Review, Ethiopian Airlines Addis Abeba - Milan / Business Class
General Impression: 
Before the Flight :
Check-in Process: N/A in transit
Security Control :
Lounge:
Information:
Boarding @ Gate: 
Staff @ these points:
Boarding in Cabin:
Welcome Drinks:
Punctuality: , 9 min delay
, 9 min delay
During the Flight :
Food presentation:
Food quality:
Drinks:
Service Procedure:
Amenity Kit:
IFE System:
Seat Quality:
Legroom:
Lavatories:
Cleanliness:
General Atmosphere:
Announcement Pilots:
Announcement Cabin:
Cabin Crew:
After the Flight :
De-Boarding:
Baggage Delivery:
—-
= bad, a lot of work needs to be done
= poor, you will be busy with corrections
= good & normal, nothing special
= high level, but the icing on the cake is missing
= topnotch, leave me here!
= Half a Point/sheep
—-
On the Ground:
As we were in transit in Addis Abeba and checked through to Milan, we only had to go through security control again.
Addis has a Star Gold / Priority lane, which we were able to use. Today, there was just a short queue at the Security Checkpoint and we were through in around 5 minutes. The security check
itself was the same chaos as last time. Trays to put your personal belongings were just thrown on the floor from an agent and you had to get them yourself.
Also this time transiting in Addis was an easy thing and once through security we made our way to the Sheba Cloud 9 Business Class Lounge.
The Lounge is new and modern
and would have lots of seating facilities but it was so crowded this time, that we had to search for two seats next to each other.
The lounge offers a few soft drink and coffee stations as well as a all 2 alcoholic bars.
They also offered a main buffet with hot and cold breakfast items as well as two smaller buffets with cold snacks and salads items only.
Very special is the Ethiopian Coffee corner where you can enjoy a freshly prepared Ethiopian coffee.
Boarding time was indicated with 45 minutes prior departure.
Officially it started around 30 minutes prior departure.
As our aircraft was on an open parking position boarding was by bus. Ethiopian Airlines and Addis Abeba Airport have a sole bus boarding gate for Business Class passengers only. Boarding at
that gate was so chaotic. Simply imagine a Bus Terminal in central Africa with 10 departures in 5 minutes and you can immagine the chaos.
The idea of such a dedicated bus gate for business class is awesome but the procedures need to be fine-tuned.
Staff at the gate were super stressed and they were simply doing their job but otherwise nothing special.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by a cabin crew member.
The crew was friendly at the door and was present in the cabin whilst boarding.
Interactions and smiles were kept to a bare minimum.
Very soon after boarding they distributed the hot towels and offered the welcome drink, consisting of orange juice and champagne.
The seats were already equipped with headphones and the crew then passed with the menu cards.
On every seat there was also a fluffy pillow and a blanket as well as a water bottle and an amenity kit.
Inflight:
The business class on this Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350 is a very nice and solid business class product. The Airbus A350 has a total of 30 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration in
one section between door 1 and 2. This is the old style of Business Class on Ethiopians A350. Newer Aircrafts have a newer business class.
We were supposed to have such a newer aircraft but last minute they changed back to an older version.
The seats are comfortable and offer enough private space.
All business class seats are fully lie flat and you have enough shoulder space as well as legroom space.
The seat worked perfectly fine on this flight.
Inflight service would have been perfectly adjusted to the departure time of 00:20 AM.
After departure in Addis Abeba they serve a small snack only. You can choose from 8-10 options of snacks. They have soups, salads and small hot items.
The main service is breakfast before landing where they would have a choice of 3 hot breakfast items. I don't know if they were not loaded but not a single passenger had a hot breakfast item on this flight.
We did not choose anything after take-off and went straight to sleep.
We joined them for a small breakfast with coffee.
The service on this flight was okay. As said I think the crew did not want to do hot breakfast or it might not have been loaded. .
The quality of food as well as the presentation was okay. Nothing to speak or write about.
The cabin crew on this flight was something on between to the last flights. They were present but interaction with customers and smiles were hold at a bare minimum. At least they worked as a team and both aisles offered the same service.
Bathrooms were checked throughout the flight and always refilled. They were always clean.
The inflight entertainment system worked well. The screens are huge in size and worked perfectly fine. They had a good resolution and the touch screens worked well as well as the handheld
devices to navigate.
The selection of movies, films and series was good.
The aircraft was equipped with WiFi. We were not given any codes on this flight. For us it was okay as we slept for a nice while..
If you would have to buy Internet on board, the prices are rather hefty. 25$ for the entire flight, 10$ for 2 hours or 5$ for 1 hour.
Announcements on this flight were okay from the flight deck as well as the cabin crew. They were clear and understandable.
Deboarding in Milan was via jetbridge.
Immigration was a breeze thanks to the automated passport control gates and no queue.
Baggage was delivered 16 minutes after arrival on stand.
Unfortunately economy bags were delivered first and priority bags came out last.
Our summary:
A solid and good business class hard product such as the seats and IFE on the Airbus A350.
Crew is a hit or miss with Ethiopian Airlines.
Service Procedures as well as the quality is a hit or miss as well.
They terribly lack of consistency.
The crew was present but that was about it. Almost no smiles and no interaction with passengers.
In our eyes solely the price for the tickets will bring us back to Ethiopian Airlines as the seat is okay and that counts on a night flight. They will not win our loyalty by service or crew.
If they offer a good fare we will go for it, if someone is more competitive with prices they will win.
Notes:
- Paul the Sheep does not get any benefits from the Hotels/Airlines etc.
- Paul will always pay for the services in order to be able to rate freely and truly about the experiences.
-If you are interested in more details, please send me a private message and I will be happy to share