As part of our South African Safari trip, we first spent a week in the amazing Kruger National Park, and then we spent a week touring the Garden Route, culminating in a few days in Cape Town. And with that, our trip came to an end, and it was time to fly back home, to New York.

We’d be flying back from Cape Town in Ethiopian Airlines’ Cloud9 business Class, but not before visiting the two lounges that our business class ticket gave us access to: Bidvest Premier Lounge 1, at Gate A3, and then the Bidvest Premier Lounge 2 near the B gates. I reviewed these two lounges previously.

Now then, it was time to start our flight back. I previously reviewed our flight from Cape Town to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines’ Cloud9 business class, and after a layover that we spent at Ethiopian Airlines’ lovely SkyLight Transit Hotel, we would now fly from Addis Ababa to New York JFK. First we visited the Ethiopian Airlines Cloud9 Business Class Lounge, and finally we made it to the gate for our flight.

Specifically, here I’ll be reviewing Ethiopian Airlines flight ET512, departing on May 30 9:00AM from Addis Ababa ADD and scheduled to arrive in New York JFK at 8:00PM, with a stopover at Abidjan ABJ, Ivory coast.

Briefly, this flight was a pleasant experience. While the seats are in an uncompetitive 2-2-2 configuration, I thought it was comfortable – it just lacked storage (but note we got the ‘better[f the two Boeing 787-8 seating products). The food was decent, with the absolute highlight being the Ethiopian dishes, which are brought and plated by your seat. The crew was genuinely friendly. Overall, Ethiopian Airlines’ Cloud9 business class has all the ingredients to become a world class experience. With investment they can certainly elevate the individual pieces to the next level.

How I Booked This Flight

I booked the full itinerary from Cape Town to New York via Addis Ababa as one itinerary through United MileagePlus:

1. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET846 on May 29, departing 3:25PM from Cape Town CPT and scheduled to arrive in Addis Ababa ADD at 10:50PM (reviewed here).
2. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET512 on May 30, departing 9:00AM from Addis Ababa ADD and scheduled to arrive in New York JFK at 8:00PM, with a stopover in Abidjan ABJ (reviewed in this post).

I booked this itinerary for 88.000 points and $52.71 per person, for a total of 176.000 points and $105.42 for my husband and myself. I had 23.000 points already in my United MileagePlus account. I then transferred 153.000 points Chase Ultimate Rewards points to get exactly 176.000 points, and immediately booked the tickets.

Although United mileagePlus miles are definitely not some great value, they do provide a cost-effective way for flights to Africa. If you have a United MileagePlus credit card you’ll get 10% off the mileage cost, so you’ll only pay 80.000 miles per person, plus the taxes. And, if you also have United Premier Elite Status, you’ll get a further 5% discount, bringing the cost down to potentially to 74.800 miles and ~$50 in taxes, which is great value, given the distance and flight time covered.

Note that part of this itinerary included an extended layover in Addis Ababa, and in such a scenrario as Cloud9 business class passengers you get complimentary access to the Ethiopian Airlines Skylight Hotel. Read my review and guide of this experience here.

This Is a Long Flight!

In terms of flight durations, there’s plenty of ultra long flights these days, with the current longest flight being Singapore Airlines New York to Singapore flight, which I got to fly in premium economy last year. While this Ethiopian Airlines flight is not quite as long, it does clock in at about 16 hours total travel time, though that’s not all in the air.

This flight from Addis Ababa to new York is so long because of a stop in Abidjan (ABJ), in Ivory Coast. Addis Ababa is situated at 7,657ft elevation, which is extraordinarily high for the global hub of a major international airline. The problem is that with increased altitude, the air becomes thinner, and this reduces the effectiveness of aircraft engines. In practical terms, it means that a plane that can easily take off fully loaded at sea level, can only be 70-80% loaded at the elevation of Addis Ababa’s Bole Intl Airport.

This is why Ethiopian’s service from Africa to the US requires these stops: it’s a stopping point to refuel before starting the transatlantic journey. While Ethiopian picks up passengers at Abidjan, from what I could see not many people actually got on board. And in business class 95% of passengers disembarked, and only 1 or 2 new people got on.

Note that there is also an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Washington, and this one similarly makes a stop, though that one is in Togo. If you’d go the opposite direction, from the US to Addis Ababa, these stopovers are not needed and indeed it is a direct, nonstop flight.

Despite the inconvenience of the stop, I was actually rather excited to land in Abidjan. After all, how often do you get to land in West Africa?

Checkin and Lounge Experience

We started the second part of this itinerary at the Ethiopian Airlines Skylight hotel, Ethiopian’s designated transit hotel to which business class passengers get complimentary access, with certain conditions. I wrote a full guide to Ethiopian’s transit program here. I liked the stay and the hotel very much, and would be happy to return.

We departed the Skylight hotel around 6am and were driven back to the International Departures at Terminal 2, which Ethiopian has a dedicated priority section that includes everything from checkin, to security and immigration. It may as well be a priority terminal of sorts, if it weren’t in the same physical building as the facilities for all other passengers.

