Ethiopian Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Frankfurt to Addis Abba on 05th July 2020. I had originally booked an economy class seat, but decided to upgrade to Cloud Nine as I wanted to relax and enjoy my flight in comfort.The check-in gentleman in Frankfurt was friendly and processed my $580 upgrade fee. No mention was made about any change in onboard service. I was directed to the Senator lounge at Frankfurt airport where I was horrified to find every single business class passenger flying that evening, attempting to squeeze in the few seats available. If the other lounges in Frankfurt are closed due to Covid-19, then having masses of people cramming into one lounge is a major mistake, as it puts a large number of people crammed together into one small lounge. Rather have several lounges open with a limited restriction on number of guests allowed at a time. Boarding went smoothly. The seat on the 787 was as expected. Comfortable, but unfortunately that is where the pleasant onboard experience ended. I realise that there may be concerns of the Covid-19 virus and how to handle on-board service, but I had just flown on a Lufthansa connecting flight from Lisbon, and i was given the full Business class experience as normal. Firstly, no hot towel served. No menu. Inflight entertainment not working. Seat charging ports not working. Economy class tray and food served in business class. Shocking quality of food for business class. Breakfast was cold and severed in a economy class tray and I found out it was the same meal offered in economy class! Toilet behind seat 5L, not flushing. Crew did not wear gloves at any time during service. How is Ethiopian Airlines charging me a full upgrade cost when the product I am receiving is not business class in any way. Only the seat was business class. Nothing was mentioned about the lack of service onboard this flight. They offer business class as a whole experience and product. I tried to call their global customer service number in Addis Abba and waited for over 6 hours on hold before the calls being cut off! They said they i was "Next in line" to be answered for over two hours! each time. It is wrong to use the Covid-19 threat to still charge business class fares but bring down the level and items served in this class. If you want to cut services offered then you should cut the cost of the business class fares to reflect this.

✅ Trip Verified | Ethiopian is an all-around great airline that definitely deserves its status as Africa's leading carrier. For a two hour flight, we even got a full meal, something you'd never get in economy class in the US. They also had a nice cabin with comfortable seats, and there was a new stream to your device entertainment system. However, it's a shame that such a great airline is saddled by such a terrible hub airport like Addis Ababa, which is currently undergoing a renovation that doesn't seem to have changed the problem of congestion and lack of jetbridges. Luckily, this flight departed in the afternoon, as Addis Ababa gets even crazier during the late night hub hours. Boarding was chaotic, which is the norm on Ethiopian, but the arrivals process at NBO was actually decent, as Ethiopian uses Kenya Airways' much more modern wing of the airport for arrivals. Anyways, great flight, but mediocre ground experience.

✅ Trip Verified | I believe that Ethiopian airline has been very unfair with its refund policy during this corona virus pandemic period. It has advertised that a "full refund" will be issued to customers whose intended flight fell between March and June 2020. However, this refund will be in the form of a voucher. This means that the airline has tied up my travel funds and I have no other option but to travel with them when the airports open. The airline has stated that if I want a cash refund, a $300 penalty apply. The airline has refused to issue a cash refund without penalty as it was the airline that went ahead to cancel my flight. They have refused to offset the value of the existing ticket against repatriation costs and I have been backed into a corner where I have no other option but to wait till the airports open (hopefully my visa does not expire before then) and travel with Ethiopian air.

✅ Trip Verified | I had booked a ticket with Ethiopian Airlines, which got cancelled due to the extension of Covid-19 Flight Restrictions. I contacted the Airline customer support via email and was advised there would be a USD300 fee applied to the refund of the ticket. This is despite the "Free" refund condition advertised on the airline website during the online ticket booking process.

