[Manzrek]

My confirmed ticket to Kathmandu, Nepal was on the 8th October from IAD-JFK-AUH-KTM.

However, on Oct. 1st I had inquired Etihad's office in Kathmandu, Nepal if they could provide me an alternative date to fly out from Washington DC. I had simply asked them to check if Oct. 19th was available. Etihad Airways sent me an email saying that Oct. 22nd was a possibility and a total of $125 was required to change the date. I did not want to pay for any changes so I simply did not reply to their email remaining my status quo. Instead I asked Etihad via another email for my confirmation before they made any changes to my itenary.


I reached IAD on Oct. 8th where they checked my luggage all the way to KTM. I felt that everything was straight. As I am waiting for my Delta flight out of IAD to JFK, Delta personnel informed me that the morning flight (6:40am) to JFK had been canceled and they moved me to a UA flight to New York. I felt that I was running a little late because the time I reached Etihad'd counter in JFK, it was around 9:50am. Etihad's flight left around 10:50am so they almost had their counter closed. The gentleman in the counter tried to help me get boarded but later informed me that someone had changed my reservation. I was shocked at that moment. He however told me that since seats were available from JFK-AUH it was okay. But flights were fully booked from AUH-KTM and he could do nothing because my reservation had changed.

So there I was. Helpless. No idea on how to move forward. The best thing I thought was once I got back to Washington DC I could call up and figure out want happened with my Etihad's reservation. So I went to Delta's ticketing counter and asked the gentleman to help me out by providing me a roundtrip ticket JFK-IAD-JFK. He helped me out by providing me a ticket back to JFK-IAD. Also, they were fooding expenses incurred, along with transportation charges from IAD to Maryland, telephone expenses.

After I arrived I called Etihad and they informed me on Oct. 10th that I could fly out from JFK-AUH-KTM on Oct. 11th. They did not mention anything from flying out of Washington DC to JFK and when I asked them, they told me to purchase my own tickets. I declined their offer because ticket price from IAD-JFK was costing me $170 whereas I had initially paid $1950 for a roundtrip ticket from KTM-AUH-JFK-IAD and back IAD-JFK-AUH-KTM. And also, there was a time constraint since I was already back in Washington DC.

What should be my course of action? Etihad has asked me what date I wanted to fly to KTM and I have given them a date. However, they have not emphasized my ticket from IAD-JFK. I am in a dilemma. So please I ask you to help me out.