Ethiopian Airlines (Addis Ababa) has leased three additional Boeing 787-8s boasting its fleet to 13. The airline is already operating a fleet of five. Despite the problems and grounding with the new type, which affected earnings, the airline wants to add more 787s beyond the 13 according to a report by The Economic Times.
Read the full story from The Economic Times: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 787-8 ET-AOQ (msn 34745) lands at Stockholm (Arlanda).
Ethiopian Airlines: 
My Bad Experience With Ethiopian Airlines!
FRIDAY, 20 SEP 2013, at the check in for outgoing flight from Washington Dulles International Airport
Terminal TBD to Addis Ababa at counter and boarding area, I noticed the Ethiopian airlines customer service agent
discriminately charged $70 most passengers for the carry-on bags including myself and letting others go free of charge for no explanation (those who did not pay weren’t even ET airlines staff). So why the different treatments? Seats were fine, food was not great but okay, but the crew were not helpful to lift my bag to the cabin & fortunately on of the passenger came to my rescue & placed it for me. The hiccup was when I reached Addis Ababa, Bole airport we were queuing for hours to our entry visas-, no fast lane, I went to collect my two luggages, and one was missed. I was told to fill up a claim of lost luggage Next day, I got a call from Bole airport that they found my luggage. I went to the airport and I met an Ethiopian woman a passenger from the USA (probably the same plane I was boarding) who lost her luggage & took my luggage overnight and returned it after her luggage was recovered. She asked me to check my luggage if anything missed & I told her I cannot remember every detail of the items but thanked her for returning my luggage. Which not surprising I did found out that I missed some items but grateful to get most of it. I was told by the airport staff that the lady who took my luggage was upset that her luggage was lost so, she collected my luggage but returned back after she was informed her luggage was recovered. In addition, I heard other passengers lost their luggage that came for a wedding in Addis. Sadly, their luggage contained the groom, bride and their bridesmaids’ clothes. Therefore, they had to rent cloth from Addis for the next day wedding.
FRIDAY, 04 OCT 2013, on my return to the USA, in Bole airport I waited for over an hour in line to check in and I noticed one Ethiopian Airlines agent in the check counter arguing loudly with most of the passengers and I was thinking hopefully I will be directed to other agents but bad luck-unfortunately I was directed to this notorious guy -I greeted him with a smile but I was ignored & he told me to put my luggage on the weighing scale –I did both luggage and each was 2-3 kilo over the limited weight-he told me to take out some items and I did and I asked him if I can pay for the extra weight( I had noticed some passengers were allowed to pay) he told me no, no or you will miss your flight if you continue to argue with me-I’m not going to check you in –move over–let me serve other passengers. I had no option but leave my items in the airport to one of the ground staff—this guy was very rude, arrogant and unprofessional and no supervisor around to solve the problem. I feel humiliated and insulted by his manner in which this thug was yelling on my face. Do friendly facial expressions, please and thank you available in the Ethiopian Airlines crew’s dictionary? Should I suffer for giving my business to Ethiopian Airlines? As all we know, Ethiopia Airlines is the first in Africa best equipped & the safest in the world Aviation but services are terrible reading many reviews from other passengers.
My concerns and questions:
1) In DC, counter & boarding area, please treat passengers equally do not charge some & forgive others. Why there are not supervisors present to ensure/monitor the boarding process & and services given to passengers?
2) The Bole airport staff behind the scenes should do a speedy service to avoid long lines to get each flight baggages into the terminal with minimal waiting periods.
3) In Bole airport, in the luggage areas, why passengers are allowed to collect other passengers’ luggage-there should be staff assigned to match the tags of luggages with passport stickers. Most airport international passengers are handed their luggage after checked with airport staff.
I have had a nightmarish experience with the Ethiopian airlines I hope the Ethiopian Airlines rectify or improve the problems/issues I had addressed. The good part the cabin crews inside the plane were mind readers and did their best to serve the passengers efficiently and to the best of their ability. Thanking you.
With regards,
Almaz Mequanint
Almaz, I would suggest you contact the airline directly (we are only a news reporting site).
Thank you.
Bruce
Thanks, I will:)