Ethiopian Airlines Passenger Reviews and Ethiopian Airlines Customer Trip Reports

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ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  10 July 2010 by O Nikaido   (Japan)

HKG-ADD-DIR round trip. International sector between HKG and ADD with old 767s, Domestic sector between ADD and DIR with old F50 and new DHC. B767s and F50 were very cramped and old. DHC8 was new and clean. All were no IFE. B767 seats recline only few degrees, therefore long haul flight between HKG and ADD with old 767 were very uncomfortable and I could not sleep very much. Food and FAs service are acceptable. Some problem occured at my last day in Ethiopia. My flight to HKG was delayed 4hrs. Moreover flights to DAR and NBO were also delayed several hours. They were all due to mechanical or technical failaures. 3 fights delayed due to technical problem on the same day at the same airport! Many passengers were very confused because ground staff did not give us any information. I suspect their maintenance and safety which they are proud of.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  7 July 2010 by L Aveling   (USA)

Heathrow to Addis Ababa on B757. Check in desk people very hard to deal with. We were on a mission trip, but our bags were 4 pounds overweight, and my friend's bag apparently couldn't go into carry on, although he had flown with them many times before. We argued for a while, and eventually they gave in. Ancient, falling apart plane. Seats were stained, flight attendants unfriendly. Food was decent, Music channel for IFE. ADD airport terminal was chaotic, had to wait about an hour for a visa. Then flew Addis to Gambella via Jimma and Asosa. F50 broke down in Jimma, and had to wait an hour and a half for them to repair it. Some bigwig Ethiopian was sitting across from us, smoking an enormous pipe, playing on his Macbook - hilarious! Someone else had a phone call. Like the smoking, the FAs couldn't care less! Flight Gambella to ADD was uneventful. From ADD to Heathrow, newer B757, far cleaner, IFE, sort of, working. A half hour stop in Rome turned into an hour and a half!

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  24 June 2010 by Adam Simmons   (Spain)

Beware the 757s! ET operate two sorts: ones which make Ryanair look comfortable (allegedly 31" pitch but felt less) , and others which are fine for longer haul operations at 33" (I travelled FCO-ADD return). Even their 737s (ADD-MOM-JRO) are suitable for adults compared to the more cramped 757s.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  6 June 2010 by Marlene Ward   (Bahrain)

The worst airline I have travelled on. Very unorganized, was bumped off a flight while traveling with two children, simply because they were not capable of issuing a boarding pass. Many people traveling stand-by were allowed to board and my family was not. We were rerouted and almost did not get on another flight due to their incompetence again. Not a nice way to begin a holiday, very stressful.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  19 May 2010 by M Ndoro   (UK)

Staff from Heathrow rude and no concern for customer services. Arrived in Addis and the plane to Harare was delayed from 9am to 1230 and nobody knew why. The staff in Ethopia were not bothered and did not respond to anyone. On the return leg, the same delays and rude staff. Will never travel with this airline again unless its the only flight left for me to visit my family.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  26 April 2010 by Michael Scott   (UK)

London-Addis Ababa return, plus several internal flights. Chaotic check-in and boarding procedures for all flights, and a delay of several hours on the outward leg, with little in the way of information or assistance. Meals served at odd times, with a full dinner being served a couple of hours after take-off at 1am, and nothing but a cup of juice and piece of cake next morning. The seats were comfortable with reasonable legroom, and interiors of the aircraft were clean. No inflight entertainment to speak of.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  10 March 2010 by John Charlesworth   (UK)

London to Juba business class. Very much a 90's product but the big, old, comfortable soft seats resulted in an undisturbed nights sleep. Cabin very tired, food ok if nothing to yell about and IFE from the dark ages. This route avoids a lot of hassle and time wasted when you go to Juba via Nairobi. One note, the Servisair lounge on Friday night was standing room only so we returned to the main terminal.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  27 February 2010 by Hirofumi Suda   (Japan)

Entebbe - Addis - Cairo, and Addis - Dire Dawa and Lalibela - Addis. First sector a two hour flight, with overhead screen showing American comedy and couple of audio channels. Was served hot meal, service good. Two domestic sectors on F50, outdated plane but inexpensive with drinks and snacks served. There was a incident on Addis - Dire Dawa sector - just before landing in Dire Dawa the plane encountered low visibility, and as a result it had to be returned back to Addis. I was expecting the cancellation but we were put in the waiting lounge after de-planing. After two hours, the same plane departed and landed safely in Dire Dawa. Ground handling was professional, at least I was glad that the plane was not cancelled. Addis to Cairo on newer B737-800 but worn out a little. Similar inflight service to EBB-ADD sector, however crew was less personal. They were chatting during disembarkation.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  17 February 2010 by David Bajomi-Lazar   (Hungary)

LHR-ADD, ADD-FCO-LHR and four domestic flights with Ethiopian in February 2010. Flights were on time, and there was no overbooking, although most flights were full. The aircraft are not new (B757 international, F50 on domestic flights), there is no personal TV screen, service was only average, but food was actually good - flights were very good value.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  5 February 2010 by D Mekonnen   (South Africa)

Traveled with ET multiple times. Have found service to be consistent although on most instances planes took after around an hours delay. Food is good for economy with staff fairly friendly. Check in is perhaps the most inefficient, taking far to long and with no self- checkin booths for even at hub in Addis. Ground Staff especially at JNB tend to be rather unfriendly and mechanical. Plane used on ADD-JNB route is a B757-700/800 with old IFE system and little leg room in economy and aisles that are to small. Frequent Flyer awards kick in after far too many miles.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  26 January 2010 by V Riccardi   (Italy)

FCO-ZNZ via ADD and DAR, DAR-FCO via ADD. This is the worst journey in my life. FCO-ADD seat broken, staff was ok but the plane was very ancient. DAR to ADD (schedule 3.30am) was deleted at 1.00am. The company brought us in a hotel and put us on the next flight to ADD, but we lost the connection to Rome, so they left us in ADD airport on waiting list to Rome. Fortunately we arrived only with a delay of 24 hours. Also on the flight ADD-FCO my seat is broken as many other. I travelled with an infant but for the Company it wasn't important. They deal me worse than the other passenger.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  26 January 2010 by J Taylor   (UK)

We travelled to Johannesburg from London via Addis. The service was good and food was acceptable for 3-star rating of the airline, entertainment was adequate.T he return trip was more or less the same with the addition of the flight going via Rome which we were not advised about. I would grumble about the time keeping of the airline as this is really substandard. Both legs outward as well as inward were delayed - and substantially delayed. In order for me to travel this airline again in the future they have to improve their time keeping and learn to stick to flight schedules.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  9 January 2010 by D Baldwin   (UAE)

Dubai – Addis Ababa – Johannesburg. B767 was two hours late leaving Dubai. Check-in was painfully slow. Food OK and two rounds of drinks. We had a ten hour wait at Addis and promised on the website we would be offered overnight accommodation in a hotel - untrue. The hotel booking service was chaotic, to say the least, and after about one hour of waiting they told us that our tickets did not allow for a free hotel. Instead we could pay $100 for a room. We refused and spent the night on airport seats in the transit lounge. It was very cold and fortunately we managed to get two blankets from the grumpy staff. The flight to Joburg was excellent. It was on time. It was Christmas day and we had some lovely turkey, with some strong G&Ts. Return flights on time with good food and drinks.