Etihad Reviews 

Absolutely ridiculous experience with Ethiad Airways.
They changed our flights without our agreement, leaving us with an overnight layover in Jakarta entirely at our own expense. Then, after changing the itinerary themselves, they tried to charge almost €300 for a 25 kg checked bag that originally cost around €30 at the time of booking.

I contacted customer support expecting at least some common sense or flexibility given the situation, but got absolutely nowhere. Yara from customer support was completely unhelpful and showed no interest in resolving the issue fairly.

Charging close to 800% more for luggage after forcing a schedule change on passengers is unacceptable. Terrible customer service, zero accountability, and an incredibly frustrating experience from start to finish.

Never flying with them again.

I have been a loyal Etihad Guest for 17 years and a frequent Gold member. My recent flight from Abu Dhabi to Istanbul was, as usual, professional and punctual. However, as someone who consistently flies 10+ times a year on Economy Deluxe fares, I see room for improvement in how Etihad recognizes long-term loyalty, especially regarding seat availability in Business Class when cabins fly half-empty. I stay with Etihad for the reliability, but I hope to see better 'loyalty-to-value' rewards in the future. Still a top-tier choice for business travel.

They are moving flights for plus or minus a full day as they wish. Absolutely unacceptable. First, they moved the flight from Sydney to Warsaw one full day earlier, such that I had no choice but to reschedule the whole trip, basically. Then, when there were 12 days before the trip, they rescheduled the flight back also for half a day earlier, pretty much robbing me of a day of walking in Europe and adding 12 hours to the layover. When I asked for at least the hotel stay in Abu Dhabi, they said they cannot guarantee anything. Do not recommend.

Despite the conflict in Middle East Etihad tried to keep operations on going so I had my flight just a day later as originally scheduled and connecting flight on the way back was little big delayed. All in all felt very safe onboard and had a very relaxing fight.

I think this is very criminal. I booked a flight for my husband and I from Atlanta to South Africa. Due to the ongoing crisis in South Africa, my visa was not issued before the scheduled departure date. I called the airline to explain the situation and even begged for a flight credit. However, they insisted that the only option was to change the flight and pay a “fare difference” that is higher than the cost of a brand new ticket if I were to book now, in addition to a change fee of about $600. Ridiculous. Otherwise, I could cancel and receive only $101.43 in refund for tickets that cost about $2,000 per person. What blew my mind away is that in exploring the option to change, we were told that we could not change because a change had already been made to the flight - this change was made because Etihad suddenly canceled our flights, yet they refused to take responsibility for that. Who makes these rules for you? So inhumane!!! Smh

put one star as can't put 0
chat service simply does not work - keeps asking the same questions and can't speak to a human
appalling customer service

“Beautiful trip! The staff were professional and kind. They helped me with everything and were very helpful both during the flight and on the ground. Thanks, Etihad — I highly recommend it. The food was good too.”

After cancelling my flight on the 7th of March , I am still waiting for my refund , they are dragging it out . I contacted them a few days ago and the official line is , it's 45 working days plus national and religious holidays . I really have no idea when I will receive my refund , but what I do know is that ," hell will freeze over before I ever fly Etihad again " . If I was the only one saying such things , it would be a blip or a glitch , but thousands have been screwed over by their poor customer services .

My flight FRA-AUH-HKG on 18 March 2026 was cancelled by Etihad. Under EU Regulation 261/2004 Article 8(1)(a), they were required to refund the ticket within 7 days of my request. They took 8 weeks.

What happened in detail:

- Refund request filed 10 March 2026. Statutory 7-day deadline expired 17 March.
- The self-cancellation function for my Economy Comfort fare (which contractually allowed cancellation against a fee) was technically disabled in the booking portal.
- The "Manage Booking" page only offered a rebooking to a flight 3 days later. According to Flightradar24, that proposed replacement flight never operated either.
- First substantive response only on 3 April (18 working days after the request).
- A telephone agent on 27 April promised the refund would be initiated within 5 working days. It was not.
- Multiple chat agents made promises that were never kept, blamed my bank for delays ("45 working days"), and could not send any written confirmation. One agent admitted directly that the chat team has no tool to send confirmation emails of any kind.
- Refund finally received 7 May, transferred as SEPA Instant – i.e. within seconds once Etihad actually initiated it. The "45 working days banking delay" excuse was therefore demonstrably false.

During the final escalation, an Etihad agent also told me that an Article 7 compensation claim filed weeks earlier through an authorised passenger rights agency was not registered in their system at all.

I have filed a formal complaint with the German Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA) under Article 16 of EU 261/2004 regarding the obstruction patterns.

For comparison: Qatar Airways processed an equivalent refund for me in days, without any escalation needed.

