Ten Hours on an Ethiopian Air 787 Dreamliner

Our flight back home was scheduled to depart Dublin at 7:30 am.  This meant another very early morning wake up for us.  When looking for flights home, my goal was ideally nonstop flights but it is impossible to fly nonstop from Dublin to Phoenix so my next choice was finding an itinerary with only one connection. A tip from my brother alerted me to a little-known nonstop flight from DUB to LAX on Ethiopian Air. Because Ethiopian Air is a Star Alliance member we were able to use our United Airlines frequent flyer miles to book a business class flight on Ethiopian Air.  They call this class of service their  “Cloud Nine” service. It was a nonstop flight from Dublin to Los Angeles on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. From Los Angeles, we would only need a short flight back to PHX. Ethiopian Air bills itself as “North Africa’s Premiere Airline.”  I was excited, and a bit nervous, to see what the experience would entail as, prior to booking this flight, I did not even realize that Ethiopia had an airline. I was glad that if I was going to be taking such a long flight that it was on the Dreamliner.  My pre-departure research said that, among other features, the Dreamliner has higher humidity for a better cabin pressure. In the Cloud Nine cabin, where we would be seated, there are 24 seats with 68-inch pitch (21-inches wide) arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. This should provide plenty of space for comfort. The bed length was said to be 78 inches with the only downside being the 170-degree angle when flat. (Comparatively, the economy seats had a 33-inch pitch and were 17-inches wide).

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Business class tickets on Ethiopian Air qualified us to use the “Fast Track” security lanes at Dublin airport. There was no wait in the Fast Track lanes  and we were through security in less than five minutes. It is important to note that Ethiopian Air does not participate in US Customs Pre-Clearance at Dublin airport.  So, if you are flying to the US on Ethiopian, you will NOT need to arrive at the airport extra early for Customs pre-clearance in Dublin but you will have to deal with Customs in the US upon arrival back home. I was concerned that this might mean long lines for us in LAX but it was not an issue. As it turned out, there were no lines at all for Customs so we did not even bother to use the Global Entry kiosks – even though we both have Global Entry.  After checking in and getting “Approved Cabin Bag” tags for our carry-on suitcases, we were given Cloud Nine lounge passes which granted us complimentary access to the Executive Lounge at Dublin Airport.

Dublin airport’s executive lounge was small but clean and comfortable.  Entry to the lounge is €29 if you do not have access through your airline and wanted to enter.  Alternatively, this lounge is also a Priority Pass lounge so if you have a Priority Pass membership you can access this lounge free of charge and possibly bring a guest depending on your individual membership.  Note, however, that this lounge is NOT accessible after US Customs Pre-Clearance. So, if you are flying an airline that does US Customs pre-clearance in Dublin, you would need to visit the lounge before pre-clearing US Customs. Personally, I am too nervous to visit lounges landside, I need to be through security and near my gate before I can relax in a lounge.  I would not feel comfortable killing time in a lounge knowing that Customs pre-clearance was a necessary hurdle before heading to my gate.  Too many chances for a delay, in my opinion.  Since Ethiopian Air does not participate in pre-clearance, we were able to relax in the lounge as it is airside. I do not feel that this lounge would be worth paying for but for free it was a quiet place to wait for our flight. We were able to sit and have a light breakfast. Breakfast choices included cereal, breads, scones, muffins, fruits and granola with yogurt plus, of course, coffee and tea.

Upon boarding, we were greeted by a flight attendant in traditional African dress style uniform, some attendants were in western style uniforms as well.  Making our way to the front of the plane, we found our business class seats preset with a pillow and blanket in a sealed bag. This flight is the continuation of a flight that originated in Addis Ababa. The majority of the passengers were already onboard and had taken up most of the space in the overhead bins with various paper bags and parcels (not many suitcases which seemed odd to me).  A little rearranging and we were able to fit our carryon bags in without issue. These passengers had already been flying on this plane for over 11 hours but everyone was pleasant when we boarded. Our flight was scheduled to take ten hours and fifteen minutes so we took our seats and settled in for a long day.

We were immediately offered a champagne mimosa predeparture. Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant brought hot, moist towels for us to freshen up then presented each of us with an amenity kit stocked with fuzzy socks, disposable earplugs, eye mask, lip balm, toothbrush, toothpaste, toothpick, pen, and a folding brush/comb combination.  The kit comes in a nice size canvas zipper pouch with a convenient hook for hanging. I actually prefer this kit to the hardside Tumi brand amenity kit we received on our outbound Delta One flight, this is more practical, even if it is bright yellow.

We also received a multipage menu booklet so that we could make our dining selections when meal time came. After another round of beverages, breakfast service began. Breakfast consisted of a fruit salad, corn flakes with milk, fruit yogurt and your choice of baked goods. The portions were very generous. As we were finishing the food,  the main course breakfast dish was served.  This course was a choice between three dishes, I chose the Lemon zest pancake with an apple compote.  It was delicious and was accompanied by coffee or tea service.

