Review of Ethiopian Airlines flight Toronto Addis Ababa in Business

Airline Ethiopian Airlines
Flight ET503
Class Business
Seat 3K
Aircraft Boeing 787-8
Flight time 13:35
Take-off 10 Nov 15, 11:22
Arrival at 11 Nov 15, 08:57
ET   #42 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 112 reviews
hometoyyz
By 14607
Published on 12th November 2015
Hello, dear reader, and welcome to the beginning of a little adventure I’m calling “Around the World in 80 Hours.” This flight report is the first in a series that will take your humble flight-reporter around the world over the course of roughly 3.5 days.

Stage 1: 11/10/2015 - ET503 YYZ-ADD - You are here.

To create something of a sense of suspense, we’ll just keep the rest of the route quiet for now.

photo map

Why would I put myself through something like this, you ask? Because like many of you, I enjoy flying. I enjoy trying new premium cabins from carriers I haven’t tried before. Also, I’ve got a rather large pile of Aeroplan miles accumulated over the last few years, and upcoming changes in our family mean that longhaul family travel is unlikely for the next few years. So I’m burning through as many miles as I can in the next six months or so. I’m going to Hong Kong, with briefs stops in Beijing and Singapore, with my mom, who’s never been farther from home than the UK, in January. And next month, I’m taking a quick jaunt over to Europe to try a couple of European Star Alliance carriers I’ve yet to try. And I’m doing this adventure.

This one started simply enough. I really want to try to fly as many of the Star Alliance 787s as possible, having “completed” my set of Star Alliance A380s earlier this year with Asiana. So I started our looking at simple YYZ-ADD turn availability on Ethiopian’s “Cloud 9” Business Class. This date turned up, and worked well for me. But return options didn’t look so good. So I had to get creative.

Using the multi-city trip tool on Aeroplan, I tried to figure out a set that would likely work to extend this trip beyond Addis Ababa. And soon enough, I found it. One of the routing options I found checked a few additional checklist boxes I’d like to check in terms of airline experiences, so I pulled the trigger.

While I’ve long wanted to try Ethiopian “just because.” One of the first airlines to fly the 787, and one of the more “exotic” Star Alliance members. The fact that they happen to offer very long-haul 787 service from my home airport really puts it over the top. But my interest has been somewhat tempered by the fact that ET, for some reason, decided to go with angle flat seats on its 787 fleet. That’s kept me from rushing to try this very long flight with ET. But ultimately, I decided, it was time to try it out. Besides, I’ve been on some angle-flat products that aren’t too bad. Maybe this will be one.

However, I was given a little treat the night before my departure, when I checked in on Flightradar24 for the ADD-DUB-YYZ flight that would bring my ride over to Canada, and found the flight was being operated by ET-ASH, one of three brand spanking new 787s delivered to Ethiopian this year, and therefore, one of three brand spanking new 787s to feature Ethiopian’s new 180-degree flat seats in Business. This is a major win for what will be the longest leg of this journey, and I’m quite excited to try this new product.

So with the background set, here we are, bright and early on a Tuesday morning, at Toronto Pearson.

photo IMG_3806photo IMG_3808

The signs point me towards aisle six for Ethiopian, but when I get there, everything’s taken up by Air Canada. While other less-than-frequent Pearson tenants like Avianca and LOT have permanent locations in T1, my guess is that Ethiopian, with its thrice-weekly departures to Addis, does not warrant dedicated locations. Since it’s still more than four hours pre-flight, I presume that a bank of a few counters near the front of row 6 will eventually be turned over to ET, so I go for a little wander. Here’s a bizarre piece of “art” in the area between the intakes for domestic and international gates at T1, that features little plastic semi-formed cubes floating in a big tank of water. It’s eye-catching and decorative, but I don’t get it.

photo IMG_3807

I come back to the counters about a half hour later, and sure enough, things are looking much more promising.

photo IMG_3810

The crew is still setting up their counters, but after a few minutes wait, the check-in agent waves me over. With a smile she asks for my passport, and my final destination. When I tell her, here eyes just about bug out of her head. “That’s an awful long way around,” she says, and asks why I didn’t book via the Pacific on Air Canada. I say I’m on an adventure, trying some new experiences, and that you can do some very interesting things with Aeroplan if you try. We small talk a little bit while she gets the system to comply, and promptly spits out my first two boarding passes. With a final reminder that any flight over seven hours is too long for her, she bids me a good flight. I presume she’s never taken her employer’s much-longer-than-seven-hours flight, in that case.

