Etihad Customer Relations Responds To My Feedback

Really? Why didn't they just write "We didn't really listen to what you were telling us, and we don't get it - but here is some boilerplate customer service stuff that's in our computer that we think is close to the subject area you were talking about."

The response doesn't inspire any confidence.

POS answer... what did they think your preferred meal was? food at all?
i will not book any of my guys on Etihad ever... they just lost about 10 biz paid travelers a year.

Wow, what a waste of your time! Apparently, you were correct with your initial inclination not to write to them. A non-responsive form letter like this only compounds the underlying wrong.

Personally, I'd reply to them and stress that no food was available. It does seem like they've missed the point there!

Etihad lost a good opportunity to try to minimize the reputational damage. They could have made an effort to write something a bit better. It is clearly a standard BS apology letter, not even suited for the problem in your flights (i.e. lack of food, as opposed to lack of first choice). The part about the pre-clearance is also very lame. What a shame.

WOW! They totally missed the issue with the food, which I have had in the past as well. They've run out of every item on my last two flights from AUH ---> North America, I was actually a revenue F passenger on both occasions.

Hi Ben,

After reading your prior blog posts on this, I was rather concerned, since I was hoping to book an Etihad First Class flight, so I wrote to Etihad customer service also.

I basically asked why the First Class cabin ran out of food on several flights, and what assurance they could provide that this would not happen again.

Their first response discussed how great their service and food are and didn't address my questions at all. I wrote back, saying they didn't answer my questions, and then received another response that was equally unrelated to my question.

So I wrote a third time and they escalated the matter to some senior guest affairs individual who sent the following, which you can compare to yours. Note the explanation as to why they ran out of food -- they were unprepared for guests ordering main dishes twice.

--------------------------------------

14 September 2014

Dear Mr XXXXXX,

Thank you for your correspondence.
I tried to contact you via phone on your contact number XXXXXXX, but unable to reach you.

I regret that there were cause for concerns with aspects of our service and the
general dissatisfaction you had expressed.

Please accept my apologies, and my assurance that we do pay close attention to
what our guests tell us. We are working hard to get every aspect of our service
right for every one of our guests, so it is genuinely helpful to have your
letter and comments pinpointing where we need to focus our efforts. Thank you.

Further to your email please allow me to explain we have received our cabin
reports with regards to the inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles on 01
June 2014. I completely understand your level of disappointment on our first
flight to Los Angeles, however I would like to take an opportunity to explain
after serving all our guest on board in First class when our crew started second
service most of the guest again requested for the main course instead of the
breakfast.

As you are aware on long haul flight we load enough catering as we
are conscious that attractive and appetising meals can contribute greatly to the
enjoyment of any flight but due to large number of request we were short of main
course and same was informed to the catering operations department.

I would also like to inform, we already forwarded these reports to our Vice
President Guest Experience for review and to discuss this matter with concern
department to avoid any failure in future.

As a gesture of goodwill I would like to arrange meet and assist service for
your future travel, if you please provide booking details and I will be able to
forward to the Airport Manager.

We value your support and look forward to the opportunity of demonstrating our
service commitment, both, on the ground and in the air.

Thank you for writing.
Yours sincerely,

(name)
Guest Affairs Officer

Actually, I really think you should write them back and let them know they missed your point in regards to the food issue.

They have completely missed the point of the food issue...everyone would rather have less options but more chance of getting what they want.

I flew with them a few months back, ran out of the food I wanted in business both ways. Even the Mezze - FROM AUH...how is that possible...if they 'monitor' the situation...

Congratulations on the 10k Etihad miles! What do you think is the best use of them? 😉
Well at the moment, I recall you'll be flying Etihad again for the 787 AUH-DUS later in December right? And also for the A380 inaugural AUH-LHR? Perhaps give EY another chance and see whether EY will properly stock these 2 flights with enough food before responding back to them about how they missed your point on the lack of food..

I'm stunned at how much this email you received reads like a letter to UA GS and 1K pax with an issue. You could change the reason for a complaint, and the associated job titles at the respective airlines, but after that - this is more boiler plate than I'd like to see.

It now makes me think that some customer service letter writing email program has generic enough templates that anyone can just plug in their product attributes and create a consistent message over and over again.

Sad.

Why don't you write them back and complain about their response? Who cares what they said in their response? You got what you were looking for - miles compensation from a free trip. If the letter had been written in a manner that was to your liking AND they gave you the 10K you would be writing about how wonderful their handling of the situation was.....

and to Craig........give me a break. You wrote to express your concern even though you have not yet committed one dime to their business? You have too much time on your hands.

