Etihad Airways

✅ Trip Verified | I was tested Covid positive at Bengaluru Airport labs (Auriga Research) and could not board the airline as a result. This was just a few hours from the departure of the flight to Toronto. This was on January 29th, 2022. I informed this to Etihad along with my passport and covid positive report details and was cooperative with them throughout the process. Since I could not board the flight due to being tested covid positive, I was subsequently asked to submit my passport information, report result, credit card used for the booking and the credit card statement multiple times to Etihad. I have been following up numerous times with the call centre at Etihad Refund department and all they say is wait for 45 days. It has been close to 120 days now, also their twitter help was useless as they too like the call centre employees ask me to wait for 45 days. They keep giving a random date on which the refund processing has started and ask me to wait for 45 days from that date - sometimes 45 business days, sometimes its 45 calendar days. This is just a delay tactic in the hope that I eventually give up. I have spent approximately 2300 CAD and used about 1800 CAD approximately through a travel bank. This is a large amount I paid for a one way trip but due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to board the flight, how am I supposed to let go of such a large amount? Every time they ell me it is in processing and submitting a formal complaint on their website does not yield any results. I am really anxious now and look for some light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a refund.

✅ Trip Verified | Let me start by never recommending Etihad Airlines to anyone. I'm a student in Germany so I travel a lot back and forth between Germany and the Emirates, 3-4 times yearly. Every single flight that I have taken with Etihad has had some delay, issue, unprofessionalism, rudeness, and inexperience from their staff. Every time I travel they stop me at the counters and check my residency card for at least an hour, making me catch the flight literally in the last minutes before takeoff. One could argue that it's a standard procedure, but seriously it takes you an hour to verify an ID card rightfully issued by German authorities? Another thing that always happens is delays. The amount of delays that you experience with Etihad is unimaginable. Out of around 12 flights with them, at least 11 flights were delayed by 1-2 hours. Again, this wasn't a major issue for me because I usually choose holidays or weekends when traveling so it doesn't hurt my schedule a lot. However, this one time I had a flight from Hamburg (Germany) to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) with a connecting flight in Frankfurt booked through their official website. The first flight Hamburg to Frankfurt was delayed by one hour for technical reasons. However, the second flight from Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi was on time. You guessed it right, the first flight landed as my second flight was taking off. I called them and explained the situation several times after being transferred from one operator to another and the reply I got was (We'll book you the next flight tomorrow, and fortunately for you we will not charge you). Originally, my flight was on a Sunday at 2pm, now the new flight is on Monday 2pm. I called them and explained again my situation and demanded a compensation cause I'll be missing a full working day and also would need a place to stay to wait for my next flight and the operator said that I could file a compensation claim on their website with a receipt of the hotel and would be compensated accordingly. However, when I did that I was stuck with calling Etihad back and forth for at least a month before giving up. They blamed the connecting flight airlines for the delay, and when I explained that I booked my ticket through their website and that I do not have to do with what airline‘s fault was it as long as they‘re the ones that received the money, then they should solve such an incident and compensate me on that delay. Of course I didn‘t get a single penny from them, didn‘t even get an apology and was treated as if it was my fault for not catching the flight. All in all, a really horrible company, they treat their customers as if our flights are free and we didn't pay anything, no respect, no professionalism, literally nothing. I personally would travel the world on a bike if they were the only option.

✅ Trip Verified | I fly to India a few times per year. I fly Economy and have flown with any and every airline. I was lured in by a great deal on a return flight to Mumbai. The catch was an extra stopover in Manchester. My bag was left in Manchester. It did not arrive in Mumbai. I missed my connecting flight to Goa. My bag took 5 days to recover. Daily contact with Etihad from my husband and from me by phone and email. In the end, the bag arrived - no apology, no notice. The flights I took were okay. Food is okay. Service is mostly rude and uninterested. One nice cabin crew member and the man who took my lost bag details was a great help. No air corridors. Busses to terminals. Rubbish website. No customer service. I've no doubt necessity will ensure I will fly with them again but make no mistake this is a budget airline pretending to be fancy. Disappointing.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst company I have ever dealt with. =Fake promotions that are not honoured and breech the UAE’s customer protection laws. Scheduled Abu Dhabi - Dubai coaches don't turn up, and you'll be left abandoned for hours in a carpark with no information or alternative transport. -No Etihad representatives present upon arrival, desk closed. Customer 'support' based on a drawn out system of misdirection and lies clearly designed to wear customers down and staff will claim ‘no authority’ to resolve anything. No response to submitting issues through their online system, don’t bother. Instructed by online departments to complain via phone and vice versa in an endless circle. I was continuously promised compensation and resolutions that were later denied on several occasions. Customer support staff refuse to provide anything in writing. On the following call, (that you will have to make when they don’t call/email back as promised), they deny everything you have previously agreed. I eventually spoke with a supervisor who told me he would personally call back within four hours, he did not, and then told his staff to pretend he had left the office when I called back, though it was clearly apparent that he was still there. I will never be travelling with them again on principle of their total lack of morals, respect, and basic decency.

