From the minute I crossed the boarding gate to now I have had a terrible experience with Ethiopian Airlines. Firstly my flight in Oman was delayed by 40 minutes, this meant when I arrived in Ethiopia I had to run to catch my connecting flight. The Addis Ababa airport is an absolute nightmare - a bottle neck of thousands and thousands of people squeezing and pushing trying to all get through security. I nearly missed my flight to Johannesburg. When I get onto the plane I realise I did not have the same seat I booked - when I went through the gate where they scan your ticket I was given a different ticket by the person at the counter but I didn't think anything of it. This person did not even bother to tell me he was moving me from a front row aisle seat to a third row middle seat. When I asked the air hostess why my seat had been moved she said they had a VIP they had to give my seat to. I felt absolutely disrespected - like I did not matter - how could they just move me to a middle back seat without even speaking to me about it? The food on the flight was terrible - I could not even eat it - I had two bites because I was so hungry but left the rest. The food was so dry and tasteless, and really just not good at all. Both of the planes also had really weird smells on them. When I landed in South Africa (after being awake for 37 hours) I stood at the carousal for over an hour waiting for my bag but it did not come out. Thanks to my airtag I could see that my bag was still in Ethiopia. I was so exhausted, dirty and so angry that I just burst into tears - the man at the EA counter did not know what to do with me. He assured me that I could go buy clothes and toiletries for $80 and I could just claim it back from Ethiopia Airlines. Although this was a huge inconvenience because I was leaving for Cape Town 2 days later, I felt better knowing they would fit the bill for the extra things I had to go buy. My bag only arrived 29 hours later and the lock on my bag was also broken. I submitted my claim two and a half months ago and have still not received my reimbursement or any feedback from them. I have sent so many emails following up on my reimbursement and I have had no response. I have also filled out an online form on their website and have sent a message to their Facebook page. I have sent hundreds of emails but they just ignore me. Their service has been utterly shocking every step of the way - this is definitely not Africa's best airline. I will never fly with them again.
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