Etihad Airways

✅ Trip Verified | Edinburgh to Brisbane via Abu Dhabi. Our flight both ways was very disappointing. The service was poor at best, staff quite rude, food scarce and of average quality and whatever you do, don’t dare ask for a second glass of wine on what is almost a 14 hour flight! Whilst we don’t expect much flying economy, basic service, respect and food would be an expectation. It’s back to other carriers for us.

✅ Trip Verified | Etihad is the epitome of 'okay'. The first leg of our flight was on a tired looking A330, the cabin of which was looking decidedly dated and the IFE hardware not particularly responsive. The flight attendants were not overly friendly or helpful which was fine but they did not give the impression of working for a premium, full-service airline and I've probably had friendlier crews on easyJet flights. The best that can be said for the meal on this flight was once again, okay, nothing to complain about but nothing exciting either. Although, the use of steel cutlery is nice to see. The primary benefit of transferring at Abu Dhabi is its small size meaning that its relatively easy to get from one gate to another for connections but it was also easy to tell how cramped and crowded it would be to spend more than an hour here for a stopover as the airport certainly needs to expand to meet demand. AUH's most interesting feature is its security policy whereby hand luggage is scanned and passengers made to go through metal detectors which every, single, person seemed to be setting off, including myself, despite having nothing on me and not having had any issues at EDI. This then means being patted down in a small curtained area with an unfriendly and unspeaking member of security staff. Not only this, but once passengers arrive at their gate everyone on our outbound flight (though only certain people on our return, we were waved through without searching strangely) was having their carry-on hand searched which seemed slightly excessive giving all the security measures passengers have already been through up to that point. The next leg of the trip was on a relatively new A380 which had a modern cabin and great IFE system despite the seats being uncomfortable this felt like a much better flight. The crew were marginally more friendly than the EDI-AUH leg but still did not go out of their way to be courteous or helpful for passengers. The most disappointing thing on this flight was the food, not its quality but lack of quantity. There are no menus in economy which is fine but would have been a nice touch. We were served a dinner after takeoff of which there were only two options left so I chose the pasta which was delicious and came with a salad, roll and small pudding. But during this 13 hour flight we were only given one more 'snack' of popcorn and then a breakfast of cinnamon roll and custard before landing in Sydney, at half past five in the evening. This was not enough food for the length of flight. Our return flights were of similar quality the only issue being the check-in staff at Sydney Kingsford Smith airport. Passengers were queuing for check in as it was shown as being open for this flight on the overhead monitors however, the ground staff were all standing behind one desk chatting, laughing, hugging each other and not one desk was open yet. After standing for half an hour and a now huge queue having developed with several people going over to ask what was going on check-in finally opened. Once we eventually got to the bag-drop counter we were greeted by an unfriendly man who answered my request to print off our boarding passes with 'obviously'. Not a good impression. Overall the experience of flying with Etihad was just fine, nothing more or less but I would definitely try another carrier for a long-haul flight before ever choosing them again as even though they were the cheapest option it certainly shows.

✅ Trip Verified | Brisbane to Heathrow via Abu Dhabi. Really disappointed with the customer service I have received today with Etihad as I have been refused lounge access as a silver member. It clearly states on the website "As an Etihad Guest Silver member, you also get lounge access, priority check in, 25% extra Tier Bonus Miles and so much more." Apparently this is only in Abu Dhabi so I asked if they would make an exception today as this clearly needs rectifying on the website but was still refused. I will now return to Emirates as their customer service far outweighs that of Etihad. I'm still shocked that they wouldn't let me in as a goodwill gesture and to keep me as a loyal customer in future.

✅ Trip Verified | Delhi to Dublin via Abu Dhabi. Worst airline I have traveled. They don’t respond to your calls they have attitude problem if you ask for water, they say go and get it yourself we are busy - and what they were doing they were busy chatting and eating bananas. The worst part came when we were about to fly back from London to India my friends 2 year old baby started crying as he was not comfortable sitting with the belt so her mother took her into her lap - the air hostesses came and started shouting that you can’t do this the baby has to sit on chair with the belt. My friend told her get the extension and let him sit on my lap but she never agreed and forcefully held the baby and strapped the belt very tightly around him and he started crying loudly because of pain but she said let him cry but he will sit like that only. So my request to you guys kindly avoid this airline because of the discourteous and unprofessional staff.

