Seat selection on Ethiopian Airlines
Mar 17, 2018, 8:33 am
#61
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
Also I just checked seatguru for 788 flights from the US to ADD and all are now showing the older 170 degree angled flat seat for all three cities as the default. And I checked both ET509 and ET513 (the two flights out of EWR)
Mar 17, 2018, 5:35 pm
#62
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: United mileage plus, American airlines advantage, Delta, Jet Blue
Posts: 24
I just lost the long response I typed. Oh well, a harbinger for this trip so far. Anyway, I will defer to you both, who appear to know way more on this subject than I do. It sucks though. Why does EA do this? Do they not have enough planes with the newer seats, or is it just a matter of false advertising and they don't care? I really cannot fathom what purpose it serves to say one thing, and then change it at the last minute without good reason. In any case, the seats now seem to be "fully flat 170 degree angled" Something of an oxymoron since angled and flat are opposites. But aren't fully flat seats 180 degrees? How much different is 170? It still has to be a lot more comfortable than coach. Hopefully they have champagne and will ply me with enough of it that I will not care. I just want to be able to stretch my legs all the way out and sleep. I slept for 12 of the 16 hours from LAX to SYD in United's biz class seats, and for about the same on the Dreamliner from SYD to LAX. If I can sleep for even 8 or 10 of the 17 hour flight from EWR to ADD, I'll be okay. I'll bring plenty of Ambien though as insurance!
This entire booking has been a sh!tshow. I reserved seats back in September, using United miles, to fly from JFK to JRO, in business class on Turkish Airlines, which I was told has one of the best biz class cabins in the skies. JFK-IST-JRO. About 19 hours, getting into JRO at 1:15 AM on August 4. We booked a hotel in Arusha for the night of August 3 so we could get a few hours sleep, shower and have breakfast before setting off on our 10 day safari. Friday night, for no apparent reason, I just decided to go on Turkish Airlines' site and check the flight. I saw that it left Istanbul several hours later than originally stated and got into JRO 4 hours later. Went to United's site to check our bookings and it had us going JFK-IST but it ended there. No onward flight to JRO! Neither United nor Turkish notified me. Had I not just happened to check, I would not have known. To say I was slightly hysterical is an understatement. I called United, who called Turkish, and TA would not allow us to use our UA miles on the new flight. They did not care that we had been ticketed in business class since September, using UA miles, and even had seat assignments, nor did they care that we spent $16,000 on a safari and now had no way to get to Kilimanjaro. After hours on the phone with UA, with me having to do all the work to find flights, we were ticketed JFK-VIE on Austrian Airlines in business class, with a 10.5 hour layover in Vienna, and then EA to ADD, in coach(!) and ADD to JRO in biz. But this flight was several days earlier, which meant having to stay in Arusha and having to pay for two extra nights there, in order to get to the first game reserve that we had booked. Not to mention that the travel time was over 36 hours, about 17 more than our original booking on Turkish. That booking took hours on Friday night. I had basically no sleep Friday, and spent all of Saturday morning and much of the afternoon on the phone with United, my safari consultant, and on UA's Mileage Plus website looking at award flights. I called UA and booked, then called back to cancel, called back and booked and cancelled several different itineraries. While UA's agents were all very nice, I was the one who did all the work finding flights. After 3 or 4 changes, I finally found a flight on Ethiopian Airlines, EWR-ADD-DAR, leaving Aug, 1 and getting into DAR on Aug 3 at 3:40 AM. In biz class the entire way, 22.5 hours total travel time. Seemed as good as we were going to get. We have to leave from Newark rather than JFK, but that is a minor inconvenience. The bigger deal is that we are flying into DAR instead of JRO and it is costing us several hundred dollars to fly to JRO but we get to JRO in the morning and have 24 hours before we set out on safari. What can you do. When you are spending thousands of dollars, what's another few hundred? At least we don't need extra nights hotels in Arusha, which we would have with all the previous alternatives. The only other award flights were either 40+ hours and days earlier, causing us to pay for 3 more hotel nights in Arusha, or a flight on Egyptair, which I vowed to NEVER fly internationally again. The worst airline ever. Their biz class seats are like economy seats, and they don't even serve alcohol. No effing way. There was another Turkish Airlines flight, but I no longer trust them. I'm worried that they are going to change our flight from Zanzibar to Istanbul on the way home. Suffice it to say, I will be checking all or our flights twice a week. I cannot depend on United to notify me (I am sending the CEO of United an email regarding this experience). Anyway, sorry for the long complaint post, but I needed to vent about this. In any case, can someone tell me if Ethiopian Airlines biz class at least serves decent food?
