- Introduction: Paris, With Some Cairo Drama
- Review: Emirates Business Class Airbus A380 (JFK-MXP)
- Review: La Reserve Paris (Stunning French Palace Hotel)
- Review: Le Bristol Paris, Oetker Collection (French Palace Hotel)
- Review: Moxy Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG)
- Review: ITA Airways Business Class Airbus A320neo (CDG-FCO)
- Review: ITA Airways Business Class Airbus A321neo (FCO-CAI)
- Review: Ethiopian Airlines Business Class Airbus A350 (CAI-ADD)
- Review: Ethiopian Skylight In-Terminal Hotel Addis Ababa Airport (ADD)
- Review: Ethiopian Airlines Business Lounge Addis Ababa Airport (ADD)
- Ethiopian Airlines Business Class To London: My Experience
For the second to last segment of my quick trip to Paris and Cairo, I flew Ethiopian Airlines’ A350-900 business class on the 7hr35min flight from Addis Ababa (ADD) to London (LHR). I won’t be reviewing this flight in full, but did want to share some thoughts on the experience.
In this post:
Why I’m not fully reviewing my Ethiopian flight
This is my full trip report series (rather than my initial impressions post that I publish during my trips), so why am I not reviewing this flight in full? Well, in a previous installment, I reviewed my Ethiopian A350 business class flight from Cairo to Addis Ababa.
Long story short, so many of the things about the flights were the same — my flights were operated by exactly the same aircraft (like, not just the same type of plane, but the same tail number), and the menus were even very similar. So there’s no point in basically writing the same thing over.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way — initially my itinerary was supposed to be operated by a Boeing 787-9 on the first segment and an Airbus A350-1000 on the second segment. But Ethiopian is notorious for plane swaps, and both of my flights got swapped to the A350-900. So in this post, I just want to hit on a few key takeaways from this experience.
Even London isn’t safe from Ethiopian plane swaps
Ethiopian Airlines plane swaps tend to happen in one of two ways:
- On regional flights (where the crew works the outbound and inbound flight as a turn), it’s common to see complete changes to equipment, like a 737 being swapped for a 777, a 787 being swapped for an A350, etc.
- On long haul flights (where the crew has a layover), you may find swaps between specific configurations, but less so between aircraft types; maybe you’ll go from an A350-1000 to an A350-900, or maybe you’ll go from an A350-900 with one cabin layout, to an A350-900 with another type of cabin layout
Ethiopian has a variety of business class seats, and London Heathrow is supposed to be one of the destinations to which the airline most consistently offers its A350 business class with direct aisle access. However, even that isn’t very consistent.
Instead of getting the 1-2-1 configuration I was hoping for, the airline instead had the 2-2-2 business class configuration on this flight. Ironically, the A350-900 with the better configuration flew to London Gatwick, which is ostensibly a less premium destination (at least as far as virtually any airline is concerned), and which typically doesn’t get that better layout.
Ethiopian’s incremental long haul amenities
On my flight from Cairo to Addis Ababa, I was impressed that a full set of bedding was offered, along with headphones.
So, what was different on this longer route? Well, each business class passenger was also given an amenity kit.
On top of that, business class passengers were provided free Wi-Fi. Oddly this came in the form of a little code written on a fortune cookie sized piece of paper. Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted the airline offers free Wi-Fi, but is this really the way the airline officially goes about it? Like, crews are instructed to rip up pieces of paper and handwrite the codes?
Ethiopian’s food selection is fine but boring
My flight was departing at 1:35AM and arriving at 6:35AM, so I was curious to see what inflight service would be like. Admittedly flights timed like this can be tricky, since many passengers want to maximize their rest. At the same time, a vast majority of Ethiopian passengers are connecting, and many have body clocks on different schedules.
I hadn’t flown Ethiopian business class in about a decade, but one thing I fondly remember from my last flight is the delicious Ethiopian food that was served. Well, unfortunately there was none of that on this flight.
After takeoff, there was a light snack service, which just felt kind of random to me. You had everything from “Mexican” chicken soup, to calzones, to salads. There was nothing even remotely Ethiopian on the menu.
I decided to order the celery cauliflower soup and vegetable calzone, and had a negroni to drink. I was impressed that the negroni was a drink on the menu, though the execution left a bit to be desired.