Upon entering you show your boarding pass as proof that you have a reason to enter, and then you pass through a general security checkpoint. One of several before we’d get to the boarding gate, as it would turn out.

After the first security checkpoint, you take an elevator to the upper floor, and follow the red carpet to get to the checkin counters. Since we were already checked in back in Cape Town, we didn’t have to spend any time here and went straight to immigration.

There was a special sign confirming this was the priority (‘premium’) line for passport control, which included Star Alliance Gold status holders. Following immigration was security, anf fortunately there were no lines so we got through really quickly.

We spent some time at the Cloud9 Lounge, Ethiopian Airlines’ dedicated lounge for business class passengers, which I reviewed previously.

Overall, this is a decent facility. It is massive with ample seating of various types, all of it quite comfortable though with a bit of a lack of charing opportunities. The buffet was quite extensive with many hot options, and cold options and salads over at a smalle, separate buffet. The views from the lounge are unfortunately of the parking lot in front of the terminal rather than aircraft, but still it’s nice that there’s a good amount of light coming in.

Boarding

We had a fine time at the lounge, had breakfast and relaxed before we were supposed to fly out. Since our flight was to leave at 9:00AM, we left the lounge at 8:10AM, but we didn’t realize there was additional security to pass through.

As it turned out, Ethiopian’s flights to the US are in a restricted part containing only two gates: A18 and A19. We were departing from gate A19, which required getting through a busy security checkpoint. Thankfully our business class tickets made us eligible to use the priority lane, but this merged with the general lane for usage of the single scanner that was in operation.

We ultimately made it through in about 10 minutes, right when everybody was already in line to board. Indeed, 5 minutes later at 8:25am boarding commenced, and business class passengers were among those invited in first, along with those needing more time down the jetway.

We weren’t quite the first down the jetway, but we had a ncie panoramic view of the lovely Boeing 787-8 that would carry us across the Atlantic to the US right in front.

By 8:27am we got to the second door on the left of the plane, where we were greeted by a friendly attendant who invites us to turn left into the Cloud9 business class cabin.

Boeing 787-8 Cloud9 Business Class Seat

Ethiopian Airlines has little consistency in the business class seats in its fleet. The Boeing 787-8, however, is definitely the ‘worst’ plane type in terms of the seats it features, as the entire fleet has seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, split between 11 planes with the Zodiac (Safran) Aura Lite seats, which do NOT lie flat, and then what we got on this flight: 9 planes with Collins Aerospace Diamond Parallel seats. So, we ‘lucked out’ (never thought I’d say that about a 2-2-2 configuration!).

Ethiopian’s Airlines Cloud9 business class cabin with the Diamond Parallel seating has 4 rows in a 2-2-2 configuration. I had assigned myself seat 1A, and my husband was next to me, in seat 1C, which are the two seats in the bulk head row on the left side, by the window.

As you can see, the two seats are right next to each other but they do have a small partition for privacy. In reality this doesn’t do all that much to separate you from your neighbor, and you’ll still be able to see each other in fully upright positions. I thought the privacy parition of this seat as it exists on the A350 to be a lot more solid.

These seats feature a row pitch of 27″, seat width of 20″ and a full-flat bed length of 76″, and screens 17″ in size. With that, the seats are about as wide as a nice premium economy seat, and I found it to be wide enough and quite comfy. The seat is well-padded and quite soft, so at no point did I feel the seat was uncomfortbale to sit in.

Obviously the main draw back here is limited storage since there is no console – that’s where your neighbor is sitting. So instead, you have a storage compartment behind and slightly to the side, as well as a shelf below the entertainment screen, and some space below the ottoman.

Directly in front is the entertainment screen. It is a 17″ HD touch screen that was bright and crisp, for a nice viewing experience. It was also quite responsive to my touch commands. More about the actual IFE system later.

Below the screen you’ll find a shelf where you cna place thin tiems throughout your flight, and below that is the ottoman. This becomes aprt of the bed when you fully recline your seat into bed mode. Unfortunately, it’s just shallow enough that it’s not really useful as a place for storage. I tried storing the bedding here, but found that it would fall out most of the time. The space below the ottoman was perfect for shoes, though, and I liked there was a sort of deidcated spot for those.

At the center of the two seats is the center console. There are a few things to see here, including the seat controls, tray table, remote control and literature pocket.

First of all, at the front is a small table where you can keep small items or drinks. Directly behind that are the seat controls, which allow the separate control of the back and leg rest, but there are also buttons for full recline and upright positions. And behind that is the arm rest. Below all this you’ll find the remote control, which isn’t all that useful given that you can just touch the screen, and the literature pocket which holds the usual inflight safety card and Ethiopian’s inflight magazine.

