ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

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ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  8 October 2009 by Philip Du Toit   (South Africa)

Johannesburg to kilimanjaro. Stopover in Addis went fine on the first leg of the flight, we were put in a 3 star hotel close to the airport but passengers were forced to choose people to stay with in the rooms because the hotel was full. On the return leg we were told that there were no hotel vouchers for our tickets. When we inquired why there were no hotel vouchers we were told that we did not pay for overnight accommodation in our tickets - another official said that Johannesburg did not send the vouchers. We were given many excuses and rude remarks as to why we could not stay at a hotel for a 12 hour overnight stop. We were given a meal voucher at an appalling resaturant at the international terminal and were not allowed into any of the lounges because we were not members of the miles program. In general the staff are unfriendly and rude , food was terrible on the flight. IFE was very, very poor.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  6 October 2009 by A Gouws   (UAE)

Dubai to Johannesburg and back, with overnight in Addis Ababa on return. Ethiopian business class is only about 20%-25% more expensive than other airlines economy and value for money. You cannot expect the kind of business class other airlines offer. DXB to ADD was newish 767, spacious seats, lots of leg space, seats recline considerably but are not fully flat. ADD-JNB a 737, similar seats but they seemed to be slightly wider. Champagne on boarding, small selection of magazines and newspapers offered. Very friendly flight crew, food good, good drinks selection. Ground crew in Addis were friendly and efficient. On the overnight lay-over we were taken to a good hotel. IFE on Ethiopian is pretty basic - they show a movie, some documentaries and comedy shows, plus a few music channels.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  29 September 2009 by M Binas   (Saudi Arabia)

RUH-ZNZ-RUH via Addis. One good of the good things is flights on time. However, I think losing luggage or luggage arriving days after has become part of the ET's culture. When we arrived Zanzibar, we got our luggage the next day, losing 1 day of our holiday and had to spend extra money to buy clothes and toiletries. Food both ways were excellent.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  19 September 2009 by M Kusema   (UK)

Heathrow to Zimbabwe on Ethiopian Airlines and it was a nightmare. For some reason the FAs were in a rush and managed to go past me without giving me a drink. When we got to Addis Abba the toilets had no running water and were filthy. The connecting flight to Zimbabwe stopped over in Lumbumbashi at a very dangerous airport with no emergency services or ambulance. My return trip was no better. When I purchased my ticket I was told of the Addis stopover but we went to Lusaka, Addis and Rome before coming back to Heathrow. It was a rip off. I was cold and asked for an extra blanket, but was told they had run out even though the plane was not full.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  9 September 2009 by S Cassis   (Canada)

Addis Ababa-Dubai, and Addis-Johannesburg : dismal and appalling. Check in at Addis is interesting, lots of pushing and shoving and climbing over other people's luggage will get you to the check in desk eventually. Staff are not pleasant. On-board, well, Ethiopian Airlines is obviously not concerned about safety. On one of the flights, passengers returning from a conference pulled out their bottles from duty free and became intoxicated and proceeded to have move freely throughout the cabin during the entire flight. Staff paid no attention. Food was poor on every flight.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  27 August 2009 by D Bhatia   (USA)

Economy Guanzhou to Bangkok. Check in was one of the most disorganised experience. Passengers were mostly Africans and they were being treated like criminals by the ground staff. The counter staff had a could not care attitude. Although I had a confirmed booking, they told me I was not on their list of passengers and the only way I could get on the flight was if I purchased a new ticket at the airport. I than insisted on seeing the Duty Manager who managed to sort things out and put me on the flight. Never again will I fly Ethiopian.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  17 August 2009 by L Dore   (Zimbabwe)

Harare-Addis Ababa-Paris Business. Friendly service and spacious, comfortable seats as long as one was sitting. Seats did not recline very much - although there was lots of space between the rows! Flights only slightly delayed.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  9 August 2009 by L Karlsson   (Sweden)

Last time we used Ethiopian the personnel was not nice at all. Then I thought it might have just been a coincidence. This time we realized that there was no coincidence. Money was not drawn from our account although they said that payment had been made. We called and reminded, they said that it was fine, payment had been done. When we were going back from vacation we were stopped in Harare from flying! They canceled our trip due to our card getting rejected. They did not bother to tell us before we left for vacation and did not try to contact us during our vacation. They also made some racist remark about Zimbabweans. In the end we solved it, not them. Other than that the personnel was again rude and clumsy, stepping on our feet without apologizing, spilling tea without apologizing and slamming the tables on our legs. The food was not good either, but that is a minor flaw.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  2 August 2009 : by R Chalmers   (UK)