I worked for Ritz Carlton for 10 years and please people, we don't need to be wasting time with people looking for freebies or writing empty letters of concern - we need to focus on taking care of all of our customers, especially those paying the dollar for our targeted guests (it is a business) so that we can sustain the business and still welcome those who spend next to nothing, yet demand every single resource.

I am all for miles, etc and am an active participant and travel the world, but I respect these operations and do not go beyond reasonable limits, as it appears many here do.

This customer service rep should be fired. They found your complaint on your popular blog. Did they not think their stock answer would end up as fodder on the blog as well. You didnt email them so you clearly were not looking for miles. I dont know what the point of contacting you and then sending you a boilerplate letter was. Doesnt make any sense. Maybe it is comforting to United that some other airlines have customer service on their level.

Funny, "not admitting any liability" and "not having your choice" screamed out at me when I read it. Big difference between: we don't have beef, but if you'd like chicken or fish and we don't have F&@KING ANYTHING. Jeez.

And the corporate speak of the "liability" line makes it sound like the entire letter was written by a lawyer, a very insincere one. Give me a proper sorry, promise it won't happen in the future, say we're working on it and be done with it in a paragraph.

If I didn't want to fly them after your experience this letter really makes me not want to fly them. Not that, as a gay man, I am inclined to ever fly middle eastern airlines, slaves states run by oil tycoons where being gay is a criminal offense punishable by death ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates).

Still they have some very fancy first class cabins and I understand and enjoy reading about them here.

But, no thanks, I'll fly someone else.

Lucky, maybe they should look at how other airlines, like ANA and Cathay, who have just as extensive menus but never seem to run out of food, deal with their catering? And yes, before people jump on saying how "I flew them once and they ran out also!", I do know they might occasionally run out of a dish or 2, but never all the food entirely.

It would have only been better if they sent the boiler plate without your name... Dear <>>...

First they ask you for feedback, then completely ignore it. And I thought only corporate 'merica was this on top of things!

wwk5d raises a good point. However, instead of ANA and Cathay, perhaps use their main competitor Emirates as your example and hopefully Etihad will start listening! 😉

I faced worse (well at least I think it was worse). They checked the weight of carry on bags at gate in IAD and approved it, and then at the gate they weighed it on a different machine and said I was overweight. On challenging them, they just said take out the weight we say is excess or we'll not let you board. And they accused me of lying in front of the planeload of passengers.
On complaining, just said they're sorry not for whats happened but that I felt that their behavior was not proper. No offer for compensation or miles or anything.
But again, I'm just a lowly common guy with no social media influence. Not bitter but just saying their customer service experience can be worse.

@MikeC "give me a break. You wrote to express your concern even though you have not yet committed one dime to their business?"

No, you give us a break. Wanting to be assured of decent in flight service before spending many thousands of $/miles for a flight is hardly out of line. Apparently you fail to understand that many people read this blog to help them make the decision where to spend their $/miles. Any business that is only concerned with their "targeted" highest spending customers will not last long.

"we don’t need to be wasting time with people looking for freebies or writing empty letters of concern"

Potential customers don't need to be wasting their $/FF miles flying Etihad either. No one here mentioned "looking for freebies". A number of people were looking for the second meal they were promised, and Etihad failed to provide it. Not just once, which would be understandable, but over and over again. Then they responded to complaints about their inferior service with a form letter.

You worked for Ritz Carlton for 10 years? I sure hope, with such an antagonistic attitude toward customers, that you didn't work in any capacity involving contact with customers.

Couldn't agree more with Robert.

Try to split your customers into this silly sections and you will find out that the one not spending today will be the one getting the presidential suite next year.

You have NO experience whatsoever to brag about.

@Lucky- thanks for posting. Please continue the dialogue with them until you get an adequate response.

@mikec - your insulting diatribe isn't even lucid.

this is a terrible response that has a bunch of buzzwords strewn together and a nice offer of 10,000 bonus miles that's supposed to appease the customer, but no semblance of personally addressing the issue at hand or indicating what they are planning to do.

In their defense, the pre-clearance delays may be out of their hands but even there, their response is generic. If the delays are so massive and consistent, could they just eschew the process and opt for regular arrivals clearance? Or are all US bound flights from AUH obligated to?

I'm amused that so many people are surprised that Etihad responded as they did. ALL airlines respond similarly, much as people want to assume that the "better" carriers are somehow better in all levels of customer service. They aren't.

Etihad did get the point, but they don't want to give credence to the premise--that they "ran out of food in First Class." They don't accept the premise because that is typically very bad PR if it were ever publicized. They know they ran out of food--twice. Either they are adapting their menus/onboard food stores or they aren't--as you or others will discover on future Etihad First/Business flights.

