Review: Flying Ethiopian Airlines Business Class

I flew Ethiopian Airlines business class from South Africa back to the United States and in today’s post I am going to cover the ins and outs of my experience. If you’re planning on flying Ethiopian Airlines business class anytime soon, this post is for you! Or if you’re a nerd about business class cabins (like me!) and love reading reviews, read on.

How I got into the travel hacking game

I got into the travel hacking game a few years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. I used to use my points for economy flights but quickly realized the sweet spot is in business class / first class redemptions. I remember the first time I flew first class (on points of course). It was on Singapore Airlines and I literally thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I walked onto the flight and they greeted me by name and ushered me to my seat. I was then treated like absolute royalty for my flight from Manila to Singapore and then again from Singapore to San Francisco. When the pilot told us we were landing a half early I wanted to cry. I think I even said “nooooooo” out loud.

The whole time on the flight I was giggling to myself because at the time I was a broke grad student who had just finished backpacking through the Philippines and definitely couldn’t have afforded the cash value of that ticket.

That’s why I absolutely love booking business class and first class trips with points. Because it’s not a luxury I would normally spend my money on, I am extremely grateful for every trip I take. It’s never ever something I’d take for granted. I always geek out and enjoy every single minute of it. For me, I love every bit about this process even the frustrating hours and hours it takes to find availability. Working hard for the redemption makes it that much sweeter for me. It’s like solving a puzzle!

Okay, now that you know a bit more about my points story, let’s dive into my experience flying Ethiopian Airlines business class!

Where does Ethiopian Airlines fly?

Odds are you’ve seen Ethiopian Airlines in your flight search results before and for good reason as Ethiopian Airlines is the largest airline in Africa and has an extensive network of flights. You can find flights within Africa and long haul flights to Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East and Asia.

My route

I flew from Johannesburg (JNB) to Addis Ababa (ADD) which was a total flight time of 5 hours and 25 minutes and then again from ADD to Washington (IAD) for a total flight time of 17 hours and 30 minutes.

Yup, that was 22.5 hours just for these two flights and that doesn’t include the flight I took from Cape Town (CPT) to JNB on the front end and the flight I took from IAD to Boston (BOS) at the end of the trip. All said and done, I was basically traveling for 36 hours (including layovers).

For reference, I took a direct economy flight from Newark (EWR) to JNB on the way there that was a 15 hour flight. Add in my flight from BOS and my layover it was about a 20 hourish trip on the way there.

So was it worth it to almost double my travel time back home just to fly Ethiopian Airlines business class? We’ll dive into that.

How I booked this Ethiopian airlines business class flight

I mentioned that I geek out over flying business class and I love nothing more than trying an airline’s business class cabin that I haven’t tried before so when I saw this flight option I jumped on it. I ignored the fact that this would basically double my flying time and went for it.

I booked the flight through LifeMiles for 78,000 points and $150. Was this the best redemption? Probably not. Considering how long the flight time was, it may make sense that it was priced that way but I’ve flown much better business class cabins for less.

Either way, at the time I had the miles and I was eager to see what Ethiopian Airlines was all about.

My experience flying ethiopian airlines business class product

I will preface this review by saying that I’m assuming it depends on which aircraft you get as there is variety in their business class cabins. This particular Ethiopian Airlines flight was one of their older aircrafts.

Boarding

Getting onto the aircraft was pretty seamless. I had priority boarding and made my way to the business class cabin where a bottle of water was waiting for me at my seat. I am literally always thirsty when I get on a plane so I always appreciate having water already at my seat.

If you’re planning on flying Ethiopian Airlines business or if you’re a nerd about business cabins (like me!!) and love reading reviews, click through to check out my review of Ethiopian Airlines Business Class!

Cabin configuration

The cabin was configured in a 2-2-2 layout for both of my flights which felt a bit cramped to me. Hey, at least there’s no middle seat in business class!

Seats

Of course, the quality of business class seats are one of the most important parts of the trip considering how long you’re sitting in them. They did have lie-flat seats that were comfortable but they were a little small. That being said, I had no problems snoozing at various points throughout my long flight.

You also don’t have any privacy with your neighbor who is sitting right next to you. Given the cabin configuration, not everyone has direct aisle access. For me, that’s not necessarily the biggest deal but I would have liked more privacy with my neighbor especially given how long the flight was.

I had the aisle seat but any other business class passengers in a window seat would need to ask their neighbor to be able to get up. The seats had decent leg room but would have loved to see a bit more.

There was also plenty of storage compartments which is always helpful, especially on such a long flight.

The seats were basically identical on both of my flights.

Service

The cabin crew was great! The flight attendants were very friendly. They helped me choose a wine and it was nice to try both Ethiopian and South African wines. I was pretty impressed by their selection of wines. They were also very attentive on such a long flight.

