Etihad Airways
Reviews and Complaints

I am extremely frustrated by the way ethihad charged me 400 aed for my daughter's name being different in the ticket and the passport. I wasn't given a receipt for this and told that name has been updated. Is this the way you mentally harass a woman travelling with a kid? I was travelling along with my daughter from abudhabi to Bahrain on 9th Oct flight no EY 375 departing at 1600. I went for check in by around 1340 and I was informed that theres a difference in the name and the ticket and that I need to approach the ethihad guest check in to pay an amount equal to a new ticket amount to update the name. I was perplexed and the only thing in my mind was to reach bahrain. Since I had cash with me I paid the amount and they gave me a boarding pass. Why was I not given a receipt of the money received? If this is the mandatory procedure then why is it not a part of ethihad website from which tickets are booked?
In addition, we travelled along with my spouse from Bahrain to cochin with the same name difference in the ticket on 4th sept and on 26th September to Abu Dhabi. Why weren't we notified of the same at these times? This is unexpected of a reputed airline of such mishandling because of which the travellers are traumatised. I urge you to look into the matter and return the amount you have charged at the earliest.

I have flown Etihad from Melbourne to Europe return and on both occasions our flights have been overbooked and significant delays and we were given a credit voucher that expires in 12 months to compensate us for the overbooking, even though we had to add 7 more hours to our flight and one stopover and wait an additional 2 hours to board.

We purchased the tickets months ago and this is simply unacceptable that they did not reserve seating for us (and many others) that we have been shoved around this way to suit their booking system that priority is for them to fill there flights at the expense of passengers having to be inconvenienced as they simply don't care..

I will never fly with them again and find this not only unacceptable but shows the low priority they 0lace in their passengers.

I am complaining about service and product, I supposed to travel from Regina to Delhi, India on October 10, 2019, I have some legal work in India on 12 oct . But There is messed up on my name, I went to airport this morning than Air canada denied my entry Because of name, Air Canada told me they have different policy for name and etihad told me they have different policy, because of this Imissed my flight i contacted etihad airways I didn't get any solution it's an emergency I have to be in India on Oct 12, I request but i didn't get any solution. I request please help me out for this .

On 12th Aug, 2019, I've called the Etihad call center to cancel my mother's ticket having reservation code TEKLMG. Even though the ticket has been cancelled, refund has been not yet effected. As per the policy this should have been effected within 30 days.

Appreciate your immediate action on refunding the eligible amount.

Thanks and regards,
Nibu Varghese

On 19th September I filed a complaint:
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 for response from Etihad on 6th October:

Our ref: 738533

6 October 2019

Dear Mr Shergil,

Thank you for writing to us on behalf of your parents in regard to their recent flight to Toronto.

I am sorry to learn that they were not assigned Economy Space seats that you purchased for them. I am also concerned to hear your feedback whilst trying to amend their names.

I have reviewed their travel and I can see that they were assigned Economy Space seats.

With regard to your refund request, Economy Space seats are non-refundable and we only refund when seats are not available.

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to address your concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Peter
Guest Relations
_________________________________________

I replied back on 6th October:

I am not at all satisfied by your response. I paid 1051$ CAD for seats 16K, 16J from Bom->AUH and then 20K, 20J from AUH->YYZ. My parents were even told by etihad representative that they will be refunded for not getting the seats we paid for (20K, 20J from AUH -> YYZ) again if we parents did not show up I agree it would be non-refundable. They did show up on time, while changing name you guys offloaded, even after confirming that my seats will not be changed.

First - you did not provide the service I paid for, second you are now saying that I wont be refunded, even after a representative from Etihad came to Mumbai airport while my parents were boarding tickets and told they will be refunded for not getting seats from AUH->YYZ. Please let me know how do I formally file a complain and now it not about just bad service, but also refusing to pay for the money I paid for service which you did not provide because of your mistake.

I have had an outstanding complaint since January. An agreement for the payment of the bag was made back in June and I submitted my bank details on 10th June. I was advised that a payment will be made to my bank account within 14-21 business days.