I will add that this particular area of the seat was probably the most worn. It wasn’t necessarily dirty, but you can see the paint is a bit chipped and worn, buttons on the remote are a bit crooked, and the grey color of the seat has become a bit yellowish.

The tray table was of a design I’d never quite seen before, but which made for a good setup, as it was positioned at a good height, felt sturdy, and was easy to take out and stow. You first pull on the hand hold toward you, and then you pull it upward and towards you. This gets you to the point of it being halfway open, revealing a spot to put a drink. To then fully open the tray table, you simply flip the top half over and fully unfold it. I did feel the table looked a little bit worn, even if it was sturdy.

In terms of storage, besides the little space in front, there is a small compartment behind and to the side. Depending where you are seated, this could be to your left or to your right, but since I was on the left side of the plane, it was behind and to my left. There’s really not much space here, and it will really only hold a few smaller items (e.g. wallet, phone and keys), or one larger one.

This is also where you will find a universal charging port, as well as a USB-A port and a port for the headphones. Finally, on the inside of the seat’s shell, you’ll find a reading light as well as the relevant controls.

To your left there is another armrest, which can be lowered to make the sleeping surface a tad bit wider.

Finally, Ethiopian does have individual air vents on its Boeing 787-8, which I was very thankful for as it really helped to keep me cool while sleeping. It’s unfortunate so many airlines decide to forego this very useful feature.

Overall, Ethiopian’s Boeing 787-8 with the Collins Diamond Parallel seats are outdated in this day and age where the standard is a 1-2-1 seating configuration and all seats have aisle access. Still, this is actually the better of the two configurations that Ethiopian uses on this plane type, and all in all, I do think it’s a comfortable seat to sit in. The seat is well-padded and wide enough, the tray table was sturdy and there are individual air vents. The main drawback is limited privacy and storage options. I’d also add that while the seat is

Cloud9 Amenities

Ethiopian Airlines has a nice, rather full-fledged set of amenities in their business class cabin. There are no special collabs, and everything carries Ethiopian Airlines branding.

There is an amenity kit that can come in one of several colors. Here I received the red one, which I really liked – definitely a lot nicer than the grey one I got on the previous leg. In it are a dental kit, a comb, ear plugs, a red eye mask, red socks, lip balm and a pen. So yes, none of it is particualrly luxurious but it’s a nice kit that includes all the fundamentals plus a bit more.

At the seat was also a pair of noise canceling headphones, which unfortunately I didn’t find particularly comfortable. The sound was alright though.

At the seat were also a thick, plush pillow, and a rather nice and soft blanket. The quality of these are nice and feel more upscale than you might expect.

What was not at the seat, which I did receive on the previous leg of this itinerary, were slippers. I was a bit disappointed by that, but we actually got them later on in the flight, during our stop at Abudja. As such, the flight length determines whether you get slippers or not, and the flight needs to be at least 4-5 hours (since the flight to Abidjan was 3 hours, while the flight from Cape Town to Addis Ababa was 6 hours).

Departure from Addis Ababa

We got seated and started to put our stuff away. I was photographing the seat of coruse and trying to get organized at the same time, so when the flight attendant promptly came to ask if I wanted my coat stored in the wardrobe, I wasn’t quite ready to part with it. However, I did accept the water bottle she was offering. Soon after the amenity kit was presented, which I showed above already.

Otherwise we got a wet towel a few minutes after. Boarding didn’t take much longer after that and by 8:50am boarding had been completed. It was at this point that the welcome drinks were brought out by the flight attendants. While champagne was on offer, I opted for the orange juice. Both drinks were presented in glasses with Ethiopian branding that had, unfortunately mostly worn off.

Soon after followed the welcome address by the purser, though it was only in Ethiopian, so wans’t sure what was said. Not long after the pilot provided his welcome, firts in Ethiopian and then in English, announcing the 5:30hr flight time. Apparently we’d be delayed a bit past the 9am departure time as cargo was still being loaded. As he finished his address, the menu was provided:

…which was soon followed by a traditional Ethiopian coffee service, which was absolutely delightful! Served from a traditional Ethiopian coffee ‘pot’ in typical cups with Ethiopian patterning and decoration. I also liked how the lead attendant was in traditional Ethiopian garb. The coffee itself was strong but good, though I’m not much of a coffee drinker so can’t judge that specifically. The service here was also very nice, friendly and welcoming: a fantastic way to welcome passengers onboard!

It was now around 9:10 and from my position I could see the jetway was pulling away. However,w e didn’t actually move anywhere for a little bit, and indeed, by 9:20am the pilot was on the PA to apologize that we couldn’t get the approval to depart onto the planned flight level (cruising altitude), and had to wait a bit before we could move. Meanwhile I’d continued watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (which I’d started watching on the previous leg, from Cape Town to Addis Ababa), as departure was dragging on. Not before watching the endless safety video, which looks wonderfully retro:

It was only at 9:26am that we pushed back from the gate and got pushed into a seemingly different place where we waited for another 10 minutes before engines were started.

