gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 14 Posted (2 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 8628 times:
Off to Zimbabwe, Part 1. EI & EY, BHX-DUB-MAN-AUH-JNB
Intro
Hi!
Thanks for clicking on my latest trip report! So, where am I off to this time? Zimbabwe. Yes, you read that correctly. I’m off to the country everybody thinks they know a lot about, but actually have no idea what’s happening on the ground. Why? A relative moved there for work a year or so ago…they talk about it all the time, saying how wonderful it is, and how much I’d love it. Well, who am I to say differently? I’d been thinking about going down for a while, but finally made up my mind in mid-January, just 3 weeks before my chosen departure date.
So, how does one get to Zimbabwe? Since “the troubles”, neither BA nor Air Zimbabwe link London to Harare. Direct long-haul flights are limited to KL and EK, along with some regional links by SA, KQ and ET. Given the lack of competition, fares are quite high. However, not far down the road lies Southern Africa’s largest hub, Johannesburg. Finding a cheap flight to JNB was a lot easier. Whilst I was in the middle of fare hunting, I was told by another relative that they were off to their holiday cottage in Ireland for half term….would I like to come? Hmmm. Yes, yes I would. Making this work to my advantage, I checked fares to JNB out via DUB instead of LHR. Thanks to the outrageous APD charged by the UK Government, fares out of DUB are quite a bit cheaper. I found a nice DUB-MAN-AUH-JNB-AUH-LHR flight on a combination of Aer Lingus and Etihad (whom have just bought a stake in EI). A nice cheap one way BHX-DUB flight, also with EI, sealed the deal.
Now, how to get from JNB to Zimbabwe? Cash fares, particularly one ways are frightfully expensive. Thankfully, BA franchisee Comair operates a number of routes from JNB on an ageing fleet of B737-400s in full BA livery. For the same price (4,500 Avios + £25) as a one way Avios (miles) seat from London to Paris, I could get a seat from Johannesburg to Harare. Now, why fly back the same way? The major tourist draw to Zimbabwe is the Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border. Sadly, Comair availability was very awkward. Availability changed massively from day to day. There were no award seats from Victoria Falls (VFA) to JNB, but there were from the Zambian town of Livingstone (LVI) a few miles away. There were no seats left in economy, so I had to pay double for Club. So, that’s how it worked out!
The flights
EI 277 Birmingham BHX – Dublin DUB, A320
EI 208 Dublin DUB – Manchester MAN, A320
EY 22 Manchester MAN – Abu Dhabi AUH, A330
EY 604 Abu Dhabi AUH – Johannesburg JNB, A330
BA 6267 Johannesburg JNB – Harare HRE, B734
BA 9292 Livingstone LVI - Johannesburg JNB, B734
EY 603 Johannesburg JNB – Abu Dhabi, A330
EY 19 Abu Dhabi – London Heathrow LHR, B77W
My route, courtesy of GC Mapper, of these reports:
I’ll be splitting the report into 3 parts:
Part 1, BHX-DUB-MAN-AUH-JNB
Part 2, JNB-HRE, LVI-JNB
Part 3, JNB-AUH-LHR
And here’s the map of Part 1:
The Report
So, let start from the beginning. You may recall, before I set off on my last trip to Asia, I bought a nice new bag. Sadly, this was stolen in Bangaldesh. So, I needed a replacement. In late Jan I flew LH to Warsaw (report coming soon, I’m doing them out of order), and was perusing their Worldshop catalogue. I noticed their rather wide range of suitcases. One caught my eye. Just over a week later, it landed on my doorstep, courtesy of UPS.
Obviously, being a piece of luggage emblazoned with the LH logo (and not overly cheap either), I was expecting a pretty decent quality bag. Sadly it wasn’t. Poor overall building quality, and designed without much in mind. Certainly, it will not stand my to many flights, even on its namesake airline. Check out this zip, straight out of the box:
I shall be sending it back when I get home, then the hunt for a bag will start all over again.
