I have to get into the habit of actually posting things that write.
IAD to ADD
My journey started off with a 13 hour trip to Addis Ababa which is a hub for Ethiopian Airlines. When I boarded the plane I was greeted by the purser who offered me the choice of champagne, water, or orange juice and a selection of magazines. I chose the champagne and a Time magazine. At my seat was a pillow, blanket and amenity kit. I was seated at 4J.
For about 20 minutes I was the only person seated in business class. I think this has to do with the fact boarding started a full hour before departure. I was really impressed with the cabin on Ethiopians 787. It was very spacious due to the fact that business class was arranged in a 2x2x2 layout and there were no overhead bins in the middle row of the cabin.
About the 15 minutes before departure the boarding doors were closed and business class was about 75% full. One of the weird things that I noticed was, seated cross the row from me was pilot for Ethiopian. At first I thought he was deadheading back to Addis but it turns out he was one of the relief pilots. Several of pilots used this set of seats during the flight. I guess this is standard operating procedure for Ethiopian considering this set of seats had a curtain.
I read Time magazine during taxi and take off. The inflight service started with a drink service and light snacks. The flight attendant came through the cabin with a huge drink cart with all the available options. I thought this may have been standard operating procedure until I discovered later in the flight that for some reason no business class menus were available. I could tell this really impacted the service. The flight attendants had to explain not only the drive choices available to every passenger but also every meal choice. When you have to do this for 18 passengers the service is going to be slow.
After the drink service, I was served a salad with a wheat roll and a sampling of different meats. The salad was ok but the meats were a little rubbery.
Next I was offered a chance to sample some Ethiopian cuisine. I ended up trying the lamb, beef and chicken served on Teff. It was delicious and a little messy to eat considering traditionally its eaten with your hands.
The main course was next. I had the choice between fish or beef ravioli. I chose the ravioli. I was really disappointed in the dish especially after the Ethiopian dish. The ravioli was very bland. After the main course I was offered cheese cake for dessert with Ethiopian coffee. I passed on the cheese cake but I couldn’t pass on the coffee. I usually don’t drink the coffee on planes because I don’t know how often the pipes that dispense the water are cleaned but the coffee smelled too good to pass up.
After meal service I still had about 10+ hours until I arrived in Addis. So I decided to checkout the entertainment system. Ethiopian provided their own brand of headphones but I chose to use my own. There was a mix of newish American movies and TV shows as well as some classic movies. There was a large selection of Nigerian and Asian movies. One major issue with the entertainment system is that before anything plays there is a 3 minute commercial for Ethiopian airlines. This is fine for a movie but it gets very annoying on a 22 minute episode of ‘Big Bang Theory’.
I was still on west coast time and couldn’t sleep, so I went through the amenity kit provided. The bag was actually very durable and provided a hook that you can use to hang it up while you’re in the bathroom. The kit itself contained socks, a comb, eye mask, ear plugs, a pen, lip balm, toothbrush, toothpaste and toothpick.
After a while I decided to attempt to get some sleep. The lie flat seat was extremely comfortable (I expected no less since this was Ethiopian’s new business class product) but I could only manage about an hour and a half of sleep due to the fact that I had to let my neighbor out to go to the bathroom.
Before long it was time for breakfast. Breakfast was probably the most disappointing part of the flight. Basically it was pancakes with syrup and yogurt, nothing to write home about. Before long we were descending into Addis Ababa.
ADD to ACC
I couldn’t take a lot of pictures due to my connection time being only an hour.
On my arrival to Addis Ababa, I was amazed at just how many 777s and 787s that Ethiopian had. It seems like the tarmac was filled with planes. Addis is pretty small for an international airport and that evident by the fact that there weren’t enough jet bridges for arriving planes. When my flight disembarked, stairs and buses were used. Business class was supposed to have it own dedicated bus but for some reason the driver waited for the bus to fill completely. This was really nerve racking for people like myself that had tight connections.
Once I got off the bus, I quickly entered the transit area of the area. I was in a rush so I didn’t stop by the lounge but I used the normal bathroom. That was that a mistake. The bathroom was third world scary. Broken lights, the toilets didn’t flush, there was no soap. After that I went through security and headed to my gate. I waited about 15 minutes and boarded my flight to Accra.
The flight to Accra was aboard a 777. The business class cabin was a 2x3x2 layout. I was worried the cabin would be super crowded but I lucked out and only 8 people were seated in business class. I had the entire row to myself. I was given a orange juice and an amenity kit by the flight attendant. As soon as the plane took off I fell asleep. When I awoke, we were landing Accra.