This was our second (and last) time flying Etihad, and the same thing happened this time, hence the last. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10pm, and we had a 4.5-hour layover in Abu Dhabi to connect to our flight to Colombo. Plenty of time! The first time we flew Etihad, they took off two hours late, and it caused us to miss our flight, but we felt pretty secure this time, with 4.5 hours to deal with.
HAHAHAHAHA.
First they said we'd take off 45 minutes late, and it became something of a quantum physics experience because every time we looked, it was later, until finally we took off four hours late. They gave us no information, and we were assured that....but....the previous Etihad flight took off only 15 minutes late! They once gave us small bottles of water and a bag of chips, another time a granola bar, and all we could do was sit. There were "technical problems," and then they appeared to fix them, only to then be "waiting on a crew," before returning again to "technical problems." We had no reason to think the flight would take off instead of simply being canceled, but of course we couldn't count on that, so we waited.
Finally the flight boarded and there were so many screaming kids and babies, one of whom sat directly behind poor Marc. Unless a passenger was getting off in Abu Dhabi to stay, nearly everyone on board would miss their connections, but hey, we were assured that there would be people to help us when we got off the place. We'd been told that the first time we flew Etihad and there was no help at all, so we didn't have confidence.
As everyone got off the plane, the three or four Etihad people were immediately surrounded as we all needed help. We got none, and though we had 25 minutes before our flight took off, we were finally told -- with those 25 minutes to spare -- that we couldn't fly on it because it was too late. Eventually we were sent that direction (point), with a vague, mumbled instruction. So it was leapfrogging as we went that direction, found someone and asked, they sent us in a direction, we did and then found someone to ask, until finally we ended up at an Etihad desk that would send us to a hotel, with instructions of what time to return the following morning, which was a very few hours at that point. One guy we were waiting with said he had come for a wedding and to help his elderly mother, and some of those tasks were no longer possible. At least we were just starting a vacation.
We had scheduled someone to pick us up at the Colombo airport, through Buckingham Place, and as soon as we landed in Abu Dhabi Marc messaged him to explain, and to tell him when we'd arrive. We found out the next day, when he picked us up, that he had already left Tangalle, so he just waited. He was kind and sweet, Rohan, and on the way he asked us if we knew that Adam, the first man, had left a footprint on a mountain in Sri Lanka. As we left the hot and steamy airport, Rohan smiled and asked us if it was too hot for us, and I laughed and told him that's why we were there, because at home it was cold and snowy. (Then it turned out to be an extremely mild month while we were away, with blue skies and warm temperatures, and only a tiny bit of snow one day.)
Next post, Buckingham Place!