Onto the trip! I caught the train up to Birmingham International, and then the funny little people mover over to the terminal. I was a bit early, so had to wait some 20 minutes for the EI desks to open. When they did, my suitcase was tagged to DUB, and I was given my boarding pass with a “Fast Pass” sticker attached due to my EI Gold status. I was flying with 4 relatives (whom were about 30 minutes behind), so the friendly agent blocked off seats for them in rows 2 and 3.
Security was fairly quick in the Fast Lane, although my bag was pulled over for a random check.
FIDS…not too busy this evening. Coming from the London area, I’m kind of amazed to see that the last flight of the day departs at 2030. Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, after London.
With my Priority Pass card, I had access to 4 lounges. I headed over to the Flybe Lounge first, only to find it shut.
Next I stopped by the 4deck lounge, mostly used my Skyteam. It didn’t look terribly interesting inside, although the friendly lady on the desk did say that she would admit me with 2 guests, whilst only charging for 1.
Next door is the Aspire by Servisair lounge. This is also the designated EI lounge.
I was feeling quite hung over from my night out the previous day, so was off the booze this evening. Not long after sitting down, my relatives arrived. I guested two in (one on PP, the other via EI)…it was their first time in a lounge, and they were suitable impressed….”wow, it’s all free? You mean everything?”
I left them there, whilst another hit the shops. I then headed over with my aunt to what is supposedly the best BHX lounge, the No. 1 Lounge….indeed, it was much nicer than the Aspire (and streets ahead of 4deck). Nice interior design, and even a small complimentary at table menu.
Before too long, we met up and went down to the gate. I didn’t take many photos from hereon in as my cousins all thought me deeply sad…although did acknowledge that it was thanks to my geeky knowledge that they’d got into the lounge!
“Maolmhaodhóg” would be taking us across the Irish Sea this evening
Flight #1: Aer Lingus, Birmingham - Dublin
February 2013
Birmingham (BHX) – Dublin (DUB)
Aer Lingus EI 277
Scheduled: 2020-2120 (1h00m)
Actual: 2020-2100 (0h40m)
Airbus A320-214, EI-EDS “St Malachy/Maolmhaodhóg”
Economy
So, no photos from this flight, lest I get scorned by my family….nothing much to say about it either. Take off was bang on time, landing 20 minutes early. Flight was fairly busy. Entertainment value came from (other than my cousins) the lady in row one asking if they coffee on-board was a cappuccino or a latte….the purser looked fairly amused by the question….”no dear, it’s just a coffee”.
This was my first time arriving into the new EI terminal. It’s pretty nice in here.
My bag came off pretty quickly. I realised pretty soon that the bag scores a near zero for water repellence, so another minus for the bag.
A few photos from my days in Ireland
Sadly my time in Ireland was soon up. Thankfully I had a nice 4 leg, 3 airlined flight to Zimbabwe to look forward to. After dropping off my hire car, I made my way over to the nice new Terminal 2. There was no queue at the Gold desk, and my bag was tagged without issue all the way to JNB. This ticket was booked on Expedia all as EY flights. Thanks to the tie up between EI and EY, they offer through check-in on 1 ticket.
Sadly, an issue came with the boarding passes. I had preselected seats via Expedia (which showed on my reservation). Not wanting to mess up anything, I hadn’t checked in online. Sadly, the seats seemed to have vanished, being replaced with a middle seat on MAN-AUH, and a centre aisle on AUH-JNB…er, no thanks. Even worse, the EI lady said that they had no access to the EY seat map…I’d have to ask when I got to MAN.
Sadly, the DUB EY desk was unmanned at the time, so I’d have to wait til I got to MAN so sort out my seats.
Landside
FIDS
There was no queue at security for Fast Track, and I was through in a few minutes. First stop on my lounge tour was the Anna Livia lounge in T1…I hadn’t heard much praise about this lounge, and it was evident why.
The walk from T2 and T1.
