Etihad Airways - Airline of the United Arab Emirates. (Etihad Airways)

Member Name: Lady_Sunshine

Product:	Etihad Airways
Date:	23/05/09 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Guest scheme giving you additional luggage allowance

Disadvantages: Lacking customer service when it comes to resolving issues

Etihad Airways is an airline I became familiar with through my job. My extremely varied role includes PA work and I have been responsible for organising travel for various members of the company, mainly the partners.

One partner in particular is a very fussy flier and hates flying but always sung the praises of Etihad. So, when I was looking for flight to Bangkok and Etihad came in cheaper than anybody, I did not hesitate to book with them.

From the minute we checked in the service was incredible. Our flight was delayed by about 2 hours due to a technical fault which meant that we would miss our connecting flight in Abu Dhabi but this was unavoidable. We were looked after the whole time and constantly kept up to date with what was happening.

Once on the plane we were met with smiles and drinks. The planes are very nice and you get a 32" pitch in economy as standard (my very long legs were grateful for this.). On our seats were comfort packs which included socks, earplugs, blanket & cushion. Once in the air we were given head phones for the in flight entertainment system which has a selection of movies, games, TV shows and music to keep you occupied during you flight. We were then presented with a menu, that's right, a menu. I was impressed that we actually had a choice and the food was the best I had ever had in the air. There was a complementary bar service throughout the flight so the only thing you had to pay for was duty free (unlike the budget airlines where everything costs money!)

As we began our decent into Abu Dhabi I started to worry as I knew that the next flight to Bangkok was not until the following day. It turns out there was actually no need to worry as the flight had been held on the ground until we got there. Now very happy, we continued on to Bangkok.


Our first flight was in November 2007 when they were only about 4 years old, we flew with them again this April. Etihad is still young but I fear that cracks are starting to appear.

Having such a great experience the first time around I did not hesitate to book with them for our next trip to Thailand.

2 weeks before we were due to fly I noticed that the agent had booked us on a 08:25 flight instead of the 20:35 flight. This was impossible as we not due to land back in Bangkok until 15:30. I paid the £75 to charge to make the changes and was happy that everything had been taken care of. A week passed and they hadn't taken the money from my account. I called them to ensure they had the right card number which they confirmed and explained that sometimes the money is not taken immediately so I should wait a few more days. Still no money was taken from my account. I called again and was assured that everything was fine and our new flight time was confirmed.

Just like our first flight with them in 2007 we could not fault them, food was fantastic as was the service. Our problems began after 3 weeks of lovely vacation when we tried to check in. I was told that even though we had seats allocated we were not confirmed on that flight and that we should have flown on the 8am flight. The way this was dealt with was shocking. We were left to sit across from the check in desk on hard metal seats for 3 whole hours. Every time I went to the desk I was completely ignored like I wasn't even there and when I asked what was going on I was simply told to sit down and wait while they read my booking record was apparently very long. To this day I still cannot work out how it took 3 hours to read a few sheets of paper but we eventually paid £150 and boarded the flight.

In the grand scheme of things this was more of a huge inconvenience than a real problem but since then I have received various complaints at work about requests not being met by Etihad, things like window seats that are in our contact were not being provided. I feel that Etihad as a whole is still and excellent airline but their customer service needs to improve drastically.

One piece of advise I would give you if you fly with Etihad it is to join their guest scheme, it's free and you benefit from an additional 10kg luggage allowance bringing you up 30kg.

So, there you have it an honest review of both my good and bad experiences with Etihad.

Summary: A very pleasant flight at a very pleasant price.