As a Xmas New Bad News, the Expat Pilot Managment Office came with NEW rules on how we should go home on our GDO's after a long hard flying month, by having the Expat Pilots seating on ECONOMY Y seat instead of C Business Class DISREGARDING the safety and well REST of the Pilot... safety is NOT an issue for the CEO of this Airline. The Actual Contract calls for C Bss Class for all Expat Pilots TO/FROM home on their Days Off, but since they new rule created by the COO came in place, they are making a BRIDGE of Contract disregarding SAFETY for all passengers. To all EXPAT PILOTS; before what ET had as BEST in the Industry was its Commuting... TODAY ET decided to Break this Best and make it a WORST, do not come and Fly for ET.

My family and I recently used Ethiopian Airlines flight ET508 on a trip to Lome, Togo for a wedding. The flight originally was scheduled to depart on Thursday, October 20, 2016. We contacted the airline in advance to inquire about accomodations for our bridal garment bags earlier that week and were then informed of a flight change to Friday, October 21, 2016. We never received any notice for any of the four tickets we held to inform of a change in date to our flight leaving from Newark, NJ. During our flight to Lome the staff were not welcoming nor accommodating to assist with few bridal garment bags that we were told would be stowed in the cabin. During our return on November 1, 2016 we ate the food served twice on the flight which gave us FOOD POISONING. We had to seek medical attention for the constant symptoms of dysentery. We DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AIRLINE FOR ANY SERVICE. PLEASE HEED THIS WARNING!!! The Ethiopian Airline staff at the Newark, NJ Airport as well as the airline staff were unprofessional, unaccomodating, and unsanitary. Our family are greatly disappointed by Ethiopian Airlines and will not support nor recommend ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES- disappointed us and we continue to publicize the airlines TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Try your best not to eat the food, you run the serious risk catching food poisoning and I mean serious food poisoning like Typhoid or Dysentery. The rats running around the Sheba Miles lounge are huge! The toilets are filthy and people use the hand basins to wash their bottoms, faecal matter everywhere. An aeroplane is not the place! Also it very much reflects the oppressive and despotic nature of Ethiopian politics, this is a state airline and you can feel it. The staff scare me and you know that one day your plane will be flown off to another destination because the staff want to claim asylum somewhere.

Unfortunately living and working in Addis, my husband and I have little choice.. On every occasion the customer service is poor, the same meal choice EVERY time. That 'Sunny' expired tasting snack for a desert!.. I have had luggage broken 3 times with no compensation even though the last time, they spent over an hour registering it and promised to contact me, no one did. Now to top it all.. I have food poisoning from the ET700 flight from Addis.

I had 24hours of travel with only chicken and rice or veggie with the same desert as an option for a meal and I am by no means vegetarian. The plane was not cleaned between flights and the flight attendant insisted on me using an already used pillow case and then she started to avoid me when I was calling to have a new pillow case replacement. The cleanliness of the plane can be massively improved too. I had to pay for a second check in from the US to Africa and then I was told otherwise from Africa back to the US but thecustomer service reps told me to talk it out with the United reps. What a waste of time!!! and MONEY!

Very disappointed by Ethiopian Airlines’ service! My luggage (KGLET15579) got lost between Ouagadougou & Kigali on the 31st of January and still no trace. The customer service (or better the lack of any service at all!) of your office in Rwanda is very poor – is this the standard of a Star Alliance member? Proposed compensation of 20 USD/kg doesn’t cover the content at all. What are the experiences of other passenger? Will it still be found back?

Very unprofessional customer service especially with flights coming from Africa. Will not use this airline again.

I had a very bad experience with Ethiopian. I flew from Delhi to Addis and connecting to Accra, Ghana. The seats were uncomfortable. The in flight entertainment system was as if non existent and not acceptable from a Star Alliance member. Food was also not that good and not any options. Addis Ababa airport is not equipped to handle so many passengers and i had to wait for 2 hrs in the security check Que. It was an aweful experience. Addis Ababa airport does not even have proper toilets and there was waiting for that as well. Whatsmore due to the airline cancellations and delays many people miss their flights and need to wait or sleep in not so good hotel arrangements made by Ethiopian where the hotel staff was not even ready to give water to the passengers.

