Etihad JNB - AUH Review

Paul‘s Flight Report
Flight: EY602
JNB - AUH / Boeing 787-9
Flight Time: 7 hours 40 minutes
Business Class

 

General Impression: 🐑🐑🐑🐑

Before the Flight :
Check-in Process: 🐑🐑🐑
Security Control : 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lounge: 🐑🐑🐑
Information: 🐑🐑🐑
Boarding @ Gate: 🐑🐑
Staff @ these points: 🐑🐑🐑
Boarding in Cabin: 🐑🐑🐑
Welcome Drinks: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Punctuality: 🐑🐑🐑🐑, on time
During the Flight :
Food presentation: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Food quality: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Drinks: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Service Procedure: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Amenity Kit: 🐑🐑🐑
Entertainment System: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Seat Quality: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Legroom: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lavatories: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Cleanliness: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
General Atmosphere: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Announcement Pilots: 🐑🐑🐑
Announcement Cabin: 🐑🐑🐑
Cabin Crew: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
After the Flight :
De-Boarding: 🐑🐑🐑
Baggage Delivery: In Transit
—-
🐑 = 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:
We checked in on the mobile phone the day before and just had to drop our bags at the airport.
There was a little queue at the business check-in desk as only one desk was open. The agent was friendly qbd and chatted with us.
The Security Check was good. There was a short queue of about 10 minutes waiting time but that was no problem at all.
Agents at security check were friendly and chatted with the passengers.

Once through security and emigration we made our way to Shongololo Lounge which is Etihad contracted Business class lounge in Johannesburg.

The lounge has a decent size and during this early morning departure (10:20AM) Etihad is the only carrier in the lounge.
The lounge offers drinks as well as two coffee stations in the morning. Hard alcoholic drinks aren't available which is completely fine.
They offered a big variety of hot and cold dishes, salads and dessert and especially a tremendous choice of sandwiches, toasties and wraps.
All in all a good business class lounge.
Boarding started 50 minutes prior departure.
There was a priority lane and regular lane for boarding.
Staff at the gate was just doing their job. No smiles no nothing.
At the aircraft door we were greeted by the senior cabin crew member.
The crew was very friendly at the door and whilst boarding.
The crew on this flight was present in the cabin whilst boarding and very soon distributed the welcome drink. A much bigger choice than on the last flights.

The seats were already equipped with headphones and the menu. The crew then passed with the amenity kits as well as a bottle of water.

Inflight:
The Etihad business class is actually a nice product. The 787-9 has a total of 28 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. On this air plane type the even seat row numbers are actually flying backwards.
The seats are very comfortable and offer enough privacy. Unfortunately they do not have sufficient storage space at the seat itself.
All business class seats are fully lie flat and you have enough shoulder space as well as legroom space.
On this flight everything worked well with the seat
After take off the cabin crew first came around to take the meal orders. Then they started with the service.
After around 30 minutes an aperitif was served together with some nuts.
Around 45 minutes after take off they started with the main service. On this flight the main service was lunch and a small "all day" snack prior landing.
The main meal consisted of an appetizer, soup, main meal, cheese and dessert.
The snack was on your own choice.
Presentation of the food was very nice and the quality of the food was stunning. Even better than on the outbound flight of their home base Abu Dhabi.
The meals were hot, tasty and fresh. They were simply super delicious.

We skipped the pre landing snack as we have a 6 hour transit time where we can eat in the lounge.

The cabin crew on this flight were fantastic. The crew was interacting with all customers, asked for refills, offered help and you could see that they loved what they were doing. They were super present in the cabin and took also the time to talk to customers. You definitely felt pampered by the crew.

Bathrooms were checked throughout the flight and always refilled. They were always super clean.

The amenity kit is ok and offers the regular content. (socks, toothbrush, eye mask and some lipbalm and cream). Etihad has Aqua di Parma as it's provider.

The inflight entertainment is good and the screens worked fine. They have a good size and resolution for business class. The screens are touch screens but you can also choose the handheld devices to navigate.
Etihad Airways has a fantastic selection of movies, films and series. Even there weren't many new blockbusters recently they have them all on their IFE.

The aircraft would have been equipped with wifi. The prices would have been moderate but we did choose to relax. The only thing which is bothersome that for the highest price, 24.90$ with other airlines you get unlimited data and here with Etihad it is restricted to solely 300MB which isn't sufficient for a long haul flight.

Announcements on this flight were very clear from the flight deck and understandable from the cabin crew even they were still way to fast.

So let's see how the transit procedure works this time in Abu Dhabi.

Our summary:
So far this 3rd flight with Etihad Airways (out of 4) was the best one so far. Super friendly and attentive crew, a great Inflight service with a super delicious catering.
If all flights would be like this, we definitely would recommend Etihad. Let's see how the next flight goes.
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