Etihad Airways

Not Verified | Worst experience ever. Old aircraft, many personal screens not working properly, usb plug in for charging phones etc not working, service not great. But the worst of all: luggage was delayed. Was easy to put in a claim for money spent for urgent needed items until the luggage arrived, then the tedious work started: links they sent re the claim weren’t working and emails didn’t have clear instruction. I was forced to sign up as a guest member to go ahead with the claim. Difficult to find phone numbers to contact them directly, then no one answered, even not the option to leave a voice mail. They sent emails from email accounts which were no longer valid when sending an answer a few hours later, no indication which email to use for them so ended up having a minimum of 4 different email addresses and none of them seem to have been the correct one. All in all, many emails had to be sent, weren't answered detailed, but in a standard way. The whole process took 3 months. I will never fly with them again!

✅ Trip Verified | Ridiculous rude staff. I would not recommend this airline. The ground staff was the worst. I was forced to check my small hand luggage as it was just over 7kg.

Not Verified | The worst airline company I have ever seen, they lost my luggage after my flight from Istanbul to Abu Dhabi on the 20th August, and now it is the 26th of October still with no answer. I followed all the procedures that needed to be followed, I called their useless customer/ luggage center on a daily basis, but nothing much has changed. The only thing they can say is that we email the officer and they are going to contact you as soon as possible. After 21 days of waiting for the luggage to be located or traced, you will need to start a new long journey of 28 days waiting for them scratching their heads to think about the reimbursement amount. Once they decide to reimburse you( a set of money that doesn't cover even one-third the value of your luggage), you have to fill out a PDF full of abbreviations. Here, the journey of replying to their emails and spending decades waiting for their reply starts. Once you decide to call them, they will reply in a disrespectful way saying that the process takes 30 days for the money transfer to be reflected on your account. Overall, I will never travel on that airline and it is not recommended at all.

✅ Trip Verified | Having recently enjoyed a great time on Etihad's A380, I was looking forward to the flight on the newly refurbished Boeing 787 . However, at Bangkok Airport, the check-in desks were probably the worst I've encountered. The two business class desks looked plain and unwelcoming. There were two dirty worn-out pieces of carpet, bearing the word 'business', that were a sorry sight. The woman at the check-in desk would not smile or even utter a word of greeting. Instead, simply went through the process of passport check and handed me the boarding pass. I had to ask for a voucher for the lounge, to which she replied 'OK' and proceeded to find one and hand it to me. I was disappointed, as a few rows back the Thai Airlines counters were all gorgeous looking, with floral decorations and clean. The business class cabin looked beautiful, and the colours soothing. The cabin crew were smiling and welcomed me, I was served with champagne and hot towel and wished a good flight. The seat design is the same as in the A380. Wide and comfortable, with options to adjust for a harder or softer feel. Also provided was a large pillow, soft mattress and duvet. On the side table was an Acqua di Parma amenity kit. The storage compartment on the side of the seat contained the headphones, water bottle and space for storing smaller items. The IFE was very easy to use. Though not a great number of new movies, there was enough I think to satisfy everyone. The flight to Abu Dhabi was with a stop in Phuket to pick up more passengers. Therefore during the short one hour flight, I was served with drinks and a selection of tiny morsels of finger food. Asked whether I enjoyed it, I replied 'I don't know what it all was, but it tasted damn good'. Once the rest of the passengers boarded at Phuket and hot towels were given, pre-departure drinks were served. I opted for a delicious mint drink, and soon we were on our way, on time, to Abu Dhabi. Mohammed, the Cabin Manager, was exceptionally obliging and engaging with passengers in the nearly full 28-seat cabin. Other crew members were taking dinner orders. With the 'dine on demand' service, I decided to have my dinner as soon as possible, to get some sleep. I omitted any starters and went for the main course of braised rib steak, followed by a cheese board. A turndown service was offered. However, I managed to set up the mattress myself and, following a coffee and cognac, I settled for a two hour sleep and was woken up as requested two-hours before arrival. The cabin crew came around speaking to awake passengers, and checking if they needed anything. Overall the service was excellent. My only wee complaint is, as in night flights, providing pyjamas would have added that extra comfort to an otherwise perfect flight experience.

✅ Trip Verified | It was good to see Etihad had brought back its A380 fleet especially on the London to Abu Dhabi route. I built up much anticipation for my upcoming flights. From the speedy and friendly check-in to the comfortable lounge, and being addressed by name on boarding, I felt I was on a memorable flight. The upper deck has both forward and rear-facing seating referred to as business studios. I had selected a forward-facing window seat, which also has additional storage bins by the windows. The seat felt very comfortable with options to adjust for a harder or softer feel. Also provided was a large pillow, soft mattress and duvet. On the side table was an Acqua di Parma amenity kit. The storage compartment on the side of the seat contained the headphones, water bottle and space for smaller items. Following the usual pre-flight champagne and hot towels, the cabin crew came around to take orders for lunch. I found the 'dine on demand' concept especially useful. In addition, an à la carte 'all day menu' enables you to order quite a tempting selection of items like a steak sandwich, salads, cheeses and crackers and ice cream. Soon after take off, the bar service began, and I settled for a JD on ice which was served with warm nuts. One crew member invited me to the small lounge, (which can seat up to six passengers), and have a light snack and more drinks before my late lunch. And it was served on time, with a delicious Arabic Meze for starters, and stone sea bass for the main course. The Chardonnay served, followed the etiquette of showing the bottle, and tasting before pouring, which I appreciated. The IFE was very easy to use. Though not a great number of first-run movies, there was something to satisfy everyone. What I did come across was that you could order drinks from the bar through your IFE - something I had not come across before. On the return red-eye flight, I did manage to get some sleep. My one slight disappointment was no pyjamas were provided. The cabin crew were excellent, checking up on me, engaging in short chats, and offering to top up my drinks. While the hard product on most airlines' long-haul business class is good, what makes a good flight a great flight is the onboard service. And here, Etihad are on the top of their game.

