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

Pollycat

Emily_Joy said:

Pollycat said:

Yes, humans do make mistakes. But don't diss the airline or the 3rd party you booked with because you made a mistake. Or assumed anything. To assume anything is to compound your error. 
Yes, the OP should have checked the luggage allowance before packing. They didn't. 
So I agree. I don't understand how they could pack without knowing their allowance. But you made the assumption that they would have checked.
As for your analogy about out auto renewing insurance, the customer should be aware of that and research a better deal.  It's called personal responsibility. Your money - you look after it.

 I agree that it's on customer to ensure that the product they pay for suits their needs, but at the same time I cannot see how the practices that exploit small mistakes are fair.

I don't agree that booking 3 flights from the UK to Australia and not including hold luggage is a small mistake.
It's a whopping big mistake that turned into a very expensive big mistake.

The other mistake the latter poster who booked flights with Etihad via a 3rd party (Loveholidays) also made a big mistake because if they had booked direct and had realised within 24 hours they would have had this chance to put it right:

Caz3121 said:

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. 
   

It wouldn't have helped the original poster as they didn't realise their big mistake until they arrived at the airport. 

BaggageBetrayal

soolin said:

Just another question really as I follow baggage threads with interest as things change every few weeks it seems. If you thought you had luggage included how did  you decide what your weight allowance was when you packed, bearing in mind that some airlines now start their basic paid for hold baggage at 15kg? I always take a checked bag but have to double check if I’m using an unfamiliar airline as to whether I have 15kg, 20kg or 23kg allowed, it’s no longer possible for me just to book a case and assume I can guess what weight I’m allowed. 

We googled it "what's the baggage allowance for Etihad economy" (our ticket said only Economy and not any of the Economy tiers) and it said 23kg. Our heaviest bag was 19kg so didn't think any more about it unfortunately. 

BaggageBetrayal

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.

My advice after this experience is to either use a third party baggage shipping company. It is not as cheap as having bags included at time of booking but significantly cheaper than paying with Etihad. Make sure to send a few days in advance. Or dont take luggage and buy it all there. Unfortunately accepting that it's going to cost a fortune and just moving on is the least stressful way to deal with it. The airline won't help. It's a rotten money making scam that is making them a fortune. 

Your other option might be to cancel the flight completely if you can get a refund and book it again, but I doubt it will let you with the cursed Economy Basic ticket.  

BaggageBetrayal

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.

Hi! Back to see if anything insightful has been mentioned, but yes, I gave up expecting help from this forum after day 2. I completely accept that I made a mistake, an expensive one, and 9 pages of people pointing that out and and wanting to know how on earth I could be so stupid wasn't really constructive or helpful. 

Here's the update for anyone following. Yes, I made a mistake. I was complacent. I have checked my records and I have flown this route at this time of year with the same airline, Etihad, in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and other airlines for each year previous dating back to 2007 (excluding during Covid). One bag always included per passenger, this time they unfortunately caught me out. 

Buying an Economy basic ticket with Etihad  is an extremely expensive mistake, even if you know in advance. To add bags at time of booking would cost a minimal amount.. something like £25 per bag. The moment you have purchased the ticket there is no turning back. Even adding bags in advance is subject to £120 per 5kg. They claim you get 65% discount by booking in advance, but that's not really a discount because its still a 2400% (this is the actual amount) increase on the price of buying a different ticket. It's just less extortionate as paying at the airport. This right here, this is the part which hurts the most. The fact that it's not a justified cost. It's a case of "ha! we've caught you out! So now we can charge what we want" and that they did. 

For anyone in the same boat who is looking for help or advice. You won't get anything back from the airline. They are making an absolute killing catching people out like this. We spoke to staff at the airport and they are facing passengers getting caught out daily. Your options are

1) Buy clothes and things when you're there.. it would actually be cheaper than taking your things sadly. 
2) Call the airline in advance to add bags instead of using manage my booking. I got a cheaper rate on the phone of £80 per 5kg but only for adults. I couldn't add bags under my children's name for less than £120 per kg. 
3) ship your bags using a courier. Its slow (takes about 1 week to/from Australia) and will incur custom fees and some other hidden fees, but still cheaper than sending on the airline
4) a hybrid mix of the above. 

Caz3121

BaggageBetrayal said:

My advice after this experience is to either use a third party baggage shipping company. It is not as cheap as having bags included at time of booking but significantly cheaper than paying with Etihad. Make sure to send a few days in advance. Or dont take luggage and buy it all there. Unfortunately accepting that it's going to cost a fortune and just moving on is the least stressful way to deal with it. The airline won't help. It's a rotten money making scam that is making them a fortune. 

Your other option might be to cancel the flight completely if you can get a refund and book it again, but I doubt it will let you with the cursed Economy Basic ticket.  

now that you know that many airlines offer fares that do not include any hold luggage the advice should be to ensure that you purchase tickets suitable for your needs.
Unfortunately you chose a third party (they usually attract people looking for the cheapest fares so display the cheapest ticket types) had you booked direct with the airline you would have seen side-by-side the different ticket types available and could have paid the higher price to have a fare than included baggage.