This entire booking has been a sh!tshow. I reserved seats back in September, using United miles, to fly from JFK to JRO, in business class on Turkish Airlines, which I was told has one of the best biz class cabins in the skies. JFK-IST-JRO. About 19 hours, getting into JRO at 1:15 AM on August 4. We booked a hotel in Arusha for the night of August 3 so we could get a few hours sleep, shower and have breakfast before setting off on our 10 day safari. Friday night, for no apparent reason, I just decided to go on Turkish Airlines' site and check the flight. I saw that it left Istanbul several hours later than originally stated and got into JRO 4 hours later. Went to United's site to check our bookings and it had us going JFK-IST but it ended there. No onward flight to JRO! Neither United nor Turkish notified me. Had I not just happened to check, I would not have known. To say I was slightly hysterical is an understatement. I called United, who called Turkish, and TA would not allow us to use our UA miles on the new flight. They did not care that we had been ticketed in business class since September, using UA miles, and even had seat assignments, nor did they care that we spent $16,000 on a safari and now had no way to get to Kilimanjaro. After hours on the phone with UA, with me having to do all the work to find flights, we were ticketed JFK-VIE on Austrian Airlines in business class, with a 10.5 hour layover in Vienna, and then EA to ADD, in coach(!) and ADD to JRO in biz. But this flight was several days earlier, which meant having to stay in Arusha and having to pay for two extra nights there, in order to get to the first game reserve that we had booked. Not to mention that the travel time was over 36 hours, about 17 more than our original booking on Turkish. That booking took hours on Friday night. I had basically no sleep Friday, and spent all of Saturday morning and much of the afternoon on the phone with United, my safari consultant, and on UA's Mileage Plus website looking at award flights. I called UA and booked, then called back to cancel, called back and booked and cancelled several different itineraries. While UA's agents were all very nice, I was the one who did all the work finding flights. After 3 or 4 changes, I finally found a flight on Ethiopian Airlines, EWR-ADD-DAR, leaving Aug, 1 and getting into DAR on Aug 3 at 3:40 AM. In biz class the entire way, 22.5 hours total travel time. Seemed as good as we were going to get. We have to leave from Newark rather than JFK, but that is a minor inconvenience. The bigger deal is that we are flying into DAR instead of JRO and it is costing us several hundred dollars to fly to JRO but we get to JRO in the morning and have 24 hours before we set out on safari. What can you do. When you are spending thousands of dollars, what's another few hundred? At least we don't need extra nights hotels in Arusha, which we would have with all the previous alternatives. The only other award flights were either 40+ hours and days earlier, causing us to pay for 3 more hotel nights in Arusha, or a flight on Egyptair, which I vowed to NEVER fly internationally again. The worst airline ever. Their biz class seats are like economy seats, and they don't even serve alcohol. No effing way. There was another Turkish Airlines flight, but I no longer trust them. I'm worried that they are going to change our flight from Zanzibar to Istanbul on the way home. Suffice it to say, I will be checking all or our flights twice a week. I cannot depend on United to notify me (I am sending the CEO of United an email regarding this experience). Anyway, sorry for the long complaint post, but I needed to vent about this. In any case, can someone tell me if Ethiopian Airlines biz class at least serves decent food?