I chased this on 4th August by email advising you that no payment has been received in my bank account. I did not receive a response to that email so I sent a further chasing email on 17th August. I was asked to provide proof of my bank statements for 2 months to prove that I have not received a payment. Although this could be easily checked with your accounts department. I provided proof of my bank statement on 19th August and have not yet received a response even after sending 2 chasing emails which have been ignored.

It is appaling to see how customers are being treated by Eithad. Please respond to my complaint as a matter of urgency or alternatively please advise on how to take the matter further.

Thank you

RE: ETIHAD FLIGHT SYD-AUH EY455 BOOKING# XBDIIC, FRIDAY 2ND AUGUST 2019.

I would like to express the extreme wrong doing made by Etihad on Friday 2nd August 2019

My father had booked and paid in full for a return flight from Sydney to Frankfurt, 3 months prior to his departure date on the 2nd Aug. My husband, father and I arrived at the airport within the appropriate time to help him check in and send him on his way. When we got to the check in desk, the attendant informed us that the flight was overbooked and my father was being offloaded to the next available flight to Frankfurt. This would not be possible until the following day, 3rd August. My father had booked his seat on the plane in advance and could not comprehend how he was not able to get on his flight as planned.

My father is 80 years old and was travelling back to his home country to visit family and friends for the last time. Despite his good health, this would be his last trip flying overseas on an aeroplane.

The attendants at the airport re-booked Dad on the next day's flight (same departure time) and gave him a $600 voucher to use exclusively with Etihad. We were forced to go home that night and have Dad stay at our place, as his home is over an hour's drive away from the airport.

On Saturday 3rd Aug, I was booked into hospital to get an IV infusion of medication for a medical condition I have. Obviously I was not able to take Dad back to the airport that day. My husband had to take Dad to the airport which, as you can imagine, was quite distressing for all three of us. My father felt like cancelling his trip altogether and somehow felt responsible for inconveniencing my husband and I.

The Etihad staff from Friday night had reported the situation to the Saturday staff and Dad was looked after very well, finally leaving for Germany 24hrs later. However, because he was a day late getting into Frankfurt, he missed his train connection which was also booked and paid for 3 months in advance of his departure. Dad had to pay another $100 for a new train trip to take him to his accomodation. When he arrived back home, he attempted to claim the extra ticket back on his travel insurance but he would have to pay a $200 excess fee. This is obviously pointless and we were originally told by Etihad staff that they would not cover this expense.

This whole situation is completely unjust and the compensation of a voucher for use only with Etihad is unreasonable and not really a true compensation in my opinion.

The impact on the staff on the ground level who tried their best with the limitations they had, also has a negative impact. They too suffer from these processes and have to bear the brunt of other frustrated customers who may not be as forgiving as I was.

A $600 voucher will not take you anywhere without having to pay more money for a complete trip.
It seems very unfair that profit will inevitably be made to the company from the compensation you provided because of the inconvenience caused to my father for overbooking his flight. However, the emotional stress this has caused to my father and the impact it has had on not only him, but my husband and I, makes this issue more than just an inconvenience. I only hope that you can grant my father the true compensation that he so deserves.

Sincerely,

Cath B.

We arrived early for our flight and had checked in online to make the whole process faster. We have been standing in the bag drop queue for 45min with only 20 people ahead of us. The two counter staff are chewing gum and an additional two staff at your service desk are watching the queue not move and doing nothing only catching up and chatting.
As a manager in customer service the outward perception of a company starts with you customer service team. Having paying customers watch members of your team laughing and joking is extremely frustrating.
The bag drop option should be the fasted option however the people in the check in queue have been seen before us.
I must say however that your on the floor greeting lady is extremely helpful and accommodating.
Very disappointing experience this morning

My name is Miraflor Espineda, my booking reference is LLSOLW, email add: [protected]@yahoo.co.uk

I booked a flight on the 25th of September 2019 for November 11 GOING TO CHIANG MAI THAILAND and fly back on the 17th OF November from CHIANG MAI TO ABU DHABI via Bangkok for 3 pax- myself, and 2 others namely Anna Leah Surio and Maldo Labajo.