Etihad's "gesture" of 10,000 miles is laughable...but consistent with every other airline on which I've had such bad customer service issues. Cathay once had an IFE out entirely for F from HKG-LAX and all they gave me was a $100 voucher for future flights. At least this might put UA, DL, and AA's gestures in proper perspective for those who love to bash our airlines.

Personally, if I'm flying Etihad as a paying customer, I'd be VERY concerned. If I'm flying Etihad on miles/points, then I'd worry less. But this did affect our choice to purchase Emirates F from CPT/JNB to LAX instead of Etihad.

Also, if the rationale for running out of food is the dine on demand concept, then shouldn't other airlines with similarly structured menus also have similar problems?

I would make the point when you write to them that this seems to be an Etihad specific issue.

do you actually collect Etihad Guest Miles?

Ben, as other have pointed out, the airlines will never admit they made a mistake, once they do that it opens up for problems. However, they missed the mark and did not address the reason of your letter, you might want to write to the person who is in charge of the US side of Etihad.

Glad you wrote to them Ben - if for no other reason than the fact that by their response (or lack thereof) you helped and provided your readers with info that could help them decide whether or not to fly Etihad. At the end of the day, am assuming that's one of your objectives in writing your blog. So... mission accomplished.

While i doubt you'd ever encounter a food situation on ANA like you did on Etihad, can you imagine what ANA's response would be if they received a letter like yours? They'd probably send you a RT FC ticket to Tokyo, a key to the city and 10 pairs of Hello Kitty PJ's 🙂

@MikeC

"I worked for Ritz Carlton for 10 years..."

What did you do after they fired...er, you left?

Lemmie guess: You went to UA?

What a massive heap of lip service! Admitting no fault (and worse, confirming in effect that they DON'T even understand the nature of the problem).

Etihad = amateur hour. I won't set foot on their planes for fear of the same amateur mentality in areas where it really matters (i.e., cockpit, maintenance).

A thoroughly mockable operation...

EY has really gone downhill. I have travelled them lots in C and F. There's a world of difference between their service 5 years ago and now. One criterion are the brands of scotch offered. They were once upmarket brands (befitting F and C). Now they are run-of-the-mill. And this says nothing about AUH airport -- clearly not up to the challenge of serving this burgeoning airline. I just cleared out my Guest account and have given up on EY.

After your second EY F experience, I cancelled my purchased F fare SYD-AUH-DUS (even on the B787) and return from LHR on the A380, and booked good old SQ/LH F. The article was a very powerful piece and EY's generic response shows just how little they really care. I'm confident I made the right decision.

So... Did you accept the 10k miles? Or was it an automatic deposit?

It was probably written by a bot. It's all boilerplate, form paragraphs.

I have stated before that I diligently read this blog for the trip reports, as I find them to be most invaluable. Etihad's response to Ben's experiences was grossly unacceptable.

I have been flying BA on my business trips to Jeddah; but, have been looking for a different career and routing. Eithad was certainly a major consideration...up until I read that regurgitated response to Ben.

BA needs to send Etihad a thank you note.

10,000 points in return for only having one meal in a first class international flight?

That's a pathetic, low ball offer.

Ben I recently had a bad experience in a the Wing CX Lounger in HKG, and I wrote them ( I even asked you for advice, lol).

They sent me an upgrade voucher, redeemable for the whole year. I was really impressed.

Thanks for your content as always bud, keep up the great work.

Funny airline with a funny name and nonsensical customer relations. Soon we'll be able to relax in our triple bedroom, but better get a doggy bag before boarding

@ RobertHanson - "be assured" yes, I would love to be assured of an on time departure and arrival, but what response is expected by one who is writing an airline to assure them of an experience worthy of their business? Please let me know. "Potential"customers? Is that what FF redeeming guests really are? They typically pay pennies to the dollar for their experiences. Why do you think Airlines are moving their elite programs towards revenue measurement? You build your business on those spending true dollars. Yes, you introduce the brand to those with potential, but in reality many of those redemption stays, flights, etc do not manifest themselves into loyal guests through actual spending which is consistent...browse through these travel blogs and tell me who is really contributing to the financial success of these operations? (look at it from the providers POV). Spending money on business class seats, non-redemption hotel stays....those are the what makes the wheel turning (and they don't tend to take pictures of their taking a shower on an EK A380 flight from BKK-HKG). Ok, that was a personal jab to some bloggers, but really, if you were ever in the delivery side of the industry - you would get it.

