Ethiopian Airlines

4 different Ethiopian Airlines flights during the last month. First from Toronto to Addis Ababa was scheduled to leave 1 hour before the time stated on my e-ticket. Fortunately we were there on time. Then we sat on the tarmac for an hour while they fixed something in the cockpit. Once in the air we discovered that we were headed for Rome despite the fact that our e-ticket stated it was a direct non-stop flight from Toronto to Addis. Next flight was from Addis to Nairobi and it too left 45 minutes late but no reason was given for this. On the way home we had a non-stop direct flight from Kilimanjaro to Addis. Arrived at the airport to learn that the flight was going via Zanzibar! Assured we would still make our connection in Addis to another ET flight to Washington and that they would hold the flight for us if we were late. Flight left Kilimanjaro 50 minutes late yet we were still assured that they would hold the plane in Addis for all the people on the flight who wanted to make the same connection. Arrived in Addis to find that they had not held the plane for us! We stood in a crush of people at the ET counter for an hour and a half. They rescheduled our flights for 24 hours later and sent us to a hotel for the night. It was 3am by the time we got there. Never again.

FRA-ADD in business. Plane was full business class seats are of the old style and not lie flat which is fine. Service leaves a lot to be desired told the stewardess upon boarding I wished to sleep but got woken up to be asked for dinner. Amharic safety video was playing (I don't speak Amharic) so I was reading my book waiting for the English version only to be told by the stewardess to watch it. Look for alternative airlines if you have a choice.

MBO-ADD-BOM. Mombasa flight was 757 not very good seats no PTVs food was horrible on both flights. ADD-BOM was the worst. Delayed 2 hours and we missed our connecting flight in BOM. I will never fly this plane again.

ADD-JNB onboard the 787 Dreamliner. Flight delayed 3 hours due to delayed incoming flight from Toronto - communicated well on the airport screens and also whilst onboard. Boarding was an utter shambles - passengers queuing for an hour to get a sticker on their boarding pass - and no fast lane evident for C pax. Once onboard really enjoyed the usual excellent service from the crew who allowed me to sleep for the first few hours and served food on demand - although a comment from the senior stewardess that 'she will not get any rest' was not appreciated - and went against the attitude from all her colleagues who could not have done more to assist. Ethiopian food onboard was lovely - and the Norwegian salmon starter was good too as was white whine and fruit and cheese offerings. Entertainment very poor with poor selection across the board - and a lot of passengers due to the 3 hour delay in Addis had missed connecting flights with Star Alliance partner (South African Airways) and no-one was there to assist in re-booking on missed flight connections - which led to a near riot at the terminal in Johannesburg once we had collected luggage and cleared immigration.

LHR-ADD in packed overbooked brand new Dreamliner 787. As a frequent flyer on ET really pleased to see the impact of brand new planes on the seat comfort cabin baggage space lighting control and finally PVT. Flight left Heathrow on-time and early arrival into Addis. Food options limited to a poor fish dish - and passengers not happy to be woken up at 5 a.m. for a 'continental breakfast' which was one small cold croissant. No white wine served for economy class passengers. Despite finally having PVT in their new planes it was hugely disappointing to see movie selection being outdated limited and very poor compared to similar airlines offering this service. Staff couldn't do more for passengers - and dealt with some difficult passengers very well.

Typically the airline never fails to disappoint. I Flew KUL-BKK. Our flight was rescheduled from a 23.25 flight to 01.25 for no reason whatsoever. We had pre allocated EMEX seats however on boarding our boarding passes flashed as "not correct seats" and once on board we found that we were actually 2 rows behind the exit! As usual the crew insisted on serving a meal at 2am even though everyone just wanted to sleep for the short flight. On arrival we had to wait at immigration for 15 minutes as no arrival cards were provided on board and there were none left at the airport on arrival.

It really depends on luck. HKG-BKK-ADD on a dilapidated 767 ET-AME in Y with body repainted in total white without logo and livery. No PTV. Things broken here and there. Delayed for a whole 3 hrs on departure. FA call bell kept beeping continuously so pax got so annoyed and the FA did not know/had no way to stop it and eventually packed some tissue paper with tape over the speaker! FA's did not answer any calls at all! This is definite the worst flight in my life! Subsequent legs ADD-JRO DAR-ADD ADD-HKG were on more modernized 767 and 737 planes. ADD-HKG even got PTV - what a surprise! FA's were more friendly and helpful as well.

FRA via ADD to Kilimanjaro and back from Dar Es Salaam with Ethiopian in business class (unfortunately fully paid by us not an upgrade or anything). 3 of 4 legs were flown on Airbus 767-300 of very senior age correspondingly they had no or inadequate inflight entertainment systems. Service was okay and reasonably attentive on two legs (ADD-KIL and ADD-FRA). On FRA-ADD it was inattentive and sloppy we were served our food with plastic cutlery food was indelible. Worst of all: DAR-ADD serviced by a Bombardier turboprop instead a small Boeing flight took nearly 4 hours instead of 2 hrs 40 mins no inflight entertainment our allocated seats were occupied until stop- over in Zanzibar virtually no service (one glass of water and we are still talking business class) no leg room nothing. Pillows/blankets: we had the choice to pick up the leftovers from the previous flight from the floor have none at all. Two flight attendants of which one sitting down in an empty seat and sleeping.

Have flown twice the same route within a year. JNB - Addis - Bangkok - Hong Kong and return. Service in Johannesburg very good with very nice shongololo lounge. Flight on a B737 nothing spectacular service good departure with a small delay. Addis to BKK and HKG were both disappointing flights. First time I flew this route we boarded an even older B757 which needed a refuelling stop in Djibouti. Second time I flew the same route it was on one of the old B767's. On both these flights business class seats were from the old style seats not even used by European airlines in economy+. Service was done with a smile but food quality and presentation extremely poor. Lounge in Addis very poor and overcrowded lounge in HKG is a real shame. You pay for what you receive. I do not think I will be flying them any time soon for the same rate as they charge I can receive much better service with many other airlines.

Frankfurt (FRA) to Zanzibar (ZNZ) with Addis Ababa stopover. Unfortunately I could not board my initial flight as the flight was overbooked and the local airline staff very unqualified. It came as a big surprise to me that the flight was overbooked as we had verified our seating numbers on our tickets just days before the flight. As such I will not travel again with ET as this was a very disappointing experience.