Etihad Airways

Toronto to Lahore via Abu Dhabi return. This was my second business class trip with Etihad Airways, on the same route. In September, upon return to Toronto, my suitcase was damaged with the zipper mechanism and lock literally torn off. Photographs and documents were provided upon request after my initial e-mail to Etihad Airways. Since then, there has been absolutely no acknowledgement from baggage claims or customer service. Phone-calls have been answered with "Oh - we just take care of bookings etc." This was my second time travel with Etihad Airways and will likely be my last. Travel coming up this winter will not be with this airline - however, I would like them to respond positively to my claim.

Singapore to Venice via Abu Dhabi and Rome. Etihad Airways newer fleet is nicely appointed, the service in first and business is sometimes good, but mostly average. The after flight service from their baggage claims team and Etihad Guest Gold is horrific. Despite being in a proper, hard case bike box, my bike was damaged in transit and my suitcase was left behind in Abu Dhabi for the second time in twelve flights. I got the case back after 3 days. I was told that the claim for my bike would take up to five business days to resolve. It has been nearly 5 months since I flew. I have sent over 40 emails, 20 tweets, made 5 phone calls and asked for assistance via their web page. Every time I am provided with the same "non-response". I am thanked for being patient and am told that their baggage handling team will contact me soon. If they treat Gold members who fly business/first class like this can you imagine how they treat economy passengers who fly infrequently?

Return trip from Goa was with Jet Airways to Mumbai and from there to Manchester with Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi. The time to transfer at Mumbai was 1hr 45 but Jet Airways was late so only 90 mins for transfer. Jet Airways put on a coach from plane to do the tranfer to international terminal at Mumbai - but this took time. The Jet Airways guy at Mumbai did his best to get us through but usual admin stuff at security and immigration took time. We got call on tannoy that we needed to get to our flight - last call! Jet Airways got running with another passenger to get to Etihad Airways flight but my wife cannot run (slightly disabled) - we missed flight home by 90 seconds! Etihad Airways staff member took us under wing - back through security into Immigration and then to Etihad Airways desk and advised to go to desk at 01.30am as booked on flight. Luggage would be transferred. Attended desk at 01.30 - denied all knowledge and in effect would do nothing. Eventually had to get luggage back and Jet Airways (not happy!) booked us on their flight to London 19.5 hours after we arrived at Mumbai Airport. The total lack of customer service, the utter confusion and there inability to resolve means we will never travel with Etihad Airways again.

London to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways on the A380, good seating space in economy. Overall I enjoyed this flight and better than I was expecting from the reviews. The food was average, nothing special and entertainment was decent - not as huge selection as Emirates but not bad. Screen worked well too and staff were friendly. Bangkok to London however was a smaller plane and smaller seating area. Food and entertainment the same as above and staff not as friendly - not sure how they were voted middle east's best airline crew, Emirates is far better. I like how they gave us blanket, neck pillow and on some flights toothbrush etc. I was happy with the service overall. It is not as good as Emirates, but it still isn't bad.

I have flown on Etihad Airways numerous times over the years. Initially as a young and still growing airline it was understandable that there would be staff training issues and indeed they did improve over time. Not having flown on Etihad Airways for some time I was very disappointed and annoyed with the service - or rather lack of service on my recent flight. My husband was seated in the same row and I watched as he was greeted, offered a drink towel etc whilst service remained notable in my aisle only by its absence. Oddly the gentleman sitting across from me received the same level of service as my husband! Drinks towels nuts, more drink! Order for snack was taken and I placed my breakfast order. Food was below average standard. Drink was refilled by male steward from opposite aisle who seemed to be popping across to lend a hand. Morning arrived and I awake to the sound of food being served so I sat up and got ready to receive my food. Again I watched as my husband who's not ordered food awoke and placed an order which arrived in under 10 minutes. And still I waited as people around me were served but it felt like I was once again wearing my invisibility cloak. Finally in exasperation my husband called the steward who seemed to be in charge and asked if she could find out what had happened to my food. She went off and then came to explain that they had an inexperienced staff and apologised for the delay. She returned with my food shortly afterwards. It was as bad as the night before's offering. The female steward responsible for not bothering to offer me any service did come to apologise claiming that she'd misunderstood. I do not like complaining but this level of service is not acceptable. It is not my problem Etihad Airways staff are inexperienced. One would assume that they should receive the correct training before letting them loose on the paying public. And why did the man across from me get such attentive service when I was bypassed time and again until I had to voice a complaint? Does anyone bother to read these comments? Are Etihad Airways not interested or concerned that there are so many negative comments on here?

My wife and I purchased return flights for us and our three children to fly from Melbourne to Manchester. Subsequently I have been in contact with Etihad Airways to ask how to redeem air miles. I was told to set up an account in my name and apply to the Retro Claims Department to have the air miles credited to my account. It transpires that Etihad misinformed me and I should of set up a family account. However due to the delay in Etihad responding to my telephone calls and emails, it is now too late to set up a family account and have the air miles credited. Etihad have been extremely obstructive and very unhelpful with this matter. Etihad staff members don't even read the email trail before they reply; if they did they wouldn't be asking the obvious questions they do. Surely good customer service would be to apologise for the delay, open us a family account and credit the air miles. We will be purchasing five more return flights from Melbourne to Manchester England in 2016. We would never fly with Etihad again. The very average food and average inflight service was a deterrent but the poor customer service is the final straw and will not see us return to Etihad. I would not recommend Etihad to anyone.

