Etihad Airways

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.

Kuala Lumpur to London via Abu Dhabi. This is the first time flying with Etihad and I relied on their advertising, showing how many awards won, airline of the year etc. On that basis I assumed they would be on a par with other Middle East Airlines (Qatar, Emirates) who I have flown and found very acceptable, especially Qatar. I can honestly say this is the worst overall experience I have had. From this 1 flight I have written to their customer service to report 3 very different incidents, I have not received 1 response! (except automated reply stating I would receive a follow up from representative, we value you as a customer blah blah). The one simple issue to illustrate how poor they are is they have not credited my air miles (including an offer of 5000 miles to compensate a cancelled flight!) for these flights, I have written to them 3 times and received no response - this appears to be their normal procedure judging from other reviews. Obviously not receiving air miles would not constitute a bad experience on its own, but this was just to illustrate just how little they care. The crew are dysfunctional, they do not operate at all as a team. Their service is sloppy and carefree and not at all professional. The food is dreadful, tiny portions and uninspiring, I get much better food and choice on my local budget airline, Air Asia. I am not tall by any stretch of the imagination and the seat squab only came half way up my thigh on A380, the other aircraft (not sure - A340?) was at least normal in this respect. They boast about the suites on the A380 and I guess this is solely to satisfy their mega rich local customers - when it comes to economy they really don't care. Ground service and the way a cancelled flight was dealt with wasn't any better, updates were not the truth, it seemed staff were disorganised even though there were a lot of them, vouchers and information about breakfasts seemed to be handed out on a 1 by 1 basis and not told to everyone.

London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi. The A380 was great, but that was all that was impressive about this flight. The plane being new and cutting edge, sold itself. The service was at best, mediocre and the cabin crew showed their lack of experience in confusion and getting mixed up. With a ‘light’ flight, there seemed more a gossip and snacking culture rather than a commitment to looking after their ‘guests’. I had pre-ordered AVML, but was told I should have the veg pasta on the menu, which I did. Then they discovered that the AVML was in the oven, so I agreed to try it out. The AVML was awful! It was as bad as a hospital meal, bland, tasteless, half cooked and not at all AVML. More like kosher or post recuperation food served by nursing staff. The crew apologised for not having AUH landing cards on board – another example of Etihad Airways lack of organisation. Had it been a full flight, I am sure utter mix ups and confusion would have prevailed. The cabin crew did the minimum work and apart from the ambience of the new A380, this one really felt like a budget airline flight. Abu Dhabi to Delhi was a one-off experience! Long queues prevailed at the gate as staff was not able to handle the various combinations of passports, visas and baggage. The process was extremely slow with officials running around, and when we were bundled off the buses onto the aircraft, a compact A320, the cabin crew were not able to handle the seating of passengers, who were allowed to freely roam, change seats, bunch together, shout across the aisles at each other – in chaos. The cleanliness of the aircraft also left something to be desired as one could clearly see grease on windows and unprepared seat pockets (litter in torn literature, left over chewing gum etc.). My seat cushion kept on slipping away forwards, coming off the seat frame. Its Velcro had seen better days. The cover on the seat cushion also came off – a thoroughly uncomfortable situation throughout the flight. Once airborne, Etihad chose to serve dinner. The choice is clearly yours, but at 3:30am (AUH) (4:30am DEL), would it not have been better to have served a substantial snack or a light breakfast rather than dinner, serving which was an ordeal for all in cramped cabin space on this plane. My meal was once again comic. The Serbian hostess told me that they had run out of the veg option, so she ‘could offer me lamb or chicken’. She obviously had no idea! What was the point proudly distributing the menu? I was served flat Coca Cola out of the last remains of a bottle of Coke and she insisted it was ‘fresh’ and not ‘flat’ as it sure was. When I said that I had pre-ordered AVML, she said that might be in the front galley. When the trolley service finished ten minutes later, I was half way through rice salad, bread and Coke, the ‘special’ meal arrived. It was OVML and had clearly been opened previously – I thought it may have even been from another discarded tray! The most uninviting chow mein in it was clearly not my request. Putting Serbian and Swahili speaking staff on a AUH-DEL flight where passengers are likely to be 90% Indian, puts unnecessary stress on the crew despite their brave ‘plastic smiles’, and doesn’t help anyone on the flight.

Jeddah to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways. Undoubtedly the worst ever check-in I have experienced anywhere in the world. Due to some technical issue relating to the check-in computers which was not conveyed to the passengers, it took 4.5 hours to check everyone in; the check-in procedure required pushing, shoving, shouting and general aggravation as no barriers were erected to facilitate fair queueing. I have never in my life watch passengers carrying their baggage over their head, barge to the front of the queue, shout, get angry and then achieve their desire in such an outrageous way. To see the Etihad staff shout and abuse some passengers was also totally unacceptable; quite clearly they could not cope. I was virtually the last person on the plane which was delayed for 2.5 hours and as such missed my onward connection in Abu Dhabi resulting in a 9 hour stay at the Airport Premier Inn and missing my first night in my Bangkok Hotel for which I paid around USD100 which has still not been reimbursed. The customer service has been dreadful since my emails and forms to the Etihad system were ignored. Eventually I received 20,000 air miles after writing to the boss and an apology. 20,000 airmiles are not the same as flying 20,000 miles in the air mind you. I have made some enquiries and believe I will receive a small discount if I fly this route with them again; I also receive junk mail from Etihad Airways now as well which I don't like. The flights themselves were okay but the seats are too narrow and the leg room is poor. IFE is okay but not as good as other middle-eastern carriers - too many US English films.