Ethiopian Airlines ADD-JNB impressive *A Lounge at ADD
May 7, 2016, 7:36 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 17
Ethiopian Airlines ADD-JNB impressive *A Lounge at ADD
Hi everyone,
This time I am going to share this medium haul flight from Addis Ababa to Johannesburg on ET's 738. However, the most impressive part of this thread is the Star Alliance Gold Lounge of Ethiopian Airlines.
The link is the complete version of this trip report and I add English discription under every picture this time.
ET849 ADD-JNB
http://aerlingus820113.pixnet.net/blog/post/446150177
===============================================
Date : 2015.11.18
Airline : Ethiopian Airlines
Flight : ET849/ SA7203
Route : Addis Ababa (ADD) - Johannesburg (JNB)
Distance : 2530 miles
Duration : 23:40-04:50 (6 hr 10 min)
Aircraft : ET-APO B737-860
B. Class : Economy (O)
The very right is the entrance for business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members .Nobody checked your itinenary or gold tier card here, so everyone can be a Star Alliance Gold member for about three minutes. Before entering the terminal, we need to take off our shoes and pass the security check for the first time.
A beautiful Ethiopian flight attendant board is placed here to greet the passengers. The green carpet lead you all the way the the counter, but it was quite dirty.
We looked around the STAR ALLIANCE GOLD LOUNGE. It seems extremely narrow as they use this kind of white board to make an area for the lounge. I hope this is only a temporary lounge. The entrance was small and crowded. I could not see any queue there as all the passengers just handed their card to the receptionists when they finished. Maybe some people who didn't have gold tier just walked into the lounge directly because the receptionists were too busy to monitor.
After I stepped into the seating area, I thought the some light must be out of work or there wasn't enough light in the lounge at all. The whole lounge was incredibly dark. In addition to the lack of light, the seats capacity was also overloaded. A lot of passengers dragging their baggage including us couldn't find a seat to take a rest. The couches and tables were moved and arranged by passengers themselves, so you can imagine the chaos in this Star Alliance Gold Lounge.
The end of the lounge was supposed to be a relaxing room, I think. But people moved some tables and chairs into the room and dined there. It was hard to tell what this area was really for.
The lounge itself was small. People still came into the lounge continuously. My friend and I found one seat after ten minutes. Yes, only one, so we had to share the seat. I feel the world is full of Star Alliance Gold members now, maybe due to previous generous A3 loyalty program.
I could tell that Ethiopian Airlines didn't put much effort into this lounge from these empty containers. Besides, there were some stains on the table.
They have plenty choices for food, vegetables, salad, fish, meats, rice. None of them is missing in this lounge. I dared not to try these dishes because I was afraid that they were very Ethiopian. Thank god I ate a lot at the hotel.
Alcohol area seemed a lot better, right? Although the choices were still less than other airlines lounge, at least they covered the empty place with colorful petals making the "bar" level higher. It's unbelievable that none of these petals did not fall on the floor.
I did not take any photo about the toilet because the toilet was totally not like a lounge level toilet, more like a public toilet in the park. So there is no something we call "shower room". I still couldn't forget what I saw and what I experienced after five months. I have been to many Star Alliance lounges and some of them don't provide shower room neither or less food. But not one lounge surprised me as Ethiopian Airlines Lounge did.
We got onto the shuttle bus after five minutes. Ethiopian Airlines provided one exclusive bus for priority boarding passengers. I did not expect they have priority boarding since the boarding in ADD is always chaos. Despite the fact that it was "priority boarding" bus, we departured after the economy passengers settled down on the aircraft.
I was glad that the aircraft of ET849 was not ET-AOB which flew me from Kuwait to Addis Ababa. The aircraft today was a three-year-old Boeing 737-800 Next Gen, ET-APO.
The friendly purser welcomed every passenger with Ethiopian smile at the door. The hair style of Ethiopian Airlines flight attendants varies a lot. We never saw the "hair bun" like ANA or Asiana Airlines on Ethiopian. Most of them let their hair hang down naturally.
The Cloud Nine Business Class was almost full that day. This flight attendant's hair style was very Ethiopian Airlines, African freestyle.
The cabin light was different from the yellow, old light appearing on most Boeing aircrafts. Maybe it is because it is a Next Gen 738.
The overhead bin was still very empty after boarding completed due to the light loading on ET849 which was approximately 50~60% only. Many passengers was able to occupy three seats to get a good sleep. This flight, ET849 is bound for Cape Town via Johannesburg. Most passengers traveling to South Africa choose the morning flight, ET809 which is operated by B777-200LR or B777-300ER.
My friend and I shared three seats today, and you can see the recline of Ethiopian 737 is quite good.
The aircraft took off from Runway 07R at 00:01. Addis Ababa Bole International locates on a plateau and the air is thinner. The engine efficiency decreases, so even an empty 737 still rolled for a long time to take off.
The only meal service began 40 minutes after takeoff. It was amazingly quickly for a 6-hour Ethiopian Airlines flight. Although this meal was a whole set, they served this meal with a small size tray.
