Etihad Airways has been making its name as the most luxurious airline in the sky, but hundreds of passengers on Etihad Airways Flight 183 would beg to differ, after spending 12 hours on the tarmac at Abu Dhabi International Airport this Saturday, January 3.
The travelers were grounded after serious amounts of fog rolled into the Abu Dhabi airport, making the plane unable to take off on its flight to San Francisco International Airport.
The fog affected many other passengers traveling through Abu Dhabi airport that day, and Etihad reported booking more than 2,000 hotel rooms for travelers whose itineraries were disrupted.
Although bad weather isn't an airline's fault per se, fliers were up in arms about how they were treated while on the tarmac, taking to social media to complain about a lack of food and information.
Passengers were reportedly not allowed off the flight as the airport was overcrowded. However, conditions on the plane were not much better.
Another gripe from the Etihad travelers was the lack of information about what was happening. Every half hour, passengers were told that the plane would be departing shortly but after 12 hours of this, they were still stuck on the runway.
According to broadcaster KGO the lack of information about the flight led some passengers to get into arguments with the airline attendants.
Flier Venkatesh Pahwa told KGO, an ABC News affiliate, that the fights were not confined to airline attendants, saying that: ''Everybody was fighting with each other, and the flight attendants were fighting with us, and we were fighting with the flights attendants."
Once the flight took off, passengers had a 16 hour journey to San Francisco, where relatives were waiting patiently for news of their loved ones. Although the airline had a website, they did not update it with information regarding the delayed flight.
"Etihad has a website but there was no updated information on the website. You call their number, it just puts you in a loop," said passenger Ajay Pahwa to KGO.
Pahwa resorted to sending his parents a text from a fellow passenger's phone to let them know that he was ok.
Over twenty return flights were cancelled and numerous flights were delayed at Abu Dhabi airport this weekend. Etihad is urging all travelers to avoid travel to, from, or through Abu Dhabi International Airport, up to and including Tuesday, January 6.
Needless to say, it seems that Etihad Airways lost a few frequent flyers this past weekend.
