Etihad's Lowball Compensation For Broken TV & Shower In The Residence

Terrible compensation indeed, but neither airlines nor cruise lines are being particularly generous with compensation these days. They provide the bare minimum knowing that there is strong demand for luxury products and they don't have to do much to keep their customers.

I have to say, Etihad seems like a really scummy airline. Between the lackluster customer service, the extremely punitive award cancellation policy, and the increasingly restrictive business fares which come with nothing (at the same cost as other airlines)... not sure I'd be thrilled to be flying with them...

and that's before we discuss the UAE's complicity in the Sudan catastrophe...

These companies try to aim for best luxury in the sky and work hard for it but fail to respond when the shit hit the fan.
It is true also to other carriers like Emirates and Trukish.
In this case they should have been refund back the cost of the upgrade.

This is shameful compensation. Somewhere along the process, Etihad f-ed up in terms of the shower and TV operating, and is now trying to blur things with this pre-departure / "descent" nonsense. It's too bad, cause it's a great product...

PS that entire itinerary and upgrade is a horrible use of miles and $s by the passenger but that's another story

Probably on tail A6-APJ. Flew the residence a few months back and had similar thing happen where the living room TV remotes wouldn't work. Screen came on but no way to control it. Shower worked fine though. They reset the system several times but to no avail. My FA said it happens somewhat regularly on this specific plane, but at least some of the time they can get it working by resetting. TV in the bedroom worked fine though so I didn't mind too much.

They gave me some miles without me asking, i don't remember exactly how many but it was a modest amount. Cabin manager came and apologized profusely too. On a different Etihad F flight this year (not the residence "just" first:) the touch screen to control the seats and lights wasn't working. Etihad A380's are wonderful to fly especially in First but they are starting to show their age.

That is an abhorrent offer. This shouldn’t be the case but I wonder if EY is especially stingy with people on award tickets. If this happens to me on my upcoming Residence ticket I’d be livid.

EY showers are very often broken. Buyer beware. I was offered zero comp when it didn’t work when I flew AUH YYZ in F. Go figure EY no longer advertise showers as a feature of F A380 class service on their website.

What I appreciate about low cost airline travel is you expect the bare minimum and get the bare minimum, and are never disappointed like this.

eh value is different for all of us. i know folks who generate obscene miles just from business spend (not even optimized for spend category) and have no hesitation burning 200k for a TATL J ticket, because there's more where that came from.

end of the day, this person paid for a service, whatever the relative value, and has every right to expect it.

If I had paid $2000 to upgrade to the residence and the TV and shower were not working, I would expect at least 40% refunded.

If they had been offered the upgrade at $2000 but told there would be no TV and no shower, I very much doubt they would have accepted it over a first class seat with working entertainment.

In this situation I would file a credit card dispute for services not rendered as paid for. That might be a tough fight to win though.

You can blame professional extortionist like Josh and Sebastian.
Especially the latter.

Between them everything seems to go terribly wrong every few minutes on every trip.
(Terribly wrong = denied lounge for being too early, room temp was 2 degrees off, no wakeup call but your iphone works, etc.)

How big of a jerk you have to be to get banned by Qatar or Bali.

I sort of agree but disagree they don't have to do much. The demand for luxury travel has grown the options and choice is abundant, particularly on routes and sailings that are popular. Free agency is increasingly a good and well documented strategy. I doubt this person will ever fly Etihad again. When I don't get what I feel I deserve based on spend, I'm quick to 'fire' the company and that is usually easier than expected and usually (always) we find something better in the end. That said there are plenty of us out there whose expectations may be too high at times

Ridiculous compensation. The question the reader should ask them is, would Etihad be able to sell the Residence upgrade for $1800 after telling customers that both the TV and shower weren't working? Given that caveat in advance, I certainly wouldn't pay that and I bet most others wouldn't either.

Ridiculous compensation. The question the reader should ask them is, would Etihad be able to sell the Residence upgrade for $1800 after telling customers that both the TV and shower weren't working? Given that caveat in advance, I certainly wouldn't pay that and I bet most others wouldn't either.

First World problems at its worst

Would complaining to the DoT make any sense?

Have we bought Paris or Middle East countries with tariff money yet?

