Seat selection on Ethiopian Airlines
 

I have some upcoming flights (in October) with Ethiopian Airlines and I would like to know if it's possible to choose my seats in advance. I'm Star Alliance Gold.

Best,

Granite64

I don't have any status but flew them to JNB last September in biz class and was able to email them with a request, and they responded with a confirmation. I think if they can't fulfill the request they will try and seat you close by. If not to your liking you can reply with your preference and hopefully that will work.

Thanks! I will give that a try. ^

Seat preference on ET doesn't matter if you have *G or not, they don't have any special seating areas like certain airlines, it's just first come first serve.

No I was not looking for special seating areas like they have on some US airlines I just wanted to pick a good window seat. :D

Not true. They will pre-seat *G in exit rows and bulkhead on request. They also block the seat next to *G on flights that are not full.

Good points. Forgot about the seat blocking for *G though in my experience it never works. I usually sit pretty close to the front and it seems that as soon as seating goes to airport control they fill the plane front to back. There have been a fair number of times I've seen the very rear of the plane with tons of empties and some lucky people using them as a sky couch, so the check-in staff don't seem to be making much of an effort to maintain the *G seat blocking.

I always wonder on the long hauls, it doesn't seem there are typically a lot of *G per flight in economy. Fairly often the purser comes around thanking *G members for flying ET and asks for suggestions, but I don't see them making a lot of stops in the cabin. The lounge though tells a different story.

Seat reservations on ET
 

I'm flying quite a bit on ET and in my experience:

1) ET allows seat reservations regardless of status - this can be requested by one's travel agent or, if booking directly with ET, be done online or at the ET office.

2) I have often been assigned exit row seats as a *G, even though I have never specifically requested them, so indeed ET seems to give some preference to status passengers.

3) ET flights are usually very, very full, so seat blocking rarely, if ever, works on ET. I was not aware that this is a benefit of *G on ET, but if it is, it is poorly enforced.

Hope this helps!

The exit rows and bulkheads on most aircraft types are blocked from pre-assignment on the website. You need to call in and then only an agent will assign those seats if you are *G.

Seat blocking is in place at DCS level until a certain load factor threshold is reached, after which all automatic blocks are removed. So yes, this is not particularly useful on a completely full flight - but on flights about 70-80% full, you will usually have an empty seat next to you due to this.

Thanks guys, really appreciate it!

I called to try and have the exit seats assigned and was told they are blocked and will only be unlocked at the airport. Seemed to make no difference when I highlighted to her that I am *G. I called from the UK to their global free number. The odd thing is that expertflyer shows 3 exit seats have already been assigned.

Any other tips?

Does Ethiopian Airline allow online seat assignment on long-haul business class award tickets? I tried to log onto their website's manage my booking, but could not figure out how to select seats in advance.

You'll need to call, online seat selection is only for tickets booked via their website.

Always works for me. I've assigned exit rows for myself and my wife on 15 sectors this month so far without a problem. Most recently this morning. Don't ask specifically for exit rows - I just tell them the seat number I want and they assign it.

Brilliant advice B747-437B, I called in and booked seats by specifying seat numbers. You have just saved me 2 hours by not having to go to the airport early. I am flying today, your message came through at the perfect time.

Thanks for the great advice.