The priority security line is fairly short, and soon I’m airside, ready for the long walk down to the “hammerhead” of Terminal 1, where the international gates are located. Fortunately, the accelerated walkway is working today, so it’s a very quick walk indeed.

photo IMG_3811photo IMG_3812photo IMG_3813

I decide to forego the lounge for a few minutes. According to Flightradar24, ET-ASH has just landed at Pearson, and should be heading to Gate 171 within minutes. I might as well check out her arrival. Sure enough, the plane shows up just a couple of minutes after I arrive at the gate.



A little bit of spotting done, I head up to the familiar confines of the International Maple Leaf Lounge. I’ve reviewed this lounge before, so I’ll keep it brief. It’s a fairly large lounge that overlooks the departure gates, with two main rooms of seating, and numerous nooks and crannies.



Although it’s a familiar place, some things have change since last I was here. The space behind this little alcove where I set up shop was full of work cubicles when last I was here. Now it’s more lounge seating.

photo IMG_3841

Naturally, I head off to the buffet to check it out and grab a bit, as I’ve been up for a few hours now and have yet to eat. Last time I was in here at breakfast time, I was disappointed with the food on offer. But just as they’ve recently enhanced (for once used in a non-sarcastic sense) lunch and dinner offerings, the breakfast has been improved, with a wider variety of hot dishes, in addition to the usual pastries, yogurts, fruit, and the omipresent Maple Leaf Lounge Oatmeal.



I grab myself a breakfast and some orange juice, and head back to my seat in the lounge. All in all, a pretty good meal, although the frittata-type egg dish disappoints a bit. Advertised as eggs with potatoes, cheese, bacon, onions, and peppers, it’s really more like potatoes with eggs, and some little bit of the other stuff The ham with pineapples as quite good, the sausage was what you’d expect, and the pastry was quite tasty indeed.

photo IMG_3843

With breakfast done, I do a little bit of work, and then decide it’s time for a shower before the long flight to Addis. I hand my boarding card to one of the gate agents, and she shows me to one of the two shower suites in this lounge. It’s actually quite a large space, with a good size shower stall semi-open onto the rest of the room, which has a sink, a toilet, and a changing area with a bench and even a little closet space for hanging up one’s clothes.



Shaved, showered, and ready for the rather long to Addis, I head out of the lounge and downstairs about ten minutes before the boarding time posted on my boarding pass, only to find that boarding is already underway, with the first two zones being called. Boarding early. Now that’s novel. I join the short lineup to board. A quick scan of the boarding pass, and I’m on my way down the jetway. We board through L2, and I’m pointed to the starboard aisle and to the left. ET puts 24 J seats on their 788, four rows in a 2-2-2 configuration. For today’s flight, I’m in 3L, the third-row starboard window. Immediately upon boarding, these seats look familiar, they’re basically the same seats that United used in BusinessFirst on its ex-Continental 767 and 787 fleet. Pretty much exactly the same, only the in-flight entertainment system is clearly light years ahead of what UA offers on 767s, with a very large screen.

photo IMG_3848photo IMG_3850

Legroom is more than adequate, and despite the window-seat footwell looking pretty small, I’d later find it quite adequate when laid flat.

photo IMG_3849

Next to the seat, the IFE remote control is tucked away, and as one would expect, fairly simple seat controls are located in the top of the console between seats.