I was only at 9:40am that we finally started our taxi to the runway, and we joined the great big line that had formed. But what an awesome sight, though, this line of Ethiopian aircraft:

At 10:04am we had finally made it to the runway, lined up, and started our takeoff roll:

This was a long takeoff roll before we finally got airborne. Addis Ababa’s Bole Intl Airport is at a high altitude, making the air thin. Because of that, engine thrust just isn’t as effective as it is at your average airport, meaning takeoff rolls are quite long and aircraft can’t be fully loaded. The views as we climbed out were fantastic though, despite the clouds:

Within 10 minutes after takeoff the seat belt sign was turned off and the crew sprung into action. the curtain to the galley was closed and soon after an announcement was made that passengers could go about the cabin and use electronic devices, such as laptops. They also came through the cabin with the Wifi codes.

Entertainment System and WiFi

It took quite a while to get airborne so by this time I had pretty much finished Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. So, this is a good time to go over the entertainment system. The Ethiopian 787 IFE system is a little different from the one on the A350, and I actually think it’s a bit easier to navigate. It has a lot of material, with about 197 movies, about 350 TV shows, and a varied music selection. That said, it didn’t seem like a particularly new selection, with a lot of titles somewhat odler and now many new releases.

When first using the system, the welcome screen is displayed, with famous landmarks from a selection of the destinations that Ethiopian serves. Touch the screen and it will ask you to select a language, after which the main menu is displayed.

Because the top bar is all black, it’s a little bit difficult to distinguish that there’s an arrow-shaped button jut to the right of the icon with the two dialog boxes (which would re-open the language selection menu). Once you hit that arrow, additional buttons show up. One provides access to general IFE system settings, such as brightness and volume. The other is your personalized playlist, which you ca populate by searching and adding items in the system. I have personally never used such a feature, mind you.

By pressing the tiles on the home screen, you can access the full content selection within each category, see below. If you want to go back to the home screen, you can either press the little ‘house’ icon up top, or the ‘back’ arrow just to the left of it.

Pressing ‘My Flight; provides access to the 3D Maps feature, which is always fun to glance at to get a sense of where you are.

Besides the entertainment system available through the monitors at your seat, Ethiopian also provides free Wifi for its business class passengers. I was already provided a complimentary Wifi code. First you’d have to connect to the inflight Wifi, which is called ETHinternet, though the name of the netwerk can change from one plane type to the next. The successful connection was met with a simple message: “success”.

Unfortunately here is where I ran into trouble. A pop-up will show up with access to the inflight Wifi network, and the options to activate the internet access. Click the ‘internet’ tile and you’ll see the options, which include a full flight pass for $25, 2 hours for $10 or 3 hours for $15, which are all very reasonable prices

As a business class passenger, you’re supposed to buy the full flight pass, but fill in the voucher code which will act as a $25 discount to the pass, thus making it free. Initially, the code I received didn’t work and returned an error. I had asked the flight attendant working our aisle for assistance, and she went to reset the server, but this didn’t solve it. It was only about 2 hours later, when we spoke with the team lead that she brought a tablet out and promptly generated a new code, and helped to redeem it that it worked.

Ocne you do get it to work, accept an email to arrive that summarizes the transaction, showing the $25 cost and the -$25 voucher application making it free.

The internet itself was a little laggy and slow, and there are times that it stops working as the connectivity over Africa can have some holes. Overall though, it was functional and performed pretty well. If I had needed to do actual work this internet connection would have likely been good enough for simple writing and browsing, but I’m not something more demanding such as streaming, would work all that well.

Main Meal Service

Since I had finished watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice soon after takeoff, I decided to continue with another one and selected Eternity, a movie from 2025 that didn’t get particularly good ratings but that I thought was cute.

I put the seat in lounge mode by reclining halfway, and found one impractical feature about the window seat: there is a cutout where the primary seating surface connects with the ottoman in lounge/bed mode, and your leg will keep dangling off the seat if you try to directly face the monitor. It drags down viewing comfort a little, but it’s not a big deal.

It was close to 11am and about an hour into the flight when we were making our way towards Abudja, flying over South Sudan and the drink service started. Apparently we were being followed by an Ethiopian Boeing 737-8 MAX, flying a few flight levels below us.

The drink service included the full set of options from the menu, including alcoholic and soft drinks, with a nice selection of beers and wine. I ended up going with the South African Chardonnay.

Delightfully, the flight attendant gave me a bit to try first before pouring a full glass – and a generous glass it was. This was accompanied with a choice of snack, either a
rosemary barley snack or a mix of dried chick pea and grains. I chose the former, while my husband was indecisive and ended up being presented with both.

We had provided our meal orders ahead of time, before we even boarded our flight from Cape Town to Addis Ababa. On that flight, the pre-orders didn’t seem to have gone through, as the crew had no knowledge of our orders, so on this flight I spent some time familiarizing with the menu. Because this was an ex-Addis Ababa flight, it features the course I was most excited about trying: the Ethiopian food course. This is only be served ex-Addis Ababa, and not on flights arriving into Addis Ababa.

