Etihad charged me £1600 at the desk to take 3 suitcases to Australia! How can I get my money back?

Pollycat

Voyager2002 said:

Pollycat said:

gmc99a said:

When the tickets were being booked on Loveholidays there was no option to select which version of Economy.  Just "Economy" and a baggage allowance button which she insists didn't do anything when she clicked on it.  I guess that is a dispute with Loveholidays.

Despite that she doesn't want to cancel or change the flight just add the baggage in.  I refuse to believe that this should cost £1,300 six months before the flight.

Yes a very expensive mistake.

It doesn't matter what you believe. 
Your niece has put a 3rd party between her and the airline she's flying with.
I think she will be very lucky if she pays less than £1300 to add her luggage.

Yes, a very expensive mistake.

Travelling only with hand luggage and buying what she needs once there is likely to cost a lot less.

And that's up to the niece. 

My point was that it's very unlikely that the £1300 charge will be written off.

jimi_man

Just to add a little reassurance, we've been to Abu Dhabi twice this year for a week each time, and easily managed with hand luggage on both occasions.

gmc99a

Thanks; that's good to hear.

In fact we were there at the beginning of April for a week so are keen to go back.

I booked the tickets first time though.

jimi_man

I think a lot of people get bitten once by booking through third parties, hopefully they won't do it again and go direct to the airline next time, or use an airline specific TA like BA Holidays. 

saajan_12

There's no chance of a claim back. Even if the baggage inclusions weren't clear at the point of booking (unlikely) they didn't force you to pay the £1600. You could have taken their luggage home and they travel with just handluggge. It would have been cheaper for them to buy essentials when there or get the bags shipped a few days later. 

Westin

saajan_12 said:

There's no chance of a claim back. Even if the baggage inclusions weren't clear at the point of booking (unlikely) they didn't force you to pay the £1600. You could have taken their luggage home and they travel with just handluggge. It would have been cheaper for them to buy essentials when there or get the bags shipped a few days later. 

I would agree but I don’t think adding more to this thread is serving a use.  The OP has not logged back in to this site since 17 April.  They clearly packed their bags and left.

Pollycat

Westin said:

saajan_12 said:

There's no chance of a claim back. Even if the baggage inclusions weren't clear at the point of booking (unlikely) they didn't force you to pay the £1600. You could have taken their luggage home and they travel with just handluggge. It would have been cheaper for them to buy essentials when there or get the bags shipped a few days later. 

I would agree but I don’t think adding more to this thread is serving a use.  The OP has not logged back in to this site since 17 April.  They clearly packed their bags and left.

There's actually been 2 additions to this thread:
1 about boarding and the other very similar to the OP's situation who booked Etihad (but through LoveHolidays instead of Expedia).
The £1600 refers to the latest addition which was only a few days ago.

Emily_Joy

gmc99a said:

Yesterday my niece booked a holiday via Loveholidays to Abu Dhabi with economy tickets with Etihad.
When the confirmation came through it showed that she had got "Economy Basic" so no luggage allowance.
When she phone Etihad she was told it would cost £1,300 for the suitcases.   
This is for a trip that is not booked to take place until October.
Since this was noticed on the same day as the booking I think the airline is being unreasonable here.
She is currently in contact with Loveholidays about this but who knows what can be done.

I am surprised there is no fee-free cancellation option within the first 24 hours of booking.

I do believe that this thread is quite useful, as based on experience with low-costers one could (wrongly) assume that showing up with extra luggage at the airport would cost them something like 60-80GBP per bag, not 500 quid; and that it is  always possible to add extra luggage later. 

Caz3121

Emily_Joy said:

I am surprised there is no fee-free cancellation option within the first 24 hours of booking.

Etihad do have a 24 hour free cancellation policy as do many other airlines. However this is for bookings made direct and not via third parties - which normally are non-refundable from time of booking

1. A 24-hour cancellation policy applies to all direct bookings with Etihad Airways. 

Rich2808

Whatever the terms on booking were - clearly the OP was not aware - charging over £500 per bag (if not prebooked) at the airport is a complete scam.

Qatar only charge a maximum of £85 depending on the route for non prebooked luggage at check in - so why does Eithad charge more than six times as much.

https://www.qatarairways.com/en-gb/baggage/excess.html

I don't travel Etihad anyway - but this would put me right off them. Disgusting way to treat customers needing to check in bags last minute.

But in future I recommend you always book stand alone flights direct with the airline - it is then very clear what you are getting and if any issues you can deal direct with the airline, their website and their staff on the ground (e.g. refunds or compensation for delays etc).