Entertainment

The in-flight entertainment was really lacking. There wasn’t much variety. I didn’t mind too much because I had plenty of books downloaded. They did have noise-cancelling headphones which is fairly standard in business class though I didn’t get to really test those out since there wasn’t much to watch. If you’re someone who enjoys binging movies on flights, you might want to have a few options downloaded on your personal device just in case.

Amenity Kit

It’s always fun to see what amenity kit you’re going to get in business class. One of my favorites I got was on United Polaris where they had a mini away suitcase filled with their amenity products. I don’t even remember what was actually inside it, I just thought the mini suitcase was a creative touch.

For Ethiopian Airlines the amenity kit was in this little pouch that when you opened it had a hanger which I liked so you could reuse it. I’ll be honest I wasn’t a huge fan of the color but that’s just me being nit picky. Inside were basics such as hand sanitizer, lip balm, masks, toothbrush, etc.

Food

Similar to other airlines, you get a welcome drink (champagne, orange juice, etc) when you board with some snacks before they serve the main meal. There was also a second meal service given how long the flight was. I’ll go into the details about the food in the next section.

Stop for refuel

We stopped in Togo to refuel and were on the ground for awhile. This made me a little antsy as I was already flying for so long and we weren’t able to get off the aircraft.

Keep reading for my final verdict on whether or not I would recommend flying Ethiopian Airlines business class.

Was the food in Ethiopian Airlines Business class vegetarian friendly?

I was disappointed by the food, I’ll admit. In addition to the courses passed out (bread, salad, etc.), the flight attendants had a cart with various Ethiopian dishes to choose from as part of the main course.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many vegetarian dishes to choose from. What I did eat I enjoyed and I loved being able to sample traditional food. This may have been a miss on my part as I didn’t specifically request a vegetarian meal. In my recent experience, most airlines always have a vegetarian option so I didn’t bother requesting one on this one. If you’re a vegetarian or have any other dietary restriction, I’d recommend ensuring they have vegetarian options for you.

The other not so great part was that it was the same food over and over again. In my 22.5 hours of flying time I was more or less offered the same dishes. I would have loved to see more options.

Lessons learned

Everytime I travel, I learn something new and I definitely would have done a few things differently for this flight. Hopefully these lessons learned help you to not make the same mistakes as I did!

#1 Make sure the airline has a vegetarian option

Considering I’ve been a vegetarian my whole entire life you’d think I’d know this. And the thing is, I do know this but in my experience, if you request a vegetarian food option in advance of your flight sometimes you get stuck with the option that encompasses multiple dietary restrictions.

For example, there have been plenty of times growing up when I ordered the vegetarian option in advance for my economy seat and was given some flavorless dish that was vegan, gluten free, and other dietary restriction compliant. Sometimes there would be a vegetarian option that they were handing out like a ravioli but they didn’t let me switch to that one because I had special ordered my meal in advance.

You may think I’m being silly but as a hugeeee foodie, food is obviously important to me and is one of the things I look forward to the most in business class. But yes, I will be sure to double check my meal ahead of time and encourage you to do the same.

#2 Doubling my flying time to try out a new business class product may not be worth it in the future

Let’s be honest, 36 hours of travel is hard on anyone, even if some of it was in business class. I’m happy that I got to try it but I’m not sure it was worth going out of my way to add so much time to my travel to try it out. I just ended up returning home fairly exhausted.

#3 It’s important to do my research on what aircraft I’m getting

You’re not necessarily guaranteed the aircraft that you originally book with as airlines can switch out aircrafts last minute but still, had I done a little more research I may not have chosen to book this particular itinerary. Nothing wrong with the flight I did take, it’s just that since it was so long, I would have liked a more optimal cabin layout.

Again, I want to reiterate how privileged I feel to fly ANY business class. I know this review may sound nit picky but I do want to make sure you know all the ins and outs before deciding to book your Ethiopian Airlines flight.

I think it’s a decent business class product with the main drawbacks being the lack of privacy with your neighbor, the scant options on the entertainment system, and the not so great vegetarian options, though I do think the other passengers who ate meat had quite a different experience and enjoyed their food.

Personally, I don’t think it was worth essentially doubling my trip home to fly Ethiopian Airlines Business Class. I definitely think 22.5 hours is just way too long for me, even if it was in business class.

It’s a decent option for a shorter flight but not one I would recommend for long-haul flights. That being said, I do think it depends on which aircraft you get. The problem is it’s hard to know which one you’re getting in advance as, according to my research, they are notorious for changing aircrafts last minute so you could get one similar to mine which again is decent but nothing to rave about or you could get a much nicer one. It’s a bit of a coin toss.

I have read that there are newer aircrafts that have a different setup, with some cabins in a 1-2-1 formation which is a much better layout given everyone has direct aisle access and bit more space. I would be interested to try that layout someday – just on a much much shorter flight.

Bottom Line

I hope this review on my experience flying Ethiopian Airlines business class was helpful for you! If you’ve flown it or any other Ethiopian flights, I’m curious to hear about your experience. Please let me know!