EY is a garbage airline. I constantly hear that the F shower doesn't work. It was broken the 2 times I flew in the apartments years apart as well.
Meanwhile I've flown EK F every month over the last 12+ years and the shower has never been broken.

I tried to book the residence a few months ago, and when expertflyer was glitching, they couldn't even tell me whether the residence was available or not prior to booking. Truly abysmal and lackluster customer service and that is why they are nowhere near the same league as EK.

You gotta be well documented and aggressively pursue service recovery. Speak to the Captain. Have them contact maintenance on the ground for trouble shooting.

Open a credit card dispute for the $2000 at this point. That sucks really feel sorry for the parents. This is not a first world problem. It is a first class problem and this is unacceptable ! Let me know if you need me to lean on them (Etihad) Ben. I know how to escalate.

Um... there is only one reason for the apartment. It isn't watching TV. Join the club.

My experience with the ME carriers, everything is great until something goes wrong.

That’s really bad. DL recently proactively gave me 10,000 miles on a BUR-ATL flight where my TV was glitching. It only was laggy and I didn’t even ask for compensation, but I left a very happy camper with DL’s response. I would definitely expect more than $100/10,000 miles for no shower or TV in the residence! Bummer! I’m sorry, mate.

This is a common issue with some Middle Eastern carriers like Qatar Airways. They may offer a 5-star onboard experience, but their post-flight service recovery is often very poor. For example, I once had an experience where Qatar failed to load any First Class drinks onboard. When I requested compensation, they only offered 5,000 Avios. Other complaints like no wifi compensation received no response at all. Unfortunately, this seems to be their standard way of operating.

I recently flew from YYZ to AUH. There was a first class seat available so instead of flying the standard first class to Abu Dhabi I decided to fly to Canada to experience their better plane. As I was checking in they informed me that I was downgraded to business class because my room had no power. There really isn't nothing I can do about it but as I went to my seat someone else was already assigned that seat. So I had to wait 10 minutes until they could find me a seat. I was told that I would receive the miles difference from First to Business back into my account. The flight was November 5th 2025 and I have yet to receive anything, also was told my issue would be escalated and would receive an email, haven't heard from Etihad either. I wasted money flying to Canada just to try the Residence. The Flight attendants were great, they let me take a pic in the seat I was assigned in First class as compensation

Then let the record be public knowledge that this is how much the airline calculates those aspects of the experience (and probably most other aspects as well), and you are clearly overpaying for it if you spend thousands of actual dollars for this crap.

I recently flew DPS-AUH a 9 hour flight and the seat did not recline. The issue was dcumented and in the end I was offered the exact same $100 voucher or 10K miles.

The only way to communicate with Etihad for these matteres is via email and after responding with my disapproval they simply didnt answer me.

I tried writing back several times but still nothing.

It doesnt seem like there is much that you can do

Your person is NOT a liar I also had the residence and the flight had NO water for The toilet or the shower?.
They offered me the same $100 or 10,000 points. And I wrote back 3 times it was NOT reasonable compensation.
They did NOTHING

Oh well, these things happen. It’s not worth having a stroke about missing out on TV and a private loo for a 7.5 hour flight. They got them there in one piece, and it’s not like they were downgraded to economy class.

And yet you’ve lived to complain another day. That’s gotta be a bonus.

1. The captain doesn’t give a shit.

2. The flight departs in the middle of he night and arrives in the early AM. How much TV and how many showers do you need?

3. A seasoned first class passenger would sleep for this entire flight. Only chavs stay up all night on red eyes to gorge themselves on food and drink that they have zero chance of encountering in their sad, everyday lives. First class isn't a seat, it’s a way of life.

I wish I had your experience! I had 3 DL flights in October where my screen was stuck or broken and I have received absolutely nothing for it. I got shrugs from flight attendants and a canned apology from customer service.

Wait who is Sebastian?

Sorry, but this way of thinking is entirely wrong. If you pay for a service that comes with certain benefits and you don't receive those in their entirety, then you also shouldn't have had to pay for that service entirely. This is not an opinion, but a fact.

Now, how much that's worth is tricky to decide, but a <5% discount for the entire ticket cost is most certainly not representative of a deserved compensation.