Flight was paid using my debit card and confirmed on the 25th September at 5pm. Apparently, at 8pm I was told that the flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was cancelled.
Having learned this, I was upset knowing the payment was accepted and booking has been confirmed. Alternatively, we were offered to fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the 12th of November which means we will stay in Bangkok overnight and fly the next day to Chiang Mai as arranged by Etihad but we will have to shoulder the accommodation expenses overnight as flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is not responsibility of Etihad since it's a 3rd party flight and they don't have control on it as per their advice .

We agreed on this despite my disappointment. However, on the 1st of October I received a call from Etihad's agents telling me that the entire flight was cancelled already and the payment has been reimbursed back to my account without further notice/advice. I was told that my money was successfully reimbursed back to my HSBC account right then and there.

Hopeless as to where is this going, we felt not supported in any way the entire booking modification and cancellation happened. Hence, we waited until the money was reimbursed back to my account so we would be able to book our flight ASAP.
Unfortunately, your team has provided me wrong CODE for HSBC to finally reimburse back the money to my account. You provided me the wrong CODE twice. We reached out to your team multiple occasions which I hope you'll be able to track down.

Yesterday I called again your team to follow up on this and move forward to this reimbursement to get my money back, we were told that they will work on it and they will contact certain departments which will hopefully help me. But with all due respect none has get back to me through email nor mobile number I provided to give me an update on this or guide me with other necessary steps to move forward.

I talked to one of the supervisors yesterday which I demanded to speak to because this is so ridiculous and very unacceptable. Regrettably your manager under the name of Marc T (which he mentioned he is not allowed to give his full name) was never helpful at all. Instead he advised me to write a formal complain so they can work on it. I also provided him my email add and mobile contact number but he didn't call or email me.

I hope you will work on it ASAP. We are stuck on waiting the money from you as the tickets were paid using my DEBIT card. I cannot book another flight while you haven't reimbursed back the money to me yet. This flight is specifically for a festival happening in Chiang Mai and the longer you keep this we will not be able to find a decent and affordable flight as this will be costly.

customer: MIRAFLOR ESPINEDA
contact number: [protected]

Me and my husband had a flight from Washington DC international Airport to Kathmandu Nepal yesterday 2nd October 2019. We were departing with the etihad airways from Washington DC to Abu dhabi then to Delhi India, and from there we had a connecting flight with Nepal airlines to Kathmandu Nepal. The lady at the check point told us that we were not allowed to board the plane because we do not have visas for New Delhi. Nepali people and Indian people do not need visas to travel each another's country. She told us that we were allowed to travel without the bags but to travel with bags we needed visas...which does not make sense to me. Nevertheless, they didnot help us get another flight or help us get a refund. Now were are stuck here at the airport since last night! I need to be in Nepal as I planned to be and we were not allowed to board the plane and we were not given any visa which is severely ridiculous for a lots of facts.
I have to go through legal process to get compensation since we are having hard time here and no one wants to help.

My wife and my 3 year old son were at the IAD airport to fly to Nepal. The flight was going from iAD to abu dhabi, then delhi India.
But the etihad employess at the counter denoed to board my wife and son claiming that they needed a visa to go to india. Just so you know, she was not travelling to India, it was just a layover time in india. And also being a Nepali citizen we do not visa to go to India.
They spent all night at the airport. The tickets were not refunded stating no show. I did some research and found out this wasnt right. They were denied to board in the plane for a reason that is not even true.
I am going to wait for etihad's response to me on this matter. If i dont hear anything from etihad on this matter in next couple days about refunding our full money and compensating for pain and suffering, i am going to proceed legally on this issue.

I purchased a partially refundable, round trip ticket from Chennai to Chicago on 23 April 2019. My onward journey was from 19 july 2019 to 30 July 2019.

Booking Reference - NUBBQJ

Ticket no. - [protected]

I called up Etihad customer care and used my credit card to book . I had to cancel my trip on 13 July 2019 and is entitled for a refund of Rs. 65400. It has been more than three months and I have not received my refund yet. As promised by the customer care team, it should have reached me within 15-45 working days.

I have been calling the customer care several times and they keep asking me the same question to confirm. They never got back to me and every person reasons that they have mailed the refund team and I keep waiting to get back a reply call.

This is highly unprofessional and I am disappointed with your customer service and the trust we had on Etihad. Please do the needful to refund my money back.

