Fair Play to Etihad

I have got to hand it to Etihad. They have really looked after us. When our flight was eventually cancelled they gave us food vouchers straight away. The problem is not theirs it being an act of God (or Allah in this case!) As soon as we had finished eating they organised a hotel for us. There were no hotel beds in Abu Dhabi so they taxied us to Dubai and put us up in IBIS there. WE had to check out our baggage and mine was ripped in the corner. They offered me a one-whelled replacement, which I refused and I eventually ended up with a lovely new ‘American Tourister’. Bit of a delay here but worth it not to have to fill in claim form and seek reimbursement. Our hotel voucher covers dinner, breakfast and lunch but we hope to be gone after breakfast. I met a couple of girls from Dublin in the lift and they told me that they left Abu Dhabi this morning bound for Dublin and had to turn back after FIVE hours. Ten hours of flying for nothing. That’s tough.
After dinner, Jed and I took a trip to the Emirates Mall which has to be one if the biggest in the world. There was a double line of taxis, fifty or sixty at least, continuously pulling up and people getting it. After a little stroll around we then hopped on one of the fancy trains. Spotlessly clean. It had carriages for women only patrolled by a woman officer (see photos) and fines were imposed for any eating or drinking. All the platform were sealed off on the train side and both sets of doors opened simultaneously. It took us about thirty minutes to walk to the station, which looked like an airport terminal. When we returned to the same station we got a taxi back to our hotel and it cost €2.50. Of course we gave him €3. The last of the big spenders eh?
We will find out tomorrow morning if we are flying out tomorrow, but I looked up the IAA website and things are getting worse. The next few days could be spent going in and out of the airport and still going nowhere.