And for those calling 10K in miles laughable - I find it quite fare. Afterall, we are taking the perspective only of the blogger. So a second meal was not available - big deal. 10K is appropriate, revenue or non-revenue. It isn't like the aircraft was stuck on the tarmac for 4 hours with no A/C.....or no food was available...but the best has to be the guy writing the letter to be assured of a future successful flight. "Dear Sir, please print this letter and present to the FA so that all your culinary desires will be granted"...... go back to SWA.

What is so funny about their name?

Truly pathetic response. Even UA would have offered more than 10k miles for running out of food in F. Heck, I got 15,000 miles for not having a pillow on an overnight international flight.

How is that considered a response? Basically, "you ran out of food? How dreadful. But there's nothing we can do about it". Maybe that is why they are redesigning their cabins - maybe with fewer passengers, they can actually cater more food in general. Even with fewer 'options', 'air' not counting as one...

For the greater good, could you make sure they understand that there was NO FOOD, not that you just couldn't get your first choice? Flying them in a few months and would really prefer not to go hungry...

@ wwk5d -- Nothing funny about their name, just didn't think it was appropriate to post their full name publicly.

@ Ozaer -- Nope, don't even have an account.

@ Hamish -- I don't even have an Etihad Guest account, so no, I didn't.

@MikeC you argue that providers should especially focus on “those paying the dollar”.

There are two problems with this. First, the distinction between rev/nonrev is artificial and incorrect. There is monetary value provided by both sets, whether direct or indirect. To choose two typical "non-rev" examples:
a. Airline employees flying free or at a deep discount. Airlines would have otherwise had to pay higher salaries if they didn't provide this benefit (loosely analogous to tipping).
b. Frequent Fliers using miles from credit cards. Airlines receive cash for miles purchased by issuer banks that will then be "rewarded" to the customer.

Second, there is no gun pointed at an airline to accept miles as currency. At the end of the day, once they make a choice to sell similar seats in a similar class for a certain amount of compensation (whether in cash or by miles) it is ridiculous to have differential levels of service.

Quality providers, such as Ritz Carlton, GET this. In my many years of staying with them as both a "rev" and "nonrev" guest, I never once received differential treatment. @MikeC, you DON'T GET IT.

Awww c'mon Ben! They're trying to make good with their gesture of goodwill. Surely, you could applaud that and be happy it wasn't a canned e-mail a-la United. 🙂

@ Lucky -- I second those above who would like to see you write a response to them; if you could convince them that the problem is running out of food and not running out of first option, it'd be doing a favor to your readers 🙂

Anyhow, whomever wrote the response letter clearly doesn't read your blog or didn't get a note from the PR team. It's sad but not entirely surprising that they wrote you a typical form response AND -- on top of it -- misunderstood your issue.

Wow. Even flying in first class you get a form letter response that does not even address the actual issues....

@Lucky

Actually, I was responding to Linas comment about the airline itself having a funny name...

stupid people say stupid things. I am glad he no longer works for Ritz Carlton, I've been reasonably happy with their service thus far. His flawed ideas are laughable, am I supposed to feel less entitled to something because I paid less or nothing for it? Say less for a hotel room or less for a ticket? Hotel redemption or flight, does it matter? No ones taking a knife to them asking for freebies, or asking them to accept a lower fare, if a company makes a room or a flight available for $10, when it is usually $1000, I found the the deal it is legitimate and honoured, do I suddenly become a 2nd class customer because I paid less? What stupid logic is that? Service levels should be tagged to cabin or room or just the general property, do we go about checking fare classes now? Lol ridiculous, the lucky guy who paid less for his room should expect a lower level of service than the idiot who paid rack or is somehow less deserving?

Also all long haul flights should have 2 meals, and snacks available. They are trying to be smart asses and letting people eat whatever whenever thereby causing a problem, if you cannot predict how can you cater. If you allow people to eat non stop, how do you manage that. I think SQ and EVA is great SQ for book the cook, you pick what you want and they can anticipate, if not just choose from what's available. You do not get to eat for 12 hours, they do have snacks but not as impressive as EVA which provided non instant type noodles which were really good. SQs fancy instant noodles in a bowl were totally rubbish in comparison haha did not even bother asking for it.