Shut up Pete. You’re not cool.

What's uncool is whining like little bitch every time something doesn't go 100% to plan, then whining like an even bigger bitch when the "compensation" doesn't meet your lofty expectations. It's one 7.5 hour red-eye flight, FFS. Get TF over it.

Don't know why people think that airline amenities can be in any way luxurious. I would much rather eat at a nice restaurant and shower in my hotel room after arrival than consume poorly prepared and stored food or tiptoe around naked on a dirty and unsteady plane.

@PeteAU just because you're a doormat doesn't mean everyone has to be one too

Ummm how about a full refund and you get your pos crap to work ...a video post to social media would have been more effective

I never dine in a restaurant, but I do fly J and F. I rather enjoy a decent meal in the sky than in a restaurant, it’s just not my vibe.

Total joke. 40 top 50pct of the upgrade cost would be correct to me.
BA damaged my luxury cabin bag in first class the other day. Customer service offered 200 GBP (in vouchers) for compensation . I have open a legal case 🙂 Customer services don't exist anymore. First class or not. And I'm a gold BA member .....

Yep. My daughter’s IFE on DOH-MIA on Qatar didn’t have working IFE. FAs reset it multiple times but never worked. We were already Qatar’d but we knew that was always a possibility and the seat was still fine and reclined, but to have a 7 y/o without working IFE and not getting the quad Q suite as well was kinda a bummer. Emailed them after the flight for basic compensation for the non working IFE and got nothing. We had an iPad for that our 7 y/o kept herself entertained with but to get zip on the compensation front for such an expensive ticket was very aggravating.

Etihad's customer service has sucked for several years now, and one of the reasons I will never fly them. It's well documented online, doesn't seem to matter what class of travel you use them.

IYKYK, I'm not giving his cronies more traffic.

Like Josh, you're not missing anything. If anything even more fiction and whining than Josh.

Considering your answer @PeteAU,
Everyday you live beyond highschool is a bonus.

So the next time I'm flying coach on their A380 can I just tell them I want to pay $200 to use the showers and a few hours of TV in the living room?

Why weren't 1 or 2 of the First class passengers denied a shower instead? Or the husband and wife asked to share time in the shower for a quick rinse?

Just dispute the upgrade charge on the credit card you paid with and say partial services not rendered. Hopefully they used an Amex.

Idk why people go through all this ridiculous back and forth with a customer service agent who clearly can't escalate this or has the power to do more. Dispute and try to win your battle that way.

Without reading all of the preceding blather, were this sort of ‘horlicks’ to occur on one of our bookings, I would not settle for anything less than a full Residence upgrade cost refund, plus, compensation on top of that.
In reality, there is no way we would ever consider the residence above two adjoining F Suites. The Residence holds no interest for us due to the abysmal bed configuration .

"I would not settle for anything less than a full Residence upgrade cost refund, plus, compensation on top of that."

And if they replied to you 10k points, case closed?

Their customer service is aweful. Flew with them in Feb and never again. Response to valid complaint was pathetic.

Not surprising from Etihad. An airline that now has multiple daily flights to Tel Aviv. More interest in serving customers that support a genocide than offering a product they advertise.

"I never dine in a restaurant"

@Reyyan: Never? I don't believe you.

The reality is what a passenger agrees to when they tick that 'I agree to the terms and conditions of this sale' box is ALWAYS well on the side of the airline.

Essentially, all the airline contractually guarantees is to get you from A to B by some method at some point. Not on a particular aircraft type, nor on a specific day or time, not a specific class of service or hard product. Definitely not on a flight guaranteeing you functioning IFE and showers.

When things like delays come into it there are often regulatory conditions that the customer can then pursue (eg EU261).

However, when it comes to a product failure its down to the airline to decide what their idea of service recovery looks like and AMEX will certainly not give a charge back as they will contact Etihad, Etihad will provide AMEX with their conditions of carriage (which the passenger agreed to) so case closed.

It is just a case of lesson learned. The Middle Eastern carriers are generally excellent to fly with and when everything goes well they are in a league of their own. But their service recovery when things do not go well are generally considered poor.

