Horrendous Flight With Etihad

[speedways]

i am a frequent traveller to bkk , originally from the uk, and now from spain

i have flown with several airlines and find qatar to be the best of the MEA

their hub at doha has been constantly improved and their service is second

to none.

their aircraft are airbus a 340,s and entertainment consoles on seatbacks

with good legroom and are all less than 5 years old

i would recommend them anytime

i have been delayed on lgw/doh route in the past , but found their staff

very honest and helpful

[INTJ]

Hi Shrek,

Some of the responses are baffling to say the least.............Obviously people who haven't travelled with small children.

I flew to Manchester with Emirates a couple of months ago with my wife and 2 children. No issues on the BKK-MAN leg, but on the return the plane was delayed out of Manchester by a couple of hours, which meant we missed the Dubai-BKK connection. There was a bit of a bunfight at the transfer desk, but when I got to the front of the queue we were given 2 hotel rooms, 3 sets of food vouchers and booked on to the Thai airways flight 14 hours later.

The whole experience was absolutely stress free, the hotel fantastic with great food. I had a big meal, then slept in a lovely room for 8 hours, down for another big meal (amazing Tikka Masala amongst other things) then back to the airport and on to the flight. All this was of considerable importance the children were travelling as well. My sympathies to you on what must have been a nightmere.

Of course planes are late, blah blah blah, its how the airline deals with these eventualities that are at issue here. Top marks to Emirates, bottom marks to Etihad. I will never fly with them on account of your testimony.

Cheers.

[JimsKnight]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Etihad.

In 6 full round trips with Etihad I had 1 delay of 3 hours in BKK but they made sure they held the plane to Manchester at Abu Dhabi so we got our connection.

No fun to lose you baggage either. That can be infuriating on top of everything else.

Maybe a bad day? Don't all airlines have those?

Thing is, if we want to travel long distances we sometimes have to put up with these mishaps. Doesn't make us feel any better though especially when the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and being shoved from pillar to post while being told umpteen different things that never agree with what we were told in the first place.

True enough but as Etihad cut their fares complaints due to 'matters not in flight' ie baggage, delays, information, support, transfers' seem to be growing.

You can cut the chances of avoiding these issues by simply avoiding the middle east and just going straight from BKK to england or western europe, where you can easilly get to manchester. leeds or even sheffield.

The only hitch with that one is the fuel is so much cheaper in the Middle East and so airlines routing via that hub are the cheapest to get to BKK on. Hence you pay through the nose for going direct.

I hate the place and wouldn't live there if you paid me but as I'm usually just passing through I can stomach a wee delay here and there.

I never fly Etihad although I've seen they are joint cheapest along with Emirates and Quatar airlines etc...

[true blue]

ive flown with eithad, many times and no complaints. but i suppose like everything in life there is always the 1st time, things can go pear shaped.

[ClaytonSeymour]

A

It's really bad that since you were travelling with 2 small children they did not go out of their way to help.

I'm glad to hear they do not give preference to children.

[madjbs]

Top marks to Emirates, bottom marks to Etihad. I will never fly with them on account of your testimony.

If you do a 1 minute search on google you will find hundreds of horror storys from all airlines.

[Shrek]

Hi Shrek,

Some of the responses are baffling to say the least.............Obviously people who haven't travelled with small children.

I flew to Manchester with Emirates a couple of months ago with my wife and 2 children. No issues on the BKK-MAN leg, but on the return the plane was delayed out of Manchester by a couple of hours, which meant we missed the Dubai-BKK connection. There was a bit of a bunfight at the transfer desk, but when I got to the front of the queue we were given 2 hotel rooms, 3 sets of food vouchers and booked on to the Thai airways flight 14 hours later.

The whole experience was absolutely stress free, the hotel fantastic with great food. I had a big meal, then slept in a lovely room for 8 hours, down for another big meal (amazing Tikka Masala amongst other things) then back to the airport and on to the flight. All this was of considerable importance the children were travelling as well. My sympathies to you on what must have been a nightmere.

Of course planes are late, blah blah blah, its how the airline deals with these eventualities that are at issue here. Top marks to Emirates, bottom marks to Etihad. I will never fly with them on account of your testimony.

Cheers.

thanks very true of course delays happen but etihad made a crisis of it

I cannot understand why some posters (actually only 1 or 2) were so cynical.

We really struggled with this journey, total 45 hours from sakhon nakhon, with 2 kids aged 8 and 6 and my only reason for posting was to warn others about the perils of risking being stuck in the middle east with people who simply disregard you.

I have filed complaints etc separately so this posting was of no personal gain.