When my wife flew last year by Ethiopian Airlines from Addis to Washington Ethiopian air lines cargo worker stole her stuff. When she got home the first thing she did was to check her luggage. She could not believe what she saw. She lost 16kgs Ethiopian traditional spices. I called customer service no one respond. Also I sent two email no respond. Two people from Ethiopian had the same experience and guys I would tell you to put more money and use another air lines. Or if you decided to use lock your luggage also taped around and take a picture to make sure you get back the same way it was.

My wife who is a frequent flyer and 2 kids aged 1.5 years and 3 months old infant who flew for the first time had used Ethopian airline to travel JRO-ADD-BOM and I was very upset of how pathetic service and treatment my wife and the kids got. Firstly I had booked a basinet for my infant and a baby meal for my child out of which they never gave the basinet and on top gave different row seats to my wife and the child, making my child who is 1 year old seat far from her mother next to a complete stranger even after requesting the staff were rude telling my wife" There is nothing we can do and it’s not our problem" so my child had to sleep on the floor next to her mom because " it was not the staffs problem". As I wrote earlier we had requested a baby meal for the child which during serving the meal they refused to give a baby meal or any meal for the child. Starving a one year old child is the height of being inhumane. This happened for both the connecting flight. At Addis they issued hand written boarding pass. Secondly, after boarding the flight my wife requested for warm water to make milk for the baby out of which a male hostess replied got get it yourself from the washroom. I really didn’t expect such an answer and even while writing to you I am getting more upset of such an answer. I want to ask what type of customer service is this, winning award for best aviation and service, posting on the facebook about the programs that the flight crew attends, is this type of service being taught??? I want an explanation why was this type of treatment given to my family is it because of their ethnicity, religion, gender discrimination or is it because they were economy class passenger.

Ive been flying Ethiopian for many years as my work is in Africa and the middle East, I only really fly them out of necessity as they fly to many different out of the way places, when I was working in Beirut one plane crashed a few Kms in the sea in front of my house, but I stuck with them but I have now decided never to fly them again unless theres no other option as the list of missed connections, mechanical problems, being kicked of a flight with my son due to over bookings, poor meals etc the list could go on, my last flight from Addis to Bangkok was the last straw, as entertainment system was from the 1970s, they even gave out the wrong head phones for the plane so didn’t work anyway, 3 half hrs into the flight sitting in the dark I went up to ask for a beer and they said they had run out.

We were supposed to be flying on Ethiopian airlines from the Seychelles on 1st Nov 2013. However, due to "a slight mechanical problem" the flight was delayed for 48 hours. They refused to rebook us on other flights and kept us waiting for 2 whole days. Absolutely no update on the situation was given, the staff were very rude, insensitive, no one even apologized for the delay, even more, no one bothered to care. They simply disappeared from sight. On the second day they actually took us back to the airport and let us wait there for 7 hours before telling us that the plane had not been fixed yet. All in all, we had to spend more than 20 of those 48 hours at the airport. We understand that delays do happen, but the way Ethiopian airlines handled the situation was totally unacceptable. I asked them for aletter of confirmation that the delay was not my fault (since I enocuntered huge problems at work because of that), but they denied to give me one. They just didn't want to be bothered about anything. I guess everything's fine as long as there are no problems, but they are terrible when things go wrong. I'll never fly Ethiopian airlines again. Why they are a member of Star Alliance is a mystery to me.

We flew Ethiopian on our honeymoon. When I booked the flight I noticed the short connection time in Addis Ababa and queried this with Ethiopian. I was assured that it would not be a problem. On flight day our flight leaving Johannesburg was late and therefore we missed out connection. When we arrived we were told to join a mob of about 80 other people that had also missed connections. Our flight only flew once a day so we were put in a hotel and given a transit visa. Not ideal for first night of honeymoon. As a result of the 24 hour delay we missed another flight that we had to rebook out of our own pocket. All those that were delayed in Addis were promised a USD300 compensation voucher. There was about 30 of us waiting for compensation as we were boarding the airplane to mumbai. The ethiopian staff disappeared and came back with vouchers for some customers. They then left and returned with some more vouchers. We were then boarded and again more customers received vouchers. At this point I was personally promised that they were coming back with a voucher for myself. They didn't come back before the plane took off. At the time I was just relieved to be on our way to our destination, but you can understand that I'm not happy about some customers receiving compensation and me and my wife not receiving. When we arrived in Mumbai that had also lost our bags. It's now two weeks later and we have still not received our compensation. We are back home and don't intend to fly Ethiopian ever again, so a voucher for Ethiopian airlines is not particularly useful in any case. Overall, the worst flying experience I've ever had.