LHR-ADD-LLW Business Class. Comfortable overnight flight to Addis, then onto Lilongwe. B757 old on both legs, seats in business fine. Cloud 9 business lounge in Addis was OK if a bit noisy, being right in the middle of the concourse. Return journey to UK is a bit of a trek as it goes from Lilongwe to Lusaka then on to Addis. Change planes at Addis and then on to Rome and finally London. Food was OK if slightly restricted in choice. Cabin crew were helpful.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  23 June 2009 : by D Lloyd-Davies  (UK)

LAD-ADDBKK-ADD-BKK in business class. Good price, about the same as Emirates economy. ET has some planes with reasonable IFE and some pretty old ones - including 767s in both categories, so it's impossible to tell what you will get. These flights were both operated by oldish 767s. The seats are ten years behind the latest business class offerings on world-class airlines; comfortable enough while sitting up but only offer slightly better comfort than economy when sleeping -there's no chance of sleeping on your side. Food no better than Singapore Airlines economy either, not terrible but not memorable. IFE consisted of overhead screens, with audio through cheap plastic headphones. Staff are good, professional and friendly in a slightly formal way, and the service is the best part of the ET experience. Overall a pretty average and rather dated experience and a long way short of business class in Qatar, Singapore Airlines etc.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  23 June 2009 : by Andrew Fleming  (Ghana)

Accra/Addis/Bangkok return. Accra to Addis sectors in old 757's with old style seating - comfort fair but a greater recline would have helped. Apparently the last row of business on the 757's does not even recline the full distance of other seats due to their proximity to the cabin wall. Addis - Bangkok flight the 767s were used and cabin was slightly more modern but still far removed from the comfort might expect on KLM. Service was pretty generic on all flights, juice offered on boarding and a glass of champagne prior to take off. Inflight service comprised an aperitif with some nibbles, a starter, choice of 2 or 3 mains and a choice of desert with the option of cheese and coffee with a digestive to round off. The last flight also had an additional course of local Ethiopian food which is offered in business on selected flights (effectively day flights out of Addis). For me this was the best food of the 4 flights - nothing was bad but the international menu was not that inspiring and presentation was also average. The crew were happy to give me a second helping of the Ethiopian menu in lieu of the main I had ordered. Subsequent rounds of drinks were limited though on the Bangkok flight both were in the early hours and we were awaken for a simple breakfast. Entertainment is limited to a decent in flight magazine, a few newspapers and other titles such as Time and Newsweek and a movie or two played on a shared screen and if desired, listened to through a poor set of headphones. Security in Addis is very tight and so extra time to check in there would be wise. Lounges varied from pleasant in Accra (but minimal food), satisfactory in Addis, plenty of food but unclear how fast the turnover was so not too appetising and a limited selection of drinks (unusually both these lounges are self service for drinks). In Bangkok the lounge was also fair - a good choice of drinks and slightly better selection of food. One advantage was the 50KG luggage allowance and in both directions my bags happily arrived safely - even if the priority tag means nothing.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  14 June 2009 : by P Keiser  (Germany)

Frankfurt -Luanda this past weekend for Business. Flight out delayed by 90 minutes as they had to wait for the aircraft to arrive from an earlier delayed flight. Usual friendly service at the airport in Frankfurt by non Ethiopian Airline staff, but onboard the food was well below par. We arrived Addis Ababa airport to find that my connecting flight had been cancelled- I had been bumped off the flight due to overbooking even in Business class. Ground staff were appalling - the levels of service and communication are abysmal especially towards other connecting passengers most whom seemed to be Africans - even business class passengers were not spared the rude retorts. I have never seen so many people receiving rude, ill-mannered service, nobody wanting to take responsibility for any thing, and no senior manager in sight. I even heard one of them say "if You dont like it you can change your Airline"! I was eventually given seating after insisting that I must be on board as I had a bording pass, and after running to the gate, with 10 minutes to spare between receiving my new boarding pass and departure time, arrived on board the aircraft to find my seat already occupied by an Ethiopian Airlines staff Member on a free flight! Spent another 15 minutes trying to get them to move out of my seat, the cabin crew then tried to tell me I was late and to go to economy class as the aircraft was full - even though I had a business class ticket and business class bording pass and seat assigned but I refused. Appalling packed-to-the-gills flight in economy, unrestrained children on mums' knees in business class! Food in Business Class was a terrible sandwich / hard roll, was told they were out of wine, and given half a can of Coca Cola when I asked for a drink! In Business class I expect the whole can but I guess they were rationing the drinks? Business class was not worth the extra $$$ - IFE was turned on only 2 hours into the flight and had a very poor selection. Tried to sleep, seats were poor and did not recline fully, 1 hour before landing crew rush to collect our headphones. I do not relish another trip with Ethiopian Airlines ever again. FA seemed to be casting angry glances at passengers who requested anything and rolled their eyes if you dared to call them.