Not Verified | Missing Suitcase - Positive Result. My Wife was in SA when the Lockdown was announced - Virgin summarily cancelled her return flight (am STILL waiting to hear from them re getting back here, even though she has been home for a month) To get back she bought a ticket with Ethiopian Airlines, via Addis Ababa. The flight was great, good service, excellent planes and staff and a pleasant flight all round. Down side was that her suitcase didn't arrive - it wasn't put onto the plane in Johannesburg. Having notified the powers that be at Heathrow - with NO success, I wrote to Ethiopian Airlines directly. Immediate response from the highest level and a string of follow up emails over the next couple of weeks, she received a call yesterday to say that her case was waiting at Heathrow. We went down to collect it immediately - as per normal at Johannesburg International, her wrapped suitcase had been opened, the stitching slit and her case rifled through. Fortunately the low life that got in there didn't find anything as he didn't unzip the top compartment. I have the utmost respect for the way in which Ethiopian Airlines assisted us with the return of the case. Brilliant service. In future we will certainly choose them above any of the larger carriers who don't understand the meaning of customer service.

✅ Trip Verified | Beijing to Addis Ababa. I booked a flight through trip.com. I was informed by trip.com that my flight was cancelled due to recent flight restrictions. I phoned trip.com and received the expected answer that my full ticket will be refunded to me, due to the airline cancelling the flight. . I received a email that a third of my ticket price will be taken for cancelation fees and I need to respond within 3 hours to accept this. Neither trip.com nor Ethiopian airlines provided me with a reason therefore. Don't bother using trip.com, book directly through the airline and save on the fees you will have to pay trip.com.

✅ Trip Verified | Athens to Entebbe via Addis Ababa booked for April. They canceled the flight, and is refusing to refund. They offered an open ticket which does not meet our needs. They claimed that we are not eligible because of the non-Refundable status of the ticket.

✅ Trip Verified | My son and his friend booked tickets to fly from Johannesburg to Chengdu (connecting on to Shenzhen) via Addis Ababa. The departure date was 02 April 2020. South Africa enforced a lockdown from 27 March to 16 April. China enforced a lockdown on 28 March 2020. Despite several attempts to contact the airline locally, we were unsuccessful. Finally after a long, expensive wait, we contacted the call centre in Ethiopia. We were informed that the flight had not been cancelled but as the airline was not allowed to land, there would be no flight. The airline was offering a travel voucher and cancellation with a refund was available with a cancellation fee of USD150 and a no show fee of USD50 with no refund. The difference in airfare would be payable when the voucher was to be used, if applicable. On 27 March we received email notifications for each leg of the flight that the flights were cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. While it is understandable that the airline would not want to lose money, Ethiopian Airlines are using coercion. Customers have no control over changed flight prices at the point of flying after COVID-19. So if one opted for the travel voucher, a customer may have to pay more for a ticket. Should one opt to cancel, the customer would have to pay USD150. The fair position would be to either refund the customer with no penalties, as it is not the customer’s fault, or to offer the voucher with an assurance that there will be no price difference to be paid later.

✅ Trip Verified | Djibouti to Addis Ababa. Every thing was alright but only one type food was provided at the economy class. Considering the fasting months in Ethiopia orthodox Christian and vegan customers preferences only chicken sandwich is not enough option and this can’t reflect the flagship airline standards. I hope the management team will consider this. I wish you all best in this critical time of covid19 .

✅ Trip Verified | I was very disappointed with the ground service. The staff didn't have the correct information about my flight and that of my children. They marked our tickets as used and confirmed that our flight had reached the destinations when in fact we were all held back. I was in transit in Addis and the kids were held back in Bujumbura due to bad weather conditions instead of landing in Kigali as planned, I understand a flight not reaching its destination but I don't understand why the company chose to withhold this information especially from a parent or give me the wrong info altogether, I cannot tell you how much panic this misinformation caused. The ground staff acted like we the clients were bothering them every time we asked for information. I asked a lady if she could make a simple phone call to their office in Kigali or to immigration to at least confirm if their passports had been recorded in the system and I wasn't granted even that. Do better.