I regret to write that this is our worst experience with the any airline in my life.
My Father who was supposed to board a Etihad Airways flight from Delhi to Manchester via Abu dhabi, missed his outbound flight in spite of reaching the airport on time as wheelchair was provided very very late at the entrance of the airport and a person to push the chair even later. The person (apparently Etihad airline worker )who wheeled my father, then left him stranded inside the airport midway inside the airport.
My father is 70 years of age and suffers with arthritis of the knee and hence I had requested the wheel chair assistance for him when I booked the ticket for him to visit me in the UK. via Expedia, UK.
When it became apparent that no assistance was coming my brother then started to raise alarm that my father was going to miss the flight if nothing was done soon. He also involved the security at the airport and that is when a wheelchair was provided with a person who reported to us as eitihad Airline staff.
Somehow then my father was wheeled in and as the relatives are not allowed beyond the entrance gate in the Delhi airport , reassured that my father would then be taken to the required desk he left the airport.
My brother then called my father after 30 minutes only to find that my father has been left stranded in the airport and when eventually he was able to reach the check in desk he was told that the desk was closed and that he could not check in. No one came to my father’s assistance and the eitihad airline staff were most unhelpful.
My brother immediately turned around and reached the airport and tried to contact the airline staff but without success.
Here was my brother standing outside the airport, not being allowed to enter the airport, with my very stressed father stranded inside the airport with luggage and no one to wheel him out.
I got told are the following versions by my agent and the airline staff them selves.
1)that wheel chair was not requested by the agent in the correct format so it was not confirmed and hence not provided.
2) that the wheel chair was confirmed although format was not right.
3)that although the wheel chair was requested, it wasn’t mentioned that it was for medical reasons ( I do not know of someone who request it for fun and I am a general practitioner in UK).
4) that wheel chair was requested but no assistance for wheeling it was asked for.
The point to be noted here is that neither the wheel chair nor the manual assistance was provided until by brother raised alarm.
The second point to be noted is that as NO RELATIVE IS ALLOWED BEYOND THE ENTRY GATE SO THE WHEEL CHAIR WILL NEED TO BE WHEELED BY SOME ONE FROM THE AIRLINE.
5) that the wheel chair is provided at the check in counter.
I have to refute this argument as my Mother in Law has travelled at least three times with Etihad airways in last 2 years and every time the wheel chair is provided at the entry gate with the assistant to wheel it, simply because NO RELATIVE IS ALLOWED BEYOND THE ENTRY GATE.
I fail to understand how rules of where the wheel chair will be provided can change for different passengers with similar requests
6)My brother and my father both were stuck at the airport till 3 am in the morning ( while the flight left at 21:25 hrs) trying to find a person to talk to, to get some answers and if possible to get my father in the next possible flight.
7)The Duty Manager of the Eitihad Airways refused to talk to my brother or my father.
8)The CSA for Eitihad airways Ms Roshini on the other hand came out of the terminal and spoke to my brother in most obnoxious language and tone as one of her staff was there on the instructions from Police.
10) None of the staff were wearing the name badges and refused to give their names to my brother when he asked for it.
11) My father was asked to leave the airport at 2 am by the airport staff without any answers , apologies or even any flight arrangements.
All I have written here can be proved by the 3600 CCtv Cameras at the Airport.
All the discussion I have had with the airline and the agent expedia can be proved by the recordings and
All the calls that my brother ans special assistance booth made to customer services and other desks of Eitihad airways can be proved by the phone bills.
And I am sure the very fact that the wheel chairs are provided at the gate at the Delhi Airport can also be proved by the CCTV cameras.
I am still waiting tofind out who is responsible for this mess which led to my father missing his flight and causing him all the physical and metal stress.
NO SHOW labelled for this missed flight without taking the circumstances into considerations and now the inbound ticket for my father has also been cancelled.