After an unexpected upgrade, I enjoyed a restful overnight journey from London to Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines A350-900 in “Cloud 9” business class.
Ethiopian Airlines A350-900 Business Class Review (LHR-ADD)
You can read about my operational upgrade here.
Boarding commenced at 8:00 pm, one hour prior to departure.
Ethiopian Airlines
London (LHR) – Addis Ababa (ADD)
Monday, April 1
Depart: 9:00 PM
Arrive: 6:45 AM+1
Duration: 07hr, 45min
Aircraft: A350-900
Distance: 3,675 miles
Seat: 1L (“Cloud 9” Business Class)
My colleague and I were moved from economy to business class shortly before takeoff.
Seat
Ethiopian has two configurations of the A350-900. This one had the older B/E (Collins) Diamond seats, which you can find on carriers all over the world. The configuration was 2-2-2 and seats are 20 inches wide and convert into a 6′ 6″ fully flat bed, with a total of 30 seats in the cabin.
Bulkhead seats have more room for your feet:
There’s a small storage shelf for personal items, an A/C port between seats, and USB-A port at elbow level.
Unfortunately, this aircraft has no individual air vents in business class, though thankfully, the cabin never got warm.
Bedding included a duvet and pillow, which did the job just fine.
Amenity Kit
The amenity kit on Ethiopian Airlines has not changed in years: it’s a brightly-colored bag with a hook that can be used to hang it, then it rolls down into a toiletry case…quite practical actaully.
Contents included:
- eyeshade
- earplugs
- socks
- brush/comb
- toothpick
- mask
- hand sanitizer
- pen
- lip balm
IFE + Wi-Fi
This aircraft was equipped with Wi-Fi internet and business class passengers were provided a code (a common code…) to access the internet on this flight. I connected on my phone and it worked well…slow, but still able to easily send and receive text messages and email. Had I not had the promo code, three passes were available:
- 1 hour – 5 USD
- 2 hours – 10 USD
- flight pass – 25 USD
The IFE library included movies, games, TV shows, and music, though the selection was below average. I did not watch anything on this flight, though I had the map on for most of the journey.
Low-equality noise-cancelling headphones were provided.
Food + Drink
I was excited for the upgrade becuase I actaully really like Ethiopian food and in my past Cloud 9 flights, meal service has included a wide variety of Ethiopian dishes.
On this flight–maybe becuase it was too short?–only Western options were available. The menu:
To start, I had a shrimp and scallop ceviche with mango papaya relish, followed by “Manhattan” clam chowder soup (and garlic bread).
For my main course, I chose the veal:
Grilled Cajun Veal Rib Eye Steak
with Marjoram Demi – Glace Sauce, Duchess Potatoes, Green Beans and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
It was very good…
My colleague had fish and enjoyed it:
I did not drink on this flight, but a respectable wine list was available (you can see the choices above). Champagne was from Trouillard, which retails for about 40 USD per bottle.
For dessert, I had sliced fruit. It was served via cart, with a cheese plate and cake also available.
The meal concluded with chocolate truffles.
Breakfast service began 2.5 hours before landing, which was too early…unacceptably early. I would have slept through it, but for purposes of the review ordered a fresh herb omelet (served with tomato concasse, grilled chicken sausage, and roasted potato wedges) as well as a fruit salad, yogurt, cereal, and a croissant on the side.
While cappuccinos were powdered, the black coffee itself was Ethiopian…strong and bold.
Service
The flight attendants working in business class were delightful: friendly and professional. My only complaint was how early breakfast started, but I know they were just following instructions.
Lavatory
Business class has two lavatories in the front of the cabin and two in the rear of the cabin…the front one was clean when I used it and had lotion, nondescript cologne, and wipes available in addition to soap.
CONCLUSION
We landed before dawn in Addis Ababa, pulling up to a remote gate. It was a cold and rainy morning…quite the opposite of London, ironically!
I was so grateful for the upgrade…what a treat. The product itself is not industry-leading by any means, but the seat is comfortable, food was quite good, and the service kind and well-intentioned.
Next: customs mess in Addis.
Very nice food and drinks. Negroni with whiskey?
Overall, much better than Polish LOT which Scamtrax claim are 4*.
Dang I’m jealous. I’ve flown ET often over the last 10 – 15 years. UA 1K Star Alliance Gold and not once have they thrown me an upgrade.
Thank you for the timely review! I just booked business class 80K award tickets (each way) to fly to Johannesburg and return via Cape Town. A little concerned that the Cape Town to Addis Ababa is on a 737 Max 8- no lie flat seats for a long flight.
Glad you got upgraded Matt, but your experience is exactly why I never try and get upgrades at the airport (not lecturing you, just my own experience).
The few times where I have done so I have been met with a wall of resistance by various agents, who invariably tell me the flight is ‘full’ or ‘sold out’ when it self-evidently isn’t. Last year I flew Marrakech – London on BA and was hoping for an upgrade to Club given persistent back pain. It had over 9 seats available and the agents refused! Ditto on an ITA flight a few years back.
very frustrating – glad you managed in the end though!
I recently flew ADD to ORD on one of their 787s. It was tired and not in the best condition. But the kicker was that the biz class seats were not lay flat for an 18 hour flight!
Just a warning for anyone else considering this route. My aircraft was swapped several times and it was upsetting to end up with this clunker
One of tbe passengers in your pictures was wearing what look like a Rwanda Air t-shirt…
That is an insane amount of wine choices! Impressive overall
What a coffee story!