Cancelling for full refund is usually something that comes with the most expensive ticket types. Some airlines do offer free cancellation for flights cancelled within 24 hours of booking for direct bookings but this would generally not apply to third party bookings

BaggageBetrayal

Caz3121 said:

BaggageBetrayal said:

My advice after this experience is to either use a third party baggage shipping company. It is not as cheap as having bags included at time of booking but significantly cheaper than paying with Etihad. Make sure to send a few days in advance. Or dont take luggage and buy it all there. Unfortunately accepting that it's going to cost a fortune and just moving on is the least stressful way to deal with it. The airline won't help. It's a rotten money making scam that is making them a fortune. 

Your other option might be to cancel the flight completely if you can get a refund and book it again, but I doubt it will let you with the cursed Economy Basic ticket.  

now that you know that many airlines offer fares that do not include any hold luggage the advice should be to ensure that you purchase tickets suitable for your needs.
Unfortunately you chose a third party (they usually attract people looking for the cheapest fares so display the cheapest ticket types) had you booked direct with the airline you would have seen side-by-side the different ticket types available and could have paid the higher price to have a fare than included baggage.

Cancelling for full refund is usually something that comes with the most expensive ticket types. Some airlines do offer free cancellation for flights cancelled within 24 hours of booking for direct bookings but this would generally not apply to third party bookings

how does that help gmc99a who's niece has already booked the ticket?

Ozzig

@BaggageBetrayal ,as an aside, it's good to see you return.
I read way too many new posters asking for advice that never return with an outcome when the first few comments don't agree with them.

The forum can be a bit blunt sometimes, but it can also be a wealth of information. Stick around ?

Pollycat

BaggageBetrayal said:

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.

My advice after this experience is to either use a third party baggage shipping company. It is not as cheap as having bags included at time of booking but significantly cheaper than paying with Etihad. Make sure to send a few days in advance. Or dont take luggage and buy it all there. Unfortunately accepting that it's going to cost a fortune and just moving on is the least stressful way to deal with it. The airline won't help. It's a rotten money making scam that is making them a fortune. 

It's not a scam at all.
It's a mistake you made.

BaggageBetrayal said:

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.

Your other option might be to cancel the flight completely if you can get a refund and book it again, but I doubt it will let you with the cursed Economy Basic ticket.  

I think you still don't get it.

It's not a "cursed Economy Basic ticket".
It's a cheaper alternative IF you don't want to take hold luggage and if you are 100% sure that you will not want to make changes or to cancel.

Etihad website makes it very clear:

Basic

GBP335

For all guests 

Continue

• 1x 7kg cabin baggage only

525miles per guest525 tier miles per guest.

Eligible to upgrade

Change not permitted

Refund not permitted

Free seats

Priority Access

So your advice in bold is useless because if someone has already booked a BASIC ticket, there is no option to cancel and get a refund. There is no doubt whatsoever.

You just need to read what the conditions are for the ticket you are buying.
Unfortunately for you - you didn't.

Pollycat

BaggageBetrayal said:

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.

Hi! Back to see if anything insightful has been mentioned, but yes, I gave up expecting help from this forum after day 2. I completely accept that I made a mistake, an expensive one, and 9 pages of people pointing that out and and wanting to know how on earth I could be so stupid wasn't really constructive or helpful. 

I think the advice you received was useful because your thread title read 'how can I get my money back?'.
Posters pointed out that there wasn't a cat-in-hell's chance of getting your money back.

And in your original post you said:

I’d love advice on where to go next. I’ve kept a paper trail, and I’m considering escalating this publicly and/or through a consumer ombudsman. Has anyone had success disputing similar charges, especially when the booking site failed to flag such a major change?

If you hadn't had such a unanimous response, you could have wasted your time "escalating this publicly and/or through a consumer ombudsman."

That was constructive and helpful - even though you didn't like the answer.

So, something helpful and insightful has been mentioned: 
Make sure you buy the right class of ticket.

Voyager2002

Pollycat said:

BaggageBetrayal said:

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.

My advice after this experience is to either use a third party baggage shipping company. It is not as cheap as having bags included at time of booking but significantly cheaper than paying with Etihad. Make sure to send a few days in advance. Or dont take luggage and buy it all there. Unfortunately accepting that it's going to cost a fortune and just moving on is the least stressful way to deal with it. The airline won't help. It's a rotten money making scam that is making them a fortune. 

It's not a scam at all.
It's a mistake you made.

BaggageBetrayal said:

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.

Your other option might be to cancel the flight completely if you can get a refund and book it again, but I doubt it will let you with the cursed Economy Basic ticket.  

I think you still don't get it.

It's not a "cursed Economy Basic ticket".
It's a cheaper alternative IF you don't want to take hold luggage and if you are 100% sure that you will not want to make changes or to cancel.

Etihad website makes it very clear:

Basic

GBP335

For all guests 

Continue

• 1x 7kg cabin baggage only

525miles per guest525 tier miles per guest.

Eligible to upgrade

Change not permitted

Refund not permitted

Free seats

Priority Access

So your advice in bold is useless because if someone has already booked a BASIC ticket, there is no option to cancel and get a refund. There is no doubt whatsoever.

You just need to read what the conditions are for the ticket you are buying.
Unfortunately for you - you didn't.

The ticket was purchased through a third party that did not give information about the conditions.

That is the real scandal.