Ethiopian Airlines

10 December MXP-ADD-JNB with 1hr stopover in Rome. Return leg on 31 December. MXP-ADD 767. Flight on- time food ok but nothing special. PTVs but didn't try them. ADD-JNB 767 similar experience but no IFE. Addis airport is ok with reasonable seating although smoking seemed to be permitted all over. Return leg JNB-ADD was 787 so different experience. Good IFE. ADD-MXP 757. Old aircraft and 1hr delay. Limited leg room. Baggage arrived ok. Generally staff were pleasant. Overall experience was good.

Flew 22 December from Bangkok to Addis Ababa Business class - plane 2 hours delayed. Entering the plane papers on the floor carpets torn the trays of both our seats were broken. A 10 hour flight and no onboard entertainment. The inside was dirty with marks all over and everything was rattling. The hostesses were very unprofessional. At Addis Ababa another delay of 5 hours. The credit card machines didn't work nor the ATM. Came back on 11 January. Same problems but no delay this time. Will never fly with Ethiopian again and will not recommend it to anyone.

From Johannesburg to Addis Ababa and then to Frankfurt. Delayed 3 hours then more and more. Very little information as if they were afraid to tell us. Only one bottle of water during the 6 hours wait in the terrible airport of Addis. The inflight experience was a joke. Slow if any service and simply not a nice trip when finally in the air! Dreamliner it may be but quite like a nightmare!

Flew LHR-ADD-LLW and had a generally better experience than reviews had led me to expect. Firstly cabin crew are excellent as friendly as BA on a good day although a bit less attentive. The first plane the 767 was as old as 767s tend to be. My IFE wasn't working but it was a night flight and I wasn't fussed. Plane was fine overall had the newer style overhead lockers. ADD was a bit basic. Bizarre duty free mostly very small shops. 3 flights went from the same gate but when they announced over the intercom it was impossible to hear and they seemed to send me to the wrong gate. I was the last person on the flight for the last leg! This was a 737. Brand new seats are more basic than Ryanair but otherwise it came with the interior pack and was pleasant enough for 3 hours. Would be getting tetchy after that though! Food was good throughout.

Flew a 737 from JNB to Addis - (5hrs). Not a pleasant experience given the size of the aircraft and duration of the flight. No inflight entertainment I might add. Addis to Guangzhou was a much larger aircraft - 777. IFE was poor. Food was again average.

FRA-ADD-LLW on 26/11 and LLW-FBM-ADD-FRA on 5/12. FRA routes now undertaken with Boeing 787 a very pleasant experience especially as load factor was

KUL-BKK in economy because it was less than 3 hours. Plane was a 767 and showing its age somewhat. Ashtrays some of which were missing leaving gaping holes in the arm rests non-working smoking and seatbelt lights and to be fair the plane didn't smell particularly nice. One of the TV's was broken and displayed a distorted safety briefing. No headphones provided. Plane had only around 50 people on. Meal was edible and staff seemed friendly to me. Served drinks 3 times on the 2 hour flight without any prompting from myself (Beer was nearly at its expiry date). I would fly Ethiopian again at a push although only as a last minute alternative to being shoehorned into an Air Asia seat.

At one time I was a gold member with Ethiopian Air and left due to the poor plane quality treatment of business class customers and staff. This was more before their Star Alliance designation and new fleet. Unfortunately it does not seem much has changed. On the 6 hour flight from Johannesburg to Addis the business class seats barely recline meal service takes most of the flight and there is no personal entertainment system which is standard on most economy flights let alone business. Lounge in Addis which should be their flagship is still overcrowded with slow internet and no priority boarding for business passengers. On the plane from Addis to Nairobi my original seat was taken when I boarded. I asked the flight attendant and simply redirected me to another seat even though I was originally seated next to my wife. Very little room for overhead luggage so the stewardess said she would take care of it. I asked her not to put my bags in the back and she agreed. I look behind and she is already halfway down the plane. I hope the Star Alliance designation will eventually force a higher standard. Until then Ethiopian remains a carrier of last resort.

NBO-ADD-BKK-HKG in business class on old 767 planes. While I am fully aware that this airline has both 777 and new 787 planes these old 767s are in very poor condition. Broken seats poor leg rest (really no leg rest unless you are very short) and very worn fabric. I travel in Africa and thought that I should start using Ethiopian as a Star Alliance member but this will be my last trip unless I see that I will be on one of the newer planes. I travel over 100K miles each year and this has to rank as my poorest experience.

ADD-GDQ-LLI-ADD on Bombardier Dash 8 one class service. All three flights were on time and full. Inedible sandwiches and the usual drinks were provided. Despite the lack of competition Ethiopian tries hard and does a good job.