[Maryam Al Marzooqi]

Took a trip to Morocco with my brother, his wife, niece and nephew; joined by their mother(my sister) the next day.

[April 2nd]
Got on the plane to find out our seats were taken by other passengers. they're settled in with their drinks and bed sheets on! We're confused and looking for someone to assist us on why we had to be standing there arguing with total strangers.. had none of the 'clearly more confused' flight attendants willing to help, or find a solution near take off. We had to seat ourselves and accept the modification. To make things worse, inflight we discovered our niece was moved from her seat to satisfy a passenger's request not willing to be seated next to a very quiet 8yrs old(my nephew)! I had such a fright getting up & moving towards my niece to check on her, only to find out that lady was occupying her seat! Again, I had to keep calm and endure it, flying through the air; what else you could do?( The fact that the two siblings ended up seated next to each other helped, of course. But again, none of them were in their actual seats! And need I mention that a minor was urged to change her seat inflight, without her guardian's consent or knowledge? What if it wasn't her brother seated next to her and instead a pedophile! I could sue.

A group of passengers were really loud and pesky, one that was seated behind me kept kicking my seat the whole duration of the flight, but I can't blame the crew for that; they were clearly uncivilized and few were tenably drunk. I can however get really mad at the poor performance of Etihad's flight attendants. They showed no sign of necessary expertise needed in such circumstances. They did absolutely nothing to make this trip less atrocious for the rest of us! I believe they made it worse.

Having to call a flight attendant not less than 2/3times(with a 15/25min interval) before being attended to!?
I pre-ordered my breakfast and asked to be awakened after 5hrs of sleep. I awakened +6hrs later, and watched them serve breakfast to about all, but myself! Again I had to call a few times to ask for my breakfast. Because I have developed a slight cold during flight and was out of tissue and couldn't wait, I got up to ask for some before meeting a stewardess half way.. I asked her for some tissue, and was shockingly told I was to grab some from the toilet!!! That was it!

Not really.

I purchased 2 Items an hour or so before landing, and payment was in cash. The bill was 625AED, I gave a 1000AED. He brought back 300AED, and promised 72'AED later! He apparently thought I'd never miss 72AED in change! | I'd say Etihad owes me much more than that today.


[April 8th]
The flight back to Abu Dhabi was less grievous, but the flight attendants were no better. Not as efficient or courteous as you'd expect; definitely not the friendliest! They clearly had a problem having to do their job! This time there were no ill-mannered passengers to upset or disturb them. Not to my knowledge anyway!
At some point, one hostess handed my sis-in-law her juice and accidentally spilled it on her lap, yet stood there like nothing has happened asking her about what she'd like to order for lunch! She didn't think she could help her clean it up, I guess.
My meal took forever, so being the caffeine-addict that I am, I thought I'd enjoy a cup of coffee till it's ready. The same hostess suggested I wait 10min more, indicating she'd rather not serve me coffee before my meal! I had to politely repeat my order. "Yes, I'd like an espresso right before I have my meal, please; thank you!"
After that, I could only force myself to sleep|(


I know for a fact am not an over-demanding person. None of us(brother/sister-in-law, sister & her kids) are!
Respect, peace and quiet is all I ask for. It's why we prefer business class over economy! Feeling sad every time I recall/talk or write about this experience. It's a shame I couldn't do much about it at the time.