Close to an hour after the drink service, around 11:55pm, the meal service started. On this flight lunch would be served, which as the menu described would actually be four courses – one more than the usual.

To their credit, Ethiopian serves all dishes directly onto the tray table, starting by setting it up with a white cloth and then placing the dishes, salt and pepper shakers, any bread, and ending with accompaniments – all in an effort to make the meal a bit more of a restaurant-like experience.

First out was the appetizer for this lunch service: ‘no-shell’ prawns and beetroot-cured salmon, which tasted a lot better than it looked. The side salad, though simple, was very tasty, as the ingredients were fresh and crisp. A warm bun, which was okay, was further accompanied by olive oil and butter. To drink, I stuck with the South African Chardonnay, which was very nice indeed.

I believe Ethiopian crews plate the food in the galley, so I feel as though a bit more effort could be put into this, to make it looks a bit better and more organized.

About half an hour later, towards 12:30pm, the dirty dishes were cleared and our drinks were refilled. This next dish was the one I was most excited to try: around 12:42pm the Ethiopian food courses were served! five distinct dishes and a basket of the typical Ethiopian flatbread, called Teff, were wheeled out on a card and plated at the seat. The flight attendant gladly explained the various dishes and provided recommendations.

I like Ethiopian food a lot, and was more than happy to try something of everything, and so the flight attendant personally served me at my seat small portions of every dish. On offer were the following dishes:

• Doro Wot (Spicy Chicken Stew)
• Minchet Key Wot (Minced Beef Stew with Ethiopian Spicy Sauce)
• Shibera Assa (Spicy Chickpea Biscuit Stew)
• Yebeg Alecha (Mild Lamb Stew)
• Atikilt Wot (Ethiopian Mixed Vegetable)

I was then presented with the below:

Like I said, I do like Ethiopian food a lot, and so I loved all of this. I thought every dish was flavorful with the meats cooked to be tender and soft. I would have been happy to have more but alas, it was a full flight in business class and there was nothing left by the end of service.

I want to point out what a unique moment in the service this is. To my knowledge there are few airlines out there that bring a selection of national dishes out into the cabin to plate them individually at your seat, with you in full control of what you’d like to try. Well done Ethiopian!

After the excitement of the Ethiopian food, the ‘regular’ courses continued with the main dish, and for this I had chosen the mixed herbal chicken thigh. With the Ethiopian dish cleared around 1pm, the main dish came out what seemed like a record breaking 5 minutes later. I was genuinely surprised it came out so fast given the delay between starter and Ethiopian course. The chicken was good: flavorful and well-prepared, as were the truffle mashed potatoes.

I finished this quite fast and 10 minutes later I was staring at my empty plate, which was cleared within the next 10 minutes. at 1:25pm the desserts were brought out on a cart, and the choices included carrot cake, fruit and cheese. I selected the cake and the fruit. I was happy to see the food was cut this time, as on the flight to Addis Ababa the fruit were whole, which was impractical and frankly a little strange (I tried to eat a whole kiwi and while it was tasty, peeling and eating such a juicy fruit on a plane is not recommended).

Finally, coffee and tea was offered at 1:30pm to close out the meal, and I had some ginger tea with a slice of lemon. This was served with a tasty chocolate.

I thought this was a genuinely nice meal. I wouldn’t say the presentation was great, and the starter in particular was simplistic in presentation and execution. But, it was tasty across the board, and I was impressed especially with the Ethiopian course. If you like Ethiopian food, this course is a treat! I love that it is served at your seat, and you can pick whatever you want and get an explanation of the various dishes that are available. Frankly, I’d probably be happy to skip the main dish and get more of the Ethiopian food!

Lavatories

After dinner I stopped by the lavatories. These are rather standard Boeing 787 lavatories. They were a little tight, and features all the usual functions and design. Ethiopian also doesn’t have any special design in its lavatories to give it some special look. However, there are some additional amenities that are quite nice, including sanitizing wipes, hand lotion and a facial mist, all Ethiopian Airlines branded.

Overall, the lavatories were nothing particularly special, but I think it’s worth mentioning that they were kept clan and fresh by the crew throughout the flight. I noticed a flight attendant go in once every few hours to freshen things up, clean a bit and spray with a citrus-scented cleaning product, which I greatly appreciated. Thus, the lavatory remained in a generally clean state throughout this very long journey.

Fully Flat: Napping in Ethiopian’s Boeing 787-8 Cloud9 Business Class

Around 2pm the lights were dimmed in the cabin, and while I was still watching Eternity, I could feel my eyes getting heavier. I reclined my seat to take a brief nap until we’d be landing in Abidjan.

