Etihad Airways

✅ Trip Verified | Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi. The app is a joke and trying add or reserve a seat is impossible. You can’t even add your points you have to do it on the webpage. The flight was horrible I have felt more comfortable on AirAsia planes. How this company has a good reputation is amazing. I will do my very best to fly any other airline than this one.

✅ Trip Verified | Sydney to Cairo via Abu Dhabi. Checkin experience was the worst with Dnata. I told them as an Etihad guest for years I'm entitled for an extra weight allowance, the rude guy said you are a back seat member and not entitled for that. I told him on a previous flight I got the extra weight as a member and offered him the flight details but he neglected that and insisted on charging me $444. On board Etihad are no longer providing meals menu, they just ask you chicken or lamb?! Etihad as well no later providing a personal pack with Socks etc. The seat was not comfortable at all although it was an exit seat. The cabin crew seems to be less engaging and kind of avoiding or paying minimal attention. I had a similar experience while flying business class with Etihad last year, it less disappointing though. Etihad is definitely bottom of the list option.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Abu Dhabi. Worst business class flight ever taken. Screaming/crying children in Business class cabin for whole flight. Chicken meal was inedible. Lounge full of crying children. Staff did nothing to rectify complaints at time. They just said anyone can buy a seat in any cabin. Etihad seems to want to provide a flying creche service rather than a suitable environment / service for actual business travellers.

✅ Trip Verified | I traveled with my family on 19th December from Mombasa through Nairobi to Abu Dhabi. It was a long and tiring flight. We carried along five baggages. We were the last to collect our baggage inspite of having priority privileges. We later realized one baggage was missing. I reported this at the lost baggage counter whereby i was given a small note and promised that they have traced it and will send it to the hotel in Dubai where we were staying in the next 24hrs. It has now gone beyond one week. My kids have no clothes to change to and this has forced us to spend money out of our budget to buy few clothes for them. Attempts to call the airline as well as sending email seemed futile. Email not answered and airline taking no responsibility with people tossing us from one office to another. This is being very unfair. I now intend to travel to Abu Dhabi from Dubai to resolve the matter leaving my kids in the hotel. What a time waste. Officials from the airline need to get serious with their jobs. I have travelled many places in the world and this has never happened. What a shame!

✅ Trip Verified | New York to Mumbai via Abu Dhabi. I am never flying with Etihad Airways again. I am giving Etihad a 2/10 because of their inability to properly handle my baggage. I paid almost $2000 to fly from New York to Mumbai (return trip), and the least I expect is to have my checked-in baggage reach along with me (as anyone would expect). Butthis is not what happened. I checked-in two bags at JFK, but only one of them made it to Mumbai. I was told the other one was stuck in Abu Dhabi. Another staff member told me that it seems that it is still at JFK airport. The tracking number they gave me did not work either (it kept showing “tracking continues”- all in all, an utterly useless response). There have been 6 additional flights from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai after I arrived and yet my bag seems to be nowhere near me. As I am writing this review, it has been nearly 36 hours since I arrived and yet my bag can not be tracked. I have come home to see my family and friends for 2 weeks (after a year of being away) and my short vacation is being ruined because I am constantly anxious about my luggage and am fearing the worst. I suspect that Etihad staff at some point (either at JFK or Abu Dhabi) was negligent and left didn’t load my luggage. It is beyond infuriating to know that even after paying $2000, this is the kind of treatment a customer receives. It’s 2018. We have sent humans to the moon and beyond, and yet this incompetent company called Etihad Airways has failed to successfully deliver my baggage to me. I have recommended Etihad Airways to my friends and family in the past because they usually have comfortable flights and good food. But, this incident is unacceptable to me. I shall be avoiding Etihad Airways completely and will never be flying with this company again.

✅ Trip Verified | My wife and I travelled from Australia to Rome return, via Etihad's hub in Abu Dhabi. As we had discovered on the earlier sectors it is not unusual for Etihad to split up families even when they are booked together, we had paid the roughly 40 Euros to grab a couple of seats in a twin row, so that we would have aisle access for the six hour plus Abu Dhabi to Sydney sector. (there are no free seat selection options). I also placed a NZD195 bid on a neighbour free seat on the understanding that should the bid be successful we would forfeit our 40 Euros. And then, with just on twenty-four hours till check-in I was emailed that our bid for the neighbour free seat NFS had been successful. So far so good! Upon boarding at Abu Dhabi we were surprised to find that the entire economy section appeared full. These extra bookings must have occurred during the twenty-fours hours immediately prior to take off, (who would have imagined) for them to have accepted my (minimum) bid for a NFS. The hostess was pleasant enough and checked all the seating allocations and the passengers were all in their correct seats, and our two originally selected seats were also allocated. (not to us) OK, so stuff happens sometimes! Now I imagined that I should be entitled to a refund of my NZD195 as I had not received a NFS and the 40 Euro seat selection charge as we hadn't received those either. And this is when the fun started, it is all but impossible to get through to Etihad. The one call I successfully made to our nearest call centre (in Australia from New Zealand) I received advice to email. Emails received replies to leave messages on Facebook. Messages left on Facebook received automatic responses that I should expect replies within twenty eight days. So, here we are more than a month after the flight, still waiting for Etihad to respond. Interesting note: Etihad's Facebook page is full of complaints from people who have unresolved complaints. Next time, before I choose an airline to send my money to, I will check their Facebook page for an up to date idea of their service / customer relations rather than a year old survey.

