Ethiopian Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Johannesburg to Hong Kong via Addis Ababa. Despite the aircraft being fairly new, they are in well worn condition. The A350-900 from JNB to Addis was only 20 months old, however the seats were torn in some places and seats and carpets dirty. Ground crew not very knowledgeable, cabin crew not great, uniforms tatty, name tags dirty etc. Addis airport is a dog show. Comparable to a Lusaka bus station. Food on both flights was at best low quality. Movies are old and not much to choose from. Only worth taking an Ethiopian Airlines flight if it is very cheap. But be prepared to get what you paid for. Will not fly again, even if its cheap.

Not Verified | Kigali to Tokyo via Addis Ababa. Terrible airline. I am often forced to fly Ethiopian as I work throughout Africa and there aren't choices for carriers. If anything (anything at all) goes slightly awry relative the original plans (flight delays, bad weather, ticket date change, upgrading), they are absolutely incompetent and unable to to provide any customer service. I've been re-booked on a different flight without notice, only finding out at the airport, and told to go back home. On other occasions, I've had to change the ticket, but had tremendous issues reaching their so-called "global call centre", which, despite being '24 hours' often seems to have no one working. Rescheduled/delayed flights often lead to missed connections on other Ethiopian planes, but those later flight-legs are not fixed by the airline, so you're left with a lot of trouble-shooting that you must attempt to do on your own via the '24 hour' call centre. I fly frequently (2-3x per month) for work, but aim to avoid Ethiopian whenever I can, as I know that they will mess something up every third time, and at that stage, it becomes a personal nightmare to fix. Oh, and not to mention that they often lose your luggage, even on business class, and won't deliver the lost luggage to your home once found. Finally, what worries me most is the inability to think critically to fix/solve problems. People within the company don't appear to have the latitude to fix issues that arise (if things don't go exactly as per protocol, then everything breaks down and no one takes initiative). It doesn't make me feel particularly safe when an airline's team members, including senior managers, don't appear to have the latitude to problem-solve in the case of unexpected circumstances.

✅ Trip Verified | My husband booked an online ticket for me and our two daughters to travel from Libreville to Cape Town via Addis Ababa on the 3/11/2019. I was the first to come for the check-in at the Libreville international airport, and despite producing the ticket, the airline staff said they were unable to find my booking, only that of the children, like how could they lose the main traveler and keep the children? This resulted in a serious waste of time, as they dragged me from office to office, to have this fixed; a problem caused entirely by them! After rebooking my ticket, they then issued me boarding passes for Yaounde, which was not my final destination since I am going to Cape Town, this resulted in another 40-minutes wasted! Then they realise that they did not do the layover booking for us, and they once again had to do it over again. How bad can it get for a single mom travelling with two children? This situation is totally unacceptable for an airline that claims to be the best in Africa! I would never use this airline for travelling ever again! Travelling should be a pleasing experience, but it is never one with these guys.

✅ Trip Verified | Maputo to Ouagadougou via Addis Ababa. The flight left nearly on time. The aircraft was clean. The cabin staff were nice but too few of them. They took a very long time to serve the in-flight meal. They only spoke a basic level of English. There is no individual entertainment system, only some tiny shared screens showing kids films. Some bathrooms were out of order, only one was working meaning a massive, permanent queue for the bathroom. Our flight was only 5hrs so bearable but I would not want to do a longer flight with this airline, or to travel with young children.

✅ Trip Verified | Abuja to Johannesburg via Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Airline is the worst airline in my life to use. Flight Attendants are extremely rude and ignore passengers. My experience was they behaved like they were forced to work. Customer service, especially for their local Abuja and Johannesburg offices, do not respond to phone call or emails. Been trying to change a ticket for days no response. Ethiopian website is very terribly user-unfriendly. I don't know if for the purpose of extorting passengers decided to block their manage bookings to prevent passengers from changing the bookings so you rely on their incompetent and ineffective local staff who won't respond to communication. I strongly recommend not to fly with them as their service reeks of incompetence. Kenyan Airways is much better in my opinion and Rwandan Airways is gaining traction.

✅ Trip Verified | The airline did not tag my walker/wheelchair even though I repeatedly approached them after sitting in the airplane alerting them that they did not tag my bag which was at the entrance of the airplane in my departure point in Kenya. After noticing that the walker did not arrive to my holiday destination (Sudan), I alerted ET staff in the airport who kept telling me to come back tomorrow which I did over 5 days and receiving a lost luggage report to follow up. It has now been 10 days and I have left my intended holiday destination and returned home to Canada, I called the airline and they told me that I should follow up with the airline in Sudan. I was told their local office is the office in Sudan who will determine whether I will get compensated. Not only did I have to suffer for two weeks without this critical health and safety equipment, the airline completely ruined my vacation and due to their incompetence are asking me to call their Sudan office to "figure it out". This was my first and last time to fly with Ethiopian Airlines - not only is there no mechanism to track your luggage but also the onus is on you to find it.

✅ Trip Verified | Chicago to Mahe via Addis Ababa. Sitting at Chicago airport next to the gate for ET 511. So far the flight is delayed by at least 4 hours (who knows how much longer it's going to be) and we were given zero updates. At this point it is impossible for us to make our connection and no other Ethiopian flights go there on that day. Asked both gate agents and Ethiopian call center to put us on a different flight and they will not. So far everyone in this company we've dealt with has been unhelpful or outright rude. Terrible company, will never fly Ethiopian airlines again.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew from Bangkok to Addis. They're using 787s on this route now and it's the worst configuration on any 787 I've flown. The economy class seats were old seats that were uncomfortable/cramped with screens from the 1990s. The food was inedible. The inflight personnel were unfriendly verging on rude. We were deplaned by bus in Addis. The capper of any trip on Ethiopian is the transit in their brand new airport, which is an appalling shambles. The gold lounge is a joke - it was so crowded, there weren't enough seats for people. The bathrooms inside the lounge (and outside) were small and dirty. It looks like the whole airport doesn't have enough bathrooms. I fly a lot, so I'm a Star Alliance Gold traveller, usually in economy. Ethiopian Airlines is by far the worst airline for star alliance gold travellers to fly. Other airlines have much better perks, lounges, amenities for SA gold passengers. But it's cheap.

✅ Trip Verified | My first time with Ethiopian Airlines after years with Qatar Airways: crew really nice, friendly, on both flights. Cabin maintenance: cabin, toilet cleanliness needs attention, broken seat cover on Seat 3C flight: ET 0735, MXP-ADD, being a night flight seats were not lie flat thus not comfortable, bit disappointing. Flight ADD-CPT, ET0847 day flight, had lie flat seats. Clean cabin. ADD transfer: not professionally organized, lot of space for improvement. Food: good choice, perhaps too many spiced dishes for international travelers. Ethiopian needs better standards in cabin maintenance, clean toilets. good value for money, perhaps the quickest, cheapest way between Italy and South Africa. Will again fly with them soon.

✅ Trip Verified | Bangkok to Seychelles via Addis Ababa. Mediocre airlines. Food mand staff mediocre. Poor customer service. My luggage was left on the tarmac in the rain and my bag and contents were soaked and the bag was scuffed black when I picked it up at baggage claim. There was no one around to check the luggage tags. Tried to file a Complaint and they said I needed to complain at the baggage claim. I tried to respond that there was no one there and my message was returned undeliverable. No customer service. I would not travel Ethiopian Airlines again.