I was barely acknowledged by the 3 lounge dragons when I entered. The lounge was drab, and offerings minimal. I got a water and coffee.
After about 20 minutes, I left (without any acknowledgement from the dragons), and headed back to T2. Thankfully the connecting tunnel brings you out on the same level as the lounges.
First stop here was the Aer Lingus lounge. I spent a few hours here in November. I was planning on writing a report, but I managed to corrupt all my photos. It’s a pretty well-equipped lounge, complete with shower rooms.
View from the lounge…EK is about to depart
My snacks….a nice Cork Dry Gin
The mezzanine area
A nice espresso
The smaller bar area
Hmmm, a little delay. Not a problem with my 5 hour MAN connection
Before long, EK departs leaving a couple of US bound EI planes.
With about an hour to go, I pop next door to the airport run DAA lounge. This is nearly exactly the same as the EI lounge next door, less the green and the shower rooms. It’s also nearly deserted.
Another G&T please
Updated FIDS
Finally, the FIDS changes to say “Go to Gate”, and the 1410 ETD is changed back to 1350. I assume this means that the plane has now arrived and boarding is imminent. I leave the lounge, and head to the gate.
EI-DEI is sitting at the gate…I assume this is ours.
It’s not. We sit and wait and wait, with no information at all.
The gate area
Finally another plane pulls up next to EI-DEO….pax start to deplane. This will be our plane. Why did they say go to gate so early when the plane wasn’t even on the ground? Grrr.
20 minutes after our ETD, we’re are invited to board.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (2 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 8736 times:
Flight #2: Aer Lingus, Dublin - Manchester
February 2013
Dublin (DUB) – Manchester (MAN)
Aer Lingus EI 208, booked as EY 7984
Scheduled: 1350-1445 (0h55m)
Actual: 1434-1509 (0h35m)
Airbus A320-214, EI-EDS “St Senan/Seanan”
Economy
Good legroom near the front.
Baile Atha Cilath
The load looks to be about 60%. Interestingly, this is the third and final EI flight to MAN of the day. No afternoon or evening flights. The captain apologises for the delay, saying they had just operated into from MAN, and there was heavy snow which had slowed everything down. Lucky the flight wasn’t cancelled.
Off we go, 45 minutes late
Cara Magazine
Maps
EI don’t codeshare on the JNB route
Safety card
Sky Deli…I didn’t indulge on this trip
Seat back
Before long we began our descent into a murky Manchester. I was excepting to see a lot of snow….turns out there was hardly any to be seen. I guess the earlier flight just got caught up in a bit of a heavy flurry.
I was quite surprised to see my EY plane already on the ground. Turns out it arrives around 2pm for an 8pm departure.
A little plane getting de-iced.
As it was still slushing quite heavily, I was hoping that we’d get a gate with an airbridge…sadly we didn’t. Steps were slowly rolled up to the plane, and then everyone had to dash across the flooded tarmac to the bus.
We were taken on a rather circuitous tour of the tarmac, before being dropped off in a rather depressing alleyway.
Passing EY on the bus
No immigration or need to stop for bags. Sadly, there is no direct transit available here, so I head to go landside, then back up to departures.
MAN T3 is rather poorly designed in this respect. I stopped by the info desk to ask for directions. I was pointed the right way (out through a car park!), but then asked what flight I was on.
Me: The Etihad
Her: Oh, that doesn’t leave til 8pm, you’ll have to wait
Me: Don’t worry, I already have my boarding pass
Her: You can’t go airside until 3 hours before departure
Me: Er, why? I’ve got my boarding pass.
Her: Health and safety. It’s a confined area you see.
Me: *Pardon*?? Confined area?! (What on earth are you talking about?). Healthy and safety? It’s not safe (or healthy) for me to wait in the departures area, but it is safe for me to wait outside security for 2 hours?
Her: Yes
Me: Errrr, ok.
Her: You can try to go through, but you’ll probably not be allowed in.
Me: Great. Thanks for all your help.