Not Verified | London to Brisbane via Abu Dhabi. My daughter and I travelled from Brisbane to London in economy and returned a week later. The aircraft we travelled in were a Boeing 787 and an Airbus A380. Firstly, the 787 is a simple yet beautiful aircraft and the layout seemed adequate for a 14 hour flight. The seats are comfortable and offer a great recline. The in-flight entertainment was adequate if nothing extraordinary and was enough to keep a nine year old and a 40 year old entertained for a total of 40 or so hours flying. The A380 was in my opinion slightly more comfortable and appeared to have more room. My issue with Etihad is not with the aircraft however it is with the additional costs. I have flown over the years extensively with airlines such as QANTAS, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, KLM and Garuda Indonesia. On these airlines, I have never, room permitting, been requested to pay USD$330 for my daughter and I to experience greater leg room in an exit row. In fact on the aforementioned ‘other’ airlines I have in fact been offered a seat with greater leg room (I am a tall man) or upon request, room permitting have been allocated a roomier seat. I have come to expect, despite the fact that I am an economy passenger, that these small but meaningful gestures from an airline and their staff are a standard when it comes to flying on a premium airline. The service was inconsistent. Some okay, some kind of interested and others seemingly annoyed by your presence. Don’t expect any initiative of any sort. Etihad has proven me wrong. I pre-selected my seats using the Etihad app which I was prompted to do on numerous occasions before all flights. I did select my economy seats however was told at check in that For whatever reason, the seats that I had selected were not the seats I had been allocated. I was however informed that for £490 I could ‘upgrade’ to exit row seats for both flights home. I politely declined and politely exclaimed how ridiculous the suggestion was. After a 6.5 hour flight from London and facing a 13.5 hour flight to Brisbane, my daughter and I had 45 minutes to negotiate Abu Dhabi’s security checks with a thousand other people all massed together like Sardines. Then rushed to our connecting flight and discovered that we were wedged in to another tight row crowded with similarly discontented passengers. I gave in and paid a total of $443 AUD to have my daughter and I seated in an exit row aisle. I will not travel Etihad again. I will happily pay three or four hundred extra dollars and fly with a carrier that doesn’t pretend to be classy but just is.

✅ Trip Verified | Bahrain to Melbourne via Abu Dhabi. One thing that needs to be addressing I feel based on both flights & is a dangerous precedent that seems to be on the increase is the continued use of mobiles phones whilst taking off and landing. My first flight from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi on take off had a guy who was still talking on his mobile phone, even after the normal warnings issued by the crew! Then landing you can see folk starting texting and this was so evident on both flights. This is safety violations but as the crew are already in their seats none of them can see what’s going on in the cabin. The use of mobiles on take off & landing must be enforced & not one crew member is doing anything to stop what is becoming an epidemic on the most dangerous part of a flight take off & landing... apart from this observation both crews were attentive and one crew member on The Melbourne flight from Serbia deserves special mention as she did take great care of me even if I slept most of the flight. Makes a nice change when a crew member makes a great effort & goes above the normal of what’s expected from a crew member. Need more of her type in the skies. The IFE seems to have improved as a lot better choice of films were very evident so Etihad must keep it up. WiFi need big improvement inflight though as connection just keeps getting disconnected many times. A pretty enjoyable flight this time around though.

✅ Trip Verified | Dublin to Brisbane via Abu Dhabi booked for December 2018. Worst Customer Service Center I have dealt with. My parents fly with Etihad Airways every year to Australia. Called customer service last August for my elderly parents who were trying to keep their air miles. They couldn’t fly last year due to health reason but in july 2017 they wanted to book Dec 2018 in order to save their airmiles. There was no flights available as it was too far out. When we explained it, we were told there was nothing we could do. Sept this year my mom gets a call from Etihad that she answered on her hands free as she was driving. She was told that they cancelled her return flight back to the UK and would she accept another flight back. She cooperated and said yes only to find out that the details of the new flight means she has to get a taxi to airport $90 and a hotel. She was quite distraught. I called and explained to be told that she agreed, therefore there was nothing that she could do. I asked to speak to a manager. I got a call from a supervisor. She couldn’t help, so I asked to speak to a manager. I was told on Sept 20th that a manager would call me and still haven’t heard from them. After complaining I was promised another call at 2pm. I then received an email at 3:20pm stating they couldn’t reach me. 3.5months later still trying to talk to a manager. This is my parents last flight with Etihad.

Not Verified | I am a gold member of Etihad and my husband is platinum. We live in Abu Dhabi really do not have any alternative to using this airline even though Etihad never fails to surprise me in the myriad of weird and wonderful ways it can think of to treat its customers badly and this flight was no surprise. I booked my ticket on the Etihad website; it had an Etihad flight number EY7854; I paid my money to Etihad. Then, we were not able to select a seat or check in online. So we went to Abu Dhabi airport early to select seats together and to enjoy dinner and a drink in the first class lounge only to find we were denied entry to the lounge because it was not an Etihad operated flight, but Middle East Airlines! We were told this was due to some contract between Etihad and MEA and that the information was available on the website (not true). When we left and were about 4 yards away, I turned around and saw that the lounge manager and door attendant were laughing at us - we are repeat customers - we are travelling again in December, January and February. Etihad do not let their customers, loyal or otherwise, ever have a win. You cannot select a seat in advance without paying about 1/3 of the original price extra even if you are a gold or platinum frequent flyer; they will separate you and your husband when it comes to their seat allocation; you only get one meal on the flight and that is served at inappropriate times so that if you have a flight of over 4 hours you arrive hungry; and all of this is on top of the creaky old planes with their ugly brown livery and small, narrow seats with minimum leg room. I don't know why anyone ever chooses Etihad.