We had two choices on ET849 today. I chose the fish meal. The fish was stewed with my favorite tomatoes and ketchup. It tasted not bad, but a little bit dry. As for the rice, it was totally different from the familiar rice we have in Eastern Asia. The rice was very African, Middle Eastern, not sticky at all so that you could actually count how many rices there were.
Very salty cream chicken with dry potato mash. Both of the main courses were not satisfying. Addis Ababa catering service always disappoints passengers.
I had no idea where I was then. I only knew the sun was about to rise.
As I was about to fall asleep for another two hours, the cabin light was suddenly turned on and the purser made an announcement that we were about to arrive at Johannesburg. The five hour flight was just like a Taipei to Hong Kong flight, for time really flew when we were asleep. I hope that office or classroom could have this magic power as the cabin, too.
We touched down on Runway 3L. It 's SOUTH AFRICA！
The terminal design of Johannesburg Airport is quite special, at least better than our TPE. Rwandair and Air Namibia, two airlines I had never seen with my own eyes parked next to us.
OHD(On Hand Baggage) means the baggage that nobody claims
We could not claim our baggage after the last piece of baggage was taken away. OH NO！Ethiopian Airlines did not send my baggage AGAIN. A female security guard took us to South African Airways baggage service desk. The ground staff handled our cases patiently. After he checked the profile, he told us that our baggage was delivered to JNB on the previous flight ET809. Thank god the baggage arrived earlier, not later because we had a domestic flight to connect. Therefore, the female security guard led us to a place to collect our baggage.
OHD(On Hand Baggage) means the baggage that nobody claims
When the employee took out the familiar luggage, I felt that life was full of hope again. But a bad new was not we missed the arrival lounge of South African Airways and it was impossible to get back there. Hence, we just started a small JNB terminal tour directly.
ET849 TOTAL FLIGHT DURATION 5 HR 22 MIN
On Time Performance ★★★★★
Coziness of Seats ★★★
Food and Beverages ★★
Entertainment System ★
Other Services ★★★
This time I am going to share this medium haul flight from Addis Ababa to Johannesburg on ET's 738. However, the most impressive part of this thread is the Star Alliance Gold Lounge of Ethiopian Airlines.
The link is the complete version of this trip report and I add English discription under every picture this time.
ET849 ADD-JNB
http://aerlingus820113.pixnet.net/blog/post/446150177
===============================================
Date : 2015.11.18
Airline : Ethiopian Airlines
Flight : ET849/ SA7203
Route : Addis Ababa (ADD) - Johannesburg (JNB)
Distance : 2530 miles
Duration : 23:40-04:50 (6 hr 10 min)
Aircraft : ET-APO B737-860
B. Class : Economy (O)
The very right is the entrance for business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members .Nobody checked your itinenary or gold tier card here, so everyone can be a Star Alliance Gold member for about three minutes. Before entering the terminal, we need to take off our shoes and pass the security check for the first time.
A beautiful Ethiopian flight attendant board is placed here to greet the passengers. The green carpet lead you all the way the the counter, but it was quite dirty.
We looked around the STAR ALLIANCE GOLD LOUNGE. It seems extremely narrow as they use this kind of white board to make an area for the lounge. I hope this is only a temporary lounge. The entrance was small and crowded. I could not see any queue there as all the passengers just handed their card to the receptionists when they finished. Maybe some people who didn't have gold tier just walked into the lounge directly because the receptionists were too busy to monitor.
After I stepped into the seating area, I thought the some light must be out of work or there wasn't enough light in the lounge at all. The whole lounge was incredibly dark. In addition to the lack of light, the seats capacity was also overloaded. A lot of passengers dragging their baggage including us couldn't find a seat to take a rest. The couches and tables were moved and arranged by passengers themselves, so you can imagine the chaos in this Star Alliance Gold Lounge.
The end of the lounge was supposed to be a relaxing room, I think. But people moved some tables and chairs into the room and dined there. It was hard to tell what this area was really for.
The lounge itself was small. People still came into the lounge continuously. My friend and I found one seat after ten minutes. Yes, only one, so we had to share the seat. I feel the world is full of Star Alliance Gold members now, maybe due to previous generous A3 loyalty program.
I could tell that Ethiopian Airlines didn't put much effort into this lounge from these empty containers. Besides, there were some stains on the table.
They have plenty choices for food, vegetables, salad, fish, meats, rice. None of them is missing in this lounge. I dared not to try these dishes because I was afraid that they were very Ethiopian. Thank god I ate a lot at the hotel.
Alcohol area seemed a lot better, right? Although the choices were still less than other airlines lounge, at least they covered the empty place with colorful petals making the "bar" level higher. It's unbelievable that none of these petals did not fall on the floor.
I did not take any photo about the toilet because the toilet was totally not like a lounge level toilet, more like a public toilet in the park. So there is no something we call "shower room". I still couldn't forget what I saw and what I experienced after five months. I have been to many Star Alliance lounges and some of them don't provide shower room neither or less food. But not one lounge surprised me as Ethiopian Airlines Lounge did.