photo IMG_3854photo IMG_3855

Service began with an offering of orange juice, water, or champagne. I request both water and champagne. Water and OJ are pre-poured in glasses, while the champagne is poured by the flight attendant.

photo IMG_3852

It’s followed shortly by a pre-departure hot towel. A little different, but appreciated.

photo IMG_3853

As boarding continues, I explore a little bit around the seat area. Taking a look around the IFE, it looks like there’s a fair number of movies, although there’s kind of a shortage of films I haven’t seen and have any interest in seeing. Oh well. The TV section has a pretty good selection, but they seem to have gone the route of having a couple of episodes of a lot of shows. I really prefer it when they load up multiple episodes of the same show. Long-haul flights are a great opportunity to binge-watch the right show.

photo IMG_3856

Moving right along, let’s see what’s in the ET amenity kit. In a smart green pouch, a pretty standard setup, with everything individually wrapped. Earplugs aren’t in a plastic protector, so they’re a little squished. Other than that, pretty much everything is as normal.

photo IMG_3859photo IMG_3860

There are pre-wrapped earphones, with a friendly reminder not to swipe them. They don’t look very good, so I’ll just use my own noise cancelling set.

photo IMG_3857photo IMG_3858

Menus are up next. Based on the one flight report in English on ET, I wasn’t expecting much, but the offered menu is actually one of the better ones I’ve seen, with a full rundown of the meals, and some education on Ethiopian foods like Injera and Wot, Kolo, and…. coffee. Because they did it first. Just ask ‘em.



I strike up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me on the aisle seat, a likeable Albertan heading to Chad. He works in oil and gas and comes over here about once every two months. Twenty-eight days on, 20 days off, or something like that. Ooof. He says the company books them Ethiopian because they’re the cheapest by a longshot, and when they can, they upgrade to “first class” (his words, not mine) on points. I clarify with him that that he flies this very route regularly, and then ask if he’s had these lay-flat seats before, as I understand most of the Ethiopian fleet still has angle-flat seats. He says that no, it’s always a flat bed, but there are angle-flat seats “in the next class back,” although economy very clearly starts immediately behind door 2L. He also seems to be surprised to be on a Dreamliner, although ET has been running 788s into Toronto for quite some time now, barring when they play the magic wheel of fate equipment swap game.

The business cabin continues to fill up, it likes a load of about 16 passengers, and most seats in the first three aisles are full. In the final row, only the two windows seats are taken. The one behind me must be the “official’ rest station for the third pilot, as it is draped off shortly after takeoff.

Shortly afterwards, the safety video rolls, in a very old-school bit of animation. And we push back, actually a few minutes early.

photo IMG_3866

A short taxi out to to the runway, and off we go… on and up and on our way to Addis. Still love these big 787 windows.



After enjoying watching the climb, I check out the moving map, which for once isn’t AirShow. Still, it’s pretty nicely animated, and flight information and other specifics are available from a menu off the bottom of the screen.

photo IMG_3877

As we reach cruising altitude, I choose A Royal Night Out as my first movie of the flight. I’d not heard of it before, but it’s actually pretty entertaining.

Service begins quickly with the drink cart, accompanied by a ramekin of snack crackers. While the bar if fully stocked, I decide to just go for some water at this point in time.

photo IMG_3878

600 ml bottles of water are also distributed.

photo IMG_3879

Then tablecloths are distributed, and the tray with appetizer and salad. The smoked tuna with asparagus, grape tomatoes and sprouts is a nice light starter. The salad is simply mostly baby spinach with some peppers and a couple of walnut halves, it’s accompanied by a little packet of Kraft balsamic vinaigrette. Not exciting, but at least it’s different than the omnipresent AC balsamic and olive oil dressing.

