Review Time
We recently went through a horrific experience with Etihad Airways and strongly recommend that anyone considering flying with them in the future think twice.
The airline appears to be actively overbooking its flights—up to 10% or more beyond capacity—and then conveniently denying boarding to customers at the airport (particularly those who booked well in advance and purchased the cheapest tickets).
The experience begins when you attempt to check in online and the system refuses to allow you to do so. Once you arrive at the airport check-in counter, the staff politely refuse to issue your boarding pass and direct you to another counter for further assistance. The staff at that counter seem specifically trained to handle such situations. They ask you to wait for 1–2 hours and say that if space becomes available, you will be allowed to board the flight. In reality, this appears to be a delay tactic so they can keep you waiting and ultimately refuse boarding at the last minute.
At first, we (a group of four) thought this was just a one-off incident on our particular flight. However, after speaking with several other passengers at the same customer service counter, we realized that hundreds of other customers were going through the same experience for flights to different cities (mostly Southeast Asian destinations).
Eventually, after numerous arguments and discussions with third-party outsourced staff (apparently, Etihad has outsourced this customer service desk), we were left with no option but to take the next available flight to Colombo the following day. They offered us hotel accommodation approximately 30–40 minutes from the airport. Upon reaching the hotel around 3:00 a.m. and meeting many other disrupted passengers the next morning (there was a bus carrying 60–80 affected travelers back to the airport), we came to the conclusion that this seems to be a well-planned policy by Etihad across its flights to generate additional revenue from higher-paying, last-minute ticket sales.
Therefore, please be very careful when choosing to fly with Etihad, especially if you are short on time or have a tight connecting flight, as there is a significant risk of being denied boarding.
Absolute disgrace that you can buy such an expensive flight ticket to Australia from England and only get 7kg baggage allowance (even if it is 'economy').
For an airline that should have a good reputation (clearly not going off this page), I cannot believe how shoddy that is. Better treatment with Ryanair.
I came from Mumbai to abudhabi on 10th February and had flight from abudhabi to Atlanta 9:20 am, i am at Gate C38 @ 8 am. They don't let go to immigration, we closed scanning, Send me to transfer desk to reschedule my flight, staff there said can't rerouted. force me to buy new ticket. I paid $821. Need to get my money back. Still after one week I didn't got my 2 Bags.
Based on my experience in early 2026, Etihad is below average as an airline in several respects (buggy website, poor customer service, unfriendly policies, misleading offers). Personally, I'll avoid them, at least for now.
This was honestly one of the worst airline experiences I’ve ever had.
From the moment I arrived at the airport until I reached my destination, the service was extremely disappointing.
Delays without proper explanation, poor communication, and a clear lack of respect for passengers’ time made the entire journey stressful and frustrating.
I paid for a professional service, not for unnecessary stress and disorganization.
I truly hope you review your service standards, because experiences like this will only drive customers away.
The app is full of bugs, the check in doesn't always work and information is not where you would expect in the complex menus.
Our flight was delayed by over 24 hours and trying to get our expenses back via their feedback was impossible. I'm almost certain their customer services on open cases is AI as we just kept getting the same copy/paste denial back.
Staff looked miserable.
Did I mention the food? It made hospital food look like Michelin star! Tasteless, microwaved slop.
Films on long haul flights are superhero films, superhero films or old films. We were bored!
Never fly with them again.
There is the baggage scam: $300 for over weight. A cabin bag and had some other item in my hand. They asked me to check in my cabin bag. Because I had other item in my hand. For cabin bag they charged me 300.00 dollars. I right to them and they refused to give any compensation. Worst airline worst experience had first time. I never faced this type of problem with any other airline. Will never travel with Etihad. They scared me with so much hassle.
This is the worst airlines I have ever traveled in past 35 years. Paid for an aisle seat in advance and at upgraded to business class seat for $2500, later was down graded again in economy and was put in middle seat, none of the money was ever returned, charged for upgrage $350 from Abu dhabhi, they were 6 hours late and missed my connection, still charged me even though I was never on that flight. Do yourself a favor and never fly with Etihad
Discrimination at the Security Check.
Most people in the group left just to board without security checking their Passports.On the other hand, i with my Child made to stand beside for long as we watch others board without any reason.
Change on that!
I was denied check-in because of cargo overload. We had two tickets, one bought through the company’s website (my wife's ticket) and mine via a third-party platform. She was allowed to travel, but I was not. It seems that if you don’t book directly with them, you may face issues. They also attempted to avoid providing compensation, only offering to schedule a flight for me 1.5 days later. No compensation was offered, not even for the taxi fare. It feels like cargo is prioritized over passengers.
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