After breakfast, the lights were dimmed and a cool feature of the Dreamliner is that the flight crew can dim the windows.  There are no pull-down window shades on the plane.  Instead, the density of the tint on each oversized window can be changed with controls at each seat or, if the crew decides it is sleeping time, they can dim all of the windows in the cabin. This can best be described as “sunglasses for the airplane.” It was nice to be able to see outside at all times but have the cabin darkened to allow sleeping and not have one crazy person decide they want to see outside and open the shade to allow bright light to flood in while everyone else is trying to sleep. I wanted to try to get some rest so I put my seat into “lie flat” position.

Pushing a combination of buttons allowed the seat to be flat but unfortunately, slanted at a slight angle so that I tended to continually slip down towards the foot-well. However, it was a spacious foot-well (unlike the previous Delta flight we took to get to Germany) so it did not feel claustrophobic. I was able to roll to my side without my feet becoming wedged under the top of the foot-well.

Because it was an angled lie-flat bed it was nowhere near as comfortable as a real bed but I was pretty tired because we woke up so early.  I used the ear plugs and eye mask from my amenity kit and four hours later I was pleased to discover that I had indeed fallen asleep and slept well.  I woke and watched a relatively new movie on the in-flight entertainment system (The Greatest Showman) and then it was time for lunch to be served.

For lunch, there was a starter of roasted vegetables.  Then there was a Cumin Rice Salad with Stir Friend Mushrooms and Broccoli.  For the main dish, I chose the beef dish.  This was again served with a choice of tasty bakery items.  All of the food was prepared well and tasty. Next came the traditional Ethiopian dishes.  I had never tried Ethiopian food before so I had a couple of questions. The friendly flight attendant suggested I try a little of each dish to see which I liked best.  She served my plate with a generous portion of each.  This is served alongside injera which is a traditional Ethiopian fermented flatbread made from teff.  It is a long narrow piece of thin bread with a spongy texture rolled and placed on the plate alongside the stew.  The injera is to be used to pick up the stew with your hands. Traditional Ethiopian style of eating does not use knives and forks.  The flight attendant returned later to ask if I wanted more of any dish. The lamb stew was my favorite. The other dishes were quite spicy but all were very flavorful.

After dinner, there was a traditional Ethiopian coffee service along with Kolo, a crunchy, roasted barley grain dish with chickpeas and nuts all dusted with a salty seasoning.  Kolo is traditionally served alongside coffee. It was similar to eating salted nuts and was very good.

Lastly, it was dessert or cheese selection and port wine. By this time we were stuffed and truly could not eat another bite! I watched another movie, read some of my book, and then it was time to land. Overall the ten hours passed very quickly, sleeping for almost half of the flight helped immensely. I would not hesitate to fly Ethiopian Airlines again.  It ranks up there as one of my best flight experiences, to date. Nonstop from Dublin to LAX is a great alternative to an East Coast layover for those of us who live closer to the West Coast.

We landed in Los Angeles earlier than scheduled and there were no lines in Customs. We needed to change terminals and clear security again but we have TSA Pre-check so we did not have a wait for security either. We had a few hours before we needed to board our final flight home to Phoenix. While planning this trip, I had checked the airline lounge situation at LAX and saw that Priority Pass lounges had partnered with one of the airport restaurants, Barney’s Beanery, which is a restaurant after security in Terminal 2. With the Priority Pass membership, both myself and my son could each get $28 worth of food and drinks, at the restaurant, free of charge.  We made our way there and ate a Mexican food lunch/dinner. I’d recommend the drinks more than the food but it was a free meal with table service so it served its purpose.

As we were flying Delta for the short flight to Phoenix from Los Angeles, and because I have an American Express Platinum card, I was able to visit the Delta Sky Lounge at LAX.  Unfortunately, the Amex Platinum card does not allow guests entry so my son waited at the gate while I went to the lounge. There was an excellent selection of food and drink but I was full from our meal at Barney’s so instead I checked out the showers.  The private shower room was stocked with fresh, soft Westin Towels as well as necessary toiletries.  The attendant also provided a dental care kit so I was able to freshen up after the 10-hour flight.

Soon it was time to board the plane for one more short flight and we were headed home.  We had been traveling for eight days and I was anxious to get home. The flight from LA to Phoenix is very short.

Surprisingly, jet lag hit me much worse on the return.  It took me a full week before I was not falling asleep at the dinner table!  But all in all, it was an amazing trip and now I’m looking forward to my next international adventure!

Is airport lounge access important to you?  Does lounge location/availability/access impact your travel planning at all? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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