Ethiopian Airlines Customer Commitment

Ethiopian intends to ensure that your travel experience will encompass to the best of our ability, the most comprehensive customer service possible. The commitment below explains our policies in a clear, consistent and understandable fashion. Ethiopian has detailed training programs and system enhancements to support our employees in meeting these commitments.

1. Offer lowest fare available 
    
   Ethiopian offers lowest fare available for which you are eligible for the date, flight, and class of service on our website www.ethiopianairlines.com, or when you call Ethiopian’s telephone reservation system to inquire about a fare or make a reservation; at ticket counters; or at city ticket offices. 
2. Notify customers of known delays , cancellations and diversions
   
   Ethiopian works hard to get you to your destination on time, as scheduled. There may be times when weather, air traffic control, operational or service considerations lead to flight delays, cancellations or diversions. When this happens Ethiopian will notify you, known delays, cancellations, and diversions within 30 minutes of becoming aware of a change in the status of a flight (cancellation, delay, or diversion).
    
   • Explain the reason for the delay(if known), cancellation or diversion based on the information that we have;
   • Update the information displayed at airport gates to show flight status; and
   • Make information on known delays, cancellations, and diversions available on Ethiopian website, at the boarding gate for a flight at U.S. airport, by airport display boards, through Ethiopian reservation office, through your mobile phones and/or SMS/e-mail addresses or on www.ethiopianairlines.com.
3. Deliver baggage on time

   It is Ethiopian's intention to deliver your checked bags to you on time. However, in the event that this does not occur, Ethiopian will make every reasonable effort to deliver your bags within 24 hours. Notify an Ethiopian employee at the airport if you cannot locate your baggage. In the rare event that delivery of your checked bags does not occur, Ethiopian will make a one-time incidental payment of USD 150.00 for Cloud Nine or Business Class passengers to cover small expenses. Economy-class passengers if their bag does not arrive on the following day's flight, an incidental payment of USD 100.00 is given. For domestic flights One-time incidental payments of ETB 750 for C-9 and ETB 600 for Economy-class shall be given immediately upon arrival (all payments apply to non-residents at destination per customer).

   Ethiopian will attempt to contact owners of unclaimed baggage when a name, address, or telephone number is available. Bags unclaimed after 7 days are sent to our headquarters in Addis Ababa, where continued efforts are made to locate the bag owners. To check on the progress of your lost, damaged, or delayed baggage, please call us at 800-445-2733 or go to our website. www.ethiopianairlines.com. 

4. Provide prompt ticket refunds 
    
   Ethiopian will provide prompt refunds where due for eligible tickets once we receive your request accompanied by any required documentation. When refunds are due Ethiopian will process requests in a timely manner and refund the purchase price, less any applicable service fee to the original form of payment. You may seek a refund by sending a written request to Ethiopian Airlines, customer refund service, 3133 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Alexandria VA 22305 for refund cases in USA or any nearest Ethiopian ticketing facility. Requests may also be made via email through corresponding to your area office using the contact address from  Worldwide offices or through your travel agents.
    
   If you used a credit card to make your purchase we will submit the request for a refund to your credit card issuer within 7 business days of receiving your completed request for refund. The credit card issuer will refund the purchase price under the terms of the credit card agreement; your credit card statement may not immediately reflect the refund. For purchases made with cash, check or other forms of payment, Ethiopian will issue your refund within 10 business days of receipt of your completed request for refund. 
    
   Please make sure to provide the passenger’s name, the address, the credit card number used for purchase, ticket number(s), and the date of travel and departure and destination cities in your correspondence. 
5. Properly accommodate passengers with disabilities , minors including during tarmac delays 
    
   Ethiopian is dedicated to offering convenient and comfortable service to all its customers. Ethiopian will provide our customers who require additional assistance, including individuals with disabilities and unaccompanied minors, with the attention, respect and care they deserve. 
    
   Customers with disabilities
    
   Ethiopian works hard to ensure that our aircrafts and our services are in full compliance with all applicable regulations that our customers’ needs are met and that we do not discriminate against customers on the basis of disability. To ensure the high quality of these services and protection of customer rights, we designate Compliant Resolution Official (CRO) in the airport who is responsible for ensuring services are properly implemented for our customers with disability. 
    
   You can ask for assistance when you arrive at the airport if you would like certain accommodations during your travel. There are, however, certain service requests which are required to be made in advance. This notice helps us plan ahead for your safe and comfortable travel. During lengthy tarmac delays, our flight crews will make every effort to properly accommodate customers with disabilities or special needs.
   
   If your travel includes another carrier, please check directly with that carrier for any of your travel needs as different policies and procedures may apply. 
    
   Requirement for minors who travel without an escort 
    
   Ethiopian welcomes young customers on its flights. Ethiopian do, however, have rules about when a minor passenger can travel alone and when an escort must accompany the minor during travel.
    
