[BeeGee]

My STRONG recommendation to you, dear reader is- unless you have a fetish for being treated in a high-handed, demeaning and utterly dismissive manner- that you NEVER fly Etihad Airways. Above all, do not think of them as an Emirates/Qantas/BA surrogate; their customer service ethic is pure, undiluted Aeroflot.

That I should have encountered some difficulties with baggage handling, despite checking in three and a half hours prior to departure, is no more than an occupational hazard. However, the manner in which this this Arab-bazaar-masquerading-as-a-reputable-international-airline fails even to acknowledge, let alone address, customer complaints is quite breathtaking.

I am not a user of social media and therefore cannot follow the advice of the Etihad employee to whom I (finally) spoke; that party enjoined me to take my complaint to Facebook/Twitter etc. because her employer's habitual approach to customer complaints is simply to ignore them. Well, this is as close as I can manage so to repeat, if you are thinking of booking with Etihad, I suggest that you think again.

[Etihad Representative]

Hi there, we are sorry to hear you had an unpleasant experience with us.
If you wish, please send us a Private Message with your booking details and we will pass on your feedback to our Guest Relations team so that they can investigate before getting back to you with a response. Thank you for your patience *FT