Last autumn I booked a round trip from London Heathrow via Abu Dhabi and Tokyo Narita to Sydney with Etihad Airways. During the booking, I notified Etihad, through my travel agent, that I was a wheelchair user, and gave them a detailed description of the type of assistance I required.
At the departure gate at Heathrow I found I had not been allocated an aisle chair (a small wheelchair designed to transfer passengers with reduced mobility to their seat).
I had a two-hour wait for a connecting flight at Abu Dhabi where there was no sign of my wheelchair. I was assured it would be waiting for me at Tokyo, but once there, I learned that it had been left in Abu Dhabi.
Moreover, special assistance was not available to get me off the plane at Tokyo, as requested, so a crew member – who had no clue how to help me into the aisle chair – had to stand in.
It took 24 hours for my wheelchair to be restored and I could not rent one since it was Sunday and everything was closed. The airport let me borrow a wheelchair as far as the station, and I had to make the two-hour train journey from the airport to Tokyo unable to move, then borrow another chair from the station to get me to a taxi.
I was due to give a presentation at a conference the following day and it was only because hotel staff found a spare chair that I reached my engagement. Since I could no longer trust Etihad, I refused to fly with them on the return journey and bought alternative tickets with British Airways.
The airline initially refused to compensate me. Then, in January, they relented. For the next three months they gave me all kinds of excuses as to why the money was not in my account.
In April they stopped responding to emails. I took the case to the Aviation Dispute Resolution but Etihad did not respond. I was then advised to complain to the Civil Aviation Authority, but it told me that Etihad had not responded to them either. In their replies Etihad talks as though my wheelchair was mere luggage that had been delayed when, in fact, it’s my legs.
LD, Warwick
Under EC regulations all airlines departing or arriving at an EU airport should provide special assistance to passengers with disabilities if it has been requested more than 48 hours in advance. Etihad seems to have a worrying disregard for the rules.
Moreover, it has not signed up to an alternative dispute resolution scheme so is not bound to cooperate with its investigations. After the Observer wades in, it takes a further month of toing and froing before Etihad finally coughs up the £628 cost of the BA flight and adds £500 in goodwill.
It blames incomplete information from the travel agent. “We apologise to LD, and are sorry that, on this occasion, we fell below the high standards we have for customer service, especially for passengers with reduced mobility,” it says. Asked whether it plans to join an ADR scheme so passengers with unresolved complaints can seek arbitration, it remains cagey, replying simply that it’s “evaluating options”. If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
