Ethiopian Airlines: An Exhausting Flight Home

Addis Ababa to Washington, D.C. via Rome (1-hour refueling stop) | December 2025 | Cloud Nine Business Class

After two incredible weeks in Africa on our honeymoon, we were ready to head home. Our final flight was Ethiopian Airlines ET500 in Cloud Nine business class aboard the airline’s new Airbus A350-1000, traveling from Addis Ababa to Washington, D.C., with a one-hour refueling stopover in Rome. On a journey of roughly 16 hours, the plan was simple: settle in, get some much-needed sleep, and arrive home feeling at least a little refreshed.

I had flown Ethiopian Airlines before and had a great experience, so I was genuinely looking forward to flying with them again. Unfortunately, this journey home ended up being one of the most exhausting parts of our trip. And while the onboard experience was frustrating enough, Ethiopian Airlines’ response to our feedback afterward somehow made it worse.

A 16-hour flight with almost no chance to unwind

I have flown enough to know that no flight, business class included, is guaranteed to be quiet. Kids cry, people talk, and families have every right to travel. None of that is the issue. What made ET500 different was the extent of the disruption and how long it went on.

For much of the flight, the children seated directly in front of us were climbing over seats and through the dividers, yelling back and forth, and playing videos out loud. It was not just a brief noisy moment that everyone could brush off. From our seats, the cabin seemed unable to settle down for any meaningful stretch of time.

The children were also climbing around while carrying drinks in open glasses, not spill-proof plastic sippy cups. All it would have taken was one misstep for a drink, or even the glass itself, to come crashing down on us. Thankfully, that never happened, but it came uncomfortably close. It added another layer of stress to a situation that was already making it nearly impossible to relax.

The atmosphere around us told the story. I looked over and saw passengers with their hands over their ears and others trying to block out the noise by pulling multiple blankets over their heads. It was clear we were not the only people struggling to rest.

We had been looking forward to using those long hours to recover after two amazing but busy weeks of travel. Instead, we walked off the plane feeling more tired than when we boarded. I joked that we had somehow managed to get “net-negative sleep,” which is about as accurate a description as I can give.

Where the cabin crew fell short

The ongoing noise was one problem. What disappointed me even more was the lack of any visible, effective intervention from the crew. There were the usual announcements reminding passengers to stay seated and fasten their seatbelts, yet the movement between seats continued.

To be fair, I cannot know what private conversations may have taken place with the family. But from where we were sitting, nothing seemed to change. I do not expect flight attendants to guarantee absolute silence or solve every difficult family situation. I do think they can make a reasonable effort to address repeated seat-climbing and loud videos in a shared cabin, especially on a flight this long.

For me, that is a big part of premium service. A comfortable seat matters, but it can only do so much if the atmosphere around it makes rest nearly impossible.

The response afterward made it worse

After we got home, I reached out to Ethiopian Airlines to explain what we had experienced. I hoped for some acknowledgment that this had been an unusually disruptive flight and that our feedback was being taken seriously.

Instead, the reply essentially characterized the disturbance as something that had happened only briefly. That did not match our experience. We were there for the entire flight, and to us the disruption lasted through much of the journey. Having the airline minimize what we had just lived through was incredibly dismissive.

An airline cannot go back in time and fix a bad flight. But it can choose how it responds when a customer raises a concern. A little empathy would have gone a long way here. Unfortunately, the follow-up only reinforced our disappointment.

Would I fly Ethiopian Airlines again?

This was one flight, and I recognize that another traveler on another day could have a completely different experience. My criticism is not about families traveling with children. It is about the way a prolonged disruption affected the surrounding passengers and how the airline handled it, both in the air and afterward.

Ethiopian Airlines is an important option for getting around Africa, but this experience has made me much more willing to explore other airlines and routings for future trips. Even if an alternative means a less convenient connection, I would seriously consider it.

The trip itself was fantastic, and I wish its final flight had been a more peaceful ending. Instead of stepping off ET500 rested and ready to be home, we arrived exhausted and frustrated. Cloud Nine business class may have been the ticket we booked, but on this journey, the comfort and attentive service we expected never materialized.

Related reading: My original TripAdvisor review