Fully flat, I found the seat to be more comfortable than I had expected it to be. Despite the fact that the seat did feel a bit narrow, I found it to be sufficiently wide to get comfortable. You can push the armrest on the window (or aisle)-side down, for a bit more space. Similarly, because you’re not stuffing your legs into the console of the seat in front, the footwell is quite wide, with enough space to lie anyway you prefer. I was able to lie on my back or side quite comfortably.

This is where the air vents are worth their weight in gold. The crew kept the cabin a little bit warm, so having a little breeze made things significantly more comfortable. If only more airlines installed these!

I ended up falling asleep around 2:20pm, and waking up again around 3:10pm. While not very long, I had a great little nap. Besides, around 3:15pm the fasten seatbelt signs were turned on and then at 3:20 the crew brightened the cabin light in preparation for our descent and approach into Abidjan, in about 30 minutes.

Stop in Abidjan ABJ, Ivory Coast

As the crew started their preparations for landing, we were approached to fill out a survey. On our leg from Cape Town to Addis Ababa, the crew rather rudely interrupted my movie and started the survey for me without even asking if I wanted to. Fortunately, this time around the crew was nicer about it, and simply asked if we’d be willing to do so. My husband did it – I passed on it this time around.

By 3:36pm we had descended quite a bit and the lush, green forests of Ivory Coast were gliding past as we descended further and further. We were coming in from the north.

Here I was glued to the window, since I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to see Ivory Coast or Abidjan ever again, so I wanted to make of the opportunity what I could. We were going ever lower, allowing a great view of the suburbs below us:

We touched down at 3:46pm, which translated to 12:46pm. local time given the 3-hour time difference. by 12:50pm local time we were at the gate.

Most people in business class disembarked at this point, leaving only the two of us and perhaps another 3 or 4 passengers behind that were apparently flying to New York. Around 1:18pm, ground crew had entered the plane to do some quick cleaning, refresh amenities, restock supplies and food, but also to check that those that had remained (including us) had the necessary documentation to continue onward to New York. Our passports and boarding passes were checked and approved. It was interesting to see the work the ground crew was doing, as I’d never seen the post-landing activity before. Noteworthy was also that some of the flight attendants disembarked and were replaced by a fresh crew.

At this point, around 1:20pm, boarding commended and the service flow started from the beginning again, which was kind of funny because obviously we had been in our seats for several hours. Yet we were almost treated as if we had just boarded. We got new bottles of water…

…we finally received slippers! I like Ethiopian’s slippers a lot and would consider them some of the highest quality slippers handed out in any business class. most airlines provide flimsy ones that are too small for my feet. These ones, on the other hand, are big enough to fit my feet and also have an actual rubber sole. And while I wasn’t as much of a fan of the grey amenity kit, I do find these grey slippers to look a lot better than the green ones I got before.

Next, the crew came by – dressed in pretty traditional Ethiopian garb – to first provide a refreshing wet towel and then also welcome drinks. The champagne was even poured for us at our seat, which I thought was a lovely touch.

At 1:48pm boarding was announced completed, with just another passenger or 2 newly boarded in business class, and by 2:00pm the jetway disconnected and we were pushing back from the gate. Taxiing to the runway here was a real treat! I’d not seen Air Cote d’Ivoir’s new planes, the A330-900neo among them, featuring a business class product much like that of Virgin Atlantic’s A330 as well. We even passed some military planed that were of Russian make, which I always find to be a treat!

We finally arrived at the runway a 2:13pm after a quick 5-minute taxi, backtracked a bit to the very start of the runway, and then rocketed off.

Our take off was swift and clearly more powerful at sea level compared to the drawn-out takeoff back at Addis Ababa. As with our landing, we took off to the south, crossing the coast of Ivory Coast and then turning west, in the direction of New York City.

We were new starting the final leg of our South African Safari trip before being back home: the transatlantic crossing that came in at a little under 10 hours.

Second ‘Main’ Meal Service

Takeoff was pretty smooth, and I enjoyed looking out the window as we passed over West Africa. Lots of jungle and lakes made for a beautiful scenery to observe. About 6 minutes after takeoff (2:20pm), the seatbelt signs were turned off and the crew sprung once again into action, closing the curtains to restart their service.

Flight attendants came by to provide a new Wifi voucher code, but I noticed mine from the previous leg still appeared to work just fine. Meal orders were taken around 2:30pm, and lunch service started about 15 minutes later, so that’s only 25 minutes after takeoff that I had the glass of the Chardonnay and the glass passionfruit juice that I ordered in hand. A wonderfully fast start to the service!

At the same time the appetizer was served, which was the same as on my flight from Cape Town to Addis Ababa: chicken terrine and couscous salad. The plating is a little messy, but I really liked the fresh and citrusy taste of the couscous salad. Interestingly, this was the first time that I was digging into the meal before the pilot came on the PA for the welcome address. That only happened around 2:55pm: he welcomed us us and informed us of the flight time and expected arrival time of 8:15pm (local time).

The empty dishes of the start were cleared out at 3pm. As the flight attendants did this, they also refilled water, asked whether I wanted more to drink, and brought a clean plate for the bread roll, which I appreciated. It’s nice when flight attendants provide such proactive service!

