Ethiopian Airlines

Traveled From Washington D.C. to Addis Ababa Ethiopia on May 2 2013. This was my second flight with this airline. I also used this airline in February 2013. The staff food and entertainment were all excellent. I initially booked economy class for each flight but upgraded to first class because it was very affordable and really worth it. The flight it self was smooth.

Flew LHR-ADD-ZNZ and return (via DAR). Unable to check in online for every flight as they changed the type of plane for every sector at the last minute. Flight to ADD was fine but we sat near the back of the plane be warned that the crew use the overhead bins for storage of snacks/breakfast items. Towards the end of the flight they closed one of the 4 toilets and had to use that as storage due to the lack of space on the 757. ADD-ZNZ (via DAR) departs from T1 where there is absolutely nothing to do or see. ET do not hand out arrival cards so they have to be filled out once at the airport. By far the worst flight was ZNZ-ADD where they brought out a smaller plane (737-700 instead of 800) which meant the plane was felt extremely cramped as there was a 100% load. Finally ADD-LHR was fine apart from they insisted on serving a full meal at 03.30am and then a small muffin and juice just before landing. From what I saw 60% of the flight didn't take the main meal and slept through. In my opinion it would have been better for them to serve the muffin at 3 am and the main meal for breakfast when everyone was awake.

I took a flight from Frankfurt to Kilimanjaro Airport via Addis Ababa. Flight departed at 9.35pm and dinner was served at 00.30 am so one had to decide either to sleep and be hungry or the other way round. In Addis Ababa the connecting flight did not exist anymore and nobody knew anything about it. Half an hour before departure we were informed that we have to take the flight to Dar Es Salaam which stops at Kilimanjaro Airport. On this second flight carry-on luggage which was fine on the first flight had to be checked in.

Flew Lusaka-Addis Dubai on December 12th and return on Jan 4th. While going was expecting a Dreamliner on both sectors but was disappointed they were 77L's. Was impressed though with the 77L's new aircraft lots of leg room had PTV's but feel that there should be more variety in the in-flight entertainment. Nevertheless it is a big improvement in in-flight entertainment from their 763's/752's. Dreamliner on return leg was excellent. Staff service and meals have always been excellent. Been flying this route for about 7 years and the airline just keeps getting better and better.

Flight from London to Zanzibar with stops in Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam. There was no inflight entertainment the ground staff were unhelpful and the air hostesses seemed to resent serving passengers. Flights were good in terms that they were smooth good landings and take offs. We had a nightmare situation when leaving Zanzibar- they told us our ticket home had been cancelled and we were unable to get on our flight home. We still have no idea as to how this happened luckily we were able to get on the next flight 12 hours later.

Frankfurt to Douala. Flight fair from Frankfurt to Addis but from Addis to Douala it became a nightmare. We made a stopover for more than 1 hour 15 mins in Malabo which was not stated in the flight itinerary. The crew were rude when I asked why they mention in the itinerary that we were going to have a stopover. The plane was over crowded people kept boarding and boarding until a few didn't have a seat. The seats were very uncomfortable with no air conditioning. I will never fly this airline again.

Bangkok via Addis Ababa to Harare and back in business class (if this can be called a business class). Out of the 4 legs 3 were flown on old aircraft's with outdated business class seats (no entertainment malfunctioning antiquated seats reasonable food and friendly service. Return flight from Harare to Addis was late whereby this seems to be a constant feature. All in all considering that the prices are low a reasonable alternative but not to be repeated too often.

LHR-ADD-HRE and HRE-ADD-LHR. I was pleasantly surprised with the efficiency of operations of this airline. All flights left on time or within 10 minutes of it. Comfortable flights but food from ADD seems to include very spicy main meals. Other legs had very good food. One criticism - the ADD-LHR flight only leaves ADD at 01.35 and they then insist on serving dinner (at 03.00). We then got a muffin and tea before landing at LHR. It would have been better to let us go straight to sleep after take off and then give us something more substantial for breakfast. No individual IFE screen on that early morning flight but it did not bother us.

Outbound: YYZ-JNB via ADD. Inbound: JNB-YYZ via ADD and FCO. On YYZ-ADD flight the flight was operated by a brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Window seat was nice. Flight delayed 45 mins. Flight attendants were great food average PTVs were average size and decent. Overall this flight arrived on-time. Addis Ababa airport was nice and clean but not much service. On ADD-JNB flight it was operating with an old Boeing 767. Cabin was dirty tray tables were broken seats were torn apart and PTVs weren't functional. Flight was delayed 30 mins. Cabin crew were nice and food was average again. Flight arrived late. On the return flight on JNB-ADD flight was operated by a Boeing 757. Cabin was fairly clean no PTVs no leg room and food was ok. Surprisingly we were only 5 mins behind schedule. Cabin crew were unresponsive and unwilling to bring extra water. At Addis Ababa airport it was the same experience I had when headed to Johannesburg. On the flight ADD-YYZ via FCO the plane was a Boeing 777. PTVs were the same as the Boeing 787 food seemed better than the YYZ-ADD flight delayed at both ADD and FCO for about 15-30min. Cabin crew was nice but seemed to be purposely ignoring the passenger next to me. Overall my experience with Ethiopian Airlines was mixed up but great. Sure hope to fly them again but not on those Boeing 757 or 767 aircraft.

Montreal to Lomé via Toronto and Addis Ababa. Besides the fact that Ethiopian Airlines flights always leave late I have nothing much to complain about. Took the B787 and the B777 for the long trips food is okay and flight attendants nice. Would be nice if people could use credit cards at restaurants at Bole airport. But that's not up to Ethiopian Airlines.