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.
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