The next course was another round of Ethiopian food, brought out on a the cart and served by my seat, as on the leg to Abidjan. This time I got a significantly bigger portion as well as two rolls of Teff. I suppose this is because the cabin was rather empty, so rather than waste food they simply gave a larger portion. I definitely didn’t complain! It was just as tasty as the first time around.

I finished these and by 3:20pm the dishes were cleared. Almost immediately after the main course arrived: the Moroccan Spiced Chicken Breast. After having a full four-course meal in the previous leg, and now an extra-large portion of the Ethiopian dish, I was already full, but I forced myself through the chicken (for review purposes, of course). The sauce was very nice and enjoyed the vegetables, though the meat itself was a bit dry and I wasn’t a fan of the rice.

I want to emphasize that the pace was entirely personalized. It’s not like I was the last one to finish the Ethiopian dish and so that’s why my main came out so fast. Rather, the main dish came out just when I was ready for it. I truly commend Ethiopian for putting in place such a proactive and personalized service flow, though I also recognize that it was especially smooth due to how empty the cabin was. The flight from Cape Town to Addis Ababa, while personalized as well, wasn’t quite as smooth in that respect.

It took me a while to get through the chicken given how I full I was, but by 3:40pm the dish was cleared and the dessert cart rolled by soon after. Unfortunately this time we were back with the whole pieces of fruit as on the flight to Addis Ababa. It’s weird to me that the fruit isn’t somehow cut or at least peeled? At least this time oranges were among the options, which are easy to peel. Other dessert options included cheese and cake, though it was a strawberry cheesecake that I’m not a particular fan of. So, I just had the orange and a cup of ginger tea.

This meal service was overall similar the meal service on the leg to Abidjan, as well as the flight to Addis Ababa the day before. The food quality is similar, and I’d say the food is generally tasty. As before, the Ethiopian dish was by far the best and most memorable part of the meal, and I was thankful to receive an extra-large portion. The rest of the meal was fine: generally tasty but not particularly inspiring. The dessert was a bit of let-down, and I wish Ethiopian would offer a medley of cut fruit rather than these whole pieces.

Besides the Ethiopian dish, Ethiopian otherwise does a good job with the service. I much appreciate the smooth pace and personalized flow. As I said, I realize this was relatively with the cabin mostly empty and the full cabin makes the overall pace somewhat slower.

However, since the crew takes your orders for food and drinks at the start of the service, they know what to do and bring you what you want when the dishes are cleared. Beside,s the proactive refilling of drinks and how they let you taste the wine before filling your glass are restaurant-like touches that elevate the service about that of many other airlines out there. So Kudos to Ethiopian for those touches.

Fully Flat Again: Napping in Ethiopian’s Boeing 787-8 Cloud9 Business Class

With that the meal ended and I reclined my seat to lounge a bit. I had finished Eternity by now and started my third movie of the flight: ‘My Fuk Madeline’, which is a Namibian movie, focusing on the life of a local, white family in the Namibian capital of Windhoek. Since I had no idea about much of anything related to Namibia (except that I want to visit the country someday), this was an interesting watch! We were just over Banjul at that point, leaving continental Africa.

I ended up finishing the movie around 5:40pm with 6:40hr still to go, and overflying the Cape verde islands. I spent some time watching the moving map but got sleepy again around 6:35pm, so I reclined into bed mode again with 5:42hr to go and flying over the Atlantic ocean, and fell asleep a little bit later.

Pre-Landing Meal Service

I woke up around 9:40pm with 2:30hr still to go. I tend to sleep terribly on planes, so was very pleased to have had a solid 3 hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep. The only time I slept better was on the flight back from Tokyo to Boston.

When I woke up, I actually found a chocolate by my seat, so it seems there was some kind of drink service that I probably missed out on, and the chocolate was left by my seat by the flight attendant.

It would be about an hour later that the crew came by to take orders for the pre-landing meal, so in that time I logged back into the Wifi (I had to re-establish the connection through Ethiopian’s Wifi portal), and read news online a bit. The connection was pretty smooth and I was able to access the sites of interest without too much hassle.

At 10:30pm orders were taken for the pre-landing meal, and by 10:40pm I was staring at the starter. This was a bit of a repeat of the flight on the leg to Abidjan, with the salmon coming in first, together with a fennel and lemon salad. As before, this was a tasty starter overall, even if the presentation was a bit basic.

The empty dishes were cleared at 10:47pm and 10 minutes later the main dish was served. I had ordered the lamb kebab, which came with rice and grilled zucchini and a tomato sauce. This dish turned out really very nice! The lamb itself was tender and flavorful and the sauce proved a good combination with the lamb and zucchini. Overall a great dish that, depsite being still rather full, I gladly finished.

