Etihad airways not allowing me to board a flight
 

I have recently purchased a ticket online (using my friend credit card). After I completed the purchase, Etihad had sent me a purchase confirmation email reminding me to bring a copy of the credit card I used for this purchase.

Etihad emplyee refused to board me to the flight as he wanted the "original credit card" and did not accept a copy of the credit card or the card holder ID. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????

They were claiming that the bank did not process the payment and fagged as fraud!!! Few days later, I got the bank statement and in fact Eithad did get the money and that purchase was a successful transaction. But with them you can no way get your money back.....

They forced me to buy a NEW one from the airport.

I don't recommed this airline to anyone....

cheers,

Dear Anashadi,

I am sorry you have faced issues while flying with us. Please email your complaint to [e-mail removed by Admin - complaints must be resolved on AirlineComplaints.org], where our team will be pleased to assist you.

Kind Regards

Cazzi B

My reply (with evidence) to etihad senior office but without a reply so far.
 

Dear Mohamed,

Thanks for your email.

I have checked with my banker in UK and found that this payment has been accepted and purchase has been successfully completed without and fraud flags or requests sent from the bank. Kindly find my colleague monthly statement which confirms the same.

In light of this, I would like to request you again to:


1- Justify why there was obvious discourtesy in dealing with me & my family at the check-in counter? Etihad Duty Manager (in front of everyone) had shown her power by unloading my family luggage from the aeroplane after they board to the flight. She had also threaten us by not allowing my Wife and Son to board this flight. As you know, they have OK tickets and there were not part of any discussion. She had also forced us to go to T3 running to seek more help from her manager in order to catch up with the flight and then purchase a NEW ticket from T1, etc. It was a big hassle traveling with Etihad on that day.

2- Abu Dhabi –Amman tickets are not subject to the security check (as per your contact centre). I want to know why Cards holder ID copy and Copy of the credit card (with card holder signature on the copy) are not enough to board to the flight?

3- I spoke to the bank and they confirmed that this purchase is completed successfully and there was no fraud signal sent from the bank in this regard. Please send your concrete evidence that bank has flagged this to you is fraud and did not complete or suspended the purchase. As per our records (and the bank records) this purchase was completed.

4- My terms with you are on this ticket as attached. I was able to present a card copy and card holder ID at the counter as per the terms on the ticket. Now, if there is any issue with my ticket, I think you MUST have at least called me by phone to communicate the same before the travel date (assuming that you take care of your Etihad Guest or Frequent flyer).

5- Full reimbursement (refund) of the ticket purchased online as confirmed in the monthly statement and by the Bank authority. Please note that this statement is issued on the 20th December 2011, which means that this purchase has gone through as per the Banker confirmation and there was no request from the bank to suspend this ticket.

6- Full refund of the value difference between the ticket I bought from Airport and the actual value you charged me online.

I am hoping that we can close this case quickly to avoid any further escalation.

Thanks, A.A.

A.A.


From: Etihad Feedback [mailto:feedback@etihad.ae]
Sent: 29 December 2011 11:10
To: A.A.
Subject: To Mr. A.A. From Etihad Airways [RQID:085263]

Date 29 December 2011
REF 085263

Dear Mr. A.A.,

Thank you for your correspondence and for detailing your concerns relating to your recent experience with Etihad Airways.

As a customer focused airline, we greatly value our passengers’ feedback and perspectives, so we appreciate the time you took to let know about your experience. Clearly, we did not deliver or meet expectations on this occasion. I cannot explain or excuse the service failures your correspondence describes and I would simply like to apologise for your disappointment.

Upon investigation, it has been confirmed that your bank was not authorising the payment, claiming that the transaction was fraudulent. If the issuer is not authorising the transaction then it is the responsibility of the cardholder to liaise with their bank to rectify the issue. The bank cannot decline a transaction as fraudulent when the cardholder is confirming the transaction as a genuine attempt. Therefore, this will need to be discussed with your bank.

The merchant, being Etihad, uses an electronic mode to seek an authorisation code on the transaction. Etihad can only request for a manual authorisation when the system flags the transaction as referral.
It is also important for you to be aware that we occasionally do receive feedback from our guests advising us that their credit cards were used by someone else and sometimes we receive emails from banks advising us that certain credit cards used to make bookings online are fraudulent.

To avoid the increase of the number of fraud bookings created online and the feedback we receive to support this fraudulent activity, we have a process where we carry out our own checks, mostly for security reasons. Lots of reservations are not confirmed as fraudulent but we have to make these checks as we have been informed to do so by our finance department or the concerned bank. If these checks were not actioned Etihad, as a company, would be penalised and our Guests credit cards could be used without their knowledge. These checks are carried out to prevent the number of fraudulent transactions increasing, and to protect you and your friend the credit card holder.

In light of the above Mr. A.A., I hope you understand our position by not acceding to your request for the fare difference. Might I suggest that you contact our sales office or toll free number to assist you with the suspended ticket number: 607:2107150052.

Once again we thank you for your feedback and I hope that Etihad Airways will have the pleasure of welcoming you and your family again on board one of our flights in the not too distant future.

Yours sincerely,

Mohamed Kamil
Guest Affairs Senior Officer

Etihad Airways,
PO Box 35566,
Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates.

www.etihadairways.com<http://www.etihadairways.com/>

The National Airline of The United Arab Emirates.




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http://www.airlinecomplaints.org/cid:243:5964:0