Need advice on how to complain to Etihad Airlines

[deartapan]

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the platform for raising these kind of question and if it is not please accept my sincere apologies.

I recently (Sep 2013) took a Etihad return flight from Brisbane to London and had a special Vegetarian meal request for me and my wife. Flights and the request for the meal were booked in December 2012. To our surprise flights had no vegetarian meal for us for our flights from Brisbane to London and we got told that Etihad updated their system and that is where the stuff up happened. We end up eating bread and fruits for our entire flight i.e. from Brisbane to Singapore to Abu Dhabi to London. We were promised on each leg of journey that the message was sent and we will have vegetarian food on our onward journey but we never go one. I made an official complaint to Etihad to which they simply apologies and offered no compensation. I requested an upgrade on return flight which was also denied. We did got vegetarian food on our return flight. I still think it is not fair enough and simple apology is not good enough.

I want to know what are my rights in this instance and what should I do next.

Any advise is much appreciated.

Regards,
Tapan

 

[anat0l]

First, welcome to AFF.

Sorry to hear about your mishap with Etihad, but in general because although I don't need any special meals myself (I eat everything), people who fly that need special meals (vegetarian, vegan, allergies, etc.) usually are at high risk of either not getting what they want/need, or anything at all, let alone satisfactory.

By rule of law, you're not entitled to any compensation of any kind. The basic contract between Etihad and yourself is for air carriage, which was fulfilled. The fact you had nothing to eat (except seemingly enough so you didn't starve), although poor service, can't be compensated by law.

After your first flights and bad experience, did you contact Etihad to check that your return flights did have vegetarian flights requested properly?

It is pretty poor, however, that you didn't receive your requested meals that I presume you correctly requested in advance; the "admission" by EY that it was due to their systems change would confirm that it was not good service. I guess the main problems are:

• What kind of compensation do you think would be appropriate for a situation like yours? If you're thinking a 100% refund of your trip, no chance. But starting with an idea of what you want would be better than expecting Etihad to propose something (because of course they will always suggest proposing "nothing", except the apology).
• Any kind of "compensation" you get from Etihad is not due to something they must do. It is a gesture of goodwill. Keep that in mind.

I suppose your case is not unique. People have complained (not necessarily on Etihad; other carriers) of their in-flight entertainment systems not working for the entire flight, then were compensated with, say, $300 when they wrote in / contacted the airline.

Anyway, good luck with your case!

 

[samh004]

By rule of law, you're not entitled to any compensation of any kind. The basic contract between Etihad and yourself is for air carriage, which was fulfilled. The fact you had nothing to eat (except seemingly enough so you didn't starve), although poor service, can't be compensated by law.

I would have thought feeding passengers was part of the contract and perhaps as it's a special need it would attract a penalty if they're not able to fulfil the request.

Can you imagine a sheikh flying VA and not having a halal option catered onboard!

 

[deartapan]

Even I thought the same.

 

[deartapan]

Thanks for the reply. Yes for my return flight to Brisbane I contacted them well in advance and I did got Vegetarian food. I think you made a good point to specify what sort of compensation I want. Thanks again

 

[anat0l]

I would have thought feeding passengers was part of the contract and perhaps as it's a special need it would attract a penalty if they're not able to fulfil the request.

I don't think it's part of the contract. We expect it but it is not part of the contract. You might be able to bring a claim against the airline and argue it is, and some judges will likely agree with you.

There are many things that we want out of a flight that we expect but I don't think they are necessarily part of the contract and would be difficult to argue in a court of law. Food (the right food, let alone "edible" food, or the quality of the food); inflight entertainment (the provision and the quality); seat (the right seat - e.g. flat versus recliner).....

Certainly I recall DrA's complaint not too long ago of flying BA and requesting vegan meals, then not getting them and in fact eating something marked as vegan and then having a bad reaction to it. As far as I can tell or remember, BA hardly gave her even an apology.

Can you imagine a sheikh flying VA and not having a halal option catered onboard!

Now why would a sheikh be flying on VA anyway?

Jokes aside, I guess the sheikh might not be in for a good ride if that happened. But next time they will likely defer to their home airline which can guarantee Halal meals. Let's hope if that happens, VA's rights to AUH don't get restricted or revoked (joking again).

 

[AnneMarie999]

Okay Mr now you have some answers can you please do some work!!!! We haven't all been on holidays This is why you should have flown Virgin....

 

[deartapan]

Yes boss

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don't think it's part of the contract. We expect it but it is not part of the contract. You might be able to bring a claim against the airline and argue it is, and some judges will likely agree with you.

