ETH: Ethiopian Airlines ET433 & ET909 (Economy)

[ET433]
DOH-ADD (4h 40m)
Boeing 737 MAX 8
ETD: 3.10am (GMT + 3)
ETA: 7.50am (GMT + 3)

I'd like to express my deepest condolences to families of passengers of ET302 that crashed soon after departing from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 11 March 2019 as empty coffins were buried yesterday for the funeral. Last December, my BFF and I flew with one of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from Doha, Qatar to Addis Ababa.

We made use of the free airport shuttle provided by The Royal Riviera Hotel to go to Hamad International Airport. We left the hotel at 11.55pm.

As the traffic was clear, we reached the airport in 15 minutes.

We quickly joined the snaking queue for check-in and subsequently made our way to the designated boarding gate.

I saw many people bringing brand new electronic goods.

From the looks of it, the flight would be full.

In general, flights to Bamako, Mali are ridiculously priced. Thankfully, I had more than enough KrisFlyer miles for redemption. We'd actually planned to book Ethiopian Airlines' Business Class seats, but sadly they weren't available. I suspect the Business Class cabin onboard ET909 from Addis Ababa to Bamako was already fully booked.

No one was actually seated in the Business Class cabin onboard ET433.

At first glance, the interior of the supposedly new Boeing 737 MAX 8 didn't appear that crisp to me.

Selamta means 'greetings' in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia.

I was assigned to a middle seat between two friendly Ethiopian ladies.

During taxi, the cabin lights were dimmed and the safety demonstration video was then played.

The aircraft took off just before 3.30am. I fell asleep for a short while after that. At 6.00am, the cabin lights were turned on for breakfast. Read about it here.

Breakfast main course: Egg, Sausage and Potato Wedges

I spent the rest of the flight reading the in-flight magazine and enjoying the view through the window.

Good morning, Helios!

[ET909]
ADD-BKO (6h 40m)
Boeing 787-8
ETD: 10.40am (GMT + 3)
ETA: 2.20pm (GMT)

Bole International Airport at Addis Ababa doesn't look great at all with some refurbishment going on. Thankfully, I could make use of the pretty reliable Wi-Fi connection to kill some time during the transit.

We made our way to the gate about an hour before the scheduled departure time.

We hopped on to the bus for a short ride to the aircraft.

Boeing 787-8 was scheduled for ET909 the other day instead of the aged Boeing 767-300, the latter of which I flew with in 2012.

However, I was surprised the moment I stepped into the aircraft, witnessing the tired-looking interior. Anyway, we were seated at the very first row of the front Economy Class cabin.

The Amharic script looks very interesting to me.

I got a red-coloured earpiece, while my BFF's was bright yellow in colour.

The new version of the safety demonstration video was aired before take-off.

Snack service began immediately after the seat belt sign had been switched off. I've written a separate post on the food and beverages in my food blog.

Let's check out the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE).

The IFE could be better in terms of responsiveness.

Isle of Dog is a 2018 animation directed by Wes Anderson, set in a dystopian near-future Japan.

If you've read the post in my food blog, you should know that the in-flight meal was the most horrible I've had in my life thus far.

Lunch main course #1: Corned Beef with Rice

Lunch main course #2: White Sauce Chicken with Rice

Once the meal service was over, the cabin lights and the windows were dimmed.

The lavatory was clean in both occasions I had to use it.

There wasn't a range of toiletries placed in the lavatory, except for liquid soap.

I had a bit of a headache during the flight, but I couldn't sleep at all. As such, I was alternating between resting my eyes and watching random TV shows.