Ethiopian Airlines DAR-ADD Review

Before the Flight :

Check-in Process:

Lounge:

Information:

Boarding @ Gate:

Staff @ these points:

Boarding in Cabin:

Welcome Drinks:

Punctuality: , 10 min early

During the Flight :

Food presentation:

Food quality:

Drinks:

Service Procedure:

Amenity Kit: no amenity kit

Entertainment System:

WiFi: no WiFi

Seat Quality:

Legroom:

Lavatories:

Cleanliness:

General Atmosphere:

Announcement Pilots:

Announcement Cabin:

Cabin Crew:

After the Flight :

De-Boarding:

Baggage Delivery: N/A in transit

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= bad, a lot of work needs to be done

=not good, 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:

Check-in in Dar es Salaam was rather a hassle and a run from point to point.

First we queued for Check-in. Then an agent came and asked if we would have had our PCR test stamped. We said no, and had to go to the other end of the terminal where officials verified the correctness of the PCR test. From there we went back in to the queue for Check-in.

First, we had to pass a point where our documents were checked together with all the necessary documents required (passenger locator form & PCR test) to enter our final destination Switzerland. Once the check was completed and the agent took pictures of all the documents we proceeded to the real check-in.

The agent again checked all the documents and verified all papers before he checked us in and handed us all the boarding passes.

This entire process took around 25 - 30 minutes and it was rather a hassle.

All agents rather friendly and helpful.

Once we got the boarding passes and all documents the nicer part started.

As a business class passenger you get a voucher for the lounge and for the CIP emigration and security check.

They have a special area in the airport which is fully dedicated for CIP/First & Business. Emigration was a breeze. The agent was super friendly and the whole process took less than a minute.

Also the security check was done in no time as no queue at all and the agent was super friendly too.

I wouldn't have expected this CIP treatment in DAR and we were positively surprised.

Once through security an elevator brings you up directly into the lounge.

Also the lounge was top notch. Super friendly staff and a great choice of warm food and lots of cold snacks. The bar area was quite big as well and well stocked.

This whole treatment with emigration, own security as well as the lounge were actually better than most European airports and even some Asian ones.

Gate Staff was present well ahead of time and boarding started on time.

No real boarding announcements were made as well as no priority boarding.

All documents (passport, PCR test and PLF) were checked for a fourth time.

I do understand that airlines have to check the documents and want to avoid fines of wrongly documented passengers but having to show everything 4 times is a little to much.

Cabin crew was friendly during boarding and present in the cabin.

On board, once everyone was on, the cabin crew distributed water bottles and passed with welcome drinks. They consisted of orange juice and champagne.

The seats are comfortable and okay on this old Boeing 737-700 but rather on the super soft side. The seats are set up in a 2 / 2 configuration which is really good for a short haul aircraft. Not many airlines offer this great service anymore.

The seats were already equipped with noise cancelling ear phones as well as a pillow and blanket.

Inflight:

After take off the crew came to take the order for dinner.

They offered 3 choices of hot meals and the meal was served on a full size tray. The entire meal consisted of a small salad, a hot meal, desert and some cheese, crackers and bread.

The tray looked actually good but the taste of the hot meal wasn't the best but I have to say that for a 2hrs 25min flight this is absolutely a great service.

The crew was okay on this flight. They were friendly but did not interact with the customers.

They did hide in the galley and despite the service were never seen in the cabin. The in charge actually hardly got off from her jump seat during the entire flight.

Announcements from the pilots were good and understandable.

English announcements from the cabin crew were not understandable at all.

The in-flight entertainment on this old Boeing 737 was via streaming. I was actually super surprised that Ethiopian Airlines offers such a service. The choice of movies, films and music was actually good. Most of them were available in many different languages.

No WiFi available on this aircraft.

All in all a good flight. Solid product but nothing of the outstanding or extraordinary on this leg.

We would still recommend Ethiopian Airlines as we had much worse experiences with other airlines.

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.