Beware ETIHAD AIRLINES @ Dublin Airport

Belgree4

Our daughter had a horrendous "customer service" experience on Friday evening with ETIHAD AIRLINES at Dublin Airport.

She was in a check-in queue for over three hours; the check-in desks were hopelessly under-staffed, there was no one from ETIHAD AIRLINES visibly in charge, the communication to those in the queue about how the situation was being managed was non-existent and the check-in representative was unable to tell her whether she would make the onward connection from Abu Dhabi to Sydney.
As she boarded the flight some two hours after it was due to depart she was in tears with the sheer exasperation and frustration of the experience.

YOU HAVE NOW BEEN WARNED ABOUT ETIHAD AIRLINES - tread carefully.

whitebriar

The day of the storm? The day the airports entire schedule went upside down due to bad weather?
These things happen to all airlines op.
They are not the star ship enterprise,it's not within their capability to mass beam you up when it's unsafe to take off.
It's also not possible all the time to be pro active enough to have enough people on the desks at an out station in such circumstances.
Dublin airport is not an ethiad hub.
So this rare event is not a reason to stop anyone flying with them or any airline to be honest.
frustrating yes but fairly par for the course.

Frosty McSnowballs

Well, iv had nothing but a good experience with them.

killbillvol2

Mr.S wrote: »

Sounds like a problem with the service staff, which isn't Ethiad?

The last time I flew with them I think it was their own staff manning check in.

In any case, as whitebriar said, Friday wasn't a typical day at the airport!

fullstop

ETIHAD AIRWAYS.

Camp David

Etihad is the best airline I've ever flown with.

lc180

Belgree4 wrote: »

the check-in representative was unable to tell her whether she would make the onward connection from Abu Dhabi to Sydney..

Well would you rather they lie to your daughter and tell her she will definitely make her connecting flight?

Sounds like a horrible situation but there is a lot of factors that determine if a passenger will make their connecting flights and pretty much all of them are out of the control of the check-in staff.

amdublin

I assume your DAUGHTER (an ADULT??) knows that A LOT OF FLIGHTS were DELAYED because of STORM???


STORMS. BE WARNED.

sparrowcar

Belgree4 wrote: »

Our daughter had a horrendous "customer service" experience on Friday evening with ETIHAD AIRLINES at Dublin Airport.

She was in a check-in queue for over three hours; the check-in desks were hopelessly under-staffed, there was no one from ETIHAD AIRLINES visibly in charge, the communication to those in the queue about how the situation was being managed was non-existent and the check-in representative was unable to tell her whether she would make the onward connection from Abu Dhabi to Sydney.
As she boarded the flight some two hours after it was due to depart she was in tears with the sheer exasperation and frustration of the experience.

YOU HAVE NOW BEEN WARNED ABOUT ETIHAD AIRLINES - tread carefully.

You lost me after the first paragraph..

Really bad storm hit Dublin airport that day.. The place was a bombsite, not Etihad's fault.

You should write a serious letter of complaint to God about this.. Maybe copy Met Eireann.

Strumms

I just so glad that the thousands of other passengers negatevly impacted by the storm didn't come and start a thread on boards about it. Man what a lot of reading that would be. Tell your daughter to man up and sort herself out. As an employee at the airport that is some of the worse weather I have seen in 15 years certainly wind wise. The staff would have been under serious pressure dealing with the situation and all the knock on effects there of you can never staff for such a rare occurrence.. If the airline had indeed neglected their duty of care and decided to fly in conditions which were out of limits for the aircraft it could have truly ended in tears for her and many others.

Act of nature... Get over it.

spank_inferno

LOUD NOISES!

BuffyBot

The last time I flew with them I think it was their own staff manning check in.

Not always. Dependent on what the airline stipulate, outsourced staff often wear the airlines uniform while working on that airline's contract. They may have to wear Etihad gear for that part of the shift, then change before they go man the Lufthansa desks for example

But yes, OP, be realistic. With the conditions on the day, be thankful the flight left at all.

