The following is a review for a flight from Johannesburg to Washington, DC with a connection at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and refueling landing at Rome, Italy. The flight was provided by Ethiopian Airlines. There were two of us: me and my wife on this flight. Everything was on time. Enough legroom between the seats, I was able to stretch my legs and sleep for at least some time during the 14 hour second flight (19 hours in total for both flights). Very decent meals that included two lunches and one breakfast on the flight from Addis Ababa to Washington and one lunch on the flight from Johannesburg to Addis Ababa. The lunch choices were beef, chicken and fish, I think the vegetarian option was available as well, accompanied with beans. The breakfast was a choice between egg and pancake, accompanied with a fruit salad. The egg breakfast was awesome, it came with a scrambled egg and a sausage. However, my wife mentioned unusual taste of the pancake breakfast meal, by all means those were not pancakes. What wasn't good: Externally initiated commercials on the infosystem screens, you couldn't turn the screen off. These commercials were accompanied by loud and annoying music, transmitted through the entire cabin. Obviously, there was no escape from this music as well. Additional moment: on the flight from Addis Ababa to Washington, DC, we landed at Rome for refueling. This was totally fine and it was in the flight itinerary. But, the flight attendant asked me to straighten the seat while we were at the steady position during the refueling. I can't rationalize this order except that some people just like to be a boss of some kind. Keeping the light lit in the economy cabin while keeping it dimmed in the first class also didn't improve my and my wife's feelings. Overall, the services were very good and the flight, despite its longevity, went on very smoothly.
8.0 ExcellentVladimir A, Jun 2026JNB - ADD
Read more Ethiopian Air reviewsThe following is a review for a flight from Johannesburg to Washington, DC with a connection at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and refueling landing at Rome, Italy. The flight was provided by Ethiopian Airlines. There were two of us: me and my wife on this flight. Everything was on time. Enough legroom between the seats, I was able to stretch my legs and sleep for at least some time during the 14 hour second flight (19 hours in total for both flights). Very decent meals that included two lunches and one breakfast on the flight from Addis Ababa to Washington and one lunch on the flight from Johannesburg to Addis Ababa. The lunch choices were beef, chicken and fish, I think the vegetarian option was available as well, accompanied with beans. The breakfast was a choice between egg and pancake, accompanied with a fruit salad. The egg breakfast was awesome, it came with a scrambled egg and a sausage. However, my wife mentioned unusual taste of the pancake breakfast meal, by all means those were not pancakes. What wasn't good: Externally initiated commercials on the infosystem screens, you couldn't turn the screen off. These commercials were accompanied by loud and annoying music, transmitted through the entire cabin. Obviously, there was no escape from this music as well. Additional moment: on the flight from Addis Ababa to Washington, DC, we landed at Rome for refueling. This was totally fine and it was in the flight itinerary. But, the flight attendant asked me to straighten the seat while we were at the steady position during the refueling. I can't rationalize this order except that some people just like to be a boss of some kind. Keeping the light lit in the economy cabin while keeping it dimmed in the first class also didn't improve my and my wife's feelings. Overall, the services were very good and the flight, despite its longevity, went on very smoothly.
The flight was very smooth, however, the quality of food was mediocre.
The TV wasn't working No music for the whole flight from JFK to LOS It was too burring.
Flight was delayed by two hours. This really messed things up because I missed my connecting flight in Addis. I had a meeting in Entebbe which was scrapped because my flight from Addis landed later in the day.
I paid for internet that did not work and had to pay more to have it
Boarding was disorganized. Cabin crew was rude. Food was okay. Baggage was lost in Jeddah. Called airline for the past 5 days, either no response or saying the same thing as always which was "No bag has arrived. It should be here by tonight."
The crew were amazing. They should improve the inflight entertainment
The crew was unfriendly and very rude to name a few (Helina). I felt unsafe due to most of the cabinets were open while on flight. All in all the flight was ok, but the crew needed more training on customer service most of all for international flights.
Delay not posted, only departure time listed- not boarding time. We left an hour late and arrived 45 min late. Restrooms had backed up sinks and toilets not flushed ) passenger error). Lots of screen for entertainment didn’t work. But we arrived with our luggage
The plane was old and the luggage racks above us were visibly shaking during turbulence. Water was dripping on our heads during landing. Our flight was over 2 hours late departing but we were not updated or told what to expect as the screen at the gate continued to read “on time”
We sat in our seats on the tarmac for almost 3 hours due to storms. They would not give us water or a snack. We were to depart at 7.30 pm and it was about 10.30 when we took off. No dinner until much after that. Beef type noodle dish was terrible with about a teaspoon of beef in it. The breakfast sweet waffle with egg and sausage inside was horrible. An English muffin sandwich would have been much better. Food was the worst in all of our years of traveling the world.
Our screen kept turning off ...3 times...had to get crew attention to turn it on again
They messed up my seat so I didn’t get the one I paid for
Put me on standby; flight was late; missed my connecting flight; disaster
Flight attendants were fine, seats a bit hard but I use a cushion for extra support. The only issue was it was a bit too cool and I needed to ask for and received and extra blanket. I survived!!!
Very few things and/or people are excellent. It was very good.
Extremely uncomfortable seats. Experience was like a Frontier Airlines flight. Would not fly it again.
Very, very tight legroom. They must’ve jammed in an additional few rows of seat seating. Denver to Munich was the least legroom I’ve ever had on any flight, let alone a multi hour international journey. I will not take that flight again.
In my first flight with Air Canada we sat in the plane for 4:00pm to 6:30pm. Finally we were asked to get off the plane and we were told the flight was cancelled after 7:00pm There was o clear explanation of what was the problem. I was booked without my permission on a Delta Flight at 7:30pm that was leaving at 8:00pm and I still had to go get my luggage(my final destination was Rome with one stop in Toronto. The luggage claim for Canada was closed so had to return to finally get it on the luggage belt.. Of course I missed the Delta flight and all the next day flights were booked. I also lost what I paid for my stay in Rome because I did nt cancel in time. A complete nightmare.
Good food, overall very comfy. The flight was full so obviously not optimal, but it is what it is.