Ethiopian Airlines Business Class
Route: Dubai-Addis Ababa-Cape Town, return
Aircraft: Boeing 777, Boeing 767, Airbus 350
Class: The Business class is called "Cloud Nine". I booked in "P" business class, which cost roughly the same as an economy ticket on Emirates within this booking period and on the same route (Can$1,700). While part of the Star Alliance, you receive no Miles and More on Lufthansa with this class ticket - you can earn Ethiopian's ShebaMiles, though.
Flight time: 4 hours from Dubai to Addis Ababa and 6 hours to Cape Town.
When: Oct 2016.
The Airline: Ethiopian is Africa's largest airline and fastest-growing airline and in 2018 had a fleet of over 108 mostly-modern large Boeing and Airbus aircraft (Boeing 767s, 787s and 777s, and the Airbus 350) and many smaller 737-type planes. Many of their pilots appear to be European and South African. The airline clearly is trying to emulate the Emirates model, using Addis Ababa as a transit hub to serve routes across the world, including Europe, Asia and the west coast of North America. Ethiopian Airlines was voted to have the Best Airline Staff Service in Africa by customers in 2016, the second time it won the top prize in this award. It also came 8th in the category of the World’s Most Improved Airline.
After reading many horror stories about Ethiopian Airlines' flight delays and poor service, I was a bit reluctant to book on Ethiopian, but the amazingly cheap fare convinced me to make the slight detour via Addis Ababa. The flying time between Dubai and Cape Town was a little longer than the direct flight on Emirates, as there was a stopover of two and four hours respectively in Addis Ababa.
The departure at 4 am from Dubai was not without its own problems. The check-in counters only opened three hours before departure, meaning that even business passengers could not check in and go to the lounges - considering that I arrived at the airport at 8 pm, it was a very uncomfortable five hour wait. The line-ups were long and most fellow-passengers were pushing trolleys laden with huge oversized containers filled with obviously commercial good meant for resale - clearly these weighed probably about 50-100 kg, making me wonder how my plane could ever take off with all that extra weight.
The business lounge in Dubai was jointly shared by Ethiopian and a few other airlines. Even at 2 am the lounge was fully stocked and plentiful hot dishes were just being replaced by hot breakfast items. There also were a great selection of wines and a cold buffet.
The first leg of my trip to Cape Town was on a newish Boeing 777, with only three other business class passengers. The business class seating layout was 2-2-2, with full flat-beds, large screen monitors and a huge number of movies and TV shows.
Champagne was served before take-off at 4 am and breakfast was served. Each passenger received a well-stocked vanity bag and I eventually collected three a different coloured bags on my four flights - these matched the dominating red colour scheme on the Ethiopian business cabins that I flew in. The flight was as smooth as one could hope for and the arrival in Addis Ababa was uneventful, with a separate bus waiting exclusively for the four of us.
The Bole International airport is a bit of an adventure by itself. Depending on your luck, you could go through the security gates in either an hour or two, or in 10 minutes. On my first visit the security area had three officials, with the one checking the x-ray machine while also getting up from her
station to search items that she decided to flag - the line then came to a complete standstill while she meticulously searched by hand through a bag or a jacket of a less-than-amused 80-year old pensioner. This circus continued for about 90 minutes, without a supervisor in sight. On the second visit three weeks later, I walked through within minutes. There are a few restaurants and shops that only accept local currency and no credit cards.
The second and third flights to and from Cape Town were on a much older Boeing 767 and unfortunately, it looked like a scene frozen from a 1980 movie. The business cabin layout was 2-2-2 and the seats were dilapidated and came with a rudimentary fold-out monitor with about three movies - mine did not work anyway.
The food selection was good and I had a taste of the slightly spicy and delicious Ethiopian national dish called "Injera bǝ wot", with other hot entrees and starters such as prawns and salmon. A wide selection of wines included French, South African and a good Ethiopian wine made from honey. The service friendly and attentive, a fact appreciated by myself and the three other passengers in the business cabin.