I have no idea if she made that up on the spot or not. I’ve emailed MAN to see what their policy is on such matters.
Despite arriving so early, I’m happy to see some activity around the EY check in desks. Sadly they say they are updating their system and will have to wait until check in opens (at 5pm) to access the seat map. I tried to get onto OLCI, but was unable to change seats online.
Unsurprisingly, I was allowed through security 5 hours early, and my boarding pass beeped green at every step of the way.
After a quick stop at Boots, I head up to the lounge area.
First stop is the Escape Lounge
It’s farily similar to the No. 1 lounge in BHX, although with less view and less free menu. In fact, the only thing one could order was the soup of the day, something I’d expect to see out on the side anyway.
Tasty soup. I’d rather a sausage sandwich though
The bar here is manned, and the woman is rather clueless. I get a G&T and some brownies
Nice seating in here
And another G&T and a coffee
At 5pm I head over to the EY lounge. The two ladies there are very helpful. They can’t reprint my bp, but find me a window seat on both legs, and phone down to check in to move me. I have to pick up my new boarding pass at the gate.
Next stop is the Servisair lounge. The Wilmslow lounge is being redone (I assume making one big lounge), so I just use the Bollin Lounge. It seems to be the default *A lounge.
First I notice is the air con…it’s freezing in here. And it’s packed with Germans. The view is nice though. I have a hard task finding a seat though.
The catering here is bare bones, and even less appetising than the Servisair lounge in LHR T1. After 20 minutes, I pack up my stuff and head back to the Eascape lounge.
FIDS
Ah, back in the nicer lounge. I settle down with another G&T and get online.
The designated TK lounge
Some snacks
After a pleasant few hours in the lounge, boarding starts. I pack up and head off.
At the gate I’m given my new boarding passes. I’m not impressed. The MAN-AUH leg is a very nondescript piece of receipt paper simply stating my name, flight number and seat. The AUH-JNB leg at least looks like a normal boarding pass, albeit also on a cheap piece of thermo paper….no nice card souvenirs from EY on this occasion! The staff at the desk arte very nice though apologising for the cheap paper. At least it’s not a middle seat.
Flight #3: Etihad, Manchester – Abu Dhabi
February 2013
Manchester (MAN) – Abu Dhabi (AUH)
Etihad EY 22
Scheduled: 2000-0710 (7h10m)
Actual: 2007-0633 (6h26m)
Airbus A330-243, A6-EYQ
Economy
First impressions of the cabin are good. Nice looking seats, and massive PTV screens.
Safety demo
IFE system seems good, although I’m disappointed about the small choice of films compared to what I’ve heard EK offer.
And the map
Despite the plane having been sat at the gate for the past 6 hours, we push back well after the humans have boarded due to late cargo. The load looks very good (for the airline) with only a smattering of empty middle seats.
Pushback
Nice mood lighting. EY is the first airline I’ve been on where they seem to really want to get value for money for its installation….it’s like being in a disco
Just a few minutes late, we take off into a dark, cloudy, slushy sky.
Map Again
This is a fairly short overnight hop at just 6 hours 30 minutes. I guesstimate that the lights will be off after dinner within 2 hours.
Let’s see what’s on the box
I’m sure a lot of you will roll your eyes, but I’m happy to see Pitch Perfect is showing. Easy viewing to go with my drinking.
Half an hour after departure, we’re over Belgium and hit some quite heavy turbulence
An hour after departure the drinks trolley finally gets to my seat….a G&T, sparking water and some nuts.
Having set my time to AUH time already (a midnight departure), I’m slightly shocked at how slow the service is going.
I grab another G&T as the trolley makes its way back to the galley…the crew are pretty good at requests – lots of smiling.
We’re over Romania now….where’s dinner?
Pitch Perfect is over, so I go for a short comedy. They have a reasonable selection of sitcoms, but only one episode of each
Finally, 2 and a quarter hours after take off, I’ve given my dinner. I’m sorry, but this is really way too slow. On a daytime flight this is fine, but not on a night flight. Thankfully it was worth the wait.
