Originally Posted by
Mark Abdy
Flying on ET: I am planning a trip from Washington-Dulles to Addis (ET501) arriving at 07:15 and then connecting from Addis to Windhoek (ET835) that departs at 08:35. That's a 1hr20min transfer if all flights are on time. Reading through this thread, it appears that we'd very likely need to catch a bus from the arriving flight to Terminal 2 and then walk to the departing Windhoek flight gate. Reality check needed: Even though these flights are offered when I enter them on the ET website, is this possible in 1hr20minutes? ExpertFlyer says the Washington-Dulles flight has a 70% reliability and averages 21 minute delays. Your thoughts would be appreciated. .
I looked at the ET501 flight history on another website (flightradar24). Over the last 90 days ET501 arrived significantly late on 5 of these days. The only day on where you would have missed your flight was departing on March 10, 2023. For whatever reason the flight did not depart IAD until 13:33 and did not arrive at ADD until 10:05. Flight ET835 had long since departed by that time. There were 4 other incidents of ET501 being close to or more than 60 minutes late. However on each of those occasions, the departure of ET835 was delayed around the same amount of time. I have seen this on other connections through ADD. I personally believe that ET purposely does this to make sure everybody makes connections, when possible.
I have never missed a connection at ADD. However sometimes it gets cut close and the stress/indigestion levels can get a bit high. We fly ET as safari tourists visiting Africa. I always book to arrive over 24 hours before my departing connection to my eventual destination. This allows you to miss a connection and still arrive in time.