Ethiopian 787 Business Class Cloud Nine Beijing To Addis Ababa

Solid product. Shame the country they actually fly to isn't the most crime-free country in the world.

@ Lucky — How about the booze selection?

JRL

Wah! Wah! Wah! So the seats are angled! BFD.

In 1992, Business Class to Asia on MW was essentially domestic First Class Seats - not even angled flat. In 2005, that was just about the only way to get to Asia from the US. Somehow, we survived.

An angled seat is better than coach any day of the week.

Lucky you! I had the pleasure of flying one of their decrepit 767s from LHR to ADD on a biz class award last year. Not the best mileage redemption but hey there was availability.

@ JRL -- Nothing fancy, but champagne was drinkable.

@ Darth Chocolate -- Well of course an angled seat is better than economy, but a fully flat seat is better than an angled seat...

@ chris -- Just flew that on my connection. Report coming on that shortly, and it was indeed a VERY different experience.

You dedicated an entire article to photos of Chinese bellies but you couldn't even give us one photo of a Business Class Cabin full of Ethiopians in neon three piece suits? I think you may have yada yada yada-ed over the best part 🙂

Well, we're flying Ethiopian J from from ADD-JNB next month, now we have something to look forward to... other than the stew and warm injera

You were lucky to get ET-AOT (less than 2 months old) for this leg. The older (2012 delivery) 787s (AOP/AOQ/AOR/AOS) invariably have huge issues with the electric systems - I've experienced complete IFE failures, window shades stuck in open/closed positions, call button serenades and reading lights on throughout the cabin on some of those.

How full was the Cloud Nine cabin?

I would guess that there was, indeed a fourth pilot. On flights of that length, it's pretty typical to have 2 full crews. To my knowledge, it's also typical to have the entire crew in the cockpit for takeoff and landing. On US airlines, it's exceedingly rare to have just one pilot in the cockpit for any extended period of time, and they're supposed to have an oxygen mask on the entire time they're alone.

So Ethiopian's product is the same as LOT's but the main centerpiece, the seat, is the difference. So to get that, do they just angle the seat differently from the way it comes from the factory or just not allow it to tilt down a certain angle?

"I did kind of feel like the “locals” got slightly better service than we did, but that may have just been a function of cultural familiarity"

It's like being a non-German or non-German speaking person on Lufthansa, I suppose...

"We were the only male passengers not wearing a three-piece neon colored suit and top hat. Next time I’ll come dressed as Mr. Peanut."-

Pretty offensive and culturally insensitive comment. In Africa flying is considered an extreme luxury for most, so they usually wear their best clothes. On my trips to Central and West Africa everyone, even in economy, wore suits.

Darth you're old and in the way. And your bitterness is very unbecoming. I bet you yell at 3 year olds for making too much noise.

@Tyler - Perhaps its you that is making the offensive and culturally insensitive comment (not to mention a fair bit of hyperbole - "everyone" wearing suits???). The dress code in many parts of Africa tends to be more formal than the Western world in all aspects of life. Flying is no different. Your comments seem to insinuate that Africans dress up to fly because its some sort of a novelty experience to be celebrated by their backward tribes. What a load of offensive stereotyping.

Tyler's main point is well taken. I think if Ben imagines those businessmen or anyone making a similar wisecrack about him, he will see the point Tyler was trying to make.

Sean-

All I can say is what??? I shared my real world experience traveling to the Central African Republic, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea. Yes everyone was in a western suit. Yes two of them sitting next to me told me how big of a deal flying to Europe was for them.

This is common sense- in countries where average annual incomes are sometimes less than one round trip Africa-Europe ticket, flying is a bigger deal.

I believe many (most) airlines will have their relief pilots fly in the jump seats for take-off and landing. I know this is definitely the case for Emirates. So it is very likely that the pilot who left the cockpit was in fact a the fourth or even fifth pilot on-board.

See this link for an Air Canada pilot's discussion of flying in the jump seat as a relief pilot: http://www.pilotcareercentre.com/Pilot-Life-Story-Blog/63/Air+Canada+Boeing+767+RP

@ Paul L -- I don't think any airline has five pilots, though on ultra longhaul flights I know many have four. In this case I saw all the pilots go on rest, though, and I'm 99% sure there weren't more than three (which also makes sense based on the length of the flight).

@ Euro -- They just don't leave as much space between rows, so there's no space for the "ottoman" area, and therefore the seat isn't fully flat.

@ Sean M. -- There were only five people booked in it (apparently), but lots of op ups because economy was oversold. In the end it was about 75% full.

@Tyler - Thank you for pointing out the aspect of cultural sensitivity in Lucky's review. Education is good for all of us.

Looking forward to your next review Lucky.

Ditto Matt's comment. NO Pics?!
Also Ditto Dave's comment. I wish there was a "delete all bad attitudes" button.

@lucky – I should have clarified. On some of my Ethiopian flights there were a number of non-rev pilots flying in biz, but not as relief pilots. All were still in (some) state of uniform. I believe I counted four or five on one flight alone. A bit odd, indeed.

@Paul L. - ET has a large number of expat pilots on commuting contracts who work 25 days on, 12 days off rotations. The contracts give them positive space commuting benefits to their home stations, so you will regularly find the US and European routes filled up with these guys heading to/from home.

Wow, nice immaculate product! I would wager this is even better than LH J where the seats are dingy, the FA's are robotic, and the food unedible.

@ Darth Chocolate - Why such an ass? This blog IS all about #firstworldproblems and Lucky admits that.

@ Tyler @ Sean @ Sam @ Paul - Knock it off! Tyler, come on, by referring to Mr. Peanut the people in three piece suits should be happy - I mean, who doesn't want to look like Mr. Peanut, the cutest face in the world? Seriously, no need to argue about it, let the offended people speak themselves.

Saddling a new plane with angled seats is indeed puzzling. Is it simply to cram more seats in?

@ Ivan Y -- Yep, ultimately they fit 24 seats in the same area that LOT fits 18 seats.

"On another note, I realize that I was completely under dressed for this flight. We were the only male passengers not wearing a three-piece neon colored suit and top hat. Next time I’ll come dressed as Mr. Peanut."

Woah, Ben, you being a gay person, should know that, to receive tolerance after your Korean shindig, you should learn how to give tolerance as well. Shame on you.

Interesting review, thanks for trying a new airline out! Agree angle flat is a pain, although looks streets ahead of US domestic first! Any plans to do a review of them anytime soon? I had a recent run of flights with them from Europe to Hawaii and was very disappointed by how appalling their hard product was - this looks better TBH!