Mar 17, 2018, 9:49 pm
#63
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
I just lost the long response I typed. Oh well, a harbinger for this trip so far. Anyway, I will defer to you both, who appear to know way more on this subject than I do. It sucks though. Why does EA do this? Do they not have enough planes with the newer seats, or is it just a matter of false advertising and they don't care? I really cannot fathom what purpose it serves to say one thing, and then change it at the last minute without good reason. In any case, the seats now seem to be "fully flat 170 degree angled" Something of an oxymoron since angled and flat are opposites. But aren't fully flat seats 180 degrees? How much different is 170? It still has to be a lot more comfortable than coach. Hopefully they have champagne and will ply me with enough of it that I will not care. I just want to be able to stretch my legs all the way out and sleep. I slept for 12 of the 16 hours from LAX to SYD in United's biz class seats, and for about the same on the Dreamliner from SYD to LAX. If I can sleep for even 8 or 10 of the 17 hour flight from EWR to ADD, I'll be okay. I'll bring plenty of Ambien though as insurance!
This entire booking has been a sh!tshow. I reserved seats back in September, using United miles, to fly from JFK to JRO, in business class on Turkish Airlines, which I was told has one of the best biz class cabins in the skies. JFK-IST-JRO. About 19 hours, getting into JRO at 1:15 AM on August 4. We booked a hotel in Arusha for the night of August 3 so we could get a few hours sleep, shower and have breakfast before setting off on our 10 day safari. Friday night, for no apparent reason, I just decided to go on Turkish Airlines' site and check the flight. I saw that it left Istanbul several hours later than originally stated and got into JRO 4 hours later. Went to United's site to check our bookings and it had us going JFK-IST but it ended there. No onward flight to JRO! Neither United nor Turkish notified me. Had I not just happened to check, I would not have known. To say I was slightly hysterical is an understatement. I called United, who called Turkish, and TA would not allow us to use our UA miles on the new flight. They did not care that we had been ticketed in business class since September, using UA miles, and even had seat assignments, nor did they care that we spent $16,000 on a safari and now had no way to get to Kilimanjaro. After hours on the phone with UA, with me having to do all the work to find flights, we were ticketed JFK-VIE on Austrian Airlines in business class, with a 10.5 hour layover in Vienna, and then EA to ADD, in coach(!) and ADD to JRO in biz. But this flight was several days earlier, which meant having to stay in Arusha and having to pay for two extra nights there, in order to get to the first game reserve that we had booked. Not to mention that the travel time was over 36 hours, about 17 more than our original booking on Turkish. That booking took hours on Friday night. I had basically no sleep Friday, and spent all of Saturday morning and much of the afternoon on the phone with United, my safari consultant, and on UA's Mileage Plus website looking at award flights. I called UA and booked, then called back to cancel, called back and booked and cancelled several different itineraries. While UA's agents were all very nice, I was the one who did all the work finding flights. After 3 or 4 changes, I finally found a flight on Ethiopian Airlines, EWR-ADD-DAR, leaving Aug, 1 and getting into DAR on Aug 3 at 3:40 AM. In biz class the entire way, 22.5 hours total travel time. Seemed as good as we were going to get. We have to leave from Newark rather than JFK, but that is a minor inconvenience. The bigger deal is that we are flying into DAR instead of JRO and it is costing us several hundred dollars to fly to JRO but we get to JRO in the morning and have 24 hours before we set out on safari. What can you do. When you are spending thousands of dollars, what's another few hundred? At least we don't need extra nights hotels in Arusha, which we would have with all the previous alternatives. The only other award flights were either 40+ hours and days earlier, causing us to pay for 3 more hotel nights in Arusha, or a flight on Egyptair, which I vowed to NEVER fly internationally again. The worst airline ever. Their biz class seats are like economy seats, and they don't even serve alcohol. No effing way. There was another Turkish Airlines flight, but I no longer trust them. I'm worried that they are going to change our flight from Zanzibar to Istanbul on the way home. Suffice it to say, I will be checking all or our flights twice a week. I cannot depend on United to notify me (I am sending the CEO of United an email regarding this experience). Anyway, sorry for the long complaint post, but I needed to vent about this. In any case, can someone tell me if Ethiopian Airlines biz class at least serves decent food?