The menu was a choice of Arabic spiced chicken, salon and tomato gnocchi, or red pepper pasta. I had already decided on the salmon gnocchi. The FA hands me a tray saying “would you like the salmon?” before I’ve had a chance to request anything though so I think I’ve been lucky. The woman next to me asks for the chicken, but is shot down…”sorry, I’ve only got the salmon left”.
Mmm, tasty
I think it was a pretty good meal overall. I requested a G&T when they handed out the trays. The FA apologised that they didn’t have any on the trolley, but would go and get me one. She forgot until just before lights out; she was extremely apologetic saying she’d get me one right away. By that time it was a bit late anyway as I was off to brush my teeth.
With dinner over, but the lights still on and the trays on the table, I switch over to the Big Bang Theory
Annoyingly long trailers
A smidge under 3 hours into a 6.5 hour flight, and the tray is still on the table. I want to go to bed!
We’re now over the Black Sea
Ahhhh, finally, at 0313 AUH time, the trays are cleared, some 40 minutes after I finished eating. Lazy crew or is this standard EY? In the headphone packet this is a small amenity kit which I initially overlook, containing socks, ear plugs and a toothbrush. I head to the back, brush my teeth, then head back to my seat to attempt to sleep.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 14 Reply 2, posted (2 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 8688 times:
Over Turkey
This picture doesn’t do it justice, but there was a fabulous view over a thousand little Turkish villages, all lit up,
Over Iraq now
Baghdad by night
Nearing Kuwait
And Kuwait by night
Over the Gulf we are offered “breakfast”…the lights are still off, so many miss out. Muffins are handed out liberally (I get two big tasty things) and a glass of water.
Damman
How lucky! A great view of the causeway linking Saudi (right) to Bahrain (left)
BAH Airport
Over Qatar
Doha
The lights are on as we approach Abu Dhabi
Connecting flights are shown, although JNB doesn’t make the cut. These haven’t been tailored (unless someone is connecting from MAN to LHR via AUH)
Red mood lights
Approaching AUH
It was wonderful dipping between the pre-dawn clouds, with the deserts down below…so beautiful
And down, nice and early
AZ and QR in town
AUH and RJ
As expected (there are relatively few airbridges for such a large airport/operation), we taxied to a remote stand
Our neighbour
Map on arrival
Off onto buses
It’s always nice to disembark a widebody via steps. Even nicer is to leave the winter behind in the British Isles. 7am, and 20C. Ahhh.
The bus journey to T1 was uneventful, but offered some nice views of the ramp.
We were dumped underneath the big funny ceiling into one of the most crowded airport areas I’d ever seen (if MAN is a confined area, AUH is off the charts!). There were people everywhere. I was eligible to use two lounges. At the first I was redirected to the second, which was supposed to be larger.
I headed up the escalator into the very nice Al Dhabi lounge. First stop was the bar for some water, then one of the oversized shower rooms.
After a nice long (and needed) shower, it was time for breakfast. The spread was much like a 5* hotel, with plenty of choice, and far more staff than was required for a buffet (hence no photos…maybe on the way back).
Fruit
Juice, water and coffee. Not sure if they had champagne on offer, it was a little early.
About a ¼ of the lounge. It was large and empty.
Despite there being pretty good views, I assume because of the heat, all of the curtains were closed. I did pull these aside though, and this was the view
FIDS…a small delay for us
As well as the numerous EY flights, there was a small posse of AB ones too, the most interesting of which was a continuation from Germany to Phuket.
With an hour to go before departure, I thought I’d see about changing the seat for my onward flight (I know, I’m very fussy). I’d been given a window seat right over the wing (which also had someone in the aisle), something I really didn’t want…I don’t like staring at big wings. Sadly, no other windows seats were available, but the friendly lady did offer me a central aisle seat with an empty middle. Hmmm, I guess I’ll go with that.
JNB is one of the last morning flights to leave, so the terminal had quietened down considerably.