   • Children under age 5 are not permitted to travel alone and must be accompanied on all flights by a ticketed escort.
   • Children age 5-11 may travel without an escort but are required to use our unaccompanied minor service by paying adult fare. There is a fee for this service and some detailed paper work to complete prior to travel.
   • Minor age 12-17 may travel alone. Our unaccompanied minor service is not required, but is available for a fee if you would like to use it. All unaccompanied minor polices and procedure will be followed. 
   Please contact Ethiopian ticket offices or your travel agent, if you need additional information about making arrangements for a qualifying minor’s travel.
6. Meet customers’ essential needs during tarmac delays 
    
   Ethiopian is committed to operating a reliable schedule for our customers. Safety considerations, weather, air traffic control, operations and other factors may occasionally cause lengthy tarmac delay. Ethiopian has plans and processes in place to minimize such delays. Should a lengthy tarmac delay occur and safety and security considerations permit, Ethiopian will make every reasonable effort to ensure that your essential needs are met through providing adequate food, potable water, operable lavatory facilities, and access to medical assistance.
7. Treat passengers fairly and consistently in the case of oversales 
    
   Occasionally Ethiopian may not be able to provide you with a seat on a specific flight, even if you hold a ticket and have checked in on time. This is called an oversale, and occurs when restrictions apply to operating a particular flight (such as aircraft weight limits); when Ethiopian has to substitute a smaller aircraft in place of a larger aircraft that was originally scheduled; or if more customers have checked in and are prepared to board than we have available seats. 
   
   If your flight is an over sale situation, you will not be denied a seat until Ethiopian first asks for volunteers willing to give up their seats in exchange for compensation an amount determined by prevailing DOT rules to travel on a later, specified flight. If there are not enough volunteers, Ethiopian will deny boarding to passengers in accordance with our company policy on boarding priority. If you are involuntarily denied boarding and have complied with our check-in and other applicable rules, we will give you a written statement that describes your rights and explains how we determine boarding priority for an oversold flight. In addition to furnishing a written statement, if we orally advise involuntarily bumped passengers that they are entitled to receive free or discounted transportation as denied boarding compensation, we will also orally advise the passengers of any material restrictions or conditions applicable to the free or discounted transportation and that they are entitled to choose a check instead or cash. You will generally be entitled to compensation and transportation on an alternate flight. We make complete rules for the payment of compensation, as well as our policy about boarding priorities, available at airports we serve. We will follow these rules to ensure that you are treated fairly. 
   
   Passengers traveling from the United States to a foreign point who are denied boarding involuntarily from an oversold flight originating at a U.S. airport are entitled to:
    
   
   • No compensation if Ethiopian offers alternate transportation that is planned to arrive at the passenger’s destination or first stopover not later than one hour after the planned arrival time of the passenger’s original flight;
   • 200% of the fare to the passenger’s destination or first stopover, with a maximum of $650, if Ethiopian offers alternate transportation that is planned to arrive at the passenger’s destination or first stopover more than one hour but less than four hours after the planned arrival time of the passenger’s original flight; or 
   • 400% of the fare to the passenger’s destination or first stopover, with a maximum of $1,300, if Ethiopian does not offer alternate transportation that is planned to arrive at the airport of the passenger’s destination or first stopover less than four hours after the planned arrival time of the passenger’s original flight.
8. Disclose travel itinerary, cancellation policies, frequent flyer rules and aircraft configuration 
    
   Ethiopian will provide you clear information about policies and service aspects that may be important to you on our website and, when you ask, through our telephone reservations /ticketing staffs and our representatives at the airport. This means providing clear information about:
    
   • Aircraft configuration, including seat size and pitch ranges at aircraft type and layout ;
   • Concerning the important terms and conditions that apply to your ticket and travel, please refer to our Contract of Carriage on our website: www.ethiopianairlines.com,
   • We also provide all important rules, restrictions and redemption information available in our Sheba Miles frequent flyer program through our web site, Membership Guide and inform the new updates through our newsletters. The recent updates will be availed on our website. www.ethiopianairlines.com,
9. Encourage good customer service from code-share partners 
    
   Ethiopian encourages our code share partners to provide customer service commitments comparable to our own.
10. Ensure responsiveness to customer complaints 
    
    Ethiopian responds quickly to our customers’ complaints. If you have a complaint regarding our service or our product, we want to hear from you. Information about where to direct your written complaint is on our website www.ethiopianairlines.com. We will acknowledge written complaints at least with in 30 days of receipt and we will send a substantive response at least with in 60 days of receiving your written complaint. 
11. Provide service to mitigate inconveniences resulting from cancellation and misconnections 
    
    If Ethiopian‘s flight happens to miss the connection flight to your destination, every effort will be made for alternate travel arrangement. If that is not feasible and if you have to wait until the next available flight, Ethiopian will provide you with full hotel accommodation, 3 minute telephone call to destination and ground transportation to and from hotel.