Wine is offered, and I go for the Ethiopian Rift Valley Red. It’s a little bit lighter than the reds I tend to enjoy the most, but is bright and flavourtful. And here I didn’t even know Ethiopia had a wine industry.

photo IMG_3882

Up next is the part I’m perhaps looking forward to the most, the Ethiopian injera and wot dish. This service is done from a cart, with long rolls of the injera and five large trays of different stews to try. I request a little bit of everything, and the flight attendant asks if I’m okay with spicy food. I say I am, and she serves out a little bit of everything. This dish didn’t disappoint, brining the heat, lots of flavour, balanced with soft, slightly sour injera. Very enjoyable.

photo IMG_3883

As she clears the dishes from the injera, the flight attendant asks which main course I’d like. I request the chicken, and it’s promptly brought out for me. This brochette dish really hits the spot. The rice doesn’t excite me very much, but by this point I’m already feeling like I don’t need to add a lot of “bulk” to the meal. The curried vegetables and the simple chargrilled chicken breast with raita make a simple but satisfying entree.

photo IMG_3885photo IMG_3884

The dessert cart comes around next, with pre-plated fruit, cheesecake, or chocolate cake, as well as cheese and crackers. I request the cheesecake, which is small but very enjoyable, and the cheese, which is accompanied by water crackers, grapes, celery and carrotts, as well as an interesting solid prune jelly type of side. The cheese is nothing too exciting, but is quite enjoyable.

photo IMG_3886

Lunch wraps up with coffee, tea, and liqueurs. Having bought into the hype, I ask for a simple black coffee, and I find it very nice, with a good amount of flavour, but very smooth.

With lunch done, I set my seat back to a nearly-full recline, and watch the end of the movie. I discover a neat feature I don’t think I’ve seen before, a button on the remote pulls up a picture-in-picture moving map. Pretty cool.

photo IMG_3881

Next up, Terminator Genisys, of which I have pretty low expectations. But it’s actually kind of entertaining. At some point in here, I requested a St. George, an Ethiopian beer, but as the cabin was fully darkened, I didn’t get a pic. Quite enjoyable, though.

After Terminator, I lay all the way down for a little bit and try to doze off, but it’s just mid-afternoon as far as my body is concerned, and it’s not having any of that. The seat is quite comfortable in bed mode, and there’s no problem with space. I never bother to even unwrap the provided blanket, as I find the cabin quite hot and the idea of adding a layer, however thin, seems pretty counter-intuitive. The seat itself also seems to generate a fair bit of heat. Not “risk of fire” hot, but noticeably warmer than the ambient temperature, which is itself quite warm. My only real disappointment with the Ethiopian J experience is the brutal Economy-worthy pillow provided. This is one place where they could really step up their game.

Tomorrowland is up next on the movies. I don’t think I’d even heard of it before, but it’s entertaining enough for a plane movie. Then, I really hit the bottom of the barrel and put on the only remaining “Blockbuster” that I haven’t yet seen and would even consider watching (Pitch Perfect 2? Yeah. Just not happening.) I went in with very low expectation of Paul Blart Mall Cap 2, and the movie lives down to them. Somewhere in here our flight attendant offers a sandwich or other snack for a mid-flight meal, but I decline. I’m still full enough from a very large lunch.

photo IMG_3887

With that over, we’re already well underway, with the moving map out over Albania. With about five hours to arrival, I decide I’ve got to get serious about sleep if I’m going to get any on this flight, so I put my headphones into my iPhone, pull up a podcast, recline all the way and just relax. As expected, it works like a charm, and I’m soon out.

I come to with the cabin lights already up, and my seatmate already sipping on some orange juice. Clearly, I have once again slept through the beginning of the breakfast experience. But our flight attendant quickly notices I’m away, and is there right away with a hot towel to help get my mind back into the game. She offers a drink, and I request orange juice.

photo IMG_3888

The table is set, and I’m asked for my breakfast preference. I go with the omelet, and it’s brought out seconds later. Service in Cloud 9 seems very quick, and quite attentive without being unnecessarily intrusive. The bread basket comes around, and I request a croissant. With about 60 minutes left in the flight, I throw on a 20-odd-minute documentary from the TV section exploring the monuments on the National Mall in Washington DC. It’s an Ethiopian Airlines destination, y’know!