EdwardCastle

Etihad is one of the best and most comfortable airlines to fly with. Will be flying again with them for sure in the future.

Your daughter will too OP, because once she sees what the competition offer, she'll come running back, arms open.

Wile E. Coyote

Belgree4 wrote: »

As she boarded the flight some two hours after it was due to depart she was in tears with the sheer exasperation and frustration of the experience.

Your daughter sounds a little 'precious' to be honest. She's one of the lucky ones if her delay was only two hours. A guy I know was in the airport for an 8am flight, he didn't get out till 11pm that night. Nothing to do with the staff, the airport or the airline. It was all down to the weather and there's nothing anyone can do about that.

amdublin

Sounds like Mammy or Daddy has created a little "precious princess" :rolleyes:

Imagine coming on to the internet to complain on behalf of (I am assuming) an adult

Time to cut the apron strings Mammy! (Or Daddy)

timetogo

Belgree4 wrote: »

and the check-in representative was unable to tell her whether she would make the onward connection from Abu Dhabi to Sydney.
As she boarded the flight some two hours after it was due to depart she was in tears with the sheer exasperation and frustration of the experience.

First time flying? Two hours delay. From the OP I thought it was two days. Delays happen all of the time. They're not usual but there's not much you can do if a plane has a problem or is delayed because of weather.

As for the rep being unable to tell your daughter if she would make the connecting flight could you not have done the maths yourself . E.g. plane is 2 hours late taking off, I'd guess it'd be 2 hours late landing. Is the time between landing from Dub and taking off on the next one later more than 2 hours later. If there are a lot of people on the delayed flight from Dublin I'd imagine they'd delay the second flight by a bit. I don't know how a check in agent could help you too much with that though.

One advantage in using one airline all the way to your final destination is that if they delay you at your first departure point they'll make sure you get to your final destination. You may be delayed (even by a day if they only fly once a day) but they'll probably put you up in a hotel in that case. The worst case scenario is that you have to sit in an airport for several hours. It's a pain in the hole and really irritating but hardly the end of the world.

All your daughter had to do if she missed her connecting flight is go up to the Etihad helpdesk in Abu Dhabi and explain her situation. They'd have sorted her out. It's happened to me before a couple of times with other airlines.

ProudDUB

Oh dear OP, you've lost me too. You are complaining about a mere two hour delay at Dublin Airport, two days after Christmas, when half the planet was on the move, and the biggest storm to hit Ireland in nearly 20 years turned the airport into chaos city? Traveling at this time of year is always stressful. So is worrying about whether or not you will make your connecting flights. I have been there many, many times, and it really isn't fun at all. But you and your daughter could do with developing a wee bit of kop on & perspective given the horrendous weather conditions that day. If the Ethiad staff didn't communicate sufficiently well with your daughter, it is probably because they knew eff all themselves, as the decision about when her flight could take off, was not theirs to make.

sparrowcar

The OP has 4 posts. Chances are he won't be back on here until he has something else equally dramatic to highlight.

It's a pity because he will never know his Etihad bashing thread has turned into an Etihad support page!

IRLConor

FWIW, I flew on the exact same flights as the OP's daughter and Etihad were brilliant at every stage of the process.

There were a lot of delays and I didn't find out if I was going to make my connection until a couple of hours before landing in Abu Dhabi. I didn't even have an onward boarding card AND we landed in AUH almost an hour after the scheduled departure of the second flight and yet I (and presumably the OP's daughter) made the connection. They held EY450 (an A350-600 with lots of other passengers on it) on the ground so that the Dublin passengers could make it.

The only screwup I had was that my bag didn't make the connection and Etihad's handling agent in Sydney were a bit crap about organising delivery of it to me.

Oh, and the staff handling check-in in Dublin were Aer Lingus staff and I found them very helpful. They were short handed for the second check-in to be sure but they were trying to get the other Etihad flight boarded at the same time so it's sort of understandable.