We got onto the shuttle bus after five minutes. Ethiopian Airlines provided one exclusive bus for priority boarding passengers. I did not expect they have priority boarding since the boarding in ADD is always chaos. Despite the fact that it was "priority boarding" bus, we departured after the economy passengers settled down on the aircraft.
I was glad that the aircraft of ET849 was not ET-AOB which flew me from Kuwait to Addis Ababa. The aircraft today was a three-year-old Boeing 737-800 Next Gen, ET-APO.
The friendly purser welcomed every passenger with Ethiopian smile at the door. The hair style of Ethiopian Airlines flight attendants varies a lot. We never saw the "hair bun" like ANA or Asiana Airlines on Ethiopian. Most of them let their hair hang down naturally.
The Cloud Nine Business Class was almost full that day. This flight attendant's hair style was very Ethiopian Airlines, African freestyle.
The cabin light was different from the yellow, old light appearing on most Boeing aircrafts. Maybe it is because it is a Next Gen 738.
The overhead bin was still very empty after boarding completed due to the light loading on ET849 which was approximately 50~60% only. Many passengers was able to occupy three seats to get a good sleep. This flight, ET849 is bound for Cape Town via Johannesburg. Most passengers traveling to South Africa choose the morning flight, ET809 which is operated by B777-200LR or B777-300ER.
My friend and I shared three seats today, and you can see the recline of Ethiopian 737 is quite good.
The aircraft took off from Runway 07R at 00:01. Addis Ababa Bole International locates on a plateau and the air is thinner. The engine efficiency decreases, so even an empty 737 still rolled for a long time to take off.
The only meal service began 40 minutes after takeoff. It was amazingly quickly for a 6-hour Ethiopian Airlines flight. Although this meal was a whole set, they served this meal with a small size tray.
We had two choices on ET849 today. I chose the fish meal. The fish was stewed with my favorite tomatoes and ketchup. It tasted not bad, but a little bit dry. As for the rice, it was totally different from the familiar rice we have in Eastern Asia. The rice was very African, Middle Eastern, not sticky at all so that you could actually count how many rices there were.
Very salty cream chicken with dry potato mash. Both of the main courses were not satisfying. Addis Ababa catering service always disappoints passengers.
I had no idea where I was then. I only knew the sun was about to rise.
As I was about to fall asleep for another two hours, the cabin light was suddenly turned on and the purser made an announcement that we were about to arrive at Johannesburg. The five hour flight was just like a Taipei to Hong Kong flight, for time really flew when we were asleep. I hope that office or classroom could have this magic power as the cabin, too.
We touched down on Runway 3L. It 's SOUTH AFRICA！
The terminal design of Johannesburg Airport is quite special, at least better than our TPE. Rwandair and Air Namibia, two airlines I had never seen with my own eyes parked next to us.
OHD(On Hand Baggage) means the baggage that nobody claims
We could not claim our baggage after the last piece of baggage was taken away. OH NO！Ethiopian Airlines did not send my baggage AGAIN. A female security guard took us to South African Airways baggage service desk. The ground staff handled our cases patiently. After he checked the profile, he told us that our baggage was delivered to JNB on the previous flight ET809. Thank god the baggage arrived earlier, not later because we had a domestic flight to connect. Therefore, the female security guard led us to a place to collect our baggage.
OHD(On Hand Baggage) means the baggage that nobody claims
When the employee took out the familiar luggage, I felt that life was full of hope again. But a bad new was not we missed the arrival lounge of South African Airways and it was impossible to get back there. Hence, we just started a small JNB terminal tour directly.
ET849 TOTAL FLIGHT DURATION 5 HR 22 MIN
On Time Performance ★★★★★
Coziness of Seats ★★★
Food and Beverages ★★
Entertainment System ★
Other Services ★★★
Apr 4, 2018, 9:12 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: JNB
Programs: Flying Blue, Miles and Smiles, Hhonors, ICHotels
Posts: 1,307
On my way back, we landed early in the morning and my connecting flight to JNB was about two hours later, so I managed to get in and find a seat before the rush started. Again, the food was okay, but only beer available at that time of the morning.
Kidding!! When I was ready to leave the Lounge attendant told me to wait and she will call us which was a nice touch. Hopefully, one day when the new terminal is built they will sport a decent lounge to cope with their ever increasing numbers of guests. It is one thing to expand a route network, but they have not taken cognisance of the increasing number of *G pax that will bring in.
Apr 7, 2018, 2:22 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 11,779
Haha me too. On a recent trip OSL-CPT/JNB-OSL with ET I got rebooked to LH via FRA both inbound and outbound due to cancellation ex OSL and delayed departure ex JNB. Altough this was supposed to be a ET trip I never set foot on a ET aircraft 
Apr 9, 2018, 8:05 am
#8
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Cape Town
Programs: BA Exec Gold , Qatar Priviledge Club Plat
Posts: 1,584
I have to say the only reason keeping me back from flying ET is the lounge and the fluctuation of equipment swaps. I am not paying top whack to fly 7 hours on a 737 in J.