Also, it would be interesting to know how the points were accumulated to book this flight and whether that also has sway on the compensation. If the customer has no history of loyalty to Etihad (ie Etihad view this passenger as someone who only uses credit card transferred points to travel Etihad) they may go in with a more 'cannot be arsed to recover you' attitude than someone that has accumulated 280,000 points from spending $$ on Etihad tickets.

That explains it - lol. Thanks for your insight!

That honestly sounds like some of my correspondence with Frontier. Ignore the issue happened, redirect and close further correspondence.

Etihad generally have the worst after sales service I have ever experienced in my life. I tried to get a refund exception on medical grounds (after a cancer diagnosis) and it took them 8 MONTHS to refund me. All the other flights I cancelled with other airlines managed to refund me within a month.

After flying F on the Etihad A380 once before I have a different take:

I find it shocking that anyone would be willing to spend 560,000 Etihad points AND USD $3600 for a 7+ hr flight.

@ Tony -- The cost was 140K miles per person, so 280K total, not per person.

Any of the ME3 (Etihad, Emirates, Qatar) have never been good on customer service. Flyertalk is riddled with complaints that go unanswered for months (and sometimes eternity), and IF they bother to do anything, you'll get a paltry response.

So then the shower IS important?

Some of the proletariat’s responses are somehow typical of those without passports, the means to purchase an F ticket, or, those who will even turn left as long as the sun shines.

I also had a flight on July in the residence with the same IFE issues as described here, but it was on A6-APF. I was proactively offered 40k miles after the flight which I told them I thought was a lowball, and they raised to 50k which I accepted because I couldn't be bothered wasting any more time

Yep i dispute stuff all the time, 90% the company doesnt eveb respond. Super easy.

If escalations don't work, I'd contest it with Amex to at least make it more irritating for the airline.

Also, document the hell out of it so the airlines "account" will hold less weight.

I flew first class in June 2025 and the Wi-Fi wasn’t working on the plane, and I got a $150 compensation for that. So $100 for the lack of a TV and a shower seems ridiculous.

I think the couple paid for a service / product which was defective and did not meet expectations or needs. I personally rely on the showering component (on First Class flights) with a short stopover. Perhaps the lesson is to video and record evidence so what happens is not in dispute.

In an industry where sadly we have pretty low expectations of customer service, Etihad excels at finding a new low. Complaints that take months to process and result in little other than an empty apology are the norm unfortunately, even for Platinum Etihad Guest customers.

I was Platinum for a long time and just stopped flying with them after too many similar experiences. No-one from Etihad ever reached out to ask why I went from significant (50k+) annual spend to nothing overnight. It's such a simple & cheap thing to fix - they just don't seem to care enough about customer experience / retention.

>There really isn't nothing I can do about it

The problem is they let people into First who write like this. Sorry, but can't you see how you're not First Class material?

That's what I was thinking. Residence with broken shower should mean that Residence passenger gets to bump FC passengers in the other shower. But you'd have to demand that on the spot.

I flew F in Etihad's A380 AUH-LHR back in 2016 and sadly the shower wouldn't work, sucks when that's your one chance at this novelty. Agree $100 is an insult. My flight was only 40K AA plus minor taxes for that flight (and it included a BA connection to Iceland). The miles and $ cost of their award....oof!

Reason number 613 why I'll never fly one of the government-subsidized ME3.

Ben,

I'm going through the exact same thing with EY and them making up nonsense. Can I email you?

go away

Has anyone ever wondered why when airlines do compensate you with points/miles/cash/upgrades the email will always start along the lines of

"we apologise that you experienced XXXX on your flight from YYY to ZZZ. We do value your loyalty as customer of Random Airlines therefore AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL we would like to offer you ABC'.

Because, that is what it is.

I do not agree with it and I would be FUMING if a premium experience I had really been looking forward to (unlike AeroB13a who flies First Class like riding a bus apparently) failed to deliver.

HOWEVER from the airline POV if they get you from A to B, they have fulfilled their end of the bargain.

Service recovery is kinda ironic in a way. From my own personal experience the less 'highly rated' airlines - the US carriers, Qantas, BA, IB, other euro carriers - actually seem to deal with post flight service failure recovery much better than the more highly regarded airlines such as the ME3.

