[EasternPedlar]

Just wondering if anyone on this forum has flown on Ethiopian Airlines and transferred through Addis recently. I’m looking at flying to CPT from London via ADD on Ethiopian, and am trying to ascertain if this is a sensible thing to do. The transit time is about an hour. There is an immense difference in fares between ET and BA, and I don’t mind a few hours of extra flying, other things being well.

[sparkyflier]

I would be happy to try ET however 1 hour is very short, especially as that time (8ish in the morning) is the busiest time of day there. It may be a well-oiled machine being a major hub but an hour is not long. But that connection will be ET’s liability in case you miss it, and you can be Ok arriving in CPT the day after.

Others here though may have more experience than I do however (although friends, family and business contacts been lucky.. so far).

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EasternPedlar

[sparkyflier]

Just a thought, ET is launching or has launched a direct flight from LGW to ADD, in addition to LHR. LHR is daily and the LGW one I think 3/4 times a week. The LGW flight leaves at 10ish in the morning.
Maybe that option is worth investigating depending on when your trip takes place and the timetable you have. Maybe others can advise on hotels near Bole airport as that option likely needs overnight accommodation. Or take a look at Booking.com to get an initial idea.

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EasternPedlar

[LetsFlyNow]

On some days of the week (Tue, Thur, Sat + Sun) ET flies twice daily to CPT with the 2nd flight leaving at 9a.m. If arriving from LHR that would give you about 2hrs to transit and i think that shouldn’t be a problem. I’d try to get that flight.

Yes, the LGW-ADD flight is already operating but would mean overnighting at ADD.

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EasternPedlar

[AndrewinHK]

I would avoid Ethiopian, for me they have had too many safety incidents, 67 accidents since its inception, 494 deaths, I would prefer to pay a bit more and fly with another carrier.

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cwoodward, EasternPedlar

[VMR Travel UK]

Good Morning,
I fly ET regularly on that exact route and have never had an issue, in fact i flew three weeks ago and connected to thru ADD with only 30minutes between flights. Both me and my bags made it together with a colleague. I always fly business and i am Star Alliance Gold, that surely helps. However the family flies ex CPT and they have also had only positive experiences. The service is excellent and gives carriers like UA a run for their money. As for safety records, there are asian and US carriers that are on the same or worse levels, is that really an argument these days. If you want to fly ET you get a wholehearted thumbs up from me.

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EasternPedlar, sparkyflier

[MartinJ]

Over the past year I’ve connected through ADD on Ehtipian six times. Yes, the airport has two large waves of transfer passengers each morning and mid-to-late evening which makes the terminal and lounges packed to the rafters but these masses are handled effectively. Specifically, on deboarding late flights I’ve seen Ethiopian reps catching those passengers on short connections with signs, singling them out from the crowds and giving them a short-cut transfer where necessary. This has even included a car transfer between the two aircraft on one occasion. Can’t comment on bags as I hardly ever take any. Disclaimer: my experience is based on a non-status business class traveller. No idea if the above would also appply to economy passengers.

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EasternPedlar

[azidane]

I recently (last 2 weeks) flew from Manchester to Dar Es Salam on ET through Addis and on way to Dar we landed early morning and as mentioned the terminal was very busy but staff were waiting at end of airbridge for anyone with tight connections so you should be OK.

I chose ET over TK who were £250 cheaper as TK flies one of 737-Max variants from Istanbul to Dar, and that is one plane I refuse to fly on.

ET were excellent throughout and my miles appeared in my Aegean account within 2 days of each flight

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EasternPedlar, sparkyflier

[cwoodward]

There seems to be something of a disconnect here between the very relevant safety aspects of Ethiopian mentioned by Andrew and those mentioning that they enjoyed there flight and its lower cost.
An incident is not an incident until it happens and ‘incidents’ happen more often with Ethiopian than with most it seems.

When there are safer and arguably better choices available (perhaps at a small additional cost) I am left wondering why some are talking-up Ethiopian as the best choice.