Seems on this site no matter how well intended your efforts are there are one or two willing to have a dig

I recall my first posting about 3 years ago about falling in love with my wife....forget it...shes just after your money...you stoopid farang blah blah

K and the kids have been in england 3 years now

they came speaking no english at all with a carrier bag of clothes

they are now totally fluent in both languages so my stunningly cute 6 year old daughter will never have to work on her back

we are blissfully happy so its one finger for the smart assed cynics

<URL Automatically Removed> from now on

[Shrek]

Hi Shrek,

Some of the responses are baffling to say the least.............Obviously people who haven't travelled with small children.

I flew to Manchester with Emirates a couple of months ago with my wife and 2 children. No issues on the BKK-MAN leg, but on the return the plane was delayed out of Manchester by a couple of hours, which meant we missed the Dubai-BKK connection. There was a bit of a bunfight at the transfer desk, but when I got to the front of the queue we were given 2 hotel rooms, 3 sets of food vouchers and booked on to the Thai airways flight 14 hours later.

The whole experience was absolutely stress free, the hotel fantastic with great food. I had a big meal, then slept in a lovely room for 8 hours, down for another big meal (amazing Tikka Masala amongst other things) then back to the airport and on to the flight. All this was of considerable importance the children were travelling as well. My sympathies to you on what must have been a nightmere.

Of course planes are late, blah blah blah, its how the airline deals with these eventualities that are at issue here. Top marks to Emirates, bottom marks to Etihad. I will never fly with them on account of your testimony.

Cheers.

thanks very true of course delays happen but etihad made a crisis of it

I cannot understand why some posters (actually only 1 or 2) were so cynical.

We really struggled with this journey, total 45 hours from sakhon nakhon, with 2 kids aged 8 and 6 and my only reason for posting was to warn others about the perils of risking being stuck in the middle east with people who simply disregard you.

I have filed complaints etc separately so this posting was of no personal gain.

Seems on this site no matter how well intended your efforts are there are one or two willing to have a dig

I recall my first posting about 3 years ago about falling in love with my wife....forget it...shes just after your money...you stoopid farang blah blah

K and the kids have been in england 3 years now

they came speaking no english at all with a carrier bag of clothes

they are now totally fluent in both languages so my stunningly cute 6 year old daughter will never have to work on her back

we are blissfully happy so its one finger for the smart assed cynics

<URL Automatically Removed> from now on

hey ! I got censored just for mentioning another forum ! Myanmar !

[uptheos]

I've flown Etihad to London via Abu Dhabi - return twice now with no problems at all. However, I have also flown Qatar four times via Doha. In my opinion for roughly the same price Etihad comes in second best.

[Who, me ?]

I had only good experiences with Etihad

Bad days happen, and for example , a friend of mine came from Manchester with Emirates....Talk about it

Plane was delayed 3 hours from Manchester....Connexion in Dubai was history. they booked him on TG for the Dubai / BKK leg, departing about 12 / 14 hours after he reached Dubai...needless to say that he was slightly pissed off

[paulandmaneerat]

I have travelled on Etihad many times without problems. It is my preferred airline for travel between the UK and BKK. On one flight back from London we were delayed amd missed the connection. At Abu Dhabi we were given a nice hotel overnight, dinner and breakfast.

On my most recent return trip from London in October my luggage arrived 48 hours after me. My case had been vandalised, the contents disturbed and items stolen. I filed a complaint. Within 2 weeks I got acceptance of my claim for compensation (I was truthful and modest about the value of everything) and recieved a phone call asking me to go to the airport to collect my cash compensation. I cannot be sure that Etihad were responsible for the problem with my baggage as so many third parties are involved in luggage transportation.

I'll be back in the UK in January for a week and if Etihad offers the best value, I'll happily fly with them again. I have found Emirates and Gulf to be similarly good airlines. Kuwait Air was the only one I have an issue with. When I complained that 75% of the seat back TV's clearly didn't work I was told 'welcome to Kuwait Air' by a steward. Hardly a professional response.

[senign]

A

It's really bad that since you were travelling with 2 small children they did not go out of their way to help.

I'm glad to hear they do not give preference to children.

What are we single people , second class citizens?

This is such a refreshing attitude!

Like - let the airline pay for my 'soapy', pay for my wifes' "shopping", let the Airline take care of the 'Kids' and if the Grandparents care to come along - take them to the desert - I need their inheritance!

Edited November 26, 2007 by senign

[game4shame]

A

It's really bad that since you were travelling with 2 small children they did not go out of their way to help.

I'm glad to hear they do not give preference to children.

What are we single people , second class citizens?

This is such a refreshing attitude!

Like - let the airline pay for my 'soapy', pay for my wifes' "shopping", let the Airline take care of the 'Kids' and if the Grandparents care to come along - take them to the desert - I need their inheritance!