Hi everyone, I’m new here and hope this is the right place to share this. I’m mainly posting to see whether others have had similar experiences.
I booked a return flight with Etihad from Zurich to Auckland back in April, routing via Abu Dhabi and Sydney. In August, I received an email about “operational changes” and was asked to accept revised flight times. I did so, noticed my seat assignments had changed, likely due to an aircraft swap, called Etihad customer service, and they fixed it without issue. At that point, everything seemed fine.
Fast forward to just before departure. I received the usual automated emails, “10 days to go,” then “Check-in is open.” But the email said, “Your trip to Sydney.” That immediately raised alarms since Sydney was only a layover, not my final destination.
When I tried to check in, I discovered that the final leg to Auckland had completely disappeared from my itinerary.
I called Etihad customer service right away. First, I was told the flight had been cancelled and that I was notified in August, which was not true. I reviewed those emails carefully and there was no mention of the Auckland leg being removed. Then they changed the story and said the flight still existed but was now full. I checked Etihad’s own website and saw the same flight was still being sold.
They then told me they could rebook me on the flight, but only if I paid the fare difference. I refused, as I had already paid for a confirmed ticket and had never been informed of any cancellation. I was told they would call me back in two hours.
They did, only to ask me to wait another two hours. Eventually, they admitted something had gone wrong but said they couldn’t identify the issue and had escalated it to a supervisor who would call me the next morning, the day of departure. That call never came.
When I called again, I was instructed to go to the airport and speak with Etihad staff in person. I bought last-minute train tickets at my own expense and arrived at Zurich Airport five hours early, only to discover that Etihad staff wouldn’t even be present until three hours before departure.
When I finally met the single Etihad employee on duty, who genuinely deserves credit, he spent an hour and a half on the phone with Etihad’s Abu Dhabi team, escalating the issue step by step. Eventually, he was told that Etihad had sent me another “operational change” email in November, and because I hadn’t responded, my ticket was automatically cancelled.
I never received this email. I checked thoroughly. Etihad claimed they had proof the email was sent, but could not prove it was delivered or received. After lengthy discussions, they finally reinstated my original itinerary and put me on the flight as originally booked, with no additional charge.
Since then, Etihad has ignored multiple requests to reimburse the train tickets I had to purchase because of their errors. I did, however, bring a gift back for the airport employee who actually helped resolve the situation.
I will never fly Etihad again. Their customer service attitude felt hostile, their policies offer little duty of care, and their default response seems to be to push the burden onto the customer. This experience was genuinely worse than dealing with ultra-low-cost carriers.
I’m curious whether others have gone through something similar. Thanks for reading.
0