Claim Etihad Airways Flight Delay Compensation

How much can you claim for your flight delay?

The amount for a delayed Etihad flight depends on the length of your journey and the duration of your delay.

If your delayed flight covered less than 1,500 km, your delay compensation would equal €250. If your trip spanned between 1,500 and 3,500 km, you could claim compensation of €400. This is the maximum amount passengers can claim for flights between EU member countries. Finally, if your flight exceeded 3,500 km, your Etihad EU compensation can reach up to €600.

Etihad Flight Delay Compensation

Passengers can submit compensation claims when their flight has been delayed. In addition, if your trip included more than one flight, you could be entitled to compensation for a missed connecting flight.

Etihad Flight Delay

To claim compensation for a recent Etihad Airways delay, two basic conditions need to be met:

• You arrived at your final destination with a delay over three hours
• The delay was not caused by any extraordinary circumstances.

In general, airlines are required to make every possible arrangement to prevent or mitigate any flight delays or cancellations of their services.

However, if there are any extraordinary circumstances, the resulting disruptions would be outside Etihad’s responsibilities and capabilities to address.

The most common cases of extraordinary circumstances include:

• Bad weather conditions (e.g. snowstorms, low visibility, strong crosswinds)
• Bird strikes
• Runway closures and Air Traffic Control restrictions
• Airport personnel strikes
• Union strikes
• A medical emergency
• Political or social unrest

Claim Delay Compensation

Technical issues, however, are part of the normal operations of an aircraft. Therefore, if they cause a flight delay, it would not be seen as an extraordinary event.

It is the airline’s responsibility to monitor their aircraft and prevent any mechanical faults. Therefore, any Etihad flight delay due to a technical malfunctioning would be eligible for compensation.

In addition, to be eligible for airline compensation, your flight needs to have arrived at its destination airport with a delay of over three hours. A flight’s delay duration is calculated as the difference between the actual and the scheduled time of arrival.

Therefore, passengers can only apply for compensation for a delayed flight after their arrival at their final destination.

In some cases, for example, the flight crew may be able to decrease the duration time during the flight itself. In these cases, even though the flight took off more than three hours late, the delay upon arrival would be under 3h. This means that passengers would not be entitled to Etihad compensation.

Etihad Cancellations

Flight disruptions can bring good news. You may be entitled to Etihad cancellation compensation. As with delays, there are a few basic conditions.

If the airline informs you of the cancellation less than 14 days before your flight and there were no extraordinary circumstances, you could be eligible for a refund.

If Etihad notified you of the disruption between 7 and 14 days, your flight needs to have arrived more than 4 hours late.

If the airline informed you of the cancellation with less than a week in hand and you arrive more than 2 hours late, you would be eligible for Etihad cancelled flight compensation.

The size of the compensation will vary with your journey’s distance.

Claim Flight Compensation

In most cases, however, airlines cancel flights within 24h of the time of departure. If your alternate flight arrives at your final destination more than 2 late, you could claim flight compensation from Etihad.

The airline is obliged to provide its passengers with an alternate flight or a full refund of their ticket costs whenever it cancels a flight. Passengers retain this right regardless of whether the reasons that led to the cancellation. For instance, Etihad is required to provide you with a replacement flight or a refund even if the disruption was due to bad weather at the airport of your departure.

It is important to remember that even though flight delays and cancellations might feel similar, strictly speaking they are separate entities. The eligibility prerequisites for Etihad delayed flight and cancellation compensation differ substantially.

A delayed flight is one which departs at a later time but under the same flight number. Imagine that Etihad EY10 is delayed by 4 hours. If it departs under the same number, you would be eligible for Etihad delay refund.

Cancelled Etihad flights, on the other hand, do not depart at all. Instead, passengers are rerouted under different flight numbers.

Thus, a cancelled Etihad EY10 flight’s passengers would be provided with alternate flights that serve the same London Heathrow - Abu Dhabi route. In some cases your rerouting may involve more than one flight.

Denied Boarding

If due to overbooking Etihad involuntarily denies you boarding, you can choose between two options:

1. Receive a full refund of your ticket price as well as a return ticket to your original point of departure (in case of a multi-leg journey)
2. Get an alternate flight to your final destination-- either as soon as possible or at a later date.

And on top of that, you can claim Etihad overbooking compensation. According to EC261, you may be eligible to the same amount as for delays and cancellations-- up to €600!

Check Compensation

About Etihad Airways

Etihad is one of the biggest airlines in the Middle East. Its headquarters are located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was established in 2003 as UAE’s second flag carrier, together with Emirates.

Etihad owned almost a third of the now defunct Air Berlin, about 40% of Air Seychelles, and 49% in Air Serbia and 49% in Alitalia.

Etihad has seen staggering growth since its inception. Its fleet has grown from 6 aircraft in 2004 to 115 in 2017 and the number of passengers has risen sixty-fold in the same period.

In 2019, Etihad operated the first flight propelled by salicornia plant jet biofuel.

 Etihad rankings

Airlines ranking site Skytrax has given Etihad Airways a cumulative rating of 4/10. This score reflects the company’s seat comfort quality, staff service, in-flight entertainment, food and beverages. It also includes an estimation of the value for money passengers receive on Etihad's services.

Meanwhile the Skytrax team gives Etihad a 4-Star Airline Rating, and places it among the world's elite airlines.