As many of you probably know, I’ll soon be embarking on my last US Airways 90,000 mile business class award to North Asia. While looking over the itinerary today, I noticed that one of our Ethiopian Airlines flights was swapped from a 787 to a 767. I asked my friend and travel companion Andrew B (who needs no introduction) to break the news. 😉
Hey, everyone, it’s Andrew B – you may know me as the meme guy (if you read this), the fetish bar guy (if you read this), or the handsomest and most special guy in the whole world (if you’re my mom).
I told Lucky a few months ago that I had a ton of US Airways miles just sitting around waiting to be devalued, and he suggested that we do one of their 90k “North Asia” trips (a sweet spot on US’s partner award chart that they’ve since, sadly, eliminated – though it’s only 110,000 miles now, which still ain’t half bad).
Thanks to some great input from you guys and some convincing from Lucky, I signed on for a pretty ambitious itinerary that involves stops in Warsaw, Zurich, Beijing, Addis Ababa, and Frankfurt. I’ll get to fly LOT, Swiss, Ethiopian, and Lufthansa (all of which are new airlines for me, with the exception of Lufthansa, which I flew on my way back from a board game convention – no, seriously).
You may remember that Lucky missed out on experiencing a LOT 787 when they swapped it for a 767. The good news is that it looks like this time he’ll actually get to try out their Dreamliner (and it will be my first time ever on that aircraft!). The bad news is that Ethiopian swapped their 787 on the Addis Ababa to Frankfurt route for a 767-300. Based on the photos of the business class cabin on that aircraft, we’re in for an experience. I’ll probably do an equipment swap of my own, trading the water I usually drink on flights for some hard liquor.
I’m mostly joking. It doesn’t take much to impress me, and I’d like to think that I’m fairly easy to please. (And, by the way, I would never say “do you know who I am” to anyone, lest they think I have amnesia.) I take DC’s Metro to work every day, and I’m pleasantly surprised on days when I don’t step in vomit or witness someone almost get involuntarily amputated by a closing train door. So, I think Ethiopian’s 767 business class will be fantastic in comparison to my usual mode of transport. (Lucky, on the other hand, is sometimes a bit more discerning, unless there’s a blue crane on the tailfin, Hello Kitty-themed toilet paper in the lavatories, or a shower onboard.)
Anyway, I’m super excited for this trip, and I’ll be sure to share my thoughts on it with you all!
Make sure you have either a macchiato or a buna at the airport if you don't go into Addis.
This trip sounds awesome!
@ Andrew B - are you going to be playing Zach Galifianakis to Lucky's Robert Downey Jr.? Due Date was a hilarious movie!
@Andrew B Looking forward to more mapcap adventures and your brand of humor. Don't shock Ben too badly with any edgy excursions. ;-)
In the lounge in ADD - personally I would avoid the buffer salad ;)
@lantean
Well, if you fly business on the e 190 ( in a 1-2 config) there's no oven at the front galley. All the meals are cooked in the rear galley and the flight attendant brings them up one by 1. Plus, the lav is so small that you can literally touch every surface of it just my turning around. And the seats are narrow. The E 190 is terrible.
ET routes to Africa, Europe and the Middle East are more often than not swapped at the last minute between 738/752/763/77L/77W/788 depending on demand and capacity. So just because your flight says 763 today doesn't mean anything - check after 10pm Ethiopia time 2 calendar days before departure from Addis and you'll see what they have finally decided to assign you. Frankfurt has been operating on a 752 lately, so you might get stuck with...
ET routes to Africa, Europe and the Middle East are more often than not swapped at the last minute between 738/752/763/77L/77W/788 depending on demand and capacity. So just because your flight says 763 today doesn't mean anything - check after 10pm Ethiopia time 2 calendar days before departure from Addis and you'll see what they have finally decided to assign you. Frankfurt has been operating on a 752 lately, so you might get stuck with one of those.
The 763 Business Class is, well, depends which 763 you get. The product bears absolutely no similarity across the 763 fleet. Most of them suck, especially relative to the 777/787s.
There are some really hot ET flight attendants FWIW....
You're in for an experience on ET. Likely not a good one. Not awful, but certainly not what you've likely come to expect in business, especially in the hard product.
I've experienced two versions of their long-haul 767s - one reclines ~30 degrees and has a leg rest that is useless if you're tall (I'm 6'1"), so no sleepytime. The other one is a cradle seat, with a seat cushion that articulates when one reclines...
You're in for an experience on ET. Likely not a good one. Not awful, but certainly not what you've likely come to expect in business, especially in the hard product.
I've experienced two versions of their long-haul 767s - one reclines ~30 degrees and has a leg rest that is useless if you're tall (I'm 6'1"), so no sleepytime. The other one is a cradle seat, with a seat cushion that articulates when one reclines the seat. Much better for sleeping, but not if one is a side sleeper.
Highlight: Animal cracker-type crackers in the shape of an airplane.
@Sig
what happened on Air Canadia? i am frlying them in 2 weeks... was it bad???
I took the linked photo on an ADD-MBA-ZNZ flight about 18 months ago. My understanding is that ET has several different 767 interior configurations, and that we were on one of the older ones that typically do regional routes. That said, it's ET, so there's no telling what aircraft/configuration you may eventually end up flying. The fun part about that flight . . . after being seated in business class (or originally booked class of...
I took the linked photo on an ADD-MBA-ZNZ flight about 18 months ago. My understanding is that ET has several different 767 interior configurations, and that we were on one of the older ones that typically do regional routes. That said, it's ET, so there's no telling what aircraft/configuration you may eventually end up flying. The fun part about that flight . . . after being seated in business class (or originally booked class of travel per our award tickets), a GA came onboard to try and force us to move back to coach so that she could accommodate some passengers who had experienced IRROPS the day before and missed their flight. Apparently they had been promised travel in the J cabin as compensation (originally booked in economy) and made a scene at the gate when they discovered that there were enough seats up front for only one of them. I produced a copy of our itinerary that clearly showed business as our booked class of travel and told the GA I wasn't moving unless the captain or local authorities asked us to get off the plane. She gave up on trying to oust us after about five minutes of impasse. The FAs couldn't have been nicer, though, and seemed genuinely ashamed that their co-worker had so publicly tried to oust us from our seats once we were already onboard.
I flew their 767 in business class last year. It's not as nice as the pictures would lead you to believe.
@ Another Steve -- Ouch, it's worse than this? https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8343363727_4fe1a8a6a8_n.jpg
Just got of of air canada "buisness" class on an e 190.
Sweet mother of god. I have seen things that I will not repeat
Looking forward to reading the post-trip report!
An Ethiopian 767 definitely qualifies as an experience. I took a couple last year from JRO-ADD and ADD-FRA. On departure from JRO, the pilot pulled up *hard* so we could get a nice view of Kilimanjaro while playing Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" over the p.a. system.
Food and service were actually above what I've come to expect from United, but that isn't really saying much.
Enjoy the trip!
I think we're in for an experience too (reading the report). Great job ET for giving us a nice trip report to read. When are you flying?