Flew Etihad airways from Jeddah to New York via Abu Dhabi with my
family. We departed Jeddah on flight EY8818 at 9:40 am on 01/05/07
arriving in Abu Dhabi at 12:25 pm. We were booked on flight EY503 from
Abu Dhabi to New York the next day (01/06/2007) that would leave at
2:15 pm. We were to spend a night in Abu Dhabi to catch the next day
flight. However, when we arrived in Abu Dhabi, the transfer desk
insisted that we should have been booked on the flight that were to
leave Abu Dhabi at 2:15 pm on 01/05/07, an hour and 50 minutes after
our arrival. In the first place, we were not booked on that flight due
to the unavailability of the seats. Our onward flight from JFK to PHX
was booked based on our original travel plan.



The desk staff, Shavanti DeSilva and Sana Khalid (Supervisor),
were extremely rude and contemptuous. Sana Khalid continued to yell and
scream at all the passengers who were in our situation. She faulted us
for accepting reservations on the next day flight when a flight was
leaving on the same day for JFK within 2 hours of our arrival. She
refused to understand that it is Etihad who booked us on the next day
flight because that day’s flight had no availability .



To save ourselves from her insults, we went to the New York transfer
desk to see if they had any seats available on that day’s flight (EY
503 on 01/05/07). They told us that the flight was completely booked
and they had to check-in all the passengers who were booked on that
flight, first. We were also concerned about our luggage that was booked
from Jeddah all the way to New York on the 01/06/07 flight.



Despite that fact the we had no chance to get seats on 01/05/07 flight
(EY 503), Sana Khalid and Shavanti DeSilva refused to provide us a
hotel for stay in Abu Dhabi. Sana Khalid even told us that we can go
and complain to the Corporate Office but there would be no one to
listen to us since it was Friday and the Corporate Offices were closed.
She seem to enjoy her power and our helplessness.



To save my children any further from this unfortunate experience, I
decided to take a taxi on my own to go to Abu Dhabi and find a hotel to
stay. I was walking from hotel to hotel with my children and carry on
bags to find a hotel that would fit our budget. Most hotels had
significantly higher rates without prior reservations.



My kids are so scared with this experience and so upset with the
yelling and screaming of Sana Khalid at the passengers that they refuse
to travel on Etihad in the future.



If Etihad wants to employ people like Sana Khalid and Shavanti DeSilva
who are completely inept at customer service, then they will only have
employees and no customers.



Passengers who arrived on another flight from Pakistan, while we were
being yelled at by Sana Khalid, suffered the same fate at the hands of
Sana Khalid for their onward flight.



However, to be fair to Etihad cabin crew, the service they provided was
excellent, the planes were newer and leg room was better than other
long haul airlines. The food choices were excellent, the food was
delicious and served at perfect temperature. Other than the rudeness of
Sana Khalid and Shavanti DeSilva, I have no complaints about the
airline. However, for Etihad Airways to become a leading airline, it
must rid itself of people like Sana Khalid and Shavanti DeSilva because
they neither have the personality nor the aptitude for customer
service.

No. of times flown on this Airlines:	Between 1 - 3
Class flown most frequently:	Economy Class