We have made several attempts to establish Etihad’s complaints’ escalation process to no avail, and are never able to get beyond a Guest Relations Officer, who only ever quote “Etihad policy” (which we are fully aware of), and appear to have no autonomy to do what is right for the customer and the Etihad brand.
We recently submitted a complaint on behalf of, and with the permission of our son who is currently travelling and unable to contact Customer Relations.
He flew on 17 September, on Etihad Airways, to Thailand from Heathrow - he is “backpacking” in Thailand and Australia for 2 months having just finished university, and having spent a considerable time saving for his “trip of a lifetime”. Prior to booking his flights he spent time researching various airlines and chose Etihad, despite not being the cheapest by a long way, for its reputation, reliability and customer service, confident Etihad would be an excellent customer experience and start to his “trip of a lifetime” - with the vision of being “cultured, considerate, warm and generous” and having achieved “World’s Leading Airline” awards for several years.
At “check-in” he was informed he had booked/paid for extra baggage (£89 x 2) - a complete surprise to him. He's “backpacking” and travelling very light (evidenced by his hold baggage being only 12 kilos). Clearly he never intended to be carrying excess baggage. He booked and paid for baggage, in good faith, not realising it was included in the price of the ticket - he's a young and inexperienced traveller on his first independent travel experience. A very upsetting start to his trip, having realised he’d spent nearly £200 unnecessarily (and that he could ill afford).
Whilst we appreciate that Etihad's policy is for pre-paid baggage to be non-refundable (full or partial), we had hoped that Etihad would be reasonable and flexible and would consider a goodwill refund, as this was a genuine and honest mistake on our son's part. He hasn't even made the return journey yet and he'll still have paid for baggage he doesn't have !
All the Guest Relations Officers seem able to do is quote the policy and that pre-paid baggage is non-refundable - this is not customer service. We are stunned and very disappointed by this small-minded and curt response. This was a genuine and honest mistake on our son's part and Etihad have effectively had £178 from him for nothing - they haven't incurred any costs for his mistake. That sum of money means nothing to Etihad (especially not having to do anything for the privilege), but it means a lot to our son. Clearly this doesn’t come across as the approach of a world class airline with a vision of being “cultured, considerate, warm and generous” - think they have a way to go to achieve that vision .
We have made numerous attempts to contact senior executives in Etihad to establish if they agree with/support this hard-nosed approach by Customer Relations for a genuine and honest mistake on the part of a young and inexperienced traveller, but there's never a response. It just gets referred back to Guest Relations who quote the policy again.
Quoting policy isn't customer service - anyone can quote policy - I can read policy on their website. Customer service and being truly devoted to a good customer experience is about putting yourself in the customer's shoes, empathy and understanding.......and sometimes putting policy to one side if it's the right thing to do for the customer (and the company brand)
We recently submitted a complaint on behalf of, and with the permission of our son who is currently travelling and unable to contact Customer Relations.
He flew on 17 September, on Etihad Airways, to Thailand from Heathrow - he is “backpacking” in Thailand and Australia for 2 months having just finished university, and having spent a considerable time saving for his “trip of a lifetime”. Prior to booking his flights he spent time researching various airlines and chose Etihad, despite not being the cheapest by a long way, for its reputation, reliability and customer service, confident Etihad would be an excellent customer experience and start to his “trip of a lifetime” - with the vision of being “cultured, considerate, warm and generous” and having achieved “World’s Leading Airline” awards for several years.
At “check-in” he was informed he had booked/paid for extra baggage (£89 x 2) - a complete surprise to him. He's “backpacking” and travelling very light (evidenced by his hold baggage being only 12 kilos). Clearly he never intended to be carrying excess baggage. He booked and paid for baggage, in good faith, not realising it was included in the price of the ticket - he's a young and inexperienced traveller on his first independent travel experience. A very upsetting start to his trip, having realised he’d spent nearly £200 unnecessarily (and that he could ill afford).
Whilst we appreciate that Etihad's policy is for pre-paid baggage to be non-refundable (full or partial), we had hoped that Etihad would be reasonable and flexible and would consider a goodwill refund, as this was a genuine and honest mistake on our son's part. He hasn't even made the return journey yet and he'll still have paid for baggage he doesn't have !
All the Guest Relations Officers seem able to do is quote the policy and that pre-paid baggage is non-refundable - this is not customer service. We are stunned and very disappointed by this small-minded and curt response. This was a genuine and honest mistake on our son's part and Etihad have effectively had £178 from him for nothing - they haven't incurred any costs for his mistake. That sum of money means nothing to Etihad (especially not having to do anything for the privilege), but it means a lot to our son. Clearly this doesn’t come across as the approach of a world class airline with a vision of being “cultured, considerate, warm and generous” - think they have a way to go to achieve that vision .
We have made numerous attempts to contact senior executives in Etihad to establish if they agree with/support this hard-nosed approach by Customer Relations for a genuine and honest mistake on the part of a young and inexperienced traveller, but there's never a response. It just gets referred back to Guest Relations who quote the policy again.
Quoting policy isn't customer service - anyone can quote policy - I can read policy on their website. Customer service and being truly devoted to a good customer experience is about putting yourself in the customer's shoes, empathy and understanding.......and sometimes putting policy to one side if it's the right thing to do for the customer (and the company brand)
I think it might be better if your son writes the letter himself and describes how the mistake happened and asks for a re-consideration for the denial of a refund. I think that would also help your son to improve his traveling and responsibility skills. (PS my advice is as a mother and as a Psychotherapist and not just as a consumer advocate 
