London - Addis Ababa

[ilesmark]

Hi all

Am about to book a return flight as per the above, going out mid-March and coming back mid-April.

We'll be booking economy class; any particular airlines to go for or avoid on this route? Turkish is the cheapest but Emirates (normally my favourite) is a LOT more ££ :uhoh:. Have tried looking up Turkish on Airline Rating and Reviews | Airport Rating and Reviews | Seat Reviews (http://www.airlinequality.com) but it doesn't have a huge amount of info on them.

Thanks in advance.

[Mr Mac]

ilesmark
EK probably most expensive and longer routing you could try one of the other gulf carriers. Would suggest Turkish maybe worth a try (Have had colleague who recently flew with them and was presently surprised). You could even try Ethiopian and take in some alpine scenery around Geneva on the way back maybe !!.

[edi_local]

I have heard nothing but good about TK recently and IST is more or less half way, so would break up the journey quite nicely. Going via IST is obviously going to take longer with the transfer time, but even the flying time isn't much more as there isn't much difference in the distance when compared with going directly. TK seem to have on average a 4 star rating, so not bad at all.

[mixture]

Haven't done it myself, but helped someone look up options, not many fly that route.....

Try LHR->FRA->ADD

That was all on Lufthansa metal.

[ilesmark]

Well, guys - thanks to all for your input. Have taken the plunge with THY.....will blame you if it all goes pear-shaped! ;)

Booked up tonight for the princely sum of £396.63 inc all taxes and credit card fees (would have been £389 without). Leave 11 Mar and return 10 Apr - LGW-IST-ADD.

[caiman27]

I have done the direct flight on Ethiopian a couple of times - it's fine. And now with the 787...

[mixture]

Given their recent unplanned detour to GVA, I'm not sure Ethiopian would be on my list of approved carriers. :cool:

[ilesmark]

'Given their recent unplanned detour to GVA, I'm not sure Ethiopian would be on my list of approved carriers'

Yep, that's what I thought. Esp as it was the co-pilot of all people.

To say nothing of the possible battery issue.....think 787s are a little too new and exotic just yet for the - how to say - more exotic airlines :suspect:

[PAXboy]

Not used them myself but friends have travelled with THY several times in long haul and approve. These friends are rather picky about old fashioned service, politeness etc.

[mixture]

Esp as it was the co-pilot of all people.

That's exactly why I said what I did.

If it was a genuine 'event' ... then fine, sh*t happens sometimes, even to the best of airlines.

But a member of the active flight crew.... leaves a lot of questions to be answered that they would struggle to answer to my and others reassurance I suspect.