I was feeling very adventurous with myself when I booked a flight with Ethiopian Airlines to Beijing for a birthday gift to myself; a tour around China and Hong Kong. Usually, I skip out on flying with unknown airlines and pay the extra change for the reliable ones. I was doing Ijebu of $100 and I have since learned my lesson.
I would go as far as comparing Ethiopian Airlines to Nigeria’s Moluwe (the worst type of bus transportation in Nigeria) of air transportation. Danfo buses even rate higher than Ethiopian Airlines. Like a moluwe, you hope that they take you to the right destination and that the bus conductor would not rip you off and rob you naked. In my opinion, Ethiopian Airways is definitely a rip off and they need to get back to their drawing board to figure out what their value proposition is.
Pre-Flight
From Lagos to China, it was terrible, but I persevered. The window seat I picked online became a middle seat when I received my tickets at the check-in point. The rudeness at the check-in counter when I asked to resolve the seat issue was like film show. Life was about to be a struggle.
In Flight
The flight from Ethiopia to Beijing was a testament to how much disgust I could withstand on a long haul flight. I don’t know where they found the Chinese people on this particular flight, but the disgusting noise of people hacking up spit and disposing it on the floor was jarring! The man that thought it was okay to try lighting up his cigarette made me laugh tire. Passengers not waiting for the hostess to serve before grabbing drinks off the cart and serving themselves just took the madness to another level.
With all the rubbish that was happening and me trying not to throw up from sheer disgust of the hacking noise around me, it made sense that the flight attendants were in terrible moods. I felt bad for them small, would have felt more if they didn’t snap at me when I asked for water. Na my fault?
The flight back to Nigeria almost broke my spirit. I was stuck in Shanghai for 3 days and it required breaking down in tears from sheer anger and frustration before someone pitied me and gave me a better service.
My ticket was booked directly on Ethiopian Airways’ website so kindly keep this in mind while I narrate my experience.
I booked a Lagos ->Addis Ababa-> Beijing, Shenzhen via Shanghai -> Addis Ababa -> Lagos on Ethiopianairways.com.
Pre-Flight
From Shenzhen, the flight was delayed by 3 hours due to the weather in Shanghai. I arrived in Shanghai around 2 am, and immediately contacted Ethiopian Airways to inform them of the issue and was given a seat # for the flight later in the evening. I also contacted my travel insurance company for what my package would cover regarding hotel + transportation cost for the night. Everything seemed well handled.
As soon as I sorted myself out, I checked into the Crowne Plaza in Shanghai, got a most relaxing snooze. At around 11am, I contacted Ethiopian Airways to reconfirm my seat for my flight that night. I was reassured, so I used my spare time to go shopping and sightseeing.
Because I like to over sabi, I left for the airport around 7pm (the flight was departing at 12:20am), but I just wanted to make sure everything would go smoothly. On checking in, I was told that I had no confirmed seat and that I would also have to pay for a flight change fee. Queue in confusion.
Their excuse was that because the flight delay was not within their control, it was not their problem. See me scratching head oh! As someone that travels quite a bit, I called BULLSHIT! I went as far as pulling up their travel guidelines through www.crbdirect.org.uk and showing them proof of purchase from their own platform, but they completely ignored me and told me that I would ‘probably’ get a chance to fly out on next week’s flight. It was sort of a “madam, abeg move away from me, you are delaying those on the line behind you” kinda situation.
On the counter next to mine, I could see someone else purchasing a last minute ticket on the ‘fully booked’ flight. I was livid and in a state of shock.
I called their head office, and they started back tracking on the seat confirmed for me. Essentially, I was told to ignore what was said to me earlier and that I may have heard them wrong…I simply needed to pay up in order to leave the country. In defeat, I was going to pay for it and haul myself back home, but both my debit cards had decided to stop working and they accepted cash only.
$30 of skype calls and 2 extra nights trying to get out of Shanghai, I mentally broke down, started crying and shouting over the phone. For two days, I was constantly told that my seat was confirmed only to be denied at check-in, the cab cost was about $100 round trip, and my emergency cash was used up. And this was how I slept the night on the airports uncomfortable bench with one eye open just to watch over my luggages. My cries eventually got through and I was finally given the number of the airline’s local manager. He sounded nice on the phone but had a hustler vibe when I saw him in person. I got hustled into paying for ‘flight change’ and the extra luggage I already paid for while in Shenzhen (they lovingly ignored the tags on the luggage too). Luckily, ‘luckily’, one of my cards worked on the third day there.
The manager assured me that I would receive a refund if I file for it via email complaint. I did exactly this when I got to Lagos and I received ZERO response. I then sent an email to USA’s government body that handles passenger’s complaint (I am also American). I received a response within the week.
Due to the fact that it did not happen within the American air space, they could only assist me by forwarding my complaint to the body that could help. They went even further by sending a complaint to Ethiopian Airlines on my behalf and this got them to finally respond to me! I eventually received a refund on the extra fees I was forced to pay…thanks to the American government. It blows my mind that it required a 3rd party to step in for this to happen. What about those with only Nigerian passports or similar where the government does not send anybody?
Times are hard, but some airlines are there to frustrate the human soul and squeeze every extra kobo out of their passengers. I really do not wish Ethiopian Airlines on even my worst enemy.
I believe in reviewing as fairly as possible, but there was absolutely nothing redeeming about the services rendered before, during, and after the flight. I believe in working/traveling with a company that would not leave me hanging the minute things do not go according to plans. The memory of this experience still makes me cringe. Situations like what happened with Ethiopian Airlines is why some people do not want to travel at all. This company is a terrible testament to the travel industry and they need to work on themselves sharply. If my birthday trip to China and Hong Kong was a first time travel experience for me, the emotional scar from it would have kept me from traveling again. Not to be overly dramatic, but it would require a lot to get me to go anywhere near Ethiopian Airlines…thank God for other options!
You can quickly find a passport office by clicking on passport agency near me.
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1 Comment
That is an insane experience! I can’t believe they were trying to make you pay extra fees when you’d already booked the flight. And you had to sleep in the airport on top of that. I consider myself warned; I’ll never fly Ethiopian Airways.