I was wondering if I am entitled compensation from Etihad. Reservation was for Dec 13, 2023. Flight was from Lisbon, Portugal to Abu Dhabi, UAE. The operating carrier is Etihad Airways
My Flight were confirmed on Sept 21, 2023 and tickets were issued for 4 Adults, 2 children by AA as AA advantage miles were issued. Infant ticket was booked directly through Etihad and paid same day as well on Sept 21, 2023. So total 6 business class tickets and one Infant fare for business paid.

I didn't find out until Nov End/Dec 1 week that my Etihad reservation was canceled while trying to file UAE Visa.

Etihad never refunded infant fare, AA advantage miles never went back to my account.

Upon Checking with AA, they were shocked as well they have not seen situation where confirmed ticket(We have those tickets still with us) were canceled. Per them, tickets were canceled on oct 6, 2023. I was never informed by Etihad.

I have been calling them for last 2 weeks trying to get resolution to get my business class reinstated but have been getting run around " higher operation team looking and working ". They tell me to give me resolution next day, then claim again next day saying they need more time. Sometimes they try to claim, it was done through AA hence the challenge. One of the agents admitted that Etihad agent erroneously canceled those confirmed business tickets. Those tickets should never have been canceled.

I have made alternate arrangement by booking economy tickets using American AA Advantage miles again. But this is not desirable scenario for us as we intended to fly business and will be forced to pay likely for extra luggage fee, We already paid for seat selection for this economy.

But I want to understand if I have any rights and perhaps best to file case against them and stop pursuing them. I have probably called them pretty much every day for last 2 week or so and keeping getting same response.

I am going to probably try to contact them for 1-2 days then file for infant refund and ask AA to reinstate the miles.

Just looking if someone has any similar experience or any pointers.

Thanks in advance,





They are giving me empty promises and I only have couple of days left for that flight.

Did you try to persuade AA to rebook the seats in business class? You booked with AA/AAdvantage and AA owns the ticket until the day of departure. I'm not entirely convinced that only Etihad is to solve this.

I'm surprised that AA didn't inform you of the cancellation which apparently was already on 6 Oct. Etihad has no duty to notify you when you booked with AA; only to AA.

As for the EU 261/04 remedy available it would be denied boarding, but the issue here is that your seats were cancelled on 6 Oct. and Etihad may take the approach that since 6 Oct you didn't have confirmed seats in business class on the flight, hence no denied boarding. Normally denied boarding occurs when you show up at the airport with a confirmed seat and a valid ticket, but the airlines nevertheless is unable to accommodate you on the flight.

EC261 doesn’t apply here.

AA would certainly try to rebook if asked, but AA also doesn’t operate that route or anything remotely close to it, and cannot force open partner award space. This isn’t a day-of-departure issue so rebooking into revenue space isn’t going to happen either. Rebooking would be limited to whatever saver award availability could be found on Oneworld partners. While it’s also normally possible to queue a request to carriers to open space to resolve this, it is rarely successful… and Etihad in particular is non-responsive to the point that AA has stopped allowing such requests to be sent to the Etihad liaisons.

@ Thank you both for your reply.

I received email from Etihad last night with new tickets issued back.
They seems to be on Etihad stock.

Keeping fingers crossed until we fly away for no more new issues.

Thanks for the follow up.

Interesting. It is kind of unusual that Etihad will reissue ward tickets on their own ticket stock. Did Etihad rebook you into revenue class or the AA booking class remain the same?

Sorry for late reply. Looks like tickets on Etihad Stock. Class is different as well. It was I earlier and now Z.
Everything worked out ok with no hiccups. It took 2 plus weeks of persistent calling to finally land the positive outcome.

I'll bet if you attach a FF number you will get miles