Star Alliance - Ethiopian vs Turkish in Y

I'm beginning to plan my fall vacation to South Africa, and would like to earn some United mileage while I'm at it. Normally my choice would be something like PIT/DCA/IAD-YYZ-FRA/MUC-JNB/CPT on AC and South African, but the vagaries of operating carrier class based earning cheese me off (think LH/LX K fares, SA G fares), especially when dealing with United codeshares and the like.

Turkish and Ethiopian seem to be much more straightforward, with the lowest fares earning 100% mileage. I'm leaning towards Turkish (mostly because the connection in ADD is only 45 minutes plus the possibility of upgrading to their enhanced economy product), but can be swayed. There's not a lot of info about Ethiopian out there, and what little I have read makes them sound a bit dodgier than Turkish.

Any recommendations?

IST is a great connection point. TK's Economy Comfort product is very nice and their regular Y doesn't suck too badly.

I don't have any data on Ethiopian, but if the TK option is comparable on price and time I'd take it and not think twice.

I have taken TK to JNB from JFk via IST and was very pleased with the experience. I had an IRROPS situation with TK in JNB on the return that was handled poorly, but otherwise very enjoyable in Y. I think the Premium Y is only available on the JFK-IST RT portion and not the IST-JNB RT portion.

Having flown TK, their catering ex-IST is excellent with DO + CO. You really can't go wrong with their meals. TK does aircraft swap on occasion. Their base fares on Aeroplan only earn 70% - don't know if that is also the case with UA MP.

I have not flown ET however had heard anecdotal information about their food. It is so so apparently. I would think their safety is better amongst your choice of african airlines in my opinion. Base fares on Aeroplan are %100.

Stick with TK, any trip reports I have seen for ET suggest a sub-par performance. In any event TK Y food is amongst the best out there.

Seems like a definite consensus in favor of TK. Only downside I see to flying them is that they don't have the economy comfort product out of either IAD, ORD, and JNB. Seems slightly strange they'd only put it on the 773s.

I have flown ET in Y but not TK. My overall thoughts are ET has a decent hard Y product including IFE but their soft product is average at best. Also, transiting ADD sucks in terms of the airport has very little to do. Only a hand full of shops, a couple of restaurants and one lounge.

If I were in your place, I would take TK just for the opportunity to stop on the way there on the way back for a few days.