Questions and Answers

Hi,

Ever since Lucky shared his experience with booking Etihad the Residence a year ago I’ve been trying to use his tips and method to grab a similar deal for me and my wife. The other day I was looking for flights from Cairo to Las Vegas, when I decided to try out Lucky’s advice and book one sector on Residence and the other on First. I broke up my itinerary to Cairo – New York and then book a separate ticket to Vegas.
While browsing on the Etihad app I managed to find a great deal. Outbound to New york on residence and inbound on First for only $5500 each. I booked straight away with my credit card (not an Egyptian credit Card). While booking I made sure that I wasn’t dreaming and actually booked Residence, so I screenshot the reservation as well as the seat selection which stated that I would be on the Residence.
When I received the email Etihad had issued the ticket the outbound sector was changed to First. Upon calling Etihad they said that the pricing was for First and not Residence. When I stated that I changed my original flight just to fly on the Residence they offered to upgrade me for an extra $10000 or something. They said that I could always cancel my flight and book the original itinerary. My first issue with that is that by canceling I would end up losing a few hundred bucks due to foreign credit card fees and currency rates.
Basically, I’m wondering if there was a way to make Etihad honor the reservation I made or at least agree to cancel my ticket and refund the full amount i ended up paying with all transaction fees the bank would be charging. At the end of the day, this was absolutely none of my fault!

Thanks

What credit card did you use to book?

It sounds like Etihad notified you right away of the change from Residence to First, so I don’t think you’d have much luck having them honor the original reservation. As a consumer, we are able typically able to modify bookings within 24 hours, so it’s only fair that the airline can do the same.

In this situation, if you end up cancelling, your best recourse for getting back the fees would be to dispute the charge with your credit card company, saying the airline didn’t give you what you paid for.

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 55005, member: 1436″]What credit card did you use to book?

It sounds like Etihad notified you right away of the change from Residence to First, so I don’t think you’d have much luck having them honor the original reservation. As a consumer, we are able typically able to modify bookings within 24 hours, so it’s only fair that the airline can do the same.

In this situation, if you end up cancelling, your best recourse for getting back the fees would be to dispute the charge with your credit card company, saying the airline didn’t give you what you paid for.[/QUOTE]

I used a Visa Infinite from Emirates NBD to pay for the tickets.

Well technically I found out about the ticket change and then contacted Etihad. I’ll try to talk to the bank and see if they can waive their commissions although I don’t think they are as flexible in this part of the world.

Thank you for taking the time to answer rickyw. Appreciate it