Air Astana:
T3. The flight on the end is for ORD
Once again our A330 was given a remote stand. I joined the queue for the bus.
We drove over to where the MAN flight had parked. In fact we drove right up to it…oh no, not the same reg again! Thankfully, we ended up on her neighbour, A6-EYR
Flight #4: Etihad, Abu Dhabi - Johannesburg
February 2013
Abu Dhabi (AUH) – Johannesburg (JNB)
Etihad EY 604
Scheduled: 1035-1710 (8h45m)
Actual: 1112-1710 (7h58m)
Airbus A330-243, A6-EYR
Economy
I was greeted at the door, and directed down the aisle. My comfy twosome
Safety demo
AUH map
A330 indeed
Takeoff was rather late (the captain explained that AUH was congested, something I find hard to believe given how LHR can generally function with so much more traffic)
As I mentioned before, I thought the IFE choice was rather limited. In fact, after Pitch Perfect, I was struggling to find a single film that I wanted to watch. In the end I settled for Blood Diamond, an oldish film that I’d missed in the cinema.
IFE guide
EY magazine
Interesting to see the AB and HM fleets there as well. I now need to go to the Seychelles to check out the “Flying Shoebox” (Short’s 360 – does anyone else still operate them?). Interestingly, there seemed to be an entire dead heading HM crew in uniform on this flight…I guess to operate the HM flight back to Mahe?
Map
Over the deserts
Cabin after departure
I headed back to see if I could take some photos from the back door…the window was a bit small
Console on the staff monitor by 4L
Thankfully, EY is the only airline (as far as I know other than AF Saab 2000s) that feature a window in their Y lavatories.
Nice amenities
Over the Saudi wastelands
Menus are handed out…beef stew, chicken biryani or fusilli pasta.
Half an hour after departure, the drinks trolley gets to my row. Now why did it take so much longer on the MAN-AUH flight? A G&T and a soda water, and some nuts
Mecca off to the right
The special meals were handed out first, well ahead of the rest
Over Yemen…definitely on my to do list, although maybe when it’s a bit less Al Quaedaish.
90 minutes after departure, lunch is served. None of the choices really inspire me, but I go with the biryani in the end, which is a pretty good.
Leaving Asia behind, Africa beckons
Below
In front
I finish Blood Diamond as we are over a rather tumultuous part of Africa…maybe it wasn’t such a good choice of film when I’m en route to Zimbabwe.
Post lunch hot drinks are handed out. I ask for peppermint tea, which they don’t have, so go with hot chocolate instead.
I feel like I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel now with my film choices…Rain Man will have to do, another oldie that I’d never seen.
Over Africa
Cabin mid-flight
Time for another drink, just a soda water this time
More progress is being made
I love the colour scheme in the cabin
With roughly 90 minutes left to run, it’s time for the “café service” (what a ridiculous name). The choice is of either ham or mushroom pastries. I go with ham.
Well, it’s ok, but I’d rather a Monty’s Hot Wrap. Lamb and mint maybe?
We’re over Mozambique now, also high on my to do list now that I’ve have a perusal of the guidebook.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 14 Reply 3, posted (2 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 8677 times:
Approaching South Africa
With the cabin secured, and the disco lights on full, we begin our descent into Jo’burg.
For some reason the IFE was unable to realise the time difference between AUH and JNB. We landed around 5pm, not 3pm.
Alas I have to window. Thankfully, EY have nose cams. To be honest, it’s nice to be forced to have a different perspective occasionally. Watching the nose cam, I don’t miss the window seat too much. I even filmed the occasion. http://youtu.be/h0cOWHuqodg
And we’re down! Welcome to South Africa, my 8th African country!
Not too busy here in JNB compared to Europe, despite being one of the busiest in Africa
STOP!
Everyone packs away their things, and heads for the exit.
Walk to immigration
The queue at immigration. Before arrival, the crew apologised for not having any landing cards to hand out. However, there were none available to pick up in arrivals, and the immigration officer didn’t ask for one.
