Etihad has made a negative change to its schedule change policy

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Etihad has recently pushed through a negative change to its policy which dictates the conditions under which it will permit customers to change their travel plans or request a refund following a change to the schedules.

The old policy

Prior to the latest change (i.e. before 15 July 2025), this was Etihad’s schedule change policy:

Schedule change refers to the airline changing the scheduled departure time, date or flight number or cancellation of a particular flight between the date of issue (or booking) and the actual travel date.

Guests booked on Etihad Airways (607 document) are provided with involuntary rebooking/refund options if they are impacted by following situations:

• Departure is 30 minutes earlier than the scheduled departure time from the origin.
• The flight has been rearranged and the arrival time at the final destination is delayed by 60 minutes or more from the scheduled arrival time.
• The guest misses a connection due to a schedule change.
• Flight cancellation.
• Equipment downgrade where the guest is rebooked to a lower cabin.

When any of the above occurred, Etihad’s policy was to offer customers an alternative flight or a refund.

The new policy

For bookings made from 15 July 2025 onwards, the policy is this:

Customers are entitled to one free change or a full refund for the unused sectors of their booking if the flight is rescheduled under any of the following conditions:

• Departure is 120 minutes earlier than the scheduled departure time from the origin.
• The flight has been rearranged and the arrival time at the final destination is delayed by 120 minutes or more from the scheduled arrival time.
• The guest misses a connection due to a schedule change.
• Flight cancellation.
• Equipment downgrade where the guest is rebooked to a lower cabin.

Link to new policy

Quick thoughts

The changes in policy are significant, but the fact remains that Etihad’s new policy is still better than the policies used by some of the other major airlines where a schedule change of up to 4 or possibly even 5 hours can be required before a rerouting or refund is offered.

Still, if you’re a frequent Etihad flyer and have been used to being able to alter your plans or to request a refund after a relatively minor schedule change, this shift in policy is an important one to note.

Be aware that although the policy change only applies to bookings made on or after 15 July 2025, the Etihad website will not be able to apply the old rules to bookings made prior to the policy change.

If you have a booking that was made before 15 July 2025 which doesn’t now fall under the scope of the new policy but does fall under the scope of the old one, you will have to call the Etihad customer services team to get any requests processed.

Bottom line

As of 15 July 2025, an Etihad flight will have to be rescheduled to depart 2 hours earlier (not 30 minutes earlier) before you are entitled to request a rerouting or a refund, and you will have to be rescheduled to arrive at your destination 2 hours later (not 1 hour later) if the same options are to be offered.

To call this a big negative change would probably be a little harsh, but for anyone who has become accustomed to making the most of the old rules, the new policy will be unwelcome and there’s no getting away from the fact that the change has clearly been made to benefit the airline and not the customer.