Originally Posted by
kmzandrew
To be perfectly frank there's really no reason for me to connect in AUH in the future, being that I'm US based, and I would certainly do everything possible to avoid it.
The more I think about it, the more upset I am by the ground staff forcing us to check our electronics. Not only was the woman extremely rude and condescending, but she was 100% wrong. I mean, seriously, what the hell is she paid for if she doesn't even know how to do her job? When I'm paying thousands to fly in C or F I expect to deal with a helpful, competent, moderately intelligent human being. Instead I was treated to service that you'd expect on a low cost carrier such as Ryanair.
Not telling you to go back to Etihad if you don't want to, but your problem here was Thailand and the lack of education there, not Etihad. It could have happened on any airline departing from that airport. I know it's not PC to say this, but Phuket is nothing more than a rural area with some nice resorts.