On my way back from Cape Town, we stopped in Johannesburg, but stayed on board for the hour's stop. A few more passengers got on board, but the cabin was still only about 20% full. The flight to Addis took six hours and on arrival I could access the Cloud Nine Lounge 2, which looked better than the Star Alliance lounge - food was OK, there were computers and newspapers, but the bathrooms need some serious upgrades.
The A350 has the biggest engines and entertainment monitors that I have ever seen on an airplane. The seats became fully-flat beds and were easy to extend and retract.
The four-hour flight went smoothly, with stunning views of the Red Sea and the Arabian peninsula, and one almost wished it would last longer.
To conclude: Ethiopian Airline Business Class offered a very good product and was an absolute steal at the fare that I paid for it. It was vastly superior to Emirates economy for the same price and compared very well with Lufthansa's business class which I happened to fly the following day (thanks to an upgrade). The service and food were great, I could access adequate business lounges, they use mostly-modern aircraft, and the fares were more than competitive fares on this routes and on these dates.
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On a recent trip from Vancouver to Singapore in August 2017 and had a lucky and rather unusual break of getting the return legs in business class, almost at the same fare as premier economy. This is a summary of my experience in the business class of both airlines.
The All Nippon flight was between Singapore and Tokyo and it was a shorter overnight flight of about 7 hours. Check in was efficient as expected and I was whisked into an exclusive area to clear security and customs. While waiting for my flight I was allowed to use the outstanding Singapore Airlines Business Class lounge, known as the SilverKris Lounge, with probably the lagest and best food selection the at I have ever seen in a lounge.
Perhaps because it was a shorter flight, the business class in this Dreamliner was unfortunately in a ‘domestic’ 2-2-2 layout, as opposed to a more modern and convenient staggered configuration. There was a solid separator between the two seats, which provided some privacy, but the window passenger still had to climb over the legs of the aisle passenger or had to ask him to get up from his seat.
The meal was slightly disappointing, with some tasty Japanese options, but it felt a bit rushed, with everything served at once.
The seat converted into a flat bed and it was comfortable. The crew was attentive and the service generally good.
The seat converted into a flat bed and it was comfortable. The crew was attentive and the service generally good.
The second leg was on Air Canada’s Dreamliner between Tokyo and Vancouver. In Tokyo I could choose between different lounges, due to my business ticket and my Miles and More status, but the United lounge turned out to be pretty good.
While Air Canada have had some issues over many years with surly service, old planes and something to be avoided if you could, I was pleasantly surprised for the third time over the past year by how much they have improved the quality of international business and premier economy class, and even economy.
The service was friendly and efficient, and the crew addressed all business passengers by their last names when taking food and drink orders. The food and wine on offer were good and the entertainment system with its large 46 cm touch-screens offered hundreds of movies.
The cabin was laid out in a staggered fashion, with each of the four seats across having access to an aisle, the middle two seats completely separated and with each seat in its own private cubicle.
Comparing the flights, I can say without hesitation that Air Canada’s business class was considerably better that that of All Nippon.
While there is huge room for improvement on AC's domestic flights and with the service levels at the check-in counters at Canadian airports, Air Canada has achieved great strides in improving its offering on international routes, especially in business class, over the past few years.
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Lufthansa Business Class
Route: Frankfurt to Vancouver
Class: Business (upgrade)
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Flight time: 10 hours
When: 1 Nov 2016
Verdict: A good business class, efficient and friendly
service, nice cabin, food spartan but adequate.
The trip commenced in the Business Lounge in Frankfurt, with
an assortment of
meatballs, mushroom soup and good Austrian white- and Italian
red wine. Being in transit, I even had time for a shower and to send off some
emails before boarding.
The shower rooms were managed by a rather stern female staff member who insisted on minute details of my flight numbers, name, departure time, time of entering the cubicle and much more. The strangest part of the shower was that it switches off every 10 or 15 seconds - my guess is the genius who designed this unique and most absurd water-saving measure never had to use it him/herself. In addition, shower users are not allowed to sit on the little bench inside the shower room, just in case they are hoping to sit down while putting on socks, shoes and tying shoelaces.
