UAE-US travel: Etihad cuts passengers on flight from Abu Dhabi due to payload curbs

Etihad Airways cut down the number of passengers on a New York-bound flight from Abu Dhabi on Thursday because of payload restrictions. The national airline will be providing compensation to the affected passengers.

“As a result of operational payload restrictions, Etihad Airways has been forced to reduce the number of passengers on flight EY101 from Abu Dhabi to New York (JFK) on Thursday,” Etihad Airways’ spokesperson told Khaleej Times in a statement.

There were similar cancellations reportedly on US-bound Etihad flights from India on Thursday. According to a report in Times of India’s website, several passengers, including students, were either offloaded or their bookings cancelled on US-bound Etihad flights from Indian cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The two-stop flights from Mumbai and Bengaluru have a layover in Abu Dhabi before continuing to the cities in the US on another Etihad flight. Since flight EY101 from Abu Dhabi to New York faced payload curbs on Thursday, it may have resulted in restrictions on the availability of seats for passengers on a shared flight.

The report mentioned that students, who have their semesters commencing soon in the educational institutions in the US, bought last-minute tickets on other carriers to the US, costing nearly 200,000 rupees (Dh9,250).

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