Not Verified | I was really looking forward to this flight as I was trying Etihad airways for the first time .Check in at Dammam was easy and the agent assigned me the emergency exit row seat for free but the boarding was not good as we waited in the jetway for 20 mins with no air-conditioning in the 45 C heat. The aircraft in the DMM-AUH sector was an old 320. A small snack was offered on that short flight and the IFE was unresponsive which annoyed me. We landed AUH on time but the connections in AUH is horrible. Very long queue for security check and I hated this terminal. The flight to BLR was delayed by 2 hrs because the aircraft arrived late. The boarding was extremely chaotic and there was no AC in the boarding area inspire of 46 C heat along with humidity later in the day. The aircraft was a newer A321 with good touchscreens but the selection of movies is not great The cabin service was good and food was excellent along with drinks offered. The downside was that one lavatory wasn't working which led to queue across the aisle .We landed 2 hrs later than our scheduled landing time .The cabin crew were really good. I expected more from this trip. Emirates is much better in almost all aspects.

✅ Trip Verified | Well, I have to say my recent flight from Melbourne to Frankfurt with Etihad was without a doubt the worst travel experience I have had, and I travel quite a lot. Not only did they not supply my requested vegan meals on either connection, on the second leg one of the cabin crew spilled very hot coffee on me. Of course accidents can happen but despite letting them know my arm was actually burnt and I needed something for it I had to ask 3 times and wait over 20 minutes before I was brought a poultice. The flowing days my arm was red and a small section blistered. Not supplying requested vegan meals appears to be pretty standard as exactly the same thing happened on the same route almost exactly a year ago, and my colleague who flew the same route in reverse also did not have his vegan meals supplied in March of this year. A complaint to the customer service team was met with a pathetic response - 3000 air miles as compensation. But my flights were booked with Virgin Australia where my air miles are based, and they were not transferable to this program. And what kind of totally inadequate compensation is 3000 air miles to me anyway? As a Gold Velocity member I expect better of both Virgin (whose response was also inadequate) and Etihad. I will never fly Etihad again, and this will have a flow on effect to Virgin as I shift my alliance to QANTAS and affiliated airlines.

✅ Trip Verified | Munich to Perth via Abu Dhabi. Awful flights both to and from Europe. Seats uncomfortable; cabins were extremely cold; staff were sometimes friendly, sometimes not; food was sometimes OK, sometimes not; choice of meals given sometimes, sometimes not; my travelling companion received 4 variations of the same cheese pasta for meals on the return route. Seriously? Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Knocked ourselves out sprinting through Abu Dhabi Airport to make connecting flight after late arrival of first leg and earlier-than-originally-booked departure of next leg. Pleased Etihad will soon not be flying to/from Perth anymore so will never be tempted to fly with them again.

✅ Trip Verified | Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur. The first time I flew Etihad in 2015, I had such a bad experience, I vowed to never fly with them ever again. They lost my luggage, expected me to run across different gates in 20 minutes for a connecting flight which I missed and gave all the other passengers with me who missed the connecting flight smack. In fact, we had to fight to get them to put us up in a hotel and get us on the next flight. It took 3 hours to sort out everything. For me, they are the worst airline. This time I had to fly them for work - I had no say in the process and had to go with it. Wear and tear on the plane was obvious, food was mediocre and you could tell they had some cost cuts based on the amount of food that was served and the lack of menus. Flight attendants were OK, not the same quality you would get from Emirates/KLM/Singapore Airlines. I wouldn’t fly Etihad unless you really didn’t have a choice.

✅ Trip Verified | Heathrow to Bangalore via Abu Dhabi. Outside of the ground services being helpful at Heathrow on our trip from Heathrow to Bangalore, most things were objectively downhill. Seats in economy class are quite uncomfortable. The recliner in the seat did not work at all and the only option provided to us was to switch to an empty seat, if available. There was no vegetarian meal option, despite the fact that our fares included a meal option. The staff were discourteous and made no attempt to procure the same for multiple passengers who demanded it, and merely dismissed the requests stating that only chicken/lamp was available. The food was extremely poor, and the vegetarian pasta which was ultimately given after protests was of very poor quality. I would not recommend ordering it, if given a choice. The staff onboard were not polite and were often dismissive. The entertainment onboard was very good and the headphones, screens etc. worked perfectly. Overall, I would not recommend flying this airline. It is neither the cheaper nor the more comfortable option.

✅ Trip Verified | Abu Dhabi to Sydney. I expected much. Great plane, I thought, special service level, I thought - but it was really disappointing. The staff are not friendly, the seats are unsuitable for a 14 hr flight, the food supply is mediocre. Only plus is the entertainment system, including "live" world cup football. For future long flights I will definitely choose another airline.