Etihad Airways

✅ Trip Verified | Johannesburg to New York via Abu Dhabi. After reading multiple mixed reviews, I thought I’d give Etihad the benefit of the doubt. I booked my ticket with them and paid a lot of money. I must say that I have been let down. I have been fortunate to fly many airlines and Etihad has been the least helpful to date. On my leg from Abu Dhabi to JFK, I was put in a seat that that had no cabin space above me for my hand luggage. As a result the air hostesses took my hang luggage and places it (split up) in various cabins down my aisle. When it came to disembarking at JFK, I forgot one of these items as they weren’t all in one spot. After realising that I forgot my item two hours later, I quickly returned to arrivals to try and find someone who could help me retrieve it - assuming etihad would have an office, station or even just a lost and found. I could not find a single Etihad representative and was told by many airport staff that they wouldn’t be around for quite some time. I had to catch my next connection thereafter. Following online instructions, I phoned the New York Etihad number. I phoned multiple times and had no answer. I’ve left messages. I’ve had no response. I emailed Etihad but the response here was that I should phone the New York etihad number. I’ve even phoned baggage services at JFK who have told me to contact Etihad. I am out of options despite the great efforts. I understand it’s my fault to have left an item onboard, however, one would think that they would help solve this issue and that a “competitive” airline like Etihad would assist in trying to return personal belongings to their owners. I have read reviews that other airlines certainly have. I’m really upset to have lost my belonging but even more upset to know that it is sitting with Etihad who do not care at all about their customers. Utterly disappointed and something like this will definitely deter me from using Etihad again.

✅ Trip Verified | Abu Dhabi to Singapore. I don’t expect any response from Etihad because they acted within their rules but it is important that people understand how these rules affect their Platinum members. I was recently traveling business class from Abu Dhabi with my wife for our 20th wedding anniversary. I also paid for my daughter, son in law and my two grandchildren to travel with us for a family holiday to celebrate. As Platinum members (through all our business travel) my wife and I are entitled to bring a guest each into the First Class Lounge. My youngest grandchild was able to enter for free. However the Etihad staff insisted on charging me 100 USD to admit my 7 year old grandson to the Lounge. I refused to pay such an extortionate amount for a 7 year old and we had to leave. My poor grandson then got incredibly upset as he felt he had let us all down. He was inconsolable. Nice work Etihad, because whilst your staff will not know my grandchild is autistic, their actions have consequences. Still at least you enforced your rules. Even better, didn’t get the 100 USD and as a bonus upset 2 loyal Platinum members on their 20th wedding anniversary whose loyalty to this airline with rapidly declining service standards is now severely strained. Can’t argue with that policy can you! Now where did I put Emirates phone number.

✅ Trip Verified | Etihad Seat Allocation Policy is a major drawback. Seats can only be reserved by paying additional fees. At over $40 per sector (for non premium seats) this adds about 15% to the cost of the flight. Travel agent told me seat allocation is free at check-in. Online check-in opens 48 hours before, but again you can only select seats by paying, you only get free seat allocation if you checking within 24 hours of your flight. This is the only airline I have flown (apart from outright budget airlines) that have this policy. Be careful in comparing based on ticket price alone. Haven't even travelled yet and I have an unpleasant experience.

Not Verified | Amman to Washington DC via Abu Dhabi. My first and last flight with Etihad Airways. Very long trip almost 14 hours (from Abu Dhabi to Washington DC)with poor quality service and catastrophic quality of food. The seat is not comfortable. I will not at all recommend this company.

✅ Trip Verified | Melbourne to Dublin via Abu Dhabi. Sadly disappointing and a very underwhelming business class experience with Etihad. I remember the days when Etihad was at the top of its game. This is no longer the case. The aircraft interiors are ageing and they are no longer able to compete with the likes of Qatar or Emirates. I flew from Melbourne to Dublin via Abu Dhabi. The aircraft was old and dated. Seats much smaller than their competitors. Food was average - wine selection average. Their IFE system woefully average with only a handful of new releases available. Bathrooms are much smaller than their competitors. No pyjamas offered. The lounge experience in Abu Dhabi was average. Overcrowded and people lining up to use the one available shower. Our flight to Dublin was below average. The business class seats were much smaller than on our long haul flight from Melbourne. Staff were pleasant. I asked for an amenities kit only to be told Etihad no longer provided them on short flights - ask most people and I think they’d agree, 7 and a half hours isn’t really a ‘short flight’. Etihad now strikes me as a ‘budget’ carrier. Gone are the days of it providing a luxurious business class experience.

