[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Reading this as I do that the reservation was made via Alitalia on Alitalia flight numbers then the issue first & foremost is with Alitalia, not Etihad (though maybe they could have handled it better). The reservation responsibility was with Alitalia and if they have not transmitted the data fully through to Etihad then they can only work with what they have, in the instance the PVG to AUH sector. Getting angry with Etihad because AZ haven’t informed EY that there is another sector involved is misplaced. From reading that AZ met you at AUH I take that as a sign of acknowledgement that they screwed up and were the to apologise and put it right.

Without knowing the full facts I couldn’t entirely comment. Check in staff can only work with what they have. They could only see a sector to
AUH and for obvious security reasons at this stage would only check you in so far. Showing a piece of paper with the AUH to MXP sector doesn’t prove much ( that sector could easily have been cancelled or changed since printed off).

So to me the frustration is misplaced. The ire should primarily be with AZ not EY and they should bear the brunt of the criticism. Anyway the matter did get resolved, admitted not in the smoothest way and could have been handled better by all parties.

[FDOS_UK]

AZ do have their challenges, in fact they paid me to fly to Abu Dhabi and back , a year or two ago.

I bought a very cheap ticket (advertised as ‘business’) from an online travel agent and downloaded the eticket itinerary from the AZ website, showing ‘business’ and a ticket number.

I went to MLA to check in and was issued eco/premium eco tickets. I showed the business ticket, but was told it was incorrect. Outcome, got a 75% EC261 cheque, as my ticket was issued and valid.

Then at AUH, the thing happened and I escalated to the AZ station manager who contacted Rome and said the same thinng.Outcome, got a 75% EC261 cheque, as my ticket was issued and valid.

Outcome, got to fly in a decent premium eco seat and was paid 150% of the original ticket value.

Wish I could do that, every week 🙂

[canucklad]

Morning Tim
Thanks for your insight and expertise. And your point about AZ’s failings is valid. Alas, I’m afraid I’m going to disagree with you about EY.

And it reinforces my point about the hazards of code share, especially if you’re not savvy about airline ticketing agreements.

If EY enter into a code share with AZ, then in my opinion, they become just as accountable as AZ. It’s not the passengers fault that their AZ flight turns out to have Arabic writing on it. For all intensive purposes EY become AZ at Shanghai. Otherwise what’s the point of code share

[EtihadAirways]

Dear Andrea_,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and sharing this recent experience.

We would like to sincerely apologise for the service and inconvenience caused and would like to further investigate this for you.

We will send this over to our team and create a formal case. In the meantime, we kindly ask you to send us your email address to <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected] (to protect your personal information here on the forum) once received we will be able to reply to you with a case reference number.
We hope to hear from you soon to start the investigation process as promised.
Kindest regards *Gill

[Gian_Fly]

I’ve just read Andrea’s post on this Forum and I agree completely with what he has written, even if he finally managed to conclude his trip as expected.

I am pretty sure that without all those passenger’s phone calls, the transfer from two different and distant terminals for the baggage claim and the new check in, in a very short time (2 hours), would have been a sort of “mission impossible”.

Furthermore, I often fly between Emirates and China and I know very well both Abu Dhabi and Shanghai Pudong Airport: considering that flights from PVG are frequently late and that AUH Airport is not well organized and not so “clear”, in all probability, the passenger would have missed the connecting flight.

What’s incredible for me is that the customer, with a regular ticket issued, I suppose, in code-share, has been obliged to find a solution by himself, without any assistance.
It doesn’t matter if everybody has different opinions on this subject, but I firmly believe that it was not up to the passenger to sort out a problem, but to the two airlines, especially when they have the same ownership and two different reservation systems.

Ethiad, which was the first carrier of a “code-share” flight, should have resolved that complication in a rapid and professional way, and I consider ridiculous the compensation proposed to the customer if compared to the inconvenience suffered.

[Author]

Posts