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EasternPedlar

[MartinJ]

Hi cwoodward, As for myself, I wasn’t talking up ET but merely pointing out the efficiency of the ADD transfer process. I agree I’d rather fly on a European carrier but pickings are slim for many African destinations, often leaving ET as the only choice (with TK and SN coming in second and third). Besides, ET’s safety record is good by international standards, and excellent by African standards. Given all this I have no reservations flying ET even though they are not my airline of choice.

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EasternPedlar, cwoodward

[LuganoPirate]

I flew once a couple of years ago with ET from Cape Town to MXP via ADD with Mrs. LP. We had a 2.5 hour connecting time I recall and was looking forward to trying the lounge, but the incoming flight was delayed and we arrived with about 45 minutes to spare. A quick dash from the plane to the gate, which were poles apart, but we made just as they were boarding Economy.

The airport was very clean and everything was handled efficiently, though no time for the lounge. I was impressed with the aircraft and the amount of legroom in Business on both the relatively new (3 years) 777 and the 787 (first time for me on the 787). Food and service was very good and Mrs. LP said it was the best coffee she’d ever drunk – and that’s quite something from an Italian!

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EasternPedlar, sparkyflier, Ekond222

[EasternPedlar]

Thank you all very much for the feedback. I will be flying ET next month, and must say that I am super impressed by their flight network! They run daily A350s to Addis from all the major European cities, and on some days from LHR as well as LGW. The clincher was the ability to fly directly to Victoria Falls, saving on an expensive and time consuming side trip. They offer a short connection via ADD to a whole number of African cities. The attractive fare also helped.

I shall report back in April once I’m back.

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LuganoPirate

[EasternPedlar]

Incidentally ET still flies the 737 Max, and it is rostered ADD-VFA a few days a week. I made sure to book the 787 on that route. Hopefully there won’t be a switch. Airlink have a rather expensive offering on an Embraer for the VFA-CPT sector, but there is no choice.

[FDOS]

To put the ET fatalities in perspective

125 were caused by a hijacking and 157 were caused by a 737 Max 8 going out of control, where Boeing accepted responsibility.

Take away 282 from the 449 and then consider that 90 of the remainder were in a single accident off Beirut and the safety record starts to look somewhat better, though this latter crash does appear to have been due to human factors, which is not great.

I would no more blame ET for the hijacking or the Max 8 accidents, than I would blame BA for the dead in the air to air over Jugoslavia in 1976, which was caused by ATC failures or Pan Am over Lockerbie due to security failures.

Quite a number of the historical incidents involved DC3/C47 (old) aircraft and were in the 1960/70s, an era where commercial air transportation was nowhere near as safe as today.

Although I am not a proponent of ET, nor have any plans to fly on the carrier, the word I’ve heard is that they are a decent carrier.

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Paulantonycooper, GeordieTraveller, LuganoPirate, CheerUp, EasternPedlar, azidane, Ekond222, Phil_Duncan

[EasternPedlar]

@FDOS thank you very much for that great summary. I agree with your assessment.

Personally I am not a nervous flyer and generally regard flying as very safe on most airlines. ET has a good recent safety record, and I don’t hold the 737 Max crash against them. Their A350 operations are extensive and statistically extremely safe – 100s of flight each week, with no mishap.

Early movers on new aircraft types often face issues – do you recollect that an A320 crashed at the Paris Air Show on launch, followed soon after by a crash in India because of poor training on a completely new technology. Boeing has set a new low with the 787 and 737 Max issues and I’ve decided that I will do my best not to fly on any new aircraft type for say 6 – 12 months of trouble free flying. The 787 now qualifies as safe, but the 737 Max does not.

I will fly most airlines operating a reasonably sized fleet of recently built aircraft and permitted to operate to the EU and USA. ET ticks those boxes. What gets knocked out are some of the very small Central American carriers and the ATR operations in Nepal – though, when push comes to shove, I have used the latter (reassured by the 7 figure flight insurance provided by my credit card!)

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AndrewinHK, FDOS

[Author]

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