I ended up with lie flat seats both from and to Chicago. From Chicago was a 777 and the return was a lie-flat 788. I enjoyed the flights. The service was excellent, up there with the best I've received. I was very thankful to get lie flats in both directions. The 777 has no footwell so no issue there, but honestly I have large feet and am a side sleeper and was just fine with the 788 footwell, too. It looks narrow to the naked eye, but no issue for me. From ADD to WDH we had an angled flat 788, and while I didn't try to sleep in it, one of my friends did and it didn't look anywhere near as comfortable.

My least favorite part of the flight was actually the food. Part of the problem is I'm not that crazy about Ethiopian food (weird I know), and that dominates the proceedings unsurprisingly. Even as we were approaching Chicago for an 8 am landing, they didn't serve a "regular" breakfast. It was the dinner menu. Not an egg in sight. But I'm not a foodie, and food is overall a small part of the experience for me. What really matters is the seat and half-decent service. The unpredictability of getting a lie-flat seat is Ethiopian's achilles heel right now. If these rumors are true and they swap out all the angled flat seats, especially for 1-2-1s, I think they'll be looked at in a totally different light.