Route: Johannesburg to Addis Abbaba and Addis to Bangkok Check-in: In Johannesburg - farcical and slow. Slow system. The same in Bangkok. In Addis there is no structure, no queues. Planes: they brag about their new fleet, but the plane from JHB to Addis may have been newish, but the floors were dirty, the trays had old food on them, the individual TV screens scratched, the sound appalling. The flight from Addis to Bangkok (and back) was on the oldest plane I have flown in. No individual screens and some of the instructions were still in German. Hub: Bole International Airport in Addis is no hub. It is a glorified shed. Three restrooms serve it, there are not enough seats, there are no lounges. Service: characterless staff, some rude, some with exaggerated American accents, unhelpful and unprofessional (in Addis, when we taxied, people already got up ... no control from the staff) Verdict: it gives Star Alliance a bad name. I will never fly them again.

I flew Ethiopian first time in 2012, mainly because their price from IAD to NBO was the cheapest I could find then. Subsequently, and without much more experience with them, I started recommending them to friends Then came 2013 and I bought 3 tickets NBO-IAD-NBO and IAD-NBO-IAD. And by those purchases, I opened the floodgates of frustration and financial nightmares I paid online, and then called as a follow up because two of the trips were originating away from me, and the sales agent told me they don't need me to do anything more. They then denied the passengers boarding in NBO saying the owner of the cc used to purchase the tickets must be a traveler. This had been the exact reason I had called them to confirm because I am in USA and the two trips were origination in NBO. They then demanded that the purchaser of the tickets contact their Washington, DC office. Long story short, they made a kill as they charged me hundreds of dollars per ticket to reschedule the flight. They then mixed up the tickets, and had wrong travel dates for one of them. I refused to pay again to reschedule and they grudgingly corrected the dates. Then later I needed to change a travel date. I called at least 5 times, would get a live person, then he would say to hold on. After holding for about one hour each time, a machine would say that the line is busy and I should try later, then they would disconnect. The one time I managed to talk to a live person about my need he said that I would have to pay about $1700 to change a ticket that I had already paid $985 for! He explained that it was now high season. Eventually, I got fed up and decided to drop the tickets and called their head office to ask for whatever refund I can get on the tickets already purchased. I called their head office at least 4 times because they would disconnect before concluding my transaction. the first time they told me I would get a refund of about $298 on a ticket of about $1500 which had been used one way. The second time they told me a refund of $16. The third time they told me a refund of $300, and told me to call their Washington DC office to get the refund. A Mr. Eshetu at their Washington DC office told me I don't get a single cent back on the ticket that had been used one way, even though I was calling almost a month before the return trip. So, one round-trip ticket which had been used for one leg of the trip I got not a single cent back even though their head office said I would get some money back. The second ticket which had yet to be used I got about 60% back. The third ticket I let it be used fully. The customer service in this airline is completely unprofessional and I would NEVER recommend this airline to anyone.

my sis made me enter it and how I hate the experience. I had excess luggage and was looking for how to pay. trying to use my card. All they did was close the counter and asked me to pay penalty. all 2gether I paid over 900usd with my sis. I regret it. they are heartless. the mgr in Dubai is the worst

I have flown on Ethiopian Airlines domestic flights several times - at least 10 times. They frequently change their flight schedule. They usually ring to notify customers of this, but several times I have turned up at the airport and the flight time has changed and I haven't informed. Luckily, I still made it on time. One time they moved the flight earlier and I had friends on a connecting international flight resulting in them coming close to missing their flight. The manager treated me poorly when I asked that they hold the check-in gate open for us, considering EA lay at fault for this time change. I was given no apology or reason for the time change. Recently, I flew Addis - Bahir Dar. The Addis check-in was mayhem. There were no queues. Several flights were leaving at the same time, but there was no order. Everyone pushed and shoved to get their boarding passes and we were told we might miss our flight as they had moved it forward with no explanation. On our return, the flight was delayed for 1.5 hours because the pilot was sick. The feeling I get from EA is that they don't care about their customers.

