Reader Email: Etihad Baggage Service Inaction (How To Resolve)

A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us an email and question about how to deal with a delayed luggage claim with Etihad Airways that appears to have stopped communicating.

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You can access Etihad here.

Reader’s Email:

I am getting so frustrated with Etihad Public Relations and with the whole organisation I cannot tell you.

In April 2023 we travelled Etihad Airways to Frankfurt via Abu Dhabi in Business Class. Our 2 checked bags did not arrive on the plane. Etihad Baggage Service at Frankfurt assured us that the bags will arrive on the NEXT flight and the bags will be delivered to us. We told them that we were flying to Athens and we would be there for 3 days only.  We were promised that the bags will be sent to our hotel in Athens the next day. They also said that we should get whatever we needed and keep the receipt for reimbursement.

We got to Athens without our bags and had to purchase clothes and toiletries from a department store in Athens.

Well, surprise surprise, the bags did not arrive the next or the following 3 days. Just as we were leaving the Athens hotel on our driving tour of Greece, a delivery person showed up with our bags, 4 days later. I don’t know what we would have done had the bags not arrived on the day we were leaving to another city in Greece.

In any event I put in a claim for the expenses on Etihad website and provided them with the receipts and the Flights and copies of Electronic Tickets. I was given a Case Number on their website.

I had further emails from them asking for my passport details and other details with several emails over the next several weeks. Each time I went to put those documents, I had to create “another case number” as their website did not allow me to use the original case number to upload the needed documents. At one stage they wanted me to send some of the documents in PDF rather than .PNG format. I did so.

I have not had any communication from them in any form since 11 August 2023. Since then I have been phoning them up as well as sending them email. The last email I sent to them was on 19 October 2023. I have not even had an acknowledgement from them let alone finalising the reimbursement. I have made umpteen phone calls to the only phone number available, which is their Booking Office. They all apologise and promise that action will happen as they will “escalate” the matter to the highest level in Baggage Services. They refuse to give me the Baggage Services phone number and only say they will send high priority email to them.

When I rang them today I was told that the person in-charge of my case had put it into the “inactive” file, hence nothing has been done and seemingly nothing will be done. We had to spend over €400 to survive several days without our bags.

What recourse do we have? Any?

Etihad is responsible for up to 1,288 SDR per passenger (roughly 1,600 EUR) who check bags if they are completely lost or if you need to make emergency purchases to get by until you are reunited with them.

I have documented the claim process in three of my cases:

Compensation Clinic: Pilferage From Delayed Luggage (Avianca & Copa)

Compensation Clinic: Air France Delayed Luggage HEL-CDG-HND

Compensation Clinic: Air France Delayed Luggage

The reader’s issue is that Etihad has decided not to pay and has closed the file, even when they are responsible for reimbursing the reader for their relatively modest emergency purchases.

The reader should open a case with a German conciliation body called Soep, which our readers have had great success with.

Usually, just opening a case with Sope will spring the airline into action after they have sat on the case and closed it.

Conclusion

There is no excuse for Etihad Airways not to pay a valid claim other than they know that most passengers don’t know their rights well enough and how to escalate the claim.

Unfortunately, this is how all the airlines in the region operate, and Emirates and Qatar Airways are no better. All of them are wonderful in the air and when things run smoothly. If something doesn’t go to plan, you are basically on your own and stonewalled by customer service.

Luckily, you have enforcement bodies and consumer ombudsmen in many jurisdictions that can help inconvenienced passengers with their rights.