[mrrodwell]

I work in Kuwait and my wife works in Abu Dhabi. I used my credit card to book my wife a flight on Etihad to come and see me in Kuwait for the recent UAE national day weekend.

The day before she was due to fly, I received an email from Etihad saying, that, as the flight was booked using a card in a different name to the passenger, they had suspended the ticket, but if my wife could present the card to the check in, the ticket would be released. I called Etihad and was told that if I prepared a scan of my card, passport and a signed letter and gave that to my wife, that would probably be satisfactory for the Etihad representative at check in, though it was their discretion.

My wife brought the document to the airport on the morning of the flight and presented it. Though the Etihad representative she initially spoke to accepted the document, when she presented it to check-in, they refused to accept it.

Well, to cut a long story short, it soon emerged that the flight had been overbooked, and before my wife had had any opportunity to present the ID (the document I had prepared, or potentially, the original card, had I been there), Etihad had sold the seat I had booked for my wife (and already paid for) to somebody else. Consequently, they did not even give her the opportunity to pay for the ticket with her own card.

The Etihad representative on check-in apologised and told my wife that my card would be refunded.

I waited one week to see the refund appear on my card, and, seeing no refund, I called Etihad. I was informed that to obtain a refund I would have to pay a cancellation fee of nearly 40% of the value of the ticket. Now, bearing in mind that Etihad had sold my wife's seat to somebody else before she had even had an opportunity to present the ID, I found this disgusting and completely unacceptable and had a long discussion with an extremely unhelpful Etihad representative. No supervisor was present at the time of the call to escalate the complaint.

Two days ago I called Etihad again and explained the situation to another representative. I was told that the matter would be passed to her supervisor who would be in touch on the mobile number I gave her. The supervisor did not call me back.

Etihad has stolen my money and I can't think or a more diplomatic way to describe what they have done, as they sold the seat I had bought for my wife to someone else and now refuse to pay back the full value of my ticket.

I was on the phone with my wife the entire time that she was dealing with the check-in staff and their treatment of her and manners were appalling. In addition, she wasted AED 150 on taxis to the airport and back again.

My wife and I are both lawyers and though I do not want to escalate the claim, unless this is satisfactorily resolved, I feel that I have no other choice.