Why? I do not know. I could hazard a guess and suggest that losing a customer is more of a big deal for the non subsidised airlines in the world than those that are, and frankly can fill your seat again tomorrow if you decide to walk because you have been treated poorly.

There is 100% a cultural nuance to this too. In the Middle East, the way these things are dealt with are almost ENTIRELY driven by where you are from and what senior contacts you have in the airline (take it from someone that worked for EK). I can assure you had this passenger been a local, ALL stops would have been pulled out to win them over.

There is data out there to suggest that a customer who suffers a service failure and is brilliantly recovered is likely to be MORE of a promotor of that business than someone who has experience no service failure. But the ME3 just do not need to attract more customers, nor promotors. They have plenty of people promoting them with the glitzy stuff on social media.

You sound like a lot of fun at parties.
I pay for stuff, I expect to get said stuff. How much I use it, or not, is nobody's business but my own.
How many showers? Oh just one. Too much to expect after having paid for it?

I would raise chargeback request with Card provider.

For all those suggesting the charge back route - it will not work.

Check out Etihad's Conditions of Carriage on their website, which when making a reservation the passenger has to agree to by ticking the box.

"12.1.3 We do not make any guarantees about the availability of in-flight entertainment, advertised duty free products, and other services".

This is all Etihad has to provide to AMEX to successfully dispute the charge back.

I'm not writing a college paper so im going to talk how i want to talk. Just how you wanted to be a douche-bag and write like first class is some privilege....lol

Moslem Airlines, never wrong, never admit error, makes me sick. She should have been refunded the full cost of the upgrades, these ME airlines shit me.

That's terrible. Similar happened to me on Emirates and the compensation for a forced downgrade to J was a complimentary return F ticket on the same route, valid for one year. One example why EK is way better than EY.

Any passenger issues on Etihad are always managed very badly and compensation is always paltry or none at all. For that reason and a previous bad experience will never fly this airline

Er, that's Muslim. I'll give you the benefit of
doubt that you weren't being bigoted.

I am starting to understand that Etihad does not care about delivering proper customer service once they have your money. My husband and I were downgraded from business class to economy on a nine hour flight. They apparently sent a smaller jet with fewer business seats. After months of going back-and-forth, they offered us each $250 and closed the case. At the airport, they offered us a bit more, but we thought it wasn’t enough and they told us we could take it up with customer service. Customer service was definitely the wrong route to go through. The downgrade was a difference of $2000 a piece and we received a fraction of that. They’re terrible.

This is why Trump admires the way Arabs do business.

Unfortunately, Etihad's customer service is slow and poor. It does not reflect the premium status of the airline.

I paid a full fare F class in Feb.2020 to fly the Etihad First class apartment. I was the one and only flight passenger in the F cabin from CDG to AUH. I reserved the shower but it didn't work. So, they decided to reserve a shower for me in the lounge, gave me a letter as an apology and 10000 points. Obviously, I couldn't feel happy because my main purpose is to enjoy all services in board. Now, it seems they have not improved their aircrafts to avoid these kinds of malfunction. I will reconsider to fly with the residence.

In 2024/25 I flew Etihad biz/first 18 times on full fare cash tickets.

Platinum Etihad status.

I did the residence (all cash...no miles bullshit) and IFE didn't work.

No apology.
Zero compensation.

Immediately cancelled all my future cash bookings with them and switched to another airline.

I am now in the top 100 global flyers with their direct competitor.

My wife and I had a similar failure of the entertainment system when flying Emirates in Premium Economy. The matter was dealt with swiftly and efficiently after we lodged a complaint. We were offered 35000 air miles to redeem. We felt that was fair and accepted.

I flew solely with etihad (little e is all they deserve) for 15 years and was top level status all that time as flew very regularly with them, slowly but surely every perk died away. Silver used to get cars in London, then Platinum even didn't. Food service and respect of status died off
Then i was steuck with cancer and wrote to them to say I've been Gold,Gold elite, Platinum for fifteen years sorry I won't manage this year as am sick

They wrote back, "oh well, try again next year"

Almost finished burning miles

They can absolutely do one

You're considerably more generous than they are