There are many things that we want out of a flight that we expect but I don't think they are necessarily part of the contract and would be difficult to argue in a court of law. Food (the right food, let alone "edible" food, or the quality of the food); inflight entertainment (the provision and the quality); seat (the right seat - e.g. flat versus recliner).....

yes if course it's part of your contract with the airline.

food, IFE, frequent flyer points, type of seat... all are advertised as part of the product and you have paid for them. hence contractual obligations arise.

as for compensation for the vege meals.. probably limited to actual loss... for example any vegetarian meals you might have purchased during transit (Singapore and Dubai) plus any vegetarian snacks you might have bought for the flight. if any of these were purchased you could send receipts to EK for reimbursement. alternatively you might ask for $50 back in lieu of the meals advertised but not provided (which would probably have cost far less than that anyway)

I think that is probably the extent of formal legal compensation... anything else should be pursued as a good will gesture.

 

[knightman7]

In this instance, there is likely nothing that can be done. My frank advice would be to chalk it down to experience and the next time you travel, be proactive in making sure the airline is aware of your food requirements.

Having specific allergies myself, I'm fastidious in ensuring I contact the relevant airline directly before each flight to confirm things. Yes, we as paying customers expect that all instructions relayed at the time of booking are adhered to, but sometimes things fall through the cracks and it's better to take steps to mitigate any potential problems than sit back and expect airlines to be perfect when they never are.

 

[DrA]

Certainly I recall DrA's complaint not too long ago of flying BA and requesting vegan meals, then not getting them and in fact eating something marked as vegan and then having a bad reaction to it. As far as I can tell or remember, BA hardly gave her even an apology.

True enough. I had a flight on BA where I asked if the "vegan" meal I was given was in fact vegan and not just vegetarian. They confirmed it was. I ate it and something contained dairy, and I started to go into anaphylactic shock and had to use my epi-pen. BA cabin crew just shrugged their shoulders at me and said "what do you want us to do about it?". When I got home and lodged a formal complaint with BA, their response was basically "sorry but not our fault, we outsource our catering". I got no genuine apology, let alone compensation.

I wish you luck with your endeavour to get compensation, but in my experience I wouldn't be holding my breath.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

In both the EEC and the USA there are "rights for airline passengers" at law " however in Aus no such thing. Except maybe
the Consumer Protection Acts and the Law of Contract. The problem is how due you take action for a relatively small
amount against an overseas airline ?.
It is commonly proposed that Australia should have some form of protection - for example if you are bumped from a flight in the United States and the airline cannot offer you a flight to your destination to arrive within 4 hours I understand
that the law allows compensation of 4 times the value of the ticket !
Further more, another "red herring" an international booking on an overseas web site appears not to be well
covered by Australian law.

 

[lukenet]

The way I view it you have the ultimate power. You get to choose who you fly with.

My advice is, if you are not happy with the level of service provided with them, then don't give them your money in the future and fly with one of the many other carriers.

 

[IrishPete]

Oh the irony - one of the advertisements I saw when I viewed this thread was for Etihad, saying "Four course meals and comfortable reclining seats in Economy"... Those automatically targeted ads don't always work very well!

IP

 

[IrishPete]

p.s. I have found they respond well to complaints made through twitter or Facebook. They seem to go to a special social media team who actually respond.

IP

 

[MartinMemo]

If it was me and I had high status with a partner airline, I'd take the complaint to them. Further than that I had to manage a complaint recently for a friend who had a similar experience in QF J LHR-BNE via DBX - she got nothing till I wrote a letter to the CEO (obviously it never got past his assistant and was given to the CEO complaints team) but they took it seriously because while not a breach of contract, it's a pretty big media risk to say 'sorry, we don't accommodate vegetarians'... While that my not be the company line, it was your experience and therefore valid... It just comes down to how far you want to take it and exactly what you would like to get out of it. I've almost made a career out of complaining for myself, family and friends when serious issues occur like this and no one is willing to take ownership apart from an apology. If you want some help you are welcome to PM me and I'll do what I can

 

[MartinMemo]

I'll also add that if you want to go down the high level complaint path that will likely give you want you want, it is a time consuming and emotionally draining path - you just have to decide if what you want out of it is worth it

 

[MEL_Traveller]

True enough. I had a flight on BA where I asked if the "vegan" meal I was given was in fact vegan and not just vegetarian. They confirmed it was. I ate it and something contained dairy, and I started to go into anaphylactic shock and had to use my epi-pen. BA cabin crew just shrugged their shoulders at me and said "what do you want us to do about it?". When I got home and lodged a formal complaint with BA, their response was basically "sorry but not our fault, we outsource our catering". I got no genuine apology, let alone compensation.

I wish you luck with your endeavour to get compensation, but in my experience I wouldn't be holding my breath.

you may have had legal options in this case... it's potentially negligent to serve a meal containing dairy to a passenger allergic to it. and you suffered damage. taking legal action may assist others in your situation, one of whom might forget to take an epi-pen.