ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  8 November 2009 by Y Nomel   (Canada)

Domestic and international flights were horrific. London to Addis in economy : the plane was ancient, seats did not recline, no entertainment. Domestic flights worse, staff was downright abusive to passengers. On a flight from Dire dawa to Addis passengers were kept in an extremely hot check in area for over 10 hours with no food or water. Staff continually lied and intentionally misinformed us about our flight status. The flight was eventually cancelled at 1am, when Ethiopian Airlines asked us to leave the airport and had not arranged transportation hotels or food. It was the worst travel experience I have ever had.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  26 October 2009 by H Bush   (UK)

An engine of the very old B757 caught fire at full speed while taking off from Addis to London on 23 October. The flight had been delayed for 90 minutes while they did something to the same engine. Ethiopian staff took is to a restaurant in the terminal and gave us some food and water. I was suffering from panic attacks as a result of the incident and asked to be taken to hospital. An ambulance was promised but never arrived. After waiting for three hours I decided not to travel with them and made arrangements over the phone to travel with Emirates. I told Ethiopian staff about my decision and I was told that in that case they could not do anything for me. They caused my problem and could not help me at all. Emirates staff help me a lot and I was seen by a doctor in Dubai. Ethiopian Airlines should be classified as less than one star airline.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  14 October 2009 by J Fernandez   (Bahrain)

Kuwait to N'Djamena (Chad) on business with stopovers in Dubai and Addis. After reaching Dubai, is when I was told that the flight to Addis was a new aircraft being sent for some livery work and had no business class section. The whole plane was economy. EA ground staff told me that if I wanted Business, I would have to wait 1 day for the next flight. Not wanting to miss my meetings, I took the flight in economy, with the assurance of EA staff that the connecting flight from Addis to N'Djamena would be business. On reaching Addis, I was informed by ground staff that the next leg was also economy! After waiting in the the airport for 3 hours past the departure time with absolutely no information from anybody in Ethiopian, they tell us that the flight to N'Djamena has been cancelled! After another hour, and passengers getting agitated, they decide to put us up in hotels. After 24 hours I get the next flight to N'Djamena - on the class I paid for, thankfully. A very bad experience that I would not want to repeat.

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES customer review :  13 October 2009 by John Colly   (UK)

We've just completed an epic 30-hour journey, from Zanzibar to Heathrow, made considerably longer thanks to this substandard airline. The food is bizarre - lasagna cakes, chewy chicken, dry fish. Forget any sleep when meal time arrives - dinner trays are flipped down in sleeping passenger faces, jolting them awake. Staff are aloof and rude. Ask a question you're met with and annoyed 'what' or 'I don't know'. When our flight was delayed in Addis Ababa, staff didn't have a clue what was going on, and no explanation was given for the delay. When we touched down in Rome, an hour-long refuelling turned into 2.5 hours, again without explanation. The planes are dated - at least 10 years old typically. Film choice okay - provided you could get your headphones to work. It is among the cheapest of the crop - but if you've a connecting flight, don't like delays or rude staff, care about legroom and a reasonable meal, look elsewhere.

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.