Very loud family on plane didn't control their children. Two kids sitting in the middle row seats 22E to 22G were running up and down the aisles and standing on the seats. The parents and family members did nothing to control the children and the etihad staff didn't seem to do much either. This was during sleeping time, when all the lights were off and the whole plane was trying to sleep. Ruined my sleep and my flight with the whole families loud deep voices. Also at the start the older woman from the same group spoke over me inbarabic to one of the staff members about getting me moved so she could have the whole row to herself! It was very indiscreet of her and made me feel very uncomfortable. The family were spread out between rows 20-22 mainly on the left side of the plane and there were about 10 of them. Children should be put in a certain area of the plane and heir families should be warned by staff to take better care of their kids and not travel with them if they cant/be fined if they can't. Flight EY 461 departing 02/10/2019

Dublin to Abu Dhabi flight
02 Oct 2019

After only 2.5 hours into the flight, the captain announced there was a smell coming from the back of the plane. Some passengers were moved further up the plane but most had to endure the smell. The smell was of gas or leaking battery fluid.
The captain announced that the inflight entertainment service would be switched off for the remainder of the flight. He did not explain what the smell was and we were left panicking and had to ask flight attendants for explanation. The fact there was no entertainment -tv or music -made the flight incredibly long and unbearable.
It is not acceptable to expect passengers to sit for nearly 5 hours without this service and it has affected our willingness to fly with Ethihad again.

Dear sir,
I am Kinjal Ruchir Bhatt sending you some pictures and detail of travel with this mail .

I was traveling alone from Saskatoon to ahmedabad . During my journey from Saskatoon I use to have one baby stroller brand GRASO -Modern click connect travel system . I received my stroller at Toronto airport with same condition next connected Etihad flight no EY 144 upto ABU DHABI airport I received one stroller from your company for temporary then I need to travel on next flight no EY 288 to Ahmedabad international airport that was my last destination here I received my stroller with out Parents tray with covers storage and 2 cup holders and one baby sipper bottle. So now I am in trouble regarding my stroller if put my baby in store there is no SAFETY LOCK SO THAT HE CAN SEAT WITH ONLY SAFTY BELT WITH NO SUPPORT SO THER WILL BE MORE POSSIBILITIES TO FALL DOWN .
My request To your company to provide my stroller part as soon as possible so that I can travel safely back to canada with your ETIHAD Airways . I have my membership card and all pictures related to travel attached so might be easier to find it out
Waiting for your valuable reply as soon as possible
Thank you
Kinjal Ruchir Bhatt

date of incident: Tuesday, 24 Sep 2019
PNR - booking reference URWGRD
Passenger name: Bielmann German, Mister

In not to be beaten the ignorance and arrogance of Ms Laura Leitner, I hereby must strongly complain about her handling this issue: tourist visa and immigration to
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Due to her stuborness I had to buy an extra air ticket out of
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at my own expenses at the price of EURO 138, 00

Neither did the immigration officer at Kuala Lumpur International airport want to see any evidence of my outbound journey of Malaysia after the agreed 90 days tourist / social visa nor did he want to see any proof of my financial supporting for this period. This is in sharp contrast to the facts that Ms Laura Leitner insisted: she wanted an evidence of my outbound flight after 90 days in Malaysia, although I argued that I am familiar with the immigration law in Malaysia and by all means it is not in my interest to overstay. Moreover, I am on a sabbatical leave and want to explore other countries in South East Asia and it is highly likely that I return to Europe pre-mature. Again I failed due to her stuborness. Furthermore, if these rules as Ms Laura Leitner outlined were applicable and correct, Etihad Airways should have contacted me long before the date of departure, the airline had all my contact details (phone number, post address and electronic mail address) As a matter of fact I made the firm booking/reservation on Wednesday 4 Sep 2019 - 20 calendar days in advance of the respective date of departure.

Hereby, I claim a refund of EURO 138, 00 for the extra flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket, Thailand which I had to buy at Frankfurt International airport and which is completely obsolete, against my will and my personal travel plans and in addition
I do not need to use this flight.

Please check and confirm this matter to my electronic mail address

German.[protected]@web.de

sincerely yours,

Bielmann German, Mr.

Hi, I have a flight from Egypt to Abu Dhabi by Etihad Airways.