Breakfast, in general is good. The yogurt is yogurt, the fruit is fresh, and the main is quite enjoyable, particularly the omelet, which while plain is not overdone and has some taste and consistency to it, and the mushrooms and sausages. I’m not a big fan of cooked spinach, and particularly not as a breakfast food. The sausage is also a little dry, although it has enough taste.

With breakfast over, I “open” the windows, and am treated to a very nice sunrise, although the ground below is mostly obscured by a thin layer of cloud well below us, up here at 40,000 feet.

photo IMG_3890

With breakfast over, and my documentary over, I put on another documentary — this time discussing animals that kill humans. It’s almost perfectly matched to what the IFE screen is saying is the remaining flight time, about 45 minutes. I don’t learn a lot from it, as most of the “surprises” are things I know — like mosquitos kill a LOT of people every year, while sharks don’t.

photo IMG_3891

I take a second to take a look around the cabin. It’s all nice enough, although I think ET could have done something to add some colour or flair to that front bulkhead. Perhaps it was impractical because of the locations of the bassinet mount. But speaking of that — isn’t that a pretty impractical location for the bassinet mounts? I guess they don’t have any other choice, but it seems quite high for parents to comfortable check in on baby.

photo IMG_3851

One other detail I’ve overlooked mentioned until now — over my right (outboard) shoulder, there’s this convenient storage space, which will take quite a bit of gear — a phone, a laptop, a bottle of water, and a headphone container were all piled in here together whilst I slept. This also houses the power socket, a USB power outlet, and the headphone jack for the IFE.

The captain comes over the PA system and says we’re beginning our descent into Addis, where it’s a nice morning, and that he expects us to be on the ground a little after 8 o’clock local time. Right on time.

Soon enough we break through the clouds, and the Ethiopian landscape begins to unfold below me. It looks quite beautiful from up here, contrasting bright greens with browns and beiges, and occasionally, a small lake.



Eventually, signs of civilization start to appear, and I presume we’re into the suburbs of Addis Ababa.

photo IMG_3897photo IMG_3898photo IMG_3899

Then suddenly, we’re over the runway, and we touch down, seemingly quite fast although that’s not too much of a surprise for a high-and-hot (okay, this is November, so it’s more like high-and-really-warm) destination like Addis.

photo IMG_3900

As we taxi in, I notice that there are an awful lot of remote stands in use — not surprising, I suppose, for an airline that’s growing as quickly as ET. I know they have a master plan to redo ADD and make it the largest terminal in Africa, I believe, but right now, there clearly isn’t the gate space. So I’m none too surprised when we ourselves pull in at a remote stand, right next to our older plane’s sister, one of ET’s oldest 787s, named Lucy.

photo IMG_3901photo IMG_3902

The crew thanks us again for flying Ethiopian, and we’re quickly off the plane, and onto the tarmac for a great quick “close encounter” photo with the plane, before getting on the exclusive mini-bus marked “Cloud 9 only,” which quickly takes us over to the main terminal.

Down one hall, and up an elevator signed for transit passengers, and I’m airside at the terminal in Addis, which is where our next flight report will pick things up.

Thanks for joining me on the first leg of this trip!
See more

Verdict

Ethiopian Airlines

8.6/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering8.5

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge International

8.1/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering8.0
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Services8.0

Toronto - YYZ

8.5/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0

Addis Ababa - ADD

4.2/10
Efficiency8.0
Access3.0
Services3.0
Cleanliness3.0

Conclusion

A great first experience on Ethiopian. Plenty of pleasant surprises, from the flat-bed seats when expecting angle-flat, to very good catering, to fantastic service from a pair of stunning young flight attendants. I'm glad I decided to give them a try, they are certainly running a good product!