Not Verified | Melbourne to Abu Dhabi on business class on an old Boeing 777 that has seen better days. Plane basically left on time & arrived ahead of schedule at Abu Dhabi which was nice. On board crew were very polite catered to your needs. Toilets were kept clean which was a blessing. Food was just average though & nothing to write home about. IFE is woefully behind the likes of Qatar in terms of movie releases & variety of choice. Tried the onboard WiFi but really it’s very slow & eats up your allotment very quickly so be warned if you decide to give it a go..it’s a bit of a con to get extra money from your pocket. Really on good for texting or iMessaging. As for the business class seat it’s average but it’s a lot better on their Boeing 787. On this 777 it’s very cramped & claustrophobic. This flight was just an average flight getting from A to B on time with no nasty issues.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Kuala Lumpur via Abu Dhabi. The worst flight experience I have had in all 24 years of my life (inclusive of budget airlines). Mainly due to - upon arrival in Malaysia from London just 2 days before my relative's wedding, of which I was an organiser - my check-in baggage being left behind in Abu Dhabi, which had my wedding ceremony clothing and materials. Thanks to the worst possible timing for a baggage delay, I have had to sink my savings to get backup, subpar clothes for what was otherwise a perfectly planned wedding! This is not the first time I've heard of Etihad's baggage handling issues, and I regret not listening closer to friends' advice. To add salt to injury, stewardesses on the flight were rude, one of which said during meal service, "we only have the vegetarian pasta option, is that okay?", with her hand already half outstretched with the tray close to my table. She could have some common courtesy and ask for my preference first! I have had better and more courteous service on Easyjet and Ryanair. Unfortunately I have a return flight leg from Kuala Lumpur back to London and I am nervous thinking about what problems are going to surface on that leg of the journey. If I could afford it, I would rather purchase another airline's tickets and take a longer transit than fly this airline again.

✅ Trip Verified | I logged online to upgrade 3 of our 10 travelers to extra leg room seats. My parents and my partner and infant. When one of the seats was not assigned, even though I had paid for it, I called the help centre to find out why. When I spoke to the agent he told me I had not selected extra leg room seats, rather standard seats. These travelers already had standard seats allocated beside the rest of my family, before I went online to upgrade, so I ultimately chose seats away from the rest of our family for nothing, because I thought they were extra leg room seats. When I asked could I still get the extra leg room and pay the difference they advised me I will have to pay full price, the money I already paid 321 odd euro will be lost in the process. I am shocked and feel like I have been robbed. An honest mistake, which they found out about with 10 minutes of my doing So, meant nothing to them. Also, the seat I assigned for my partner and my child in the same transaction did not get allocated but I got charged for it. So they are also in the wrong. I am just been fobbed off every agent I speak to. Policy policy policy is all I am hearing. They do not seem to take general misunderstandings into account. There should at least be some sort of grace where time is concerned. They were aware I had made the error within 15 minutes. Why is there no proper customer service within this company. Nobody cares that I am in more debt with nothing now to show for it. My parents will have to suffer on their first ever flight, 24 hours long, with no space. This airline has absolutely no consideration for their customers if this is how they treat us when a mistake is made. They keep saying it was my mistake but they never allocated a seat for my partner so they too made a mistake, where is their liability? I am in dismay by the lack of understanding in a genuine case. I already had seats before I went online. Surely they could see this was an honest error made. We paid over 10,000 for our group trip, now an added 321 for nothing. Worse seats than what I had initially.

✅ Trip Verified | Riyadh to Tokyo via Abu Dhabi. Airline staff forced me to check a bag that was carry on size, resulting in a $320 baggage fee. Bag’s handle was destroyed in route, so I contacted their customer service. Representative was unhelpful and I wasn’t given so much as sky miles for my damaged bag. Will never use again.

✅ Trip Verified | Athens to Brisbane via Abu Dhabi. Etihad has the worst customer service I have ever received. They overbooked our flight from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane, and the man who was telling us this was smirking the entire time. They were all very rude and not one person apologised for the overbooked flight. This route is a once a day flight so we had to wait over 2 hours for our bag to get back to us before they put us up in a 3 star hotel. I would never fly Etihad again based on this experience. No apology and no refund and the flight tickets were not cheap either. Avoid!