Ethiopian Airlines

My family and I were flying from the US to Kenya via Addis Ababa. The layover in Addis Ababa was terrible: long lines through security; long lines waiting for our tickets to be printed crowded poor communication for travelers that were waiting for connection flights and generally poor technical service. Long story short we almost missed our flight. The aircraft was literally waiting for us to board. Our tickets had not been printed out. One of the airline ticket collector had to leave their post and quickly write out our names on sheets of ticket paper. Other than that the aircraft ride was good. Shaky worn out seats but relatively comfortable. We had been given the front-most seats closest to the exit. The best part of it all was the food! Honestly I felt that going through all that hassle and to get to eat what the kind and demure hostesses gave us was worth it. Well cooked unfrozen good filling tasty organic food!

I was on the same flight from Seychelles to Addis Ababa on 1 November. Apart from leaving us so much time at the airport (25 hours in 3 days) we only got a coupon from drinks after asking and filling an official complaint to a police officer.We were told that we would be contacted to get a compensation from our office in Belgium but after I made contact myself up to now all I got was an excuse that the person dealing with his is on holiday. Worst thing after we were already 2 days late they remove us from the hotel at 11 am to save on the room cost just to sit in the airport to look at the checkin counter who opened only 2 hours later.

Things are OK as long as things go right. As soon as something goes wrong this airline fails miserably. We were leaving Seychelle Islands when the plane had to turn back. they knew it could not be fixed but left us waiting for hours at airport before sending us to hotels. Next day we went back but the same thing happened again. We were not well informed and left in the dark most of the time in updates. 48 hours we waited in total before another plane came to get us. We were also not compensated for our wait. The flight crew tried their best and were nice but their superiors are the problem. On the flight out we went to a supervisor at Addis Ababa to tell about our problems but he was rude and uninterested. Never will I fly with them again.

14 years ago due to bad experiences I stopped travelling. After the airline joined Star Alliance I thought things would change. Food - all 4 Sectors (Lubumbashi-Addis Addis-Seychelles Seychelles-Addis Addis-Lubumbashi) had the same food (Mashed Potato Chicken Beans) for my 3yrs old daughter and dry chicken for myself. Inflight entertainment: same program runs for 1 hour on all the segments. Baggage if one see the Addis airport one can imagine how the airline would be handling the baggage. I lost my baggage on my return trip. Why Star Alliance have accepted Ethiopian Airlines is a mystery.

The way good airlines are distinguished from bad ones is how they deal with unexpected events. I missed my connection flight from Addis Ababa to Kuwait and that happens. But for them to make minimum effort to attend to passengers missing their connection flights and pay no attention to customer satisfaction is unacceptable. They offered me the most uncomfortable alternative itinerary the one that is most convenient and cheapest for them with no consideration to my inconvenience. Also had to pay from my own pocket to make the route easier. Addis Ababa airport staff are extremely rude and there is no escaping being subject to their rudeness since you have to ask around for your connection gate as there are no clear directions at the poorly facility that is their airport. I would rather pay extra for Emirates and guarantee a respectable treatment when things go wrong.

They don't have it together. Seats seem narrow compared to other airlines and pitch seemed smaller than most. Plane stopped in Rome to change crew! Who ever heard of that these days! There were no such stop on the outbound flight. This was a Boeing Dreamliner the new plane. Rome stop was not disclosed on ticket. While stopped in Rome one flight attendant told me I had to unbuckle my seat belt! The flight attendants did serve lots of food. We flew with Ethiopian from Washington DC to Kilimanjaro Tanzania Africa. It was a long flight and physically uncomfortable. The flight from Kilimanjaro to Addis was on a Boeing 767 which was way more comfortable and helped me verify the comparison. The pilots and/or PA system made English announcements that were unintelligible.

TLV-ADD-LOS. B737-800. TLV-ADD 1am departure. You would think they would be in a rush to serve the food and let everyone sleep. Not so. Lights turned on after takeoff for a lengthy 2 hours to serve dinner to a half full flight. Only 2 FA's in Y class. Bathrooms in the back not stocked. Constant lines I can't imagine when it's full. Only 2 toilets for a whole cabin. FA's very nice and gentle. Very good selection of drinks and very generous. Food tasty. ADD-LOS on ancient B767-300. Gate was changed twice and hundreds of people were running from gate to gate in the mad rush that ADD airport is early in the morning. Last minute aircraft change caused chaos with seat changes and passengers were still standing looking for open seats when the plane was already taxiing. Good food attentive gentle service again generous bar service. After touch down in Lagos passengers were getting up opening overhead bins while plane was still taxiing. Would not listen to FA requests to remain seated.

Outgoing flight from D.C. to Addis Ababa cancelled without notice. Flights were full each way. The Dreamliner returning flight was less comfortable in seat quality. The baggage service to and from was very slow.

NBO-ADD-NBO onboard Boeing 737-800. New aircraft(s) and both flights almost full. They allocated first windows and aisles seats and then fill up the middle seats for those checking in late. Service FAs and catering generally good. First leg three food options. Various juices Carlsberg beer and red and white wine on mini- bottles offered. Both flights delayed almost 1 hour at departures and at arrivals only 30 minutes (as flight-time is over budgeted likely in an attempt to disguise delays). No individual flight entertainment and earphones only provided on the outbound leg. Homebound only offered chicken as hot meal no other option. Gates crowded and calls for boarding by far too early at both departures causing many pax were trapped in narrow gate area 1-1½ hour prior to departure. Few were aware they could leave the gate area once “boarded”. However in Addis that would imply passing security once more and quite some additional walking.

Niamey-Abuja-Addis-Nairobi. First leg on ASky code share with ET. Refused check-in at Niamey staff claimed I had no booking. I had a printout and had checked online the previous day. Discussions were going back and forth but staff insisted I was not booked. I refused to leave the counter until they showed me the full passenger manifest my name was number 4 on the list. Suddenly there was no problem checking in. Flight with ASky good on a fresh Q400 Next Generation. Small breakfast (various breads) served. Transfer in Abuja Nigeria another hustle transit passengers were taken to the terminal and after 30 minutes a staff member came and asked for our passports and bookings and he would come back with boarding passes for next flight to Addis. He came back and the requested aisle seats were given. Flight on a B777-200 was OK AVOD worked fine and cabin staff friendly. Choice of food was down to beef stew only and it was not to my taste. Addis Ababa - standard chaos in the remote gate upon boarding. PA system at this airport barely audible. Bad signage at the gates staff not friendly. Addis-Nairobi on 737-700 hot meal served on this short flight at 23.15. My bag did not arrive. I got an SMS on Sunday it was to be collected at the airport. ET may be offering fair prices it seems but somewhere down the line they are cutting the service short and you end up sacrificing half a day collecting the bag they lost. Transit time in all locations were more than 2 hours.