Terrible first experience with Etihad

[Karachi Aviator]

Today I arrived in Karachi (DMM-AUH-KHI) on Etihad flight EY200. The flight itself wasn't terrible but Eithad have lost one of our baggages, I was travelling with my Family of 5 and we had 6 checked-in baggages. We only received 5 baggages and one bag has been misplaced by Etihad. I immediately reported this to the relevant authorities at Karachi airport and I have also filed a lost baggage complain / report but it still isn't clear whether the bag is lost in Abu Dhabi or Dammam. Has anyone had a similar experience before with Etihad?? Please help me with this.

The agents representing Etihad have told me to wait 72 hours as they might trace the bag but if it isn't found, i can file a claim against Eithad.

This was my first ever flight on etihad, will shortly make a trip report as well

[Tuti Fruiti]

Lost baggage comes back..in some unfortunate cases , the baggage handlers can steal stuff but hope this will not happen.. losing baggage is not uncommon

[Usman123]

Back in 2020 during covid times my friend took a flight from Chicago to Lahore via Abu dhabi on Etihad and the airline lost half of their baggage (interestingly the bags that were lost contained laptops, smartphones , playstation, ipad and other expensive tech stuff .
He tried his best to find his stuff and arranged searches at all three airport storage facilities turns out the baggage was never loaded onto his first flight by Etihad cargo. He received was very minimal compensation for these bags from the airline that too after 2 months of regular complains compared to the cost of his lost stuff.

Lesson for everyone: if you're carrying expensive items in your baggage take baggage insurance at the counter to avoid risk
And also avoid flying Etihad

[contrails]

If PIA closes they are one of the only options you guys will have in time. Enjoy

[Karachi Aviator]

If PIA closes they are one of the only options you guys will have in time. Enjoy

Update: I've received my bag and thankfully nothing is missing in it. It was stranded at Abu Dhabi Airport. Also i didn't have to go to the airport, they delivered it at my residence.

@contrails I think it's not fair to judge an airline from a one off accident, there's nothing which makes PIA better than Etihad. Even when PIA is operational, who's flying them?? Only those who want direct flights or those who are forced to buy PIA tickets as tickets of other airlines are not available. Anyone would still pick Etihad over PIA anyday.

[nopy99]

Only flown Etihad once from LHR to JED Via AUH but that was 10 years ago. They lost one item and it never arrived in JED. I logged numerous complaints but customer service just didn't care.

eventually I managed to find contact details for the CEO, CFO and COO and wrote them about my experience of their "service" and magically i got a phone call from the LHR station manager within a day. I never got my item back, but got reimbursement of the cost of the lost baggage after my escalation.

On another related note, PIA misplaced my bag between LHE > LHR during covid. Bag was located within 3 days and was home delivered.

Emirates also lost my bag once DXB to LHR leg. It turned up after 2 months !

These things do happen and is all part of travel these days.

Tips
Take insurance
Take photo of your bags from out side. it helps when logging a tracing request.
keep valuables in carry on
make sure tag is on correctly . a lot of check in staff dont take care putting tag on,
also peel of the mini bar code tags and place on the baggage. again some checkin staff don't do this

[raihans]

Anyone would still pick Etihad over PIA anyday.

No, i won't as it was a very terrible experience with Etihad, i was traveling with my family from Kuwait to Lahore with confirmed itinerary, despite confirmed booking, we were not able to continue the journey to Lahore from Abu Dhabi as there was over booking and those who reached Abu Dhabi earlier, got the boarding passes to travel to Lahore and we were given option to stay in Abu Dhabi for 24 hrs to travel on next available flight or travel to Islamabad instead, have had to choose the later one due to necessity of time, after landing at Islamabad, travelled by road to Lahore through transportation arranged by Etihad which was hectic and uncomfortable travel experience we ever had. Got compensation voucher 750 dirhams for each itinerary though it wasn't worth the uncomforting situation we faced.

