[biqbal]

Hello:

I would like to publicly shame Etihad for refusing to board me on my flight despite arriving over an hour early. The counter was closed at 8pm for a 9:25pm flight. However, the real issue I would like to highlight is the terrible customer service I received from this point onwards where Etihad deferred responsibility to other groups, failed to document my concerns, failed to meet their promises (for problem resolution), failed to provide complaint reference numbers or documentation, and failed to escalate the complaint to someone who was empowered to take action. Here is my story.

I was supposed to leave Islamabad for Toronto via Abu Dhabi on April 6th at 9:25pm. The counter was closed at 8:00pm and I was refused a boarding pass despite showing 'now checking in' sign on the board. I usually arrive 3 hours early as recommended but due to road blockades in Islamabad, it wasn't possible. Since then, Etihad has me running in circles to catch another flight without any regard for customer's time or accountability. Etihad has shown a complete lack of respect and responsibility in handling my situation. Over the last 2 days, I have had to explain my situation to ground staff at airport, Etihad/RAS counter at airport, Islamabad booking office (refused to register complaint and offered an upgrade for $6000 per ticket to get on a later flight), Social Media team (that referred me to contact center and had me inquiring for over 12 hours before telling me in "nice words" that I am lying about arriving at airport on time and assuring that someone from contact center would contact me) and Al-Ain Contact Center (where reps committed to calling me back in half an hour twice *never happened* and then refused to provide any viable solution other than waiting until April 26th to fly back and paying hefty penalty for missing my flight despite the circumstances). This is merely a summary; I ended up speaking to multiple representatives at the contact center, and each one started my case from scratch quoting that there is no documentation of my complaint. Here are some noteworthy points for this so-called 'best' airline:

1) Throughout my interactions, Etihad representatives tried to handle me rather than collaborating with me. They kept redirecting to different departments and then stayed mum until my next inquiry.
2) I was made to call long-distance to Abu Dhabi call center multiple times, and was either put on hold for extended periods of time, or got kicked off the call.
3) I explicitly asked for reference number for my case, so the next agent won't say that this is the first time I am calling in to register my concern. However, I was told that no such thing is available.
4) I asked social media team (in private messages) multiple times to provide contact infomration for escalation manager or someone who is actually empowered to assist rather than redirecting me to helpless representatives. They refused to provide any such information IN WRITING. I have records of that.
5) I asked call center representatives to provide their full name so I could write to management about my case and refer to individuals I interacted with. They refused to do so by quoting this as company policy. I was finally able to speak to Al-Ain Contact Center Supervisor (Pooja) who once again tried to handle my case by quoting nothing can be done and she needs approval and she is the highest point of contact available to me. I even agreed to pay penalty to get on the next flight possible; she promised to call back in 30 minutes but the call was never returned. I called again 3 hours later and was put on hold and then finally got through to Pooja who quotes that 'she had some other work' and then provided no alternatives for me, and indicated that there is no flight available. She managed to offer me one leg of the flight (Abu Dhabi --> Toronto) with a $1000+ penalty, but I was left to book another ticket from ISB --> Abu Dhabi.

This is probably the lowest of the lowest grade of customer service one could experience. I will do my best to make others aware of this, and will never travel with Etihad again. I strongly recommend others to beware as well. In the meantime, I had to book two tickets with an alternate airline (costing me $3000). I am still trying to get in touch with someone at Etihad to obtain refund but obviously their tickets are "NON REFUNDABLE" even when they fail to provide a paid service. Good luck to anyone who travels with this pathetic airline. Here, I am waiting for someone from their customer affairs department to respond, but apparently, it takes over 5 days to receive their first response which will either be an award of useless Etihad miles (or a highly offensive message indicating that it was all customer's fault). So much for flying with the best!

SHAMEFUL!