This entire booking has been a sh!tshow. I reserved seats back in September, using United miles, to fly from JFK to JRO, in business class on Turkish Airlines, which I was told has one of the best biz class cabins in the skies. JFK-IST-JRO. About 19 hours, getting into JRO at 1:15 AM on August 4. We booked a hotel in Arusha for the night of August 3 so we could get a few hours sleep, shower and have breakfast before setting off on our 10 day safari. Friday night, for no apparent reason, I just decided to go on Turkish Airlines' site and check the flight. I saw that it left Istanbul several hours later than originally stated and got into JRO 4 hours later. Went to United's site to check our bookings and it had us going JFK-IST but it ended there. No onward flight to JRO! Neither United nor Turkish notified me. Had I not just happened to check, I would not have known. To say I was slightly hysterical is an understatement. I called United, who called Turkish, and TA would not allow us to use our UA miles on the new flight. They did not care that we had been ticketed in business class since September, using UA miles, and even had seat assignments, nor did they care that we spent $16,000 on a safari and now had no way to get to Kilimanjaro. After hours on the phone with UA, with me having to do all the work to find flights, we were ticketed JFK-VIE on Austrian Airlines in business class, with a 10.5 hour layover in Vienna, and then EA to ADD, in coach(!) and ADD to JRO in biz. But this flight was several days earlier, which meant having to stay in Arusha and having to pay for two extra nights there, in order to get to the first game reserve that we had booked. Not to mention that the travel time was over 36 hours, about 17 more than our original booking on Turkish. That booking took hours on Friday night. I had basically no sleep Friday, and spent all of Saturday morning and much of the afternoon on the phone with United, my safari consultant, and on UA's Mileage Plus website looking at award flights. I called UA and booked, then called back to cancel, called back and booked and cancelled several different itineraries. While UA's agents were all very nice, I was the one who did all the work finding flights. After 3 or 4 changes, I finally found a flight on Ethiopian Airlines, EWR-ADD-DAR, leaving Aug, 1 and getting into DAR on Aug 3 at 3:40 AM. In biz class the entire way, 22.5 hours total travel time. Seemed as good as we were going to get. We have to leave from Newark rather than JFK, but that is a minor inconvenience. The bigger deal is that we are flying into DAR instead of JRO and it is costing us several hundred dollars to fly to JRO but we get to JRO in the morning and have 24 hours before we set out on safari. What can you do. When you are spending thousands of dollars, what's another few hundred? At least we don't need extra nights hotels in Arusha, which we would have with all the previous alternatives. The only other award flights were either 40+ hours and days earlier, causing us to pay for 3 more hotel nights in Arusha, or a flight on Egyptair, which I vowed to NEVER fly internationally again. The worst airline ever. Their biz class seats are like economy seats, and they don't even serve alcohol. No effing way. There was another Turkish Airlines flight, but I no longer trust them. I'm worried that they are going to change our flight from Zanzibar to Istanbul on the way home. Suffice it to say, I will be checking all or our flights twice a week. I cannot depend on United to notify me (I am sending the CEO of United an email regarding this experience). Anyway, sorry for the long complaint post, but I needed to vent about this. In any case, can someone tell me if Ethiopian Airlines biz class at least serves decent food?
If you can get back on the TK flight, there is award availability on TK form IST to NBO on August 3. It is a pretty cheap ticket from NBO to JRO (like $220 and 5 flights per day). Just a suggestion. And it would be full lie flat all the way (at least to NBO). Or if you stay on ET, there is award space on the four flights daily from ADD to NBO.