The shower rooms were managed by a rather stern female staff member who insisted on minute details of my flight numbers, name, departure time, time of entering the cubicle and much more. The strangest part of the shower was that it switches off every 10 or 15 seconds - my guess is the genius who designed this unique and most absurd water-saving measure never had to use it him/herself. In addition, shower users are not allowed to sit on the little bench inside the shower room, just in case they are hoping to sit down while putting on socks, shoes and tying shoelaces.
Arriving at the gate, we were held up for another 45 minutes
due to the late arrival of our aircraft and had to wait inside a very crammed
waiting area. I refused to enter this overcrowded circus, together with a few
other wary passengers. We soon realized that it was much more convenient to
wander around the terminal, go for a Starbucks coffee or browse the
bookstore, than to fight with another 350 passengers for air and space in an
overcrowded boarding area. This did not discourage the very persistent gate
personnel from trying to entice us to enter the boarding area, using evil looks and
often-repeated threats/announcements - something along the lines of "meinen damen und herren, ze plane will depart without you". I ignored them of course, and walked through the
boarding gates when they finally began the boarding process.
Champagne was served before take-off and lunch was adequate, but nothing more. Starters consisted of Venision, prawn and Mozzarella salads. I ordered the red "Austrian Blaufrankisch Hochberg Weingut Juliana Wieder", probably the longest name that I ever saw on a wine label. But it was really good, considering the vines were 25 years old and spent plenty of time in traditional oak casks. I decided upon the Salmon for my main course, but after I had a brief whiff of my neighbour's aromatic, roasted goose, I changed my selection and this was promptly agreed to by the air hostess.
I normally sleep poorly on planes, but I must admit that
once my seat was transformed into an almost 2-m-long, fully flat bed, I had no
problem falling asleep for an hour or two, in between watching a few movies.
The seat adjusted relatively easily once you got the hang of it. Strangely,
there are never any readily available instructions on how operate these rather complex
seats or how to lift out the tricky seat table.
The business class cabin on the main deck is configured in a
2-2 layout in the front
half, while in the back half it is a 2-3-2 layout.
Lufthansa's unfortunate decision to add a third seat in the middle row, has the potential to cause great
discomfort for the poor unsuspecting middle passenger, considering he/she paid a business
class fare.
The business seats have large TV screens with a limited selection of movies in English. The movie selection hardly changed within one month, even between the business and premier economy class selecion.
The business seats have large TV screens with a limited selection of movies in English. The movie selection hardly changed within one month, even between the business and premier economy class selecion.
Lufthansa's business class was voted 10th best in the world
in 2016 in the Skytrax World Airline Awards, with Qatar being at number one.
Lufthansa was beaten by Air France (9th), but it at least edged out British
Airways. To be frank, having flown BA, Air France, Lufthansa and Ethiopian
business classes over the past few years (mostly through free upgrades), I
would vote for British Airways as top choice among these four.
Premier Economy: Air France vs Lufthansa
I traveled on both airlines from Vancouver to Cape Town via Paris and Frankfurt over the past 12 months in premier economy class. The bottom line is that Air France's product is a considerable step-up from the very modest presentation offered by Lufthansa.First and foremost - Air France makes you feel like an business-class passenger in so many ways, while Lufthansa feels that it must protect its business class from being encroached by premier economy class and they make no pretense about this. Let s start at check-in: Air France offers its premier economy passengers Sky Priority status - that means that such passengers can check in at the business class counters, take the shorter line at airport security, board the plane first, and take the shorter line at passport controls in Paris. Lufthansa offers none of these considerable benefits.