EY306 Kuwait to Abu Dhabi. Despite all the hype around Etihad being one of the top-tier Gulf carriers, I was surprised to find it to be woefully lacking on this short sector of 1h 55m. There was no drinks service at all in economy. This meant that two hapless flight attendants were asked randomly by passengers for drinks. It was hard for them to remember who asked for what and where they were sitting. Why not just bring the trolley down the aisle and do a drink service so that everyone has something and it isn’t random chaos? Say what you want about the deplorable service on US and Canadian carriers, but at least they do a drink run, even on short flights on small commuter planes. Abu Dhabi is a terrible airport with almost all flights parked remotely and passengers shuttled around in buses.

Abu Dhabi to Kuwait. Same as my inbound flight in the other direction whereby you cannot get a drink to save your life. What is it with Etihad Airways? Can’t they just take a trolley down the aisle and offer everyone a drink? I asked a flight attendant for one and instead of bringing it, after 15 minutes she is taking the cart down the aisle to collect garbage. The flight is about two-thirds full, so they are not exactly run off their feet. In seat AVOD didn’t work at all. Had to bear the constant broadcasting of ‘Just For Laughs’ with the inability to even turn the screen off or turn on another channel. FA had no clue how to turn the screen off either. I’m looking forward to getting back on to Qatar Airways for my travel back to the US in a few days. Both flights on Etihad Airways over the last two days were disappointing.

I used to be a regular traveller with Etihad, however of late, I have become disillusioned the service has gone downhill - culminating this year, my baggage being delayed 4 times out of 6 consecutive flights. This is despite assurances on the last trip by ground staff that the luggage was on board. Last year I arrived late at Abu Dhabi from LHR to be greeted by staff telling me (at 2300) that I had been moved from my connecting flight (for which I had tickets) onto an alternative flight 5 hours later. This was after having several assurances by the onboard staff that my connection would be fine. No viable reason was given as to why I had been moved despite there were still 45 minutes before take-off, I was told that the gate for my scheduled flight was shut but when I got there they were still boarding passengers. They accepted that I was booked to fly on that flight and they had no power to change things back (this could only be done by some magical / mythical “controller” with whom I could not speak and, finally one of the staff had the audacity to tell me they could not let me board sine they had insufficient food in order to feed me. I have written to Etihad customer services on several occasions about the sorry state of their service asking for an explanation and receiving assurances that my question / situation was being looked into, I have now been waiting 3 months with no reply.

Flew Etihad for the third time in 3 years, from Manchester to Bangkok with a short layover in Abu Dhabi on 3 November 2015, returning on 20th November. First flight (MAN-AUH) I asked at checkin if we could have exit seats as me and my travel partner both stand over 6ft tall. Was told this was not possible unless we paid an additional £75 per flight. I expect low cost airlines to charge for exit seats, not a premium airline. Boarded the plane (A340-600) which has a 2-4-2 seat configuration. Decent seat pitch but minimal legroom. Our steward for this 7 hour flight had an appalling attitude, sulked and even refused to give us a full can of tonic water to share as the flight was full. Passenger in front of me full reclined for the full flight even when dinner was served, wasn't asked to put her seat up once. Later overheard him telling another passenger he had been bumped from a flight to the Seychelles, thus the reason for his mood. Only received one drink during this flight. Second flight (AUH-BKK) on Boeing 777-300, no real issues. Staff were friendly and courteous. Multiple drinks runs. Worth noting that this plane was half full. Seat pitch noticeably poorer with a 3-4-3 config but we were lucky that the seat between us was empty. Returning (BKK-AUH) was when the real problems started. Full flight on an A340-600. Plane was 45 minutes late leaving due to refuelling. This wouldn't have been an issue had the following 18 hours not been so spectacularly bad. Screen in front of me was omitting no sound whatsoever with my headphones or my travel partners. Made the stewardess aware of this and she said she would reset the system. 45 minutes pass and still nothing. I asked again if she would reset it and was told she had already. The screen didn't switch off once, so its impossible this had been reset. Sat for full 7 hours with no inflight entertainment. Drinks came round and again, massive shortages. Was restricted to 1 Gin and 1 Beer each. Asked for ice with my Gin and witnessed the stewardess scratching around the tub for tiny shards of ice. They had none. There was another drinks run later in the flight, if you liked tea, coffee or mango juice. They had run out of everything, including water. No water on a flight with 300 people on board. Last flight after a 4-5 hour layover in AUH was to Manchester. Flight left half full again, on a Boeing 777-300 on overnight flight. My plan was to sleep most of the journey. I went to sleep around 90 minutes into the flight, with my seatbelt on as not to be disturbed clearly visible. I was awoken maybe half an hour later by the stewardess who jabbed her finger into my chest multiple times asking me if I had my seatbelt on (lights had come on). I looked down and saw it was clearly visible and fastened. She scuttled off down the aisle embarrassed. Meanwhile my travel partner next to me is sat there asleep with no seatbelt on! We were left well alone after this and I was allowed to sleep. A completely embarrassing performance highlighted when I sent a tweet to Etihad asking if they wanted my feedback for my recent flight. They immediately blocked me. Truly pathetic. Spend the extra money and fly Emirates, Qatar or Turkish. If Etihad flights are full they are a dreadful consumer experience, worst I've ever endured.