenditure with significant associated costs is involved, this business behaviour is unacceptable from Etihad and the associated banks.
Avoid Etihad credit cards, and go for rather cash back cards. From the cash back at this expenditure level you can surely purchase any business class return flight to any destination, without facing any limitations.

I originally booked 2 flights to Tokyo via Abu Dhabi with Etihad just before Covid hit. I was offered a refund to the travel bank, which I took.

The following year I rebooked the same trip for June 2022. Unfortunately Japan´s borders were still closed for general tourism, so I contacted Etihad through Messenger chat. I was once again offered a refund to my travel bank which I once again accepted. I also received several emails acknowledging the refund and stating I had 365 days to use the credit.

In December 2022 I went to book the same trip for the Summer of 2023 and found that there was a balance of zero in the travel bank. On contacting the travel bank team they sent me a statement of account and had refunded the flights to the bank and then either voided them immediately or after 2 weeks due to credit expiration based on when the flights were originally purchased at the start of Covid.

At no point was I informed this would happen, in fact they told me I would have 365 days to use the credit from June 2022!

I have lodged a complaint, but so far no department seems willing to help me.

I don´t even want the money back, I just want to use the flights I originally purchased but could not use due to Covid.

I am bitterly disappointed in the help and attitude I am getting from both their travel bank staff and contact center.

I have applied for visa on 11th for journey date 19th January 2023. I got my visa on 13th but visa is having wrong name, date of birth and place of birth.

I am able to see correct details when I click on application, but visa is aging incorrect information. I have been trying to reach Etihad through call and email, but nobody is answering call and emails.

I am really helpless as I can’t cancel my visa and reapply.

Any help?

Etihad has been engaged for a refund of flights from a deceased friend.

The service team has requested death certificates and marriage certificates in order to issue the refund to the widow. These actions were taken before expiry of the travel credit (18-Nov-22). Etihad has shared internal communication by accident between the Travel Bank and the customer service team requesting confirmation on the amount to be refunded, however since then there has been no response to any inquiries, no refund has been received either.

This issue has been rather taxing on the widow, thus acting on her behalf.

The now deceased passenger had informed Etihad that he was terminally ill, upon which Etihad's suggestion was to just book flights for someone else.

Furthermore, internal Etihad snippets were disclosed with the statement that the deceased had booked flights with the amount on 18-Nov (he passed away 3 weeks earlier)...

Shameful handling with no finese or due dilligence