Secondly, the premier economy seat of Air France looks and feels like the old business class seats - its a fixed structure, which means that the passenger in front cannot impede on the personal space of the passenger behind. The seat has a cozy, cocoon-like feel, with its own reading light above the the passenger's shoulder. Lufthansa's seat claims to offer 50% more personal space, but once the seat in front reclines, you are as cramped as in economy class and it is only with great difficulty than you can get out of your seat.
The food on both Air France and Lufthansa was basically standard economy fare, served with better cutlery, wine glasses and with a menu. TV screens on both were quite a big bigger that economy class (11 or 12 inches) and in both cases, premier economy passengers can take two bags each weighing 23 kgs. Both offer a travel kit with socks, a tooth brush etc.
Both airlines allow you to enter their business class lounges for a payment of Euro25 to Euro35, but in the case of Lufthansa, this is only allowed in Frankfurt and at U.S. airports where Lufthansa has a base.Conclusion: while I have no love for Paris and Charles de Gaulle Airport and much prefer Frankfurt Airport, I would choose AF over LH when it comes to premier economy class, if the prices are the same. As it happened, in 2015 AF was considerably cheaper than LH during the month on which I departed, while the opposite was true during 2016.
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Air France Premium Economy
Our routing on Air France was from Vancouver to Johannesburg and return from Cape Town, between September and November 2015. We chose premium economy because, at Can$1,700, it was only Can$500 more than the already very low economy fare of Can$1,200. The fare allowed us a free stop-over in Paris (which we used to complete a five-week journey through Greece and Germany), double the luggage allowance and about 4 times more miles (a total of 21,000,) compared to the lowest economy fare.
Check in at Vancouver Airport was a breeze - there was no line-up at the Sky Priority counter and boarding the Airbus 330 was as quick as we used the Sky Priority line. The premium economy cabin was cozy due to its small size, and quite luxurious, reminiscent of business class in the 1980s. Seating was 2-3-2, spread across a few rows, with more than ample legroom and considerably wider seats than economy class.
The bucket seats offered 40% more space than economy and they reclined within a fixed area to ensure that personal space could not be encroached upon from the front or back seats. The backseat TV screens were 12 inches and there were plenty of relatively recent movies to while away the time if you can’t sleep. Food was standard economy fare although Air France claims the starter is ‘inspired by the Business Class menu’. Wine was from good French stock and plentiful, if one so desired.
One problem was that premium economy passengers did not quite know which toilets to use, as
Landing in Paris, we all had to face unbearably long lines with a few thousand other passengers, but once again, there was a Sky Priority option which reduced the wait to about an hour, as opposed to probably 90 minutes.
After checking in at Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E, we were allowed, as premier economy passengers, to purchase access to the business class lounge for Euro30. It was worthwhile as we had a six hour wait and it is one of the best business class lounges in Europe – outstanding showers, good food and a wide selection of wines and spirits.
The flight on the Airbus 380 to Johannesburg was smooth and it remains my favourite aircraft due to its size, spaciousness and because it is so quiet. The premium economy cabin is located on the upstairs deck. The layout was 2-3-2 and we had the two seats on the side, with lots of storage and head space above the window. Food and service were good, in line with expectations. 
On our return from Cape Town, the first leg to Johannesburg was on South African Airlines on an Air France ticket in economy class, but we managed to check our luggage all the way to Vancouver. As we had another 5 hours to wait in Johannesburg, we decided to use the business lounge, paying with miles, which was within the rules governing lounge access to premium economy passengers (at least on Air France’s website). 
This brazen attempt to incur a little luxury clearly caught the Air France front-desk staff at by surprise and they made it very clear that we could not enter the lounge as premium economy passengers using our miles. I promptly opened my computer and showed them that this was permitted, but to no avail. In fact, one or two of the personnel decided it was a great time to mock our entry-level Flying Blue status and proclaimed loudly that we had some nerve trying to enter the lounge as mere mortals.
Eventually, we were allowed to enter after paying Euro25, only to discover what must be rank among the worst business class lounges in the world – unmotivated staff, unappetizing and mostly empty food trays, and dirty plates and utensils left unchecked all over the lounge. After about two hours of eating crackers and cheese remnants, I firmly made a request to a disinterested lounge staff member to arrange for the food to be replenished.
