Not cool Etihad, Not cool.

Alright, this story needs to be told. The flow of events is just not acceptable. Let me jump right away.

So my mother was supposed to travel from Hyderabad, India to San Francisco, USA by Etihad Airways. Here is how the initial flight itinerary looked like:

Hyd, India — Abu Dhabi —Depart on July 2nd 9:30pm — Arrive at 12:15am.

Abu Dhabi — SFO — Depart on July 3rd 2:25am — Arrive at 7:30am.

The first flight went as scheduled. Good.

About the second flight, first update from my mother at 2:00am Abu Dhabi time

“Flight has been delayed 6 to 8 hours looks like”.

Alright, i check online. They seem to have updated it to reflect the delay. Let me add, my mom is a trooper. She texts me

“ Chill Poo, its a new experience. They are giving us food and coffee.”

I go back to sleep.

I wake up in the morning. And mom texts

“The flight is delayed for another 12 hours or so. They are not telling us when the next flight is.”.

At this point, i am really pissed. Etihad, here’s the deal:

• Shit happens. Flight gets delayed due to whatever reason — weather, flight safety etc etc. I totally understand, shit happens all the time. Now, what is unacceptable is not letting people know about this shit.
• Etihad sent me an email after 16 hours that the flight is delayed. Yes, after 16 hours. Like that matters.
• My mother or any one else in the damn flight, were not given accommodation. Yes, my mom and the rest of the folks were just hanging around in the airport for almost 24 hours ! Yes 24 hours.
• There were a lot of old folks and children in the flight. My mother mentioned that none of them were given proper treatment. Its so not cool. The least you could do is be polite.

This story needs to be told. My mother is 50 (And guess what July 4th was her birthday). It is so not cool to expect my mother to just hang out in the airport for 24 hours !

The last time i took Etihad to travel to India, my flight was delayed by 11 hours. I was pretty damn exhausted and frustrated. I cannot even comprehend the stuff my mother had to deal with. This story had to be told.

Etihad, you guys have a lot of explaining to do. I had to tell this story to spread the word that, this stuff, is so not acceptable.

PS: Whatsapp, thank you for making it so easy to keep in touch with my mother. Really.