Mar 17, 2018, 10:28 pm
#64
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: United mileage plus, American airlines advantage, Delta, Jet Blue
Posts: 24
I am really sorry to hear about your terrible experience with having your award flight cancelled. I have had similar experiences and understand the stress you have been put through. IMO UA has a terrible track record in dealing with award cancellations. TK is a good airline as far as the flight, food and service goes. Their IT support and customer service is not the greatest though, at least from my personal experience. I would fly them again.
If you can get back on the TK flight, there is award availability on TK form IST to NBO on August 3. It is a pretty cheap ticket from NBO to JRO (like $220 and 5 flights per day). Just a suggestion. And it would be full lie flat all the way (at least to NBO). Or if you stay on ET, there is award space on the four flights daily from ADD to NBO.
If you can get back on the TK flight, there is award availability on TK form IST to NBO on August 3. It is a pretty cheap ticket from NBO to JRO (like $220 and 5 flights per day). Just a suggestion. And it would be full lie flat all the way (at least to NBO). Or if you stay on ET, there is award space on the four flights daily from ADD to NBO.
Mar 18, 2018, 3:41 am
#65
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,656
If you can get back on the TK flight, there is award availability on TK form IST to NBO on August 3. It is a pretty cheap ticket from NBO to JRO (like $220 and 5 flights per day). Just a suggestion. And it would be full lie flat all the way (at least to NBO). Or if you stay on ET, there is award space on the four flights daily from ADD to NBO.
Originally Posted by laurieco
But aren't fully flat seats 180 degrees? How much different is 170? It still has to be a lot more comfortable than coach.
Mar 18, 2018, 6:08 am
#66
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
The TK flights to Nairobi are a mix of A330s and 737-800/900s. SOME (but not all) of the A330s have flat beds, but the 737s and the A330-200s do not. I've suffered on the awful old seats on the TK 332 on that very route. Don't assume you'll get a flat bed on Turkish if you pick that option.
Mar 18, 2018, 7:33 am
#67
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: United mileage plus, American airlines advantage, Delta, Jet Blue
Posts: 24
The TK flights to Nairobi are a mix of A330s and 737-800/900s. SOME (but not all) of the A330s have flat beds, but the 737s and the A330-200s do not. I've suffered on the awful old seats on the TK 332 on that very route. Don't assume you'll get a flat bed on Turkish if you pick that option.
Personally I find the 160-inclined seats on ET to be slightly more comfortable than the fully flat ones because the fully flat beds have limited space to move your feet in a fully reclined position. I always sleep with multiple pillows and the 160-inclined seats give a very similar and comfortable feeling. I would not worry about comfort in the slightest, and the service on ET is perfectly enjoyable. If you like Ethiopian food, you will be in for a treat with their special injera and stew course served from the cart.
Personally I find the 160-inclined seats on ET to be slightly more comfortable than the fully flat ones because the fully flat beds have limited space to move your feet in a fully reclined position. I always sleep with multiple pillows and the 160-inclined seats give a very similar and comfortable feeling. I would not worry about comfort in the slightest, and the service on ET is perfectly enjoyable. If you like Ethiopian food, you will be in for a treat with their special injera and stew course served from the cart.
I have no idea whether or not I like Ethiopian food. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never had any. I suppose I will find out though.
Mar 18, 2018, 9:04 am
#68
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 3,648
same thing happened to me
lauriceo: same thing happened to me with UA award flights to JRO for a Tanzania safari. I was booked on TK flights MCI-IAH-IST-JRO in J outbound, and JRO-IST-IAH-MCI in J return. I booked these awards last October for travel in late August this year. I was checking my reservation flights online at UA and saw that TK had a schedule change that eliminated the IST-JRO flight completely and had me sitting in IST for 2 days on the return. I got o nthe phone with UA, spent 2 hours coming up with alternative award flights on ET. Like you, I had already pit up the deposit for a pricy safari and didn't have much flexibility with changing dates. I was able to secure ET J seats on the same days of travel I had originally, but have to cut the safari short by half a day as the rerun from JRO is at 5:00pm on ET instead of 2:00am on TK.