✅ Trip Verified | Our two flights with Etihad were smooth and reasonably enjoyable for a 27-hour journey. Etihad check-in staff were friendly and made an effort to resolve problems. However, we did not appreciate the moneygrubbing attitude of the airline in restricting carry-on to a single piece: difficult with anyone with a laptop. Cabin staff were efficient, welcoming and gave excellent service. Meals were tasty, with ample portions available. We appreciated it that they were served in a timely manner: no waiting for hours after take-off. The airline provided a kit for the first overnight flight, with eye-mask, earplugs, sanitisers and toothbrush: this was very much appreciated. Entertainment channel was good, with a fairly wide selection, although short on European movies and music. Transit through Abu Dhabi was a negative, with long queues in compulsory screening. The Al-Dhabi lounge at Abu Dhabi is not to be recommended: more like a student mensa, with crowds of passengers and limited seating. Disembarkation and luggage collection went smoothly.

✅ Trip Verified | I am extremely unhappy with the service I received today. I was unaware as I booked through a travel agent that I was not allowed a handbag and a carry on. What airline does not allow this? I’ve never heard of this before. I was a solo student traveling and the manager at Manchester airport was extremely rude and unhelpful to me. Her words when I was crying of stress was “either you throw your belongings away, pay £600 or miss you flight but you better hurry up because check in closes in 5 minutes”. That is the same price as my entire flight. I eventually threw whatever I could away (this being school books) as that’s all I could and got it down to 9kgs which then cost me £480. I am furious. That was my entire holiday spending money spent on a carry on bag. Please tell me how this is ok? A friend told me they flew Lufthansa last week and paid £100 for an entire 23kg extra back. I paid x5 that for a small 9kgs bag that could fit in the overhead. I will never fly Etihad again and I will make sure everyone I know does not either. This is daylight robbery and just completely unacceptable.

✅ Trip Verified | Etihad continue to fly the old 777 ancient and uncomfortable aircraft. You'll get an A380 with a proper screen seats and meal on a 7 hour flight from London and then have to endure one of the worst seats with no screens attached and worst food you can find for 5 hours. Don't do it, try any of the other carriers first.

✅ Trip Verified |   I booked with Etihad so i could experience Etihad. Instead on my flight to Jakarta i got a service on par with a low cost airline. To begin with at online checkin you try selling me a business class product that you knew you could not provide. You also try to sell me an empty seat/row that you also knew you could not provide. I was only able to partially do online check in. The checkin agent could not move me to a window seat, even though when i boarded there was one available two rows behind. When i arrived to Abu Dhabi had to use the transfer service desk. The person who printed off my boarding passed lied to me telling i had a window seat. The boarding process at Abu Dhabi, no speaker system, and no zoning system. Once onboard i found my seat, in the middle of the aircraft in front of the toilets, it was extremely warm and uncomfortable. The row either side of the toilets are known to be the worst seats on any airline, due to the queues and the noise from the flush. I asked to change seats but apparently they’re was a 100% load factor on the flight. Was provided an extremely small snack as the first meal. On both flights the trolley for the drinks only came pass twice These been no explanation in the change of equipment and I’m really disappointed.

✅ Trip Verified | I just traveled from Singapore to Abu Dhabi on an Etihad B787, row 15. I was excited to fly Etihad as online and through their marketing it looked like a great airline but my experience was far from it, and the sad thing is the staff didn't care. First we took off 75m late. We boarded on time and only 30mins after take off time did the pilot say we had a problem that was fixed and we would be leaving soon, we taxied towards the runway and the pilot stopped the plane and said the fault re appeared so we were stopping. We stopped for 20 or so mins then started moving back the same direction we came from with no further announcement by the pilot until another 25 mins later after a very slow taxi to the most remote runway in Singapore he announced to the cabin crew to prepare for takeoff. The pilot didn't make the normal post take off announcement and we only heard from the flight crew when we were landing so the care and attention about their passengers was poor with no info what was happening. On board the plane felt like it was falling apart, tray tables were dirty, all the pockets containing things like the safety on board card were all falling apart (see photo), the seats wouldnt recline properly the crew didn't care. We were with our baby and were not offered a basinett even though we were in a basinett seat and the staff refused to help us collect rubbish from the floor to throw away when they came around to collect rubbish and we were trying to deal with 2 children. They said quite rudely to give them the rubbish and then just walked off leaving it there because they didn't want to reach down to collect it. I gave feedback to one staff member who just looked at me blankly. We had to deplane via stairs and a bus, Etihad deplaned all business class first leaving us stood outside in the heat with a baby waiting for a bus as they wouldn't put us on a half empty business class bus. Overall a really poor and disappointing experience, certainly not customer first.