[contrails]

If PIA closes they are one of the only options you guys will have in time. Enjoy

Update: I've received my bag and thankfully nothing is missing in it. It was stranded at Abu Dhabi Airport. Also i didn't have to go to the airport, they delivered it at my residence.

@contrails I think it's not fair to judge an airline from a one off accident, there's nothing which makes PIA better than Etihad. Even when PIA is operational, who's flying them?? Only those who want direct flights or those who are forced to buy PIA tickets as tickets of other airlines are not available. Anyone would still pick Etihad over PIA anyday.

I disagree. PIA and Etihad can act the same way sometimes. Heck even Gulf Air has had its fair share of goof ups.

But then again like someone rightfully said - this is how this business is.

[faisal-777]

Etihad is PIA of UAE. It is not in league of EK / QR or even SV.

Flying with them i would expect not better or worse experience than PIA.

[Karachi Aviator]

Etihad is PIA of UAE. It is not in league of EK / QR or even SV.

Flying with them i would expect not better or worse experience than PIA.

Yes, flying EY on regional ME routes and other east / south asian routes might not be the best option because EY mainly deploys it's narrow bodies on these routes and EY's narrow body product can't compete with EK's or QR's product on the same sector.

But, if you're flying EY to UK, EU or North America, the on board product is still competitive with EK and QR because they deploy their 787s, new a350s and a380s on those routes

It's just your Pakistan - Abu Dhabi leg which might not be great, onwards to Western destinations, it's still good.

Still, PIA is nowhere near.

[faisal-777]

Etihad is PIA of UAE. It is not in league of EK / QR or even SV.

Flying with them i would expect not better or worse experience than PIA.

Yes, flying EY on regional ME routes and other east / south asian routes might not be the best option because EY mainly deploys it's narrow bodies on these routes and EY's narrow body product can't compete with EK's or QR's product on the same sector.

But, if you're flying EY to UK, EU or North America, the on board product is still competitive with EK and QR because they deploy their 787s, new a350s and a380s on those routes

It's just your Pakistan - Abu Dhabi leg which might not be great, onwards to Western destinations, it's still good.

Still, PIA is nowhere near.

The PK-AUH leg is what differentiates it from QR/EK. Both latter usually only deploy widebodies.

I will try to travel this year again with EY to see if their widebody service from AUH to Europe is at par with EK or QR, last time it was their (now defunct) partner Air Berlin and it was nothing special.

[fahadshakeel]

Well; debate gets interesting here as I am a fan of EY here (for no reason or may be pricing)
I usually travel 4 to 6 times an year and mostly prefer to buy EY for US or EU destinations or till Abu Dhabi. For eastern, Saudi Arab or even middle eastern routes sometimes it's worst than PIA.
Thankfully I never had luggage issue to anywhere but still luggage problem is not only 100% airline fault but still they own the responsibility with reimbursement if luggage is been tracked and misplaced at it's hub.

I witnessed impressive service by EY till a few years back while I remember there were a350s, dreamliners and 777s on LHE - AUH route. But still sometimes for further long haul I prefer EY because onwards service is similar to QR or TK (not better than EK)

[Zulfiqar]

Back in 2020 during covid times my friend took a flight from Chicago to Lahore via Abu dhabi on Etihad and the airline lost half of their baggage (interestingly the bags that were lost contained laptops, smartphones , playstation, ipad and other expensive tech stuff .
He tried his best to find his stuff and arranged searches at all three airport storage facilities turns out the baggage was never loaded onto his first flight by Etihad cargo. He received was very minimal compensation for these bags from the airline that too after 2 months of regular complains compared to the cost of his lost stuff.

Lesson for everyone: if you're carrying expensive items in your baggage take baggage insurance at the counter to avoid risk
And also avoid flying Etihad

I do not recommend trravelling with so many valuables in luggage. These shoudl be in the hand, especially Laptops, phones etc with batteries. This is important as they may catch fire-this notice is given when doing online check-in on at least EK. It is more likely to be stolen as well- happened to my brother few years back.