Related

27 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 150381 by
    Benoit75008 7191 Comments
    Thanks so much for this report,

    ET is offering higher standard now.
    I m really thinking also about flying with them.
    I guess ADD airport will be improved also.

    See you
    • Comment 328598 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      I was very impressed with everything about ET in-flight. As you'll see in my next report, in its current state, I'd only give mixed marks to ADD, although one lounge there is very good. (But another is very, very bad.)

      I'd heartily recommend ET in J.
  • Comment 150384 by
    jah718 7 Comments
    Thanks for the excellent report on an airline we don't get to see so often. It certainly looks like Ethiopian has a solid product that is competitive.

    One thing, I am sure that I saw Ethiopian with another J seat on their 787. The seat was the same as is offered by China Southern, Air India, Hainan etc. Did I imagine that or do they in fact have two different products?
    • Comment 328599 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      I believe they have a different flat bed product, in a 2-3-2 configuration, that is (as you describe) like TK, AI and others, on their 777 fleet. I'm not sure why they would opt for this different product on the 787, given that others (AI included) have used the same product as the ET 777 fleet, on 788s, albeit in a 2-2-2 configuration.
  • Comment 150390 by
    padawan SILVER 1996 Comments
    Good news to see that some of their 787 are now equiped with full-flat seats !
    Nice surprise too to have some Ethiopian specialities for dinner.
    Thank you for this report on ET which make me want to fly ET again :)
    • Comment 328600 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      Yeah, the injera and wot was really good. Really really good. Although it had a persistent heat that had my mouth still tingling for quite some time afterwards, so I'm not sure it would be ideal for every palate. But for me... bring it on! It really makes me want to explore Ethiopian food some more. Fortunately, I'm told there are good places in Toronto to sample it.
  • Comment 150392 by
    CamsCreations 2 Comments
    Great flight report!
  • Comment 150395 by
    cndam 10 Comments
    Thank you for this fantastic report with very nice picture.

    As it turns out, I will be taking this flight in 3 weeks (continuing on to Douala; albeit in economy). This will make it my first Ethiopian flight.
    • Comment 328602 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      I do hope you'll bring along a camera and take some pictures, and file a flight-report on your flights on ET. I'd love to get a good look at the experience in Y. I hope service will be good, and legroom is decent at 32, although 3-3-3 on a 787 is never ideal (unless there are empty seats, of course.)

      Look forward to hearing of your trip! (But no pressure, eh?)
  • Comment 150402 by
    papyfly 9 Comments
    Wow,wow,very nice report of Ethiopian Airlines and always happy to hear from their product. Its brings back memories of my teenage years when flying often with them. (use to leave in Ethiopia)

    • Comment 328603 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback. ET is an impressive operation, and seems to be going in the right direction in terms of hard product, service, network and profitability. If they can keep it up, I think they'll be a pretty major player in the near future.
  • Comment 150425 by
    SKYTEAMCHC GOLD 10071 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this flight with us. I totally understand your round the world in 80 hours concept and i like it.
    The food offering in the lounge looks nice and the shower is really big and nice.
    The cabin is the same seat model as the Aeromexico seat I had on their B 787 and is comfortable.
    Altogether it looks like a good product and i liked the Ethiopian style meal that you choose. breakfast looks also nice.
    can't wiat for the next report ! ;-)
  • Comment 150494 by
    Luigispaghetti 118 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this very interesting and original report, on a route that probably has never been reported (I didn't check though). A very nice flight on board this 787 whith good C class service.
    I really look forward to the next legs. Probably another ET flight to some place in India / or would it be Seychelles ?
    Does anybody here where this very strange ethiopian alphabet comes from ?
    • Comment 328605 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      The next report is up now, so you'll see you were fairly close on next destination.

      The Ethiopian alphabet is Amharic, which I know next to nothing about, but Wikipedia can share a lot more insight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic
  • Comment 150561 by
    757Fan 632 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this report with us! The photos are great, and I felt like I was along for the ride!

    Ethopian looks great; food and presentation looks really nice, and how great to be on a 787!