As printed from Amadeus, the flight detail shows the schedule on 30 september 2019 on 5.40 a.m. The flight number is EY650.

But suddenly,
When i come to the counter to check in, they said that i got the wrong flight and give me a screenshot of the right one! Without any explanation, they just told me to go from the counter. And the right one is about TWELVE hours late.

How can this happen to ME?!

My question is,
DID YOU CHANGE MY SCHEDULE?

How can this happen?if it not your fault, please explain this!

Otherwise, we'll see the option that i have.
TQ

My name is Vanessa Rhoda, flight ref FAHLUL. I booked this flight to go home to SA to visit my ailing father & children. First, none of the customer care nrs in Thailand worked when I tried to arrange wheelchair assistance & authorisation to carry my chemo drugs. Etihad eventually responded when I took to Twitter. After long correspondence & asking what was required because my Dr is only available on Thursdays, they got back to me Friday evening saying they needed me to apply for medical clearance & my Dr has to complete their Med. Clearance forms. If not, they could deny me boarding on 29/09.After speaking to numerous people & explaining I was cleared by my Dr & am fit to fly, they still insisted I call the hospital & get a Dr to do the forms. All my explanations fell on deaf ears. I called the hospital but no Dr who wasn't my attending Physician wanted to do it. The airline's response:"you could be denied boarding"
I am annoyed & upset abt how I was treated & instead of helping me, this airline made me feel like my illness was a huge inconvenience, more so to them than to me. And they caused me unwanted stress and anxiety up until the time I went to the airport to check in, fearful that I may not see my father who has Alzheimers after being away from them more than 2 years. Yes my illness is serious, but no one needs to be reminded of it in such an unprofessional manner. I feel that if they had told me from the outset what they needed as I requested, this whole unpleasant situation could have been avoided. The worst part is that when I presented myself, no apology for how I was treated was issued nor any compensation in good faith offered. I would like this matter looked into and want some kind of compensation for what I was put through. I kindly ask that you assess this matter and get back to me urgently.

Hi,
I have booked a flight for 14th Sep'19 and couldn't on board the flight due to some personal emergency, even after checking for the flight online.

However from that day I tried to reach many forums to get connected with Etihad personal and it's been a pathetic experience and I have never got anyone who can help me in cancellation. The phone numbers mentioned in your website for Egypt doesn't work. Also I didn't get any call back even after requesting in the Facebook, even after giving my available slots. I have also emailed at email id caitkt@etihad.ae and no answer.

I find this is very unprofessional from Etihad Airways that their customer not able to reach them when they are in need and also none of the employees are ready to help. So bad customer experience.

I have always been a traveler with Emirates Airways and they are so friendly and customer oriented. This was the first time that I booked a flight with Etihad and the kind of experince I got is horrible. I am really frustrated as a new customer of Etihad.

Coming back to the point, I booked the flight with refundable fare rules and it was mentioned the the fare will be refunded back to me after deducting the no show charges. Till now I haven't received any money back from Etihad and hence need to know by when can I expect my refund back in my credit card.
The booking details are given below:

Confirmation no: XTJIZW

Travellers' name: Biswajit Mondal, Gargi Mondal and Sourish Mondal (infant)

Date of travel: 14th Sep'19

Phone no: +[protected]

Email id used for booking: biswajit.[protected]@gmail.com

Please call me back urgently and provide me update in the above email id ASAP.

I am the passenger with ID information bellow this complain, I am seriously writing this complain that I am passenger who has received verbal abuse / Ignoring answering me a question about the flight. This happened to me from one of the three GCS employers was on Gate 41 at King abdulaziz airport ( North terminal ) time : around 4:32 am on Sunday September 29th. According to cameras of the gate more details can be found of screaming to rode the bus which has not space. I informed the supervisor at the same time and no action has been taken. This alsi has been reported to Mr. Jameel Hindi, Etihad employer, before riding the airplane stairs.

This is to reported to Etihad complaints administration to more investigation about the GCS employer who deals in very bad way to me. Please contact me ASAP.

Seat No 16 G
Name of the passenger: Abdulaziz Alghamdi
Flight No. EY314 JED to AUH
Email: [protected]@hotmail.com
Mobile: +[protected]
Name of the employer : not detected