Absurd Etihad Guest Cancellation Policy: Pay In Cash, Get Refunded In Miles

I’m actually not sure this is legal in the US (and I assume other countries) at least with respect to the taxes portion, as my understanding is that even for refundable tickets, if the ticket is not flown (and the taxes therefore not paid), the consumer is entitled to a refund.

I’m curious about that. I always thought on what were considered non refundable fares that the standard was that taxes are always refundable, though often on request. I believe the reason is to avoid any future regulatory enforcement of Governments deciding to require it automatically without request. This way they at least make you submit a request which I’m sure many don’t. The reality is that the service was never performed and the airline will not pay the taxes. Therefore the customer should not be required to pay taxes on a service that never took place. Otherwise this is double dipping and the airline just keeps these “taxes.”

Our experience was even more punitive. Husband paid 120,000 miles and AED 2440 for AUH JFK in Business.

When they moved the A380 to YYZ, husband cancelled the JFK flight in order to catch the A380 via YYZ.

He got entire 120,000 miles back. But he only got AED 400 back. So 83.6% penalty in the cash portion.

do you mean 'non'-refundable?

BTW, to follow on my last post- during phone call with Etihad as husband was thinking of cancelling- they couldn’t say exactly how much in miles or cash would be refunded. They said that another department would handle that. So basically, no way of knowing what the actual penalty is- before deciding if we really wanted to cancel or not.

Nah, it’s legal. Just look at basic economy fares. You don’t get a dime back to your original form of payment. You might get some pity credits.

I believe that technically you can demand a refund of certain taxes, even on basic economy tickets, though you have to forfeit the fare to do so. So yes, I'd agree that technically this may be illegal in some jurisdictions.

I’m sure this is illegal in many countries where you must get back taxes in cash (!).

Even when a ticket is “non-refundable” airlines typically must refund government taxes and airport fees that apply only if you actually fly.
These often include:
Passenger service charges
Security fees
Airport improvement fees
Air passenger duty (e.g., UK APD)
Boarding fees or transportation taxes

Because you never flew, the airline never had to remit these charges to the government.

I think the most important piece that is missing is exact breakdown of tax and fees.

Things like 9/11 security fee should be 100% refundable since the airline is collecting for the government and is not actually due until flown.

Legal or not, Jetblue does it, have lost several hundred dollars over the last few years of taxes for flights never taken.

Same as my experience.
And it’s weeks before you get the miles back.
I wanted to change my return leg from J to F because saver F space opened up. Impossible to do unless you already have a ton of miles or want to tranfer more points to Etihad Guest and be left with the refunded miles that will expire.

First time flying Etihad F in Feb for my outbound leg. I hope the F experience is worth all this nonsense because as of right now I have no intention of using Etihad Guest ever again.

Just because you didn't ask for it back mean JetBlue wouldn't refund you or make it easy for you to get it back.

How is that any helpful if you have to forfeit the fare in the case of points? So you either get $600 dollars back and forfeit 140k+ points or take the hit from Etihad's cancellation policy.

Therefore, the bottom line with EY tickets is: pay with points and accept the penalties for procrastinating, yes?

I like this policy. Prevents or makes people think before making a speculative booking with miles for the purposes of abusing the generous cancelation policy. Cancelation policies and return policies are changing worldwide.

It has to be widely known by consumers to reduce speculative bookings. So far, that's clearly not the case.

I wouldn't have a problem with this so much if EY valued the points based on THEIR cost, not the "retail price" of the points. They may value the points at two cents and sell them for two cents, but I'm assuming their cost would be much less.

They're screwing you twice: taking a 25% cut of your cash for themselves, then decreasing the cost to them even further by giving you points they've marked up by, what, 2x or so?

So stop flying with them and stop posting about them

Points lead to petulance, petulance leads to lots of toys being thrown from your pram …. mummy will not be pleased children.
However, there is a very simple solution folks …. prior preparation and planning, prevents p*ss poor performance. It’s a pity that so many fail to plan and then wonder why the plan fails …. 🙁

Afterthought ….

