[MNQ]

Well, i was temped by the nice promotions Etihad makes and biy, was I dissapointed.

I travel a lot (at least 6 flights per year) but I have never , ever had such bad experiences before.





I booked my flight on 09th of September to fly 16th of December. My friend Sjoer booked on 11th.
Friends of mine decided to join me, so in total I was the direct cause of 5 people booking tickets.



Check in Brussels airport :

Flight overbooked. Not sure whether all of us can fly. My friend might have to stay behind, he was offered a compensation of 400 €uro. But logisticallly for our arrangements in Kenya, for us this was no option.

My other friend, SJOER, was allowed to fly with us to Abu Dabi. Check in said, upon arrival, she would receive her boarding pass to Nairobi.

After a very comfortable flight and a perfect touch down, we passed by the Etihad desk at our arrival gate. They send us upstairs to Etihad ‘office’. There was a cue of 25 meters there !!!! So we arrive from Brussels, to be standing in a cue, because of an Etihad problem with giving issuing a boarding pass ? I had expected to receive it upon disembarking from the plane.

Not to go and stand in a cue of 25 meters. I wanted to walk around and discover the airport, not stand in line for something which was NOT our own mistake ? SO I discuss this with one of the Etihad people walking around trying to answer questions from ‘guests’. He went to check our gate for our connecting flight, which was 53 (not 21 as my boarding pass said) and advised us to go there and ask them for a boarding pass.

Than, we came to an area which had a cue of at least 200 people. Really ? you expect us to stand in this line again ? So I passed the cue and talked gain to one of Etihad’s people and he told me to go upstairs to another desk.

Fortunately, at this desk, there was a normal and competent person, who gave us the boarding pass within 30 seconds. BUT it took us 1 hour to make it this far.

This is absolutely beyond ANY experience I had ever before.

I do fly a lot so I do not what I am talking.

GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND TREAT GUESTS AS GUESTS , not as stupid monkeys. That is how we felt.

[MNQ]

The ultimate super Etihad answer !
19 January 2014

Dear Mr. 187881 (I changed sex and I’m just a number)

Thank you for your response.

It is disappointing to read that we have been unable to respond to you in a way that meets your expectations. Our sole intention when corresponding with any of our Guests is to address their individual concerns and seek a solution to the problems, wherever possible. (apparently asking for another chance to fly Etihad is not a good idea)

It is sometimes inevitable that the resolution derived is deemed unfavorable by our passengers. We understand your disappointment. (wake up a sleeping ticket is an easy solution in guest point of view)

I have certainly looked again at what happened and taken into account everything you have told us. Whilst mindful of your disappointment in respect of the explanation and apology offered in our correspondence, please allow me to assure you that the well defined policies we have in place to ensure that we are both consistent, and fair, to all of our guests.

(fair ? : on website stated rules are overruled, how’s that fair ?)

Whenever we write to guests it is normally because expectations have not been met, and we always try to recover the situation as best we can and ensure the responsible departments/ staff members are made aware that their actions have damaged the professional image we strive hard to achieve.

(than recover the situation by refunding the airporttax of a ticket we will not be able to use because you do not want to wake it up for free)

I would also like to explain that we establish the appropriate level of compensation depending on multiple factors. I would like to add that we do not offer complimentary miles as a matter of course, (i do not want) In this particular situation, we once again apologise for the delay on your flight EY57 and regret the inconvenience this may have caused. (that is not my misery ! my misery was OVERBOOKING, waiting, Not being issued a boarding pass for the second leg (AUH-NBO) , having to run around abu-dabi to try and look for a boarding pass) Thus loosing hours, having stressed hours…..

I understand that you misconnected on your onward train connection, however, the onward train connection was not booked in conjunction with the Etihad flight itinerary. Our contract was to fly you from Abu Dhabi to Brussels. However, had the onward train ticket been combined on the reservation with Etihad, we would have been able to rebook a new ticket for you. THAT was a MINOR problem, no action needed frm Etihad.

Nevertheless, we are happy to increase the mileage offer to 10,000 Etihad guest miles.

I do not want 10.000 nor 100.000 miles. Upgrade ? I want you to open up PRNUSL to TRY again and see if Etihad CAN actually satisfy ”guests” by NOT overbooking, NOT having to stand in a que for more than 1 hour while in transfer @ ABu Dhabi . Just want to have a smooth flight.

At the same time, I think it might be of a benefit to clarify that the mileage compensation, offered to you has a monetary value and can be utilised towards services and reward items (including Upgrades) and other merchandise, offered by Etihad and other suppliers. Please refer to our website www.etihadguest.com / Reward shop category for more details in this respect.

Turning to your concern regarding the ticketing concern for your sister’s reservation, may I respectfully suggest you to contact your nearest Etihad sales office or you may also contact our global contact center and our colleagues there will be happy to assist you.

Lucky for you lucky sister couldn’t join us, for than the overbooking would have had 1 pax more !!!



Yours sincerely, Gunjan Thakur

Guest Affairs Officer