Arrivals
By the time I got to the baggage belt, but bag was merrily going round.
The arrivals hall
I immediately headed upstairs to the check in area to get my boarding pass for the next day to Harare. Once again, I was having some seating issues. Being One World Emerald, I was eligible to select my seat for free at the front of Y (row 4). However, every time I selected a seat in MMB, it wouldn’t stick. The last time I logged on, it showed me as being in 4A…this will do ( I wanted to be as far forward as possible to avoid Visa On Arrival queues. When I got to the SSCI machines, I gave me 7A, saying rows 4-5-6 were full. Annoying!)
I found my driver waiting for me in the arrivals hall, and we sped off for the Airport Game Lodge, my home for my one night South African layover.
Passing the sleeping heavies ahead of their night runs home.
So, what did I think?
Aer Lingus performed as they usually do. Being a Gold member makes flying with them that little bit more comfortable (although not getting a free checked bag (although you do get an extra carry on, not that anyone ever checks) or free catering is a bit of a shame) than normal. And of course, it’s miles better than the attitude you get from Ryanair on the Irish sea routes. The fares I got BHX-DUB was actually cheaper than FR, so that was also a bit of a bonus. Sadly, FR are cheaper, making it harder to choose EI. The lack of information during the DUB-MAN delay was a bit annoying though. Not one announcement was made whilst waiting at the gate.
Etihad is a pleasant airline to fly. Of the big three (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar), I’d only flown QR before, and have been consistently impressed. EY I thought were a big of a come down from QR. The staff were generally excellent (although it was a bit sad to see how subservient some of them were…threats of discipline from management obviously keep everyone in line), and fairly quick to respond to requests. The catering was tasty, and it was nice to see spirits available in Y. However, comparing EY to Lukeyboy’s EK report, it seems EK have the edge on the economy class tipple. What did disappoint me was the very slow meal service. On a night flight, the trays should not be sitting there half way through A 6 hour flight. Also disappointing was the IFE choices. It’s true I hadn’t researched properly beforehand, but I did assume that they’d offer something similar to EK’s ICE, with their million and one film choices. Thankfully, my return flight will be in March, so they’ll have changed the options. Hopefully the crowding in AUH T1 will also be reduced at some stage, although I have no idea about AUH or EYs expansion plans.
As always, all comments and questions welcome, and thanks for reading about my latest trip!
Upcoming trips reports:
Of course, the next reports will be my BA/Comair connections around Southern Africa, and the Etihad return to London. Advance warning to those of you who shy away from non-aviation photos, the next report will have a LOT! A small taster of what Zimbabwe has to offer:
Amazing sunsets
Birds
Crocs
Prehistoric cave paintings
Balancing Rocks
Elephants
Sunset fishing
And finally, my favourite animal, hippos
Late Jan/early Feb saw me complete my Star Alliance lounge tour of Europe (i.e. do the lounges I want to see before my LH Silver card finally gives way to Blue) with LH, LO & OS routing LHR-DUS-WAW-VIE-LHR. I’m writing this trip up after my African adventure
Easter will herald another inaugural, Cityjet’s new LCY-DRS route, along with a return NUE-LCY.
And finally my Virgin flight up to Manchester for the A.net meet
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24875 posts, RR: 60 Reply 4, posted (2 months 3 weeks 2 days ago) and read 8448 times:
Hey Gabriel
Interesting report and nice routing. EY look good. Biryani looks tasty too.
Nice to lounge hop. That PP is worth its weight in Gold when you can really take advantage of it like that. The old Anna Livia lounge in DUB is the worst of the bunch. Very small and drab. I often skip it now and go to the Chocolate Lounge instead as its much nicer ! Just shows how bad it is that a public cafe is nicer than a Exec lounge. I dont like the DAA T2 lounge either and think the EI GC lounge is still way ahead of it .
Interesting comments about EK / EY. A lot of Irish based business professionals I speak to prefer EY over the EK service and prefer the A330 . I guess its horses for courses and all that.
