FIRST BUT NOT FOREMOST

Across my group of companies, our travel spend exceeds US$1 million per annum. I personally spend six to seven weeks per year physically inside an aircraft, with over ten long-haul trips a year between Australia and the UK alone. As a result, I have millions of points with my preferred carriers, which are predominantly the Middle Eastern and Asian five-star airlines. Four years ago, I flew my first Etihad flight from Heathrow to Sydney in first class. I was amazed at the service and quality of the product – in particular, the spacious apartments, shower facilities and personalised and attentive service. I also liked the complimentary massage, haircut and gym facilities in the Abu Dhabi lounge. I duly became a loyal customer and stuck to Etihad, eschewing the likes of Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar and Emirates in the process. In doing so, I became a Platinum status frequent f lyer of Etihad.

However, I have now stopped flying Etihad due to the very noticeable decline in service, which appears to be linked to their aggressive cost-cutting campaign. This is especially the case for its Platinum guests. I am not sure if it’s just me, but it became clear to me that being Platinum status for Etihad is now no different from being an economy passenger with no frequent flyer status. For example, over the past 15 months, I have experienced the following:

• I was unaware that I had reached Platinum tier status until I was told by a cabin manager on a flight. She said I should have received a letter, a card and luggage tags. In the end, this took over a year to be sent out to me, and only after I had chased three times. By way of contrast, the airline was extremely quick to notify me in the past week that I’d dropped back to Gold status.

• No dedicated Platinum service team: it is clear that Etihad uses an outsourced call centre to deal with Platinum customers. The culture of this call centre is one of disdain for its customers, with unanswered emails, abruptness on the phone, and inflexibility in relation to requests.

• Missing miles not credited: despite my frequent flyer details being recorded by my travel agent on each and every flight, Etihad did not credit me correctly for the points earned. When this was picked up by my assistant as part of a regular points audit, Etihad refused to credit the points because the flights were more than six months ago, and this disagreement continues today.

• Missed flight connection and rebooking costs: last August, I was flying from London to Singapore via Abu Dhabi on Etihad. As a result of a power outage at Abu Dhabi Airport, the Airbus A380 had to be redirected to Al Maktoum, a nearby airport normally used for private jets. The aircraft was finally able to return to Abu Dhabi three hours later, but as a result I missed my connection to Singapore and in turn missed my second connecting flight to Manila. I was able to get to Manila, but had to downgrade to a business class seat on a direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Manila. This rerouting also meant I missed an important dinner and we lost a potential deal as a result. Etihad initially refused to reimburse the excess cost of rerouting me onto the direct Manila flight, even though it was only approximately US$1,000. It took many emails and calls, and several months before they finally agreed to do so.

• First class flight with non-stop passenger disruption: this was the final straw. On a flight from London to Abu Dhabi in November, there was a young child who was howling and crying the entire seven hours, at the top of its lungs. This ruined the flight for me and the other passengers (we were all talking about how inconsiderate the parents of this infant were and how Etihad clearly does not have a policy for no infants in first class). The cabin manager was very apologetic and mentioned that she would be filing a report and recommending the airline provide some sort of compensation. When nothing was forthcoming, I followed up with the airline and after being put through multiple hoops, they finally offered a derisory 10,000 miles. I disputed this and requested at least the equivalent miles of what the sector would cost in terms of redemption points in first class. My request was met with a curt response and denial from a senior manager based in Abu Dhabi.

From having a first class product

I felt was superior to the likes of Emirates, Qatar, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, Etihad has now significantly backslid. I find it confounding how the airline appears to be treating its Platinum guests with such disdain. Perhaps it intentionally wants to lose them? If so, then it’s working well. I have stopped flying Etihad as I am concerned that the above are just the tip of the iceberg.

Kevin Chin, London and Sydney