Grand merci, Etihad!
MANILA, Philippines - Birthday in London and Easter in Paris, with Prague and Budapest in between. How blest can one be!
Vernon, Happee and her mother Marilyn and I returned home recently from three weeks in Europe and Eastern Europe. Yes, it was cold, usually three degrees Centigrade or minus one and only a high of five! But coming from a hot country like the Philippines, it was a welcome change, though somewhat shocking to our body system. But since I prefer the cold rather than the heat, I still must say it was rather enjoyable.
The reason for the title of my brief article is to praise Etihad, not only for its comfortable setup and service in their Pearl Business Class, but also for their amazing efficiency and honesty when my son Vernon and daughter-in-law Happee forgot their hand carried in transit at Abu Dhabi on our way home from Paris.
It was not until we were lining up to board our Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Manila that we discovered somewhere along the way, during our three-hour layover from Paris to Manila, dazed from our change in time zone, that the black hand-carried bag was not in the airport duty free shopping pushcart!!!
Vernon and Happee made a mad dash back to check the food court area and all over Terminal 2 at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. When they could not find it, they reported the loss to the Etihad authorities who took their photos and said they would trace their footsteps from the time they set foot on Abu Dhabi. However, it would take at least an hour before they could give them an answer, and the flight was scheduled to take off in about 10-15 minutes!
Thus, there was no other recourse but for them to get back as quickly as they could to board the plane which was about to take off on its nine-hour flight bound for Manila. We were actually among the last few passengers to board this giant aircraft.
Marilyn consoled my son Vernon and her daughter Happee that she would replace each of their iPads inside the lost hand carried, though Happee also had her new Desiqual coat, her camera, her credit card and a small box of Jean Paul Hevins multi-flavored chocolate macaroons which I bought her on our way to the Charles De Gaulle Airport.
By God’s grace, when we landed and walked out of our comfortable Pearl Business Class compartmentalized seats, the first thing we saw was an Etihad airline attendant holding up the name “Happee Goâ€! It was the best welcome we received that day when they gave us the good news that they found the bag near the transit area of Terminal 1 where we first disembarked from Paris (not Terminal 2 where we stopped to eat) and nothing has been lost! Moreover, the bag was efficiently flown in by Etihad the day after our own arrival, and was happily picked up by Happee :-)
Grand merci, Etihad, and hats off!!!