UA was very uncooperative through the rebooking process. Like you, I found the alternative flights that wold be acceptable and fed them to the agent. Their solution was to have me just cancel the award tickets and reinstate the miles to my account. I fly out bound on ET via ORD and return via IAH. Total lie flat seats would be nice but I am just happy I am able to get to Tanzania in biz class for my safari, even if the seats aren't as good as the ones on TK.
UA was very uncooperative through the rebooking process. Like you, I found the alternative flights that wold be acceptable and fed them to the agent. Their solution was to have me just cancel the award tickets and reinstate the miles to my account. I fly out bound on ET via ORD and return via IAH. Total lie flat seats would be nice but I am just happy I am able to get to Tanzania in biz class for my safari, even if the seats aren't as good as the ones on TK.
Mar 18, 2018, 8:07 pm
#69
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: United mileage plus, American airlines advantage, Delta, Jet Blue
Posts: 24
lauriceo: same thing happened to me with UA award flights to JRO for a Tanzania safari. I was booked on TK flights MCI-IAH-IST-JRO in J outbound, and JRO-IST-IAH-MCI in J return. I booked these awards last October for travel in late August this year. I was checking my reservation flights online at UA and saw that TK had a schedule change that eliminated the IST-JRO flight completely and had me sitting in IST for 2 days on the return. I got o nthe phone with UA, spent 2 hours coming up with alternative award flights on ET. Like you, I had already pit up the deposit for a pricy safari and didn't have much flexibility with changing dates. I was able to secure ET J seats on the same days of travel I had originally, but have to cut the safari short by half a day as the rerun from JRO is at 5:00pm on ET instead of 2:00am on TK.
UA was very uncooperative through the rebooking process. Like you, I found the alternative flights that wold be acceptable and fed them to the agent. Their solution was to have me just cancel the award tickets and reinstate the miles to my account. I fly out bound on ET via ORD and return via IAH. Total lie flat seats would be nice but I am just happy I am able to get to Tanzania in biz class for my safari, even if the seats aren't as good as the ones on TK.
UA was very uncooperative through the rebooking process. Like you, I found the alternative flights that wold be acceptable and fed them to the agent. Their solution was to have me just cancel the award tickets and reinstate the miles to my account. I fly out bound on ET via ORD and return via IAH. Total lie flat seats would be nice but I am just happy I am able to get to Tanzania in biz class for my safari, even if the seats aren't as good as the ones on TK.
Mar 19, 2018, 8:21 am
#70
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 3,648
I also wouldn't mind visiting Istanbul but the situation with needing a visa now makes it impossible for americans to visit Turkey as a casual tourist.
Mar 19, 2018, 8:59 am
#71
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,745
Mar 19, 2018, 11:56 am
#72
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: AA, UA, GE
Posts: 5,123
For both @laurieco and @susiesan, there is a thread in the Turkish Arlines forum over TK cancelling flights without notification.
TK cancelled my flights without any explanation
TK cancelled my flights without any explanation
Mar 27, 2018, 9:23 am
#73
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 3,648
Well, there has been another schedule change by UA and I had to change my award tickets once again. Now the return ET flights are on ET 510 from ADD-ORD. ET will not give me seat assignments on either TATL flight, they tell me they are too new and won't have seat assignments for future flights until May. Hopefully my husband and I can be seated next to each other.
Apr 29, 2018, 3:14 pm
#75
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 2
I have a number of flights booked with Ethiopian Airlines in May and when I view my seats, the one next to me is not blocked on any of the flights. I tried calling their customer service to ask about it, and the lady on the phone, even after checking with someone else, said that they didn't block seats for *G customers. I flew ET about 6 months ago and had noticed in the seat selection pages that the one next to me was always blocked. I'm not sure why this time it's any different. Anyone have any ideas on what I can do?