Baresi

The cost of Etihad flights have gone up! 😳

I have been keeping an eye on flights in November and end of January/February and they have almost doubled overnight!
Cheapest Economy £790 and Business £3009 🥺😩

seantheman

I too have noticed the lack of any eye catching fares of late.

ft101

Perhaps if we knew your routing we could offer an opinion. Maybe availability in lower groups has been removed temporarily?

NoY

Conversely I have seen decent pricing on some routes. These things can change very very frequently. Keep watching, there will be bargains before long, I suspect.

Baresi

LHR to BKK return

Baresi

LHR to BKK return

Gavin Moule

etihad seem to only be selling flexible tickets,ie only classic and flexible fares at the moment,these fares are/were always higher however given current situation i dont know how that would entice anyone to book with them

eddibabyyeah

From what I see the entire Airline industry is in disarray and has no idea what to do next. The situation is constantly changing with fare increases, decreases, cutting schedules, increasing schedules, governments banning tourists, media saying its not safe to fly, airlines making announcements that they will be back to normal in 3 months. The picture is changing on a daily basis for all airlines.

I have recently had two flights cancelled and have nine more flights in the next 3 months which I expect to be cancelled. Historically, I book and plan well in advance. But now, I will wait until a week before I want to travel, before I book. I don't want to be in a position where I have airline/hotel credits which I might never be able to use.

LondonElite

Why would you expect airfares to drop?

THR

Given the whole world is working on a month by month basis, why do you really think you can forecast what is going to happen at end of year or early next year?

Take a look around you.

amnicoll

I am not at all surprised I would be expecting the boffins to be working on their yield management equations and with all the forecasts pointing to reduced travel then this is not the best time to book. Once flights are back in the air and demand starts to pick up then I would be expecting to see lower prices but with all the talk of retiring the 380 and perhaps reduced frequencies on routes then who knows

DarrelT

It's quite simple really. For anyone not covered by national travel protection regulations, Etihad are not offering refunds and are only offering "travel bank" credits for flights that they have cancelled. This means that most people are taking this option as they are offered no alternative. But what many of them don't realise is that by putting most prices up Etihad may be obliging them to pay a lot more later as the travel bank credit is only for the amount of the original ticket, and will not include any later fare difference. For example, I bought my ticket in a sale but list prices now for the same trip next year are 50+% higher, and are much higher than other comparable airlines for the same dates. So I would have to pay that extra 50+% in order just to use my "credit", whereas a refund would cover the entire cost of a replacement business class ticket with another airline with similar service levels, even without looking for sale pricing.

Is this a massive calculated scam perpetrated by corporate thieves? It looks like it to me.

I will never buy another Etihad ticket again, regardless of the outcome of this. Their conduct is totally shameful.

seantheman

Firstly, I thought Etihad were offering refunds for cancelled flights? (ex-EU anyway)

Secondly, they will definitely have to bring back the discounted fares eventually, it would be impossible for them to remain competitive without these fares. In fact I imagine they are already losing a tonne of business to QR, so I'm not sure what they're playing at by only offering flex fares.

eddibabyyeah

Once the travel bans are lifted and some people start travelling again, airlines will have to up their game if they want to survive. It will take many years for pre coivd travel loads to return and airlines will need to be smart if they want business. Companies like EY will struggle if they are behaving in this way. Fortunately I live in the EU, so I am entitled to money back, none of this BS travel vouchers with expiry which need customers to spend more. I think its shocking that companies are treating once loyal customers in this way. Hopefully these companies will pay the price for such shoddy customer service when things get moving again (albeit to a much smaller industry)

DarrelT

They are only offering refunds if local legislation obliges them to. Anyone else has no option apart from the credit, and that's a lot of people. Other airlines are - rightly - offering refunds to all customers regardless of where they are. They are also offering inducements to take a credit instead of the refund, but the refund option is there. This is an honest approach.


But that day may be many months off, by which time the credits will have been used or will have expired.
In the meantime, anyone accepting a credit is pretty much obliged to pay any price difference that may be applicable in the future. Anyone who thinks that total price is too high will simply lose all his money. So Etihad win both ways, either by keeping all the money in return for nothing, or by getting very high prices for future flights. They probably wont mind much if the planes are half empty due to total prices being too high, as it seems likely they may be half-empty for "social distancing" anyway. It is a calculated scam which I think will remain in place quite some time. If Etihad are still in business after that (I hope not!), then they may start having sales again, but will many people want to buy from an airline with such a poor reputation, and that has treated customers so badly?