I invite a person to my home and they become my “Guest”.
I book into an hotel and I become a “Guest” at that hotel.
When Eskimo books an appointment to see his shrink, he becomes a patient.
When Ben books an airline ticket he becomes a customer of the operator, not a “Guest”.

That's what I thought, too

etihad don't want sha'b in first class

If you don't push back and demand a refund of the taxes and charges, they'll just keep doing it.

I hear what you’re saying Alonzo. A lot of ppl book flights and hotels they don’t even have a strong inclination they will complete. But what etihad is doing is not the way. Future flight credit is one thing, but refunding in funny money (it’s actually not even money) is wrong and dishonest.

Arik De on his BS again. Worst airline executive in the industry and thinks his policies make sense. No wonder their growth is slowing and load factor is going down.

Wrong.

Because of that $600 not all is actually Etihad's money, cancel or not.
So they can only penalized money they own not someone else's money collected on their behalf.

It's not the either or that you understand.

Given this policy is not clearly published, would it be worth raising a dispute through the credit card company?

What a ridiculous post. There's nothing "generous" about most airlines' policies. And most customers do not sit around making "speculative" bookings on airlines. They book flights they intend to take. Most airlines oversell flights, which actually IS speculative. With these awful cancellation policies, airlines are just trying to double dip (get paid twice for one seat).

China Eastern used to have a policy that ALL award tickets are non-refundable (except the taxes) regardless of elite status (including the highest level elites in their program). So you lose 100% of your miles even if you cancel 11 months out as a Plat. Don't ask me how I found this out...

I believe Iberia have the same sort of rule for partner flights.

Wearing the cap of someone that very much likes to play the miles game - transfer miles from credit card spend, purchase during promos, this news absolutely sucks.

BUT looking at it from another perspective, I totally get it.

The reality is, once purchased, airline redemption flights usually have cancellation penalties that are in line with the highest priced, most flexible cash bookings. In other words, usually a modest fee (if any when an elite) for the ability to cancel even up until short notice.

Does this make sense in my head? That someone that has spent say $10K would have the same cancellation penalty as someone that has just transferred a huge chunk of points from a credit card? Not really.

Those with enough points just end up making speculative bookings which is no good for the rest of us trying to find hard to come by redemptions. 'Hmm not sure how this trip will pan out but I see that there is a redemption flight available on X date so I will book it then if I don't need it I will cancelling it on the day for fifty bucks and get my miles and fees back'. I get that this probably happens a LOT with redemption bookings (I certainly do it) and I imagine how annoying it is not only for the airlines but also for those that struggle to find redemption availability because others are buying points seats speculatively.

The thing that surprises me most is why other airlines haven't yet followed Etiahd's lead. I think in time, they will.

It sounds plausible that that be the case. In theory. In practice, Ryanair et al hide behind ultra high cancellation/admin fees so that people don't even bother to formally cancel when they can't make the flight. Wonder what happens to the fees and taxes. Extra profit for Ryanair?

Yes.thats right. Not on their own metal though.

I also had my account suspended when I tried to redeem miles before they expired. Etihad informed me that my account had been suspended since 2022. When I asked why they continued to allow me to deposit miles between 2022 and now and no issues with login, they simply referred me to their Terms & Conditions. I’m not sure how this compares with the T&C of U.S. carriers, but Etihad’s policy seems unreasonable to me. In the end, the account remained suspended and all 75,000 miles expired.

"12.1 We reserve the right to audit any and all Etihad Guest membership accounts at any time and without notice to you, in order to ensure compliance with the Etihad Guest Programme rules, applicable laws and applicable conditions of carriage and/or tariffs. Etihad Guest reserves the right, without notice to the guest, (a) to delay processing or reviewing of all activity (including without limitation any mileage redemption activity and processing of any mileage redemption requests for any awards, certificates or benefits, including without limitation any status benefits) in any Etihad Guest account, and (b) to audit any Etihad Guest account at any time. While the account is under review, the guest may continue to accrue or redeem miles and tier miles in the account, however, no mileage redemptions or other transactions may be permitted and any outstanding award redemptions, certificates and benefits (including without limitation any status benefits, if applicable) may be subject to cancellation or suspension, at Etihad Guest’s sole discretion."