I would like to complain about the overall service of Ethiopian Airlines. Except for some of the staff members that were very friendly. Nairobi to Johannesburg over Addis. At the check in NBO, they did all the procedures and after printing the boarding card, she immediately shredded it and asked me if I had paid with a credit card. That I had, so I had to go to the office, for them to verify something. I asked them why only I had to go in there, and if none of the other people had paid with credit cards. They even dared to claim that none of them had. When I went back to the check in, I had to wait again. Afterwards they even asked me again if I had paid with a credit card and I have to be honest that at that point I was already boiling. When we got on the plane, I found out that they had put me in the middle. Then what is the point of indicating your seat when you book your flight? The seats where extremely uncomfortable and I had the passenger next to me leaning on me the whole flight. Addis is the worst organised airport that I have come across in Africa, and it is only by asking the staff (who were friendly) that I could find my gate on time for the next flight. This flight had only a small delay and was reasonably fine. Johannesburg to Nairobi over Addis. As we waited in Johannesburg for our flight on Sunday, we were told that there would be a delay of 2h, the minute we checked in and they gave us food vouchers. So no complained there, but 2h became 3, 4 en 5h, without any explanation or satisfaction. Even the staff members that came to wait together with us, could not explain the reason why, nor tell us when we would leave. Since it says in Ethiopian Airlines' 'customer commitment' that they will inform us, and explain, I believe it is a lack of respect towards the customers, to keep us waiting like that, without further explanations. Upon arrival in Addis, we were informed if our connection had already left or not by friendly staff (no complains there). As I had missed my connection, I was brought to a hotel to spend the night. This hotel (Crown hotel) was disgusting. Not only were the rooms dirty, wallpaper coming of the walls, dirt (mould) marks on the carpet, disgusting shower, when I went to the restaurant in the morning for breakfast, I felt happy that I didn't have dinner there the previous night. One of the waiters even cleaned a spoon with his fingers before putting it in the sugar bowl. And the tablecloths had the marks of the previous eaters on them. When we finally arrived in Nairobi on Monday, my luggage was not there. It did not come on the the next flight. I could finally go back to the airport to pick it up on Wednesday, because they don't deliver like other airlines. As you can see from my points written above, I am extremely dissatisfied with the care from Ethiopian Airways. Although it is written in the 'customer commitment' that it wishes to provide the best service, this seem like hollow words to me. As I work for my government, and we have budgetary restrictions, we are urged to use the least expensive means of travel. But I have just written an official mail to the finance department, to inform them that I will never go through this again, and I refuse to use Ethiopian Airlines. Also have I informed my colleagues of this 'adventure' and advise them to avoid Ethiopian Airlines. Knowing that delays can happen (and as I travel for work, I have seen my part of them) with every airline, the lack of information was terrible, and not one other airline ever dared to put me in a hotel like the one ET used for his customers. After writing emails to them, I have never received any response from Ethiopian Airlines (even though they say that our feedback is important to them) Never ever will I book a flight with Ethiopian Airlines again.

I booked my flight in Nov 2012 for Kenya from Washington DC. A few days later my niece changed the return date to 6 days later.This included a penalty of $300 which I was happy to pay. The Flight itself was okay we left DC on time and 11 hours later arrived in ADD and after a 2 hour lay over we left for Nairobi. My return trip is when my nightmare begun !! January 15,2013 I arrive at Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi,Kenya and a gentleman working for Ethiopian Airlines says I can't board my flight unless I pay a penalty of $300 because I changed my flight dates. I explained to him that a payment of $300 had already been made and I pulled out my Itinerary and proof of payment which he disregarded. This man was rude and had the worst customer service I have seen in a long time.My wife tried to reason with him and he said nothing was showing on his computer and if I wanted to board that flight I had to pay the money. I saw no reason to argue further I paid another $300 in cash and got a receipt.I arrived in Washington and had my niece call their offices we were put through a call center in India and we explained what had happened.They asked me to scan the receipt and wait to hear from them. A month later Feb 2013,I got an email from one of their staff here in DC saying they were looking into this and they would get back to me. In March 2013 I emailed and said I hadn't heard anything.I never got a response.A week later my niece who booked the flight called their call center in India and we got a direct number of somebody I would be dealing with here in DC. We called the number and we were told the person dealing with the case was on holiday and she would get back to us.That was two weeks ago!! Six months later and Ethiopian Airlines have not refunded my money.They should be ashamed of themselves. one thing is for sure I know I will never fly with them again.I will prefer to pay more money and fly with a different airline.

My husband and I both got food poisoning. It was all we ate all day so it had to be from that. Horribly sick for two days.