At the conclusion of the meal, the flight attendant just proactively brought me all the dessert options, heh. This included a cheese plate, fruit, and two small cake slices.
Around 90 minutes before landing, breakfast was served, and you can find the menu below.
Since I had ful medames on the previous flight, I decided to go for a more western option this time around, and chose what was described as “chives baked egg with beef sausage, broccoli, and hash brown.” I don’t think that’s exactly what I got. Instead I got little egg bites with salsa, potatoes, and sausage. This was served with a side of cereal, fruit, and a croissant, plus some coffee.
I believe Ethiopian only has the full Ethiopian dining experience on either ultra long haul flights, or those that operate during the day.
Bottom line
Ultimately I was disappointed by my Ethiopian Airlines plane swap, but that’s mostly me speaking as someone who reviews airlines and likes to try different products, rather than there being anything wrong with the flight as such. Even though I know that Ethiopian tries to prioritize its best business class product on the London route, that doesn’t always happen.
The flight was totally fine — it wasn’t great, and it wasn’t terrible either. The crew was well intentioned and friendly, and the meal service was efficient, though not terribly inspiring otherwise. Obviously I intentionally kept this short, so for more details, see my full review of Ethiopian’s A350 business class on the previous flight.
What’s your take on Ethiopian Airlines’ service on an overnight flight like this?
May be it is unfortunate for you to enjoy the food menu on this particular flight. During may last flight to the same destination, I enjoyed everything with the A350-1000, very delicious Ethiopian cultural food as well as western drink and food options.
I love Arabic food but it is quite greasy. Greasy food is tasty food. I ate it decades ago but not as much today as I age. The Arabs love red meats such as beef, veal, lamb and mutton. No offense but it is hard for me to watch people eat food, especially rice, with their fingers, except finger food such as chicken wings, fries and pizza. I will definitely fly Ethiopia Airlines late next year when I return to southern African countries.
that's what you do while eating on a plane? staring at other passengers eat...
weird man. there's a screen for a reason...
What’s Arab got to do with Ethiopia?
Problem with Ethiopian Airlines is that they transport primates to laboratories in their cargo. I just can't fly them anymore.
How did the manage to screw up a negroni?!?!? It's the easiest mixed drink in the world to make. 1 part gin, 1 part campari, 1 part vermouth.
It looks like your ADD-LHR flight passed directly over... Cairo???
That must've felt oddly [un?] rewarding...
Flying over Egypt was probably the least bad option for everyone on board (except for Ben). A more western routing would pass over Libya while a most eastern routing would go over Israel and maybe Gaza (the future "Riviera of the Middle East"). It appears that the flight also overflew Sudan, another war zone.
Planning safe flight routes in this part of the world must be an interesting job.
The Ethiopian traditional meals are served on all LUNCH and DINNER service departing from Addis Ababa.
However, due to the post-midnight departure time of your flight it was slated for LIGHT SNACK and HOT BREAKFAST instead. Hence, no traditional meals unfortunately.
Most of the departures in the earlier part of the bank (ie. pre-midnight) should actually have the traditional meals in my experience.
I’m of the generation “Have you ever had Ethiopian food? Neither have they”. In that regard, all the food pictured here is impressive.
Oh, really this kind of joke???
"Oh, really this kind of joke???"
The poster tends to vacillate between "stern know-everything frequent traveller" and "lawyer-wannabe in mom's basement posting assholeish BS."
In this case, it's the latter, specifically 1980s-style mockery of starvation and poverty.
An old, bigoted Skadden attorney? There's a millionth time for everything, I guess.
"An old, bigoted Skadden attorney? There's a millionth time for everything, I guess."
(He's not a Skadden attorney; he's not an attorney at all.)
The Gatwick flight has an immediate turnaround while the Heathrow flight sits all day on ground. Therefore, if they needed that particular airframe back in Addis it makes sense to send it to LGW rather than LHR.
Ethiopian food is very nice, and yet none on the menu. One would think they would want to promote their heritage.
I wonder if the sorts of Ethiopian restaurants we see in the U.S. really reflect all f the food culture at home. I like the restaurants, more social than aboard a plane though, it's not far removed from Arab food culture where you get a sort of a mezze eaten with bread and everyone eats together with your hands.
I guess the only way to find out is to visit Ethiopia!