I just hate ethihad airlines boarding staff they behaved rude with me and demanded for 300$ fine.They are too commercial even they dont have proper reason to ask for fine.Its my first time flight to USA they catched this point as weak point and demanded me for fine for 500gms excess weight in hand luggage.
I had 7.5kgs and they aske to remove 3 kgs .When I asked why i need to remove 3kgs instead of 1/2 kg they replied stupidly like below
becasue you didnt say excesss luggage in checkin and I asked its airlines responsibility to allow or not allow .They allowed me in checkin and youa re asking me for fine or 3kgs return now.How far its fair?
They threten me if u dont pay fine you will miss flight.
Please never opt for ethihad airlines.I had really very bad experience.They humiliate at any pont of time for money.They are many other vulgar answers i heared from them which i cant tell also.I am just writing this because to get awareness in everyone from my worst experience.

Please neevr fall into hell bu booking this airlines they can trouble you for sure at any stage without any rules.

Etihad has changed my flight schedule for 8 times and now Cancelling my flight. They don't have any other option to get me to the destination I needed in time. Please don't use this airline. I have emailed them but no response.

Same problem, I have been emailing them, messaging them but looks like they don't care about the customers. I have a very small issue and they asking me to have patience and they looking into it for more than two weeks.. And my flight is next week. But I hope that I or my staff will never fly with etihad again.. The worst customer service I can say... Stingy, lazy, unkind, and pathetic... Asma

Hi. This is is a really interesting blog.I would love some advice. I flew Etihad first time Perth-Abu Dhabi- Europe with my family and it was fantastic. However the return flight was utterly horrific. I had a broken heel bone and moon boot on. I am type 1 diabetic with an insulin pump and continuous Glucose monitoring sensor attached to me. Basically I cut my leg in the first journey of the flight on a random article left in the passenger isle, asked for assistance, was given a band aid, asked if I could have a wheelchair, as my left foot is broken, my right foot is cut, and blood sugars are rising dramatically because I didn't receive my diabetic meals as ordered. Was denied that despite showing my Doctor's letter to them. Was forced to go through an Xray machine even though I stated that my sensor would burn up, my pump was damaged. With all the medical costs and new sensors, pumps and on antibiotics as the cut got infected I am probably out of pocket over $11 000 AUD. Initially I put in my feedback 4th October, just with booking reference, no details, they offered me 5000 points, plus my two children who are not Etihad guest members. After numerous emails and phone calls the offer was not increased and just generic responses received. This to me is quite outrageous for a major airline on an intercontinental flight. The ground staff in Abu Dhabi made me cry. It really was a horrible experience. Any advice?

@Lucky

I assume you are aware that the above response from Etihad uses the term "Specific requests" and not "Special requests"?

@lucky,
They haven't improved at all. I have been a etihad loyalist since 2014 flying 52000miles (16hrs flight one way)per year in buisness class. In the last two flights, inspite of requesting them early in the flight to save some extra food, As medically i need to have dome snack every 3-4 hrs, they were not able to provide it, rather they showed me the list where I had already had my share of food( they replaced my breakfast with a in between snack!!!!!!)
Also while serving the meals they behave as if they are doing us a favour!!!!
Very disappointed!!

It just keeps getting worse:
After several enjoyable flights taken in each class of travel between MEL-AUH-DUB/LHR and back over the past 5 years I have more recently (within the last 2yrs) noticed a steady and continuous decline in the standard of service offered by Etihad. The last was during a rather uncomfortable AUH-LHR flight at the beginning of June - I must have been sat with the seatback that was waiting for engineering to either replace or actually secure the lump of metal that had come away inside so it didn't stick into my lower back for the duration.
Unlike @lucky, there food was indeed available, however the bright yellow goo served with a side of green paste was as unidentifiable as it was inedible. To see fellow travelers being reprimanded by cabin staff for illuminating their call buttons put me off actually bringing my issues to anyone's attention during the flight and so I sent an eMail upon my arrival home. The next day I received the run-of-the-mill automated response thanking me for my patience and informing someone would be in touch, bla, bla, bla... That was over a month ago and heard back since 🙁 Disappointed to say the least !!!

Hi,
Very poor response for the missing baggage!
one of my bag is missing in the Ethihad airways flight coming from Genoa via Rome,Abhdhabi to Bangalore .my flight from Genoa is on 20.4.19 in 7:15 flight .
I raised complaint and file ref no is BLREY23516 on 21.4.2019 @ Bangalore airport.Inspite of repeated followup for the past 4 days ,I yet to get update the bag status.
can you pls help?

I really don’t understand Etihad’s complete disregard for what people think of them. I’ve also have a bad experience with them (cancelled a flight, refused to refund fare). I went onto a few sites to post negative reviews, and for a while hardly thought it worthwhile - there are literally hundreds of negative reviews. A lot are accompanied by a cut/paste response from Etihad that does more harm than good. Seems it’s just a corporate decision to not give a toss about what people think