If you are considering booking with Etihad, factor in the realistic possibility that any refund you may need will require weeks of escalation and full familiarity with EU passenger rights law to actually receive. I will not be flying with them again.

Our EC261 compensation claim with Etihad was approved in December 2025 following a delayed flight and missed connection from London Heathrow to the Maldives.
We were advised payment would be made within 30 working days. It is now May 2026 and no payment has been received.
Over the past several months we have:
completed forms multiple times,
been given conflicting instructions regarding bank details,
experienced repeated technical failures on the compensation portal,
provided screenshots and evidence,
contacted customer services numerous times,
and requested formal complaint escalation.
During a telephone conversation we were advised that a supervisor would contact us directly, however nobody ever did.
The most disappointing part has not been the original flight disruption itself, but the handling of the approved compensation afterwards. The communication has been inconsistent, and responsibility has repeatedly been pushed back onto the customer despite clear evidence of system issues.
We are now preparing to escalate the matter to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
This is extremely disappointing from what is presented as a premium airline.

Our flight was canceled. We got an email saying that the money will be refunded in 7 days. We are on day 50 and they keep asking for more time.

My luggage did not arrive with the flight instead it was sent somewhere else. It arrived after 2 days damaged with the wheels broken and one of the electronic items inside it was cracked and doesn’t work anymore. I made a complaint and a case was made over a month ago, yet there has been no update or response it just says pending status. Really did not expect this kind of attitude from a supposedly premium airline. Save your money and book with another airline.

The service was extremely disappointing. Our first flight was delayed, which caused us to miss our connecting flight. When we went to the transfer desk, no one informed us that the second flight had already been missed. Instead, they were calling certain groups, handing out boarding passes, and not explaining that visas would need to be arranged or that the next available flight was only on the following day.

More than 40 of us were left waiting with no information, walking back and forth because we had no idea what was happening. Each person had to individually approach staff just to understand the situation. Only then did we receive new boarding passes showing the next day’s date. After asking again, they finally told us they would apply for visas and arrange accommodation.

We waited for hours, and only early in the morning did we finally get a hotel — which made no sense since it was barely for half an hour of rest. We had no clothes, no food, and no proper support. This level of service is unacceptable. They could have at least held the flight for 20 minutes so we could make the connection. This experience was far below my expectations.

Whatever happened to Etihad? I used to be a gold member. Today out of Bangkok they're using the small planes with insufficient legroom. So, rightly the guy behind me kicks off when I recline. God knows what the food is supposed to be and their lounge...third party has stale bread chicken sandwiches. Awful just awful.

Booked a free stopover in Abu Dhabi for 2 nights with hotel included, only they can't offer me a hotel on the booked dates (local holiday so all hotels are booked) as per offer and as I booked economy value they won't offer a refund, even though they acknowledged the website was in error. So I have a 2 day stay in Abu Dhabi without accommodation. Bunch of cheats.

The worse customer service you can imagine. Exhausting and no useful outcome. The chat to connect with them is the most disfunctional thing ever, you wait and wait and no sound when they answer, then you don't reply for 2 minutes and they close the chat. then start over again. They don't offer proper solutions, and their site waiting time for complaints is incorrect, says 3 days until they will reach and it is 28 days. I would never book with them again. Exhausting and dissapointing. They also won't reroute you when the flight passes by conflict zones.

I rarely leave reviews, but this experience with Etihad Airways has been extremely disappointing.

My flight from London to Kuala Lumpur (via Abu Dhabi) was delayed due to operational issues, causing me to miss my connection and arrive a day late.

After initially rejecting my claim, Etihad later confirmed in writing that I was entitled to compensation under UK261 and agreed to pay £520.

However, they only paid £452.98, leaving £67.02 unpaid.

I raised this discrepancy multiple times (including opening a second case), and since then I’ve been completely ignored. I can no longer access my case properly, and their system doesn’t even recognise my booking details.

This is not a dispute about eligibility. Etihad has already accepted liability. This is simply a failure to pay the agreed compensation in full.

I have now escalated the matter to AviationADR.

Very disappointing experience from an airline that markets itself as premium.

I was really surprised Etihad didn’t win better grades. In my experience they are the best. I flew 3 times with them to Seoul once with their neibour free option which was a great experience for a long flight and once business. I was pleasantly surprised by their punctuality, they even landed before original time, and also their service on board and online, I always recommend them to friends and family and will continue to choose them in the future
I choose Etihad

Worst possible airline especially currently during iran war. changing and cancelling flights all the times despite ceasfire for more than 4 weeks. spent hours sorting out tickets to avoid long delays but to no van. I would never travel again with etihad. so unreliable

Worst customer service I've ever seen on a "luxurious" company.

Not to mention their flights arent even comfortable