    Best,

    Matthew
    • Comment 328606 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      Glad you enjoyed the style... I hope I can keep it up. I suspect the last couple of flights aren't going to be quite as fully-written for reasons that we'll get to when we get there, but I'll do my best!
  • Comment 150563 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this unique FR with us.

    “and upcoming changes in our family”
    - Congratulations on the child?

    Quite the festive seat colors and amenity kit. I’ve been on these seats with UA and CA, I find them perfectly fine for my height, the foot well has never felt restrictive (even though bulkheads have huge footwells). JL also gives economy sized pillows in J, so don’t think it is just an ET thing. JL is by far the worst pillow I’ve ever seen in J, even on regional flights. These seats don’t have the most privacy, but the angling helps a little bit with that.

    The catering looks better than expected. Good serving sizes and I like the tableware. What happened to the tip of your cake? Breakfast looks like breakfast on a plane.

    Fantastic shots on arrival into ADD.
    • Comment 328607 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      And yes... there's a child on the way, although not here for some time yet, so still some time for adventures before I dial travel back to the minimum again.

      I really did enjoy ET's colour palate. I would later find out (by virtue of seeing a gentleman in ADD with the same amenity kit in yellow) that ET apparently offers multiple colours of these kits. I presume, based on the two I've seen, that they offer them in their green, yellow, and red colours from the livery.

      Agree with you on the seats/footwells. I'm 5'1 and have no problem with the seat, although I can see they'd require some compromise from a 6'5 or taller pax. As for privacy, I found it okay on this flight and quite acceptable when fully reclined.

      As for the cake... I'm not sure. I *think* it was like that to begin with, and this wasn't a case of forgetting to take a pic before digging in. Although it wouldn't exactly be unprecedented for me to do exactly that.
    • Comment 328617 by
      NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
      Yeah, when you go into flatbed mode, these seats really sink down and you disappear into oblivion.

      If only they gave out matching zoot suits to go with these amenity kits...
  • Comment 150629 by
    Chibcha SILVER 540 Comments
    Great report thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 150772 by
    airtraveladdict 117 Comments
    I love this adventure, flying around the world is my dream! and 80 hours is quite the challenge, but life would be boring without having some fun.
    And how refreshing to see Ethiopian Airlines too, its not often I read reports about this airline.
    Also its fantastic to see them serve their national dishes on board despite flying out of Canada.
    • Comment 329048 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      Part of the reason I wanted to do this one is because I'd seen and heard so little about ET.

      It definitely was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun. I have to admit, that towards the end of this one, I was feeling a bit like Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon films, like I'm getting too old for this.... stuff.

      I presume the injera is double-catered out of ADD... although there are some good Ethiopian places in Toronto, I'm told.
  • Comment 150824 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Great report as usual! There aren't too many reports on Ethiopian out there. I had no idea they had installed full flat seats on the 787s; I've only seen the angled seats before, which I thought was really a shame on such a modern aircraft. Not a fan of the color of the seats though; it makes the cabin look old, in contrast to the newness of the aircraft. Service seems very good overall. There is a large Ethiopian community here in DC and I really enjoy their cuisine.
    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 329049 by
      hometoyyz AUTHOR 539 Comments
      Thanks for the feedback!

      Yeah, it was nice to be able to show off an airline and product that hasn't been seen too much around these parts. Or around the Internet at all, actually.

      Putting angle-flat in when they got the 788s was an odd choice, and I'm glad they've corrected with the last few members of the fleet. I wonder if they'll refurb the rest of the fleet? Hard to picture when they're still pretty new planes.

      Service was good, and I probably under-mentioned that. But on both my ET flights, I considered the service top notch. Friendly and genuine, proactive, but not aggressively so. I think they struck the right balance.

      I definitely want to check out more Ethiopian eats after this. Problem is I'm the only one in my family who's much into the spicy stuff. Oh well... there will come a time, I'm sure.

Login to post a comment.