Anyway looking forward to the next installment.
Safe travels
Philip
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
Quoting OA260 (Reply 4): That PP is worth its weight in Gold when you can really take advantage of it like that.
I know, I love it!
Quoting OA260 (Reply 4): Interesting comments about EK / EY. A lot of Irish based business professionals I speak to prefer EY over the EK service and prefer the A330 . I guess its horses for courses and all that.
Well, I guess I have to try out EK myself sometime. The EY schedules from DUB are a bit annoying. When they go x2 daily it'll be nice.
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 6, posted (2 months 3 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 6881 times:
Hello Gabriel!
Nice report as usual! Glad to see you had a couple of nice flights with EI and EY, both of them are airlines I want to try some day and I have been close to booking EI, but nothing in the schedule as of now.
Also nice to see some pictures from BHX as I'll be there in May, flying SK back to Stockholm so I think I'll have access to the Aspire lounge.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I then headed over with my aunt to what is supposedly the best BHX lounge, the No. 1 Lounge%u2026.indeed, it was much nicer than the Aspire
That does look like a nice lounge. I've been to the No. 1 lounge at Gatwick South terminal once, I found it quite nice as well.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I realised pretty soon that the bag scores a near zero for water repellence, so another minus for the bag.
That's not a good feature for a bag belonging to someone living in the UK!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Sadly, the seats seemed to have vanished, being replaced with a middle seat on MAN-AUH, and a centre aisle on AUH-JNB%u2026er, no thanks. Even worse, the EI lady said that they had no access to the EY seat map%u2026I%u2019d have to ask when I got to MAN.
Sadly, the DUB EY desk was unmanned at the time, so I%u2019d have to wait til I got to MAN so sort out my seats.
Aaahh, very annoying.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter):
First impressions of the cabin are good. Nice looking seats, and massive PTV screens.
The cabin looks very nice indeed.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): These haven%u2019t been tailored (unless someone is connecting from MAN to LHR via AUH)
Well, if someone would do it I'm sure he'd be a member on this site!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): First stop was the bar for some water, then one of the oversized shower rooms.
lychemsa From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 904 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (2 months 3 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 6586 times:
What shots did you need in South Africa? Malaria pills?
Did you get sick there?
That's what puts me off going there.
I love Dublin Airport. I connected from New York to Geneva and it was a breeze. New terminal and small. On the way back I connected in Madrid which is a huge airport and I really missed Dublin. And I liked Aer Lingus. Good legroom and nice crews.
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 774 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (2 months 3 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 6514 times:
Hi Gabriel,
Great first part of your trip to Zimbabwe, really enjoyed it. Looks like you had a couple of nice flights with EI and EY. Not too impressed with the crew taking so long on a night flight though!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I was feeling quite hung over from my night out the previous day, so was off the booze this evening.
Lucky you didn't have a long flight ahead of you ha!
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 6): Also nice to see some pictures from BHX as I'll be there in May, flying SK back to Stockholm so I think I'll have access to the Aspire lounge.
Yes, the Aspire is quite nice
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 6): That's not a good feature for a bag belonging to someone living in the UK!
Quoting lychemsa (Reply 7): What shots did you need in South Africa? Malaria pills?
I don't check stuff like that much nowadays. I have my yellow fever certificate, and otherwise just try not to get bitten by anything. My aunt gave me malarone for the Vic Falls, but I wouldn't have taken it if she hadn't given it to me. Lukeyboy (check his reports) has had malaria 3 times, and it hasn't put him off at all....a proper traveller!
Quoting lychemsa (Reply 7): That's what puts me off going there.
Well, it's your choice. Be constricted by fear, or grab life by the balls and give it your best shot. You can die trying, or die having sat at home and dreamt about doing something.
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 8): Great first part of your trip to Zimbabwe, really enjoyed it
Thanks!
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 8): Not too impressed with the crew taking so long on a night flight though