Miaireland

As the others said your daughter needs to grow up a bit. The airport staff were trying to function in one of the worse storms we have ever seen. The person who your daughter spoke to couldn't tell your daughter if she would make her connection or not because they did not know. Whether she made her connection or not depended on factors beyond the knowledge of the airport staff, such as whether the flight would have to circle before landing, where her gate was etc.

I suggest the next time your daughter flies that she cops on a bit and leave more time between her connection if she gets so upset and stressed.

Stinicker

On a trip to Sydney I'd be hoping for as many delays as possible, it happened to me this year with Etihad returning from the Philippines and I was put in a hotel in Abu Dhabi in a brilliant hotel and given excellent food also. Etihad could not have handled it better if they tried. In hindsight I was originally p'eed off to miss my connecting flight but boy was I glad of that sleep in Abu Dhabi. Another airline might have just cancelled the flight and left everyone stranded. Etihad are one of the best airlines to deal with and on a day of storm like that I'd say she was pretty lucky to get in the air at all. Sounds like she is either a total newby to flying or else has "Daddy's princess syndrome".

Aestivalis

Wish people would drop the highhorse arsehole attitude on this site. Seems to infest the place to be honest.

Fr Tod Umptious

Aestivalis wrote: »

Wish people would drop the highhorse arsehole attitude on this site. Seems to infest the place to be honest.

Seriously
The op told us to avoid Ethiad, one of the most highly rated carriers in the world, because their daughter was delayed 2 hours in the middle of a big storm.

What do you expect from replies?

sparrowcar

Aestivalis wrote: »

Wish people would drop the highhorse arsehole attitude on this site. Seems to infest the place to be honest.

It also attracts drama queens.. Seems to infest the place to be honest.

Aestivalis

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Seriously
The op told us to avoid Ethiad, one of the most highly rated carriers in the world, because their daughter was delayed 2 hours in the middle of a big storm.

What do you expect from replies?

Something more structured and polite, rather than belittling and insulting.

Strumms

Aestivalis wrote: »

Something more structured and polite, rather than belittling and insulting.

Report the post(s) if you have a problem otherwise move on.

Fr Tod Umptious

Aestivalis wrote: »

Something more structured and polite, rather than belittling and insulting.

Well I think the OP set the tone with the SHOUTING, and the ranting, and the advice to avoid Etihad

Yamanoto

Aestivalis wrote: »

Something more structured and polite, rather than belittling and insulting.

I'd tend to agree.

That the OP doesn't have cause for complaint is patently clear.

The tone of some of the replies however just seem overly personal & kinda unnecessary imo.

ProudDUB

Yamanoto wrote: »

I'd tend to agree.

That the OP doesn't have much cause for complaint is patently clear.

The tone of some of the replies however just read as unnecessarily judgemental imo.

Well given how judgmental the OP's & their daughter were were about Eithiad Airlines and how they dealt with a situation that was not of their making, why should posters here not do the same?

Seems to me that the OP and their daughter are either very naive or very inexperienced travelers. So even the slightest inconvenience gets blown out of all proportion and results in a bit of an over reaction. I quote the OP here:

"As she boarded the flight some two hours after it was due to depart she was in tears with the sheer exasperation and frustration of the experience."

She was tears at a two hour delay? Seriously? If posters here pat them on the head, and say 'there, there now' what good would that do? They'll just bring the same lack of realism & perspective with them on their next trip, leading to more needless stress and tears.

Better for all involved to just take their medicine now and realize how unreasonable & just a bit silly they were being. It will make them better travelers & more clued in mammies and daddies in the long run. Win win for everyone.

kerry4sam

Hi there Belgree4,

I have closed this thread. The weather unfortunately is something none of us can control and I think all airport staff really do everything in their power in all situations to assist travellers.

Thanks,
kerry4sam