I finished this around 11:05pm and a few minutes later the dessert cart passed by. This time they had a blueberry mouse, cheese and mreo whole pieces of fruit on offer, so I took the mouse, which was frankly delicious! Not sure where they ahd been hiding this dessert, but I was it’d come around sooner.

Finally, with desserts done and taken away, I had a chamomile tea before service ended. A last call was done for duty free – I couldn’t remember when the start of that had been announced, so perhaps it was while I was asleep. Really though, which airline still carries such an extensive selection of duty free items that they actively advertise? As if we’re back in the nineties! Also didn’t see a single person buy anything (which seems about right).

Thus the pre-landing meal service concluded at 11:30pm or so, and service on this final leg of the journey ended with about 45 minutes still to go. This last meal, with exception of the Ethiopian dish, was probably the best and tastiest meal throughout the long journey with Ethiopian fromC ape Town to Addis Ababa, and then onwards to New York.

Arrival in New York-JFK

By 11:40pm the pilot was on the PA to announce that descent would start imminently, as we were getting close to New York-JFK. He further shared that the temperature was about 14 degrees Celsius right now, and he thanked us for flying Ethiopian. Soon after the crew unlocked the windows shades and as it turned out, it was still quite bright out:

With the descent now in full swing, the US coast line came into view around 12:06am Abidjan time, which was actually 8:06pm EST. The crew came by and handed me my jacket in preparation for arrival. As we were coming in to land, we had some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen of Manhattan, with a glowing red, setting sun in the backdrop:

Mesmerized by the outside spectacle, the landing was in full swing and very soon we touched down on runway 4R at New York’s JFK Airport at 8:21pm EST:

Leaving the runwat 8:22pm, it took a bit of time to get to the gate, siucne we had to cross a very busy runway 4L, Waiting alongside an American Airlines 777 that had also just landed, once plane after the other was cleared for takeoff before both us and the 777 jet were cleared to cross and taxi to our respctivoe gates.

At the time of our, and until later in 2026, Ethiopian is still oeprating out of JFK’s terminal 7, currently the oldest and saddest terminal at the airport. once the new terminal 6 opens, terminal 7 will be demolished and replace dby an extension to the new terminal 6. But until all that happens, Ethiopian will still be docking at terminal 7 – and so did we. We pared at gate 5 around 8:44pm. Befor the signs even were off, all passengers started getting up and tkaing their things from the overhead bins, more than ready to disembark. The jetway connected at 8:48pm, and soon we were out and through immigration.

With that our fantastic trip to South Africa came to an end! Truly a trip to remember for a very long time, and I for one can’t wait to head back to the Kruger national park for more game drives and animal viewing. And, when that happens, I’d be quite happy to fly Ethiopian again! While a little rough around the edges, and with a hard product that’s not really competitive, the service and the Ethiopian food are the starts of the show. It’s clear to me that all the ingredients are here for a world class airlines –

Ethiopian Airlines Cloud9 Business Class Service

Ethiopian Airlines does a very nice job with regards to the service in its Cloud9 business class cabin. The crew is genuinely friendly and happy to assist. Though I wouldn’t say that this is the kind of outgoing friendliness that I’ve experienced in Air France’s business class, for instance. Rather, the crew is a more reserved, but I found them always smiling and happy to assist.

More importantly, I was very pleasantly surprised with the proactive and helpful attitude of the crew. Drinks were proactively refilled, trash was generally taken care of, and requests were handled speedily. Of course, on the leg from Abidjan to New York the business class cabin was largely empty, so that does of course factor favorably into the time the flight attendants got to spend with every single passenger.

With regards to the meal service, I had already noted in my prior review of Ethiopian’s Cloud9 Business Class experience, I loved that the crew was going for a restaurant-like experience. Dishes are placed directly on the tray table, you get the full complement of additions, such as olive oil and salt and pepper shakers, and wine is offered to taste before the glass is filled. I always want to highlight yet again the steady but personalized pace of the meal service, with dishes brought out as per my order, when I was ready to move on to the next course. It’s a very nice service flow that Ethiopian absolutely should be commended for.

Summary

Ethiopian Airlines provides a generally very pleasant experience in their Cloud9 business class cabin. Compared to our previous flight into Addis Ababa, the added benefit is that they will provide the Ethiopian coffee ceremony as a welcome drink, and there is an extensive selection of Ethiopian dishes between the started and main dish, and this was offered on both the ADD-ABJ and ABJ-JFK legs.

With a very nice and surprisingly personalized meal service flow, an excellent Ethiopian dish and decent other courses, and a full-fledged and practical set of amenities, I think Ethiopian provides a solid way to get to Africa and back.

In my opinion, Ethiopian Airlines has all ingredients in place to offer a world class business class experience, but they are not there yet. It will require investment, first of all to upgrade fleet-wide the uncompetitive (though comfortable) 2-2-2 business class seats. Though, note that we got ‘lucky’ with the Collins Diamond Parallel seats and if you get stuck with the Zodiac/Safran Aura Lite, you may be less enamored with the experience.