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How much does business class cost to book on Ethiopian Airlines?

Ethiopian Airlines operates a long-haul fleet of Boeing 787-8 and 787-9, 777-200LR, 777-300ER and Airbus A350-900 aircraft with various seating types. What’s more, equipment and product swaps happen regularly, as I found out on my journey.

Checking in to and boarding business class on Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines business-class passengers can expect the following priority services at the airport.

How comfortable was business class on Ethiopian Airlines?

While the seat map for my flight had shown the airline’s newer seats (and this was the case right up to the day before the flight), I was disappointed to board and see the plane had been swapped for one of the airline’s A350s with the older, higher-density 2-2-2 configuration. Several other passengers reacted similarly when they walked into the cabin.

This Airbus A350-900 had the following layout and seat dimensions:

Amenities in Ethiopian Airlines business class

Each passenger had a thick pillow and lightweight comforter waiting on their seat, though no mattress pads or pajamas were provided for this overnight flight.

Also provided were a pair of over-ear headphones that were not noise-canceling, a bottle of water and an amenity kit.

The contents of the bright yellow amenity kit included socks, a dental set, earplugs, a face mask, a pen, a comb, hand sanitizer and lip balm. The eye mask had a nearly fluorescent yellow interior that failed to block out any light — I recommend packing your own eye mask instead.

My inflight entertainment screen, which in theory could be controlled by a remote control housed in the center console, did not work for the duration of the flight. Neither I nor the crew could navigate beyond the welcome screen or set the preferred language despite our best efforts.

This wasn’t a big issue on a seven-hour overnight flight, though I would be disappointed if I had this issue on a longer daytime flight.

I noted the IFE screens were positioned lower than the headrest of the seat facing them, meaning they were well below my line of sight (and I’m 6 feet tall). This seemed like a design flaw, as looking down for extended periods was uncomfortable.

I did manage to find a working IFE screen at an empty seat in a row behind me and counted only 16 new-release movies, including “Barbie,” “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and “The Equalizer 3.”

Wi-Fi was offered on my flight, with prices ranging from $5 for a one-hour pass to $25 for a full-flight pass.

I purchased a two-hour pass but registered slow speeds of just 1.89Mbps download and 0.54Mbps upload, rendering it unusable even for basic emailing, so I soon gave up.

How was the food in Ethiopian Airlines business class?

Flight attendants handed out menus and a choice of Champagne or orange juice during boarding. The Champagne was Trouillard Extra Selection Brut, which retails for around $40 per bottle, and I appreciated that the friendly crew poured it at my seat rather than simply coming around with a tray of pre-poured glasses.

I was hoping to try some traditional Ethiopian entrees on my flight to Addis Ababa, so I was disappointed to read in the menu that these dishes were only offered on flights from Ethiopia, not on my flight originating in London.

Though boarding commenced over an hour before departure and business-class guests had plenty of time to peruse the menus before we left London, dinner orders were not taken until a full hour after departure, wasting valuable rest time on a short overnight flight.

The drawn-out meal service commenced with a round of drinks; the crew encouraged me to try an Ethiopian beer, Habesha. This was served with a bowl of teff, an Ethiopian grain with a nutty and crunchy texture similar to popped wheat, which made for a tasty snack to nibble on.

The two appetizer options were:

• Chicken reshmi tikka with kachumber salad and mint chutney
• Marinated grilled vegetables with sun-dried tomatoes, grilled artichoke hearts and black olives

Both were served with a side salad and bread and butter.

The chicken was a little dry and the plastic tub of chutney, complete with a lid, didn’t telegraph a premium experience, but it was a tasty enough start to the meal.

I was impressed to see a staggering 12 different wines on the menu for this flight, which must be a record for business class, with options ranging from a French rose to a Spanish red. When I excitedly enquired about some of the options from the menu, the staff looked confused, informing me they had only two non-sparkling wines available, which they could only describe as a “local white and a French red.”

More than two hours after departure, as my seatmate gave up on dinner and went to sleep, entrees were finally served, with four options on the menu:

• Confit of quail breast with thyme sauce, saffron rice, sauteed baby zucchini and asparagus
• Grilled pesto lamb chops with mint and rosemary jus, bell pepper, fondant potato and sauteed cherry tomatoes
• Seared salmon fillet with brioche, herb and nut crust, jasmine rice and anise-scented vegetables
• Lentil and pepper moussaka with tomato basil sauce, red pepper and broccoli

Rather than taking my order for the entree course, the crew brought out what was left, already plated and ready to serve. It seems that some passengers had ordered their entrees at the same time as their appetizers, while the crew had not asked for my entree order at that time.

Even seated in Row 1, all left was the quail and the salmon (I had my eye on the lamb on the menu). I chose the quail, which included a big, juicy breast with plenty of flavor from the thyme sauce. The vegetables were overcooked to the point where they disintegrated when I tried to pick them up with my fork, but it was otherwise a decent meal.

As the clock ticked closer to three hours after departure, with the cabin lights still turned to maximum brightness, the crew asked for my dessert order. I asked for whatever could be brought out quickest, so they presented a fruit plate just a few minutes later. The fruit was as good as you could hope for in the depths of a British winter.

Given the very long dinner service, where most passengers either gave up eating midway through the meal or audibly expressed their displeasure to the crew at the wasted sleep time, I appreciated that the crew waited to serve breakfast until 45 minutes before arrival so that passengers got more time to rest.

The three breakfast options included:

• Omelet with lamb sausage, shiitake mushrooms and sauteed peppers
• Apple and Gruyere cheese crepes with blueberry sauce
• Vegetable bhaji curry with mini cucumber naan bread

I ordered crepes with cinnamon tea in my tired, half-awake state. I wasn’t offered the fruit, cereal, yogurt or bakery selection listed on the menu for all guests.

The crepes didn’t look very appetizing and tasted raw and overcooked simultaneously.

They had a strange and unpleasant taste, and upon checking the menu again, I realized it was the addition of Gruyere cheese to a sweet pancake that was the culprit. It wasn’t a flavor combination I had tasted before and not one I would want to experience again.

The crew on my flight to Addis Ababa was friendly, warm and welcoming but didn’t seem to pick up on most of the numerous frustrations from guests in the business-class cabin on this flight. Most passengers would prioritize sleep on an overnight flight of just seven hours, yet the crew did not try to assist beyond delaying the breakfast service until close to descent. Failing to dim the cabin lights until almost halfway through the flight did not help either.

Would you recommend Ethiopian Airlines A350 business class?

I wasn’t expecting a world-class experience, and I was unlucky with a last-minute equipment swap and inoperative IFE screen, but I still left this Ethiopian Airlines flight a little disappointed.

It’s a shame the airline installed seats that have felt outdated for years now on a relatively new aircraft, and I didn’t manage much sleep on the lie-flat bed. At least the ground experience at London Heathrow was quite pleasant.

My biggest frustration was the glacial pace of dinner service, which stretched to almost half the flight length, and how bright the crew kept the cabin for it, making it difficult to get a solid stretch of rest.

I can’t recall the last time I witnessed so many unhappy faces leaving the cabin as I did after this flight, and despite awards on Ethiopian Airlines being easily bookable with Aeroplan points and other Star Alliance airline miles, I would consider choosing a different airline to East Africa in the future.