The Airbus 380 flight back to Paris was fine, but by now we had seen most of the new releases and I watched Trainwreck for the fifth time (it gets less funny after the second time) - the movie selection on Air France flights between September and November were not updated much. However, the food and service were good and the flight uneventful. Arriving in Paris, we had to again face the inevitable chaos that seems to be part of Charles de Gaulle Airport, with poor signposting, overcrowding and a layout devoid any logic.
However, this was not Air France’s fault, but the aggravation caused by petulant and confused front-desk personnel at the business class lounge, certainly was. It took four staff members at the front-desk to trying to figure out whether we can use our miles to access the lounge. I pointed out that Air France’s website clearly states that we could. After studying their computers intensely, they suggested that it was neither possible, nor impossible (something similar to the famous French shoulder shrug) . Eventually we were allowed to enter "as an exception". We paid our 6,000 miles dutifully, enjoyed very long hot showers and several breakfasts and boarded the long 10 hour uneventful leg back to Vancouver on a Boeing 777. 
I wrote a letter of complaint about our shoddy treatment in Johannesburg and the difficulty that we experienced in Paris as well, using miles in exchange for business lounge access. I posted my complaint it on Air France’s Facebook page. Within three days I received a n apology and 5,000 miles credited back to my account. However, there were still no guidance with respect to ivory members using miles to enter the lounge in the future when flying premier economy.
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British Airways Club class between Cape Town and London
This review covers a Club class flight on British Airways between Cape Town and London on 26 August 2014. The Boeing 747-400 service offered a flat bed service on this route in Club class and while the general quality of the cabin was inferior to the same class on the Airbus 380 (photo below) between London and Johannesburg, it remains one of the better business class products in the sky.
While comfortable, BA's Club seats on the 747 can really do with an upgrade. They are still configured in a 2-4-2 layout, with one passenger facing forward and the one adjacent facing backward, at the side row - the middle row has two forward and two backward facing. This is something I never understood - why facing backward? - it just makes no sense. The seats are separated by a hard plastic curtain/separator that moves up and down with the push of a button. Theoretically, the air hostess should walk behind the front-facing seat to serve the backward-facing passenger at the window - however, on my flight the air hostess insisted on leaning over me, pushing the button to lower the separator and serving the accross my seat - after about three times this really got annoying. The problem is that if you don't raise the separator, you and your fellow passengers stare straight at each other from a distance of less than one meter - pretty awkward, unless it happens to be Miss World sitting side by side.
Food was satisfactory, rather than outstanding. But by then I had so much Salmon lox in the lounge that everything else tasted a bit bland. The starter choices were poached Norwegian Salmon with marinated prawns or an oyster mushroom salad. Main courses included 'Ballotine' of chicken with Port, Drakensberg trout, pasta or a cold main course salad of za'atar beef medallion.
I took the chicken and it was OK, but sadly inferior to my mother's Sunday roast chicken. There was a selection of South African Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and some good reds. Breakfast was a choice of a cheese omelette, continental or a filling traditional English breakfast with bacon, sausages, mushrooms and potatoes.
Arriving in London, I took the supposedly fast track option - a big mistake. In theory this is supposed to expedite your progress through customs as a Club passenger, but in practice, it was a disaster - there were only two or three border agents present at any time and it took 45 to 60 minutes to get through the 'fast track' customs - I could see group after group of fellow BA passengers clearing the slow lane long before I took the next few steps forward.
The BA arrivals lounge was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of Heathrow Terminal 5, arguably one of the more unpleasant, poorly designed and overcrowded airport terminals in world. I had a few cappuccinos, caught up on the newspapers and made use of the free internet before catching the tube into London. All in all, not a bad experience, but having flown on these seats quite a few times over the past 15 or more years, I really think it is time to either upgrade the Club cabin on the 747's or just switch to newer Boeing 777's or the Airbus 380.
