Etihad Airways review by Thomas Corrigan

So utterly disappointed in Etihad airways. READ BEFORE YOU BOOK WITH THEM. Original flight meant to take 16 hours. With Etihad it took over 50 hours. I booked with Etihad airways to get me to Johannesburg airport in South Africa, from London Heathrow, with a 2 hour stop in Abu Dhabi. I paid a lot of money for this flight, over £1100. The flight left Heathrow on time and as the flight landed in Abu Dhabi they announced some passengers connecting onto Johannesburg needed to wait for assistance. I was met by a Etihad worker who instructed me I was being removed from my connection to Johannesburg because they had over booked the flight!!! How is this possible? I had to make my way to a hotel and stay there for two nights before they could book me on to the next flight to Johannesburg. THATS NOT THE WORST PART. After already losing a day of my holiday I had discovered Etihad airways had booked me onto another flight but instead of flying to Johannesburg, which was my original plan, which I had paid for, they instead sent me to Nairobi, Kenya, with a connection from Nairobi to Johannesburg. But guess what? They delayed this flight by 3 hours. This resulted in me missing my connection in Nairobi. Better still Etihad left me in Nairobi airport for 7 hours with no food and no water, as well as no assistance or help. I got a lovely email stating they wanted to fly me to Dar es Salam, Tanzania. Thankfully after hours of back and forth I managed to find a helpful lady who went above and beyond and booked me on a direct flight to Johannesburg. Why couldn't Etihad airways have done this?! My chaos was not over yet. After finally reaching Johannesburg over 50 hours later, Etihad airways had lost my luggage. I lost 3 days of my holiday being flown around by this incompetent airline. They finally found my bag and returned to me 2 days after landing in Johannesburg. I strongly recommend you DO NOT fly with this airline. If this was an elderly person, or a family, I dread to think the stress this would have caused them. The airline has not been in touch, nor compensated me for any of my delays, or kicking me of my first flight when they overbooked. Its a disgrace and I want to warn others. Etihad you're a disgrace.