✅ Trip Verified | I flew in business class on Etihad to Amsterdam in April 2022. It was my first time flying with Etihad and it was an overnight flight with a stopover in Abu Dhabi. The first leg of the journey started off with dinner service. Etihad has a dine as you please policy in business class and I chose to have dinner immediately after take off. For starter I had the Arabic mezze and for the main I had prawn briyani. Both were tasty and full of flavour. The staff were attentive and the cabin manager introduced himself to business class passengers. The second leg of the journey departed AUH in the early hours of the morning. As it was too early to have breakfast, I requested for breakfast to be served 2 hours prior to arrival in Amsterdam. For breakfast I had the yoghurt with granola and the Arabic option. The hard product of the business class section is comfortable. The seating is arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration with even seats facing forward and odd number seats facing backwards. I chose the window seat facing forward. It had 2 windows of view. The tray table was large and heavy and provided good support. The seat was fully reclining and there was adequate space in the footwell for you to sleep straight. Do note that if you are sitting in the window seat and your seat is in the lounging position, you will need to use the pillow as an arm rest for the other arm. Storage space was adequate. Besides the overhead lockers, you have a side bin to store your accessories like cellphones etc. There was a touch screen controller from which you could select your entertainment options. The selection of Western movies was somewhat limited. The classical music channel was also limited. Wifi was available on board but it is on a paid basis but I did not avail myself of it. The amenity kit was by Acqua Parma and it contained a toothbrush, eyeshade, snood to cover your mouth and nose, and a bottle of cologne. A separate hygiene kit was provided which contained a surgical mask, hand sanitizer and wet wipes. Overall, I had a good experience on Etihad. The airfares were very reasonable considering that this is almost near the peak travel season after travel was severely impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. I would definitely fly with Etihad on business class again.

✅ Trip Verified | Everything was prefect from check-in to boarding seat space and leg room, service on board and cleanliness. The in flight entertainment had current films and the hot meal was okay.

✅ Trip Verified | This was the worst flight I experienced by far. The flight had about 3-4 hours delay while at first we were told its about 30 mins to one hour! We and many other customers lost our connecting flight. And were offered next day flights. We were given a cheap food voucher with only one bottle of water or tea to choose from! In addition, they took our passports for visa processing since the hotel was outside the airport. They initially said it will take an hour or 2 but we had to wait much longer in cold uncomfortable chairs in the middle of the night to get the visa for the hotel transfer. We asked them to let us in a lounge but that was not a possibility. So we lost more than 1 day, where most of it was wasted waiting in the airport due to delay or visa preparation. I was tired, hungry, sick and without a change of cloths, i asked them for Panadol but even that was not possible, i had to buy it myself. I have never seen such a poor customer service - the staff were rude and expected us to be understanding without even proper apology. Avoid this airline if you have other options.

✅ Trip Verified | The seat configuration on the Boeing 787 is 3-3-3 which means if you are unlucky enough to be in a window seat you have no chance of getting out of your seat to stretch your legs or go to the bathroom etc. You are basically trapped in your seat for the duration of the flight. The food and service on board was appalling. The food was literally inedible and they must have been short of staff because they were not to be found for most of the flight. Flying from Bangkok to Dublin via Abu Dhabi are two long flights and one would expect a better overall quality of service from a full service airline such as Etihad. With so much competition going on in the air with the various airlines it surprises me that Etihad are not better than they are. Don't even get me started on the two and a half hours in transit in Abu Dhabi.

✅ Trip Verified | Avoid Etihad Airways: I was coerced to pay additional 800 GBP for a confirmed return ticket from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow. The incompetence of Etihad‘s call centre and IT system have led me to a last-minute purchase of a new ticket at the airport check-in counter in lieu of an already paid confirmed return ticket. Deceitful tricks.

Not Verified | They changed my layover from 6 hours to 12 hours on a whim. They give you three choices after changing your flight: 1. Accept 2. Reschedule the flight. If you reschedule you will have to pay for the price difference of the new flight and pay an additional $200.00. Technically it's credit -$200.00 on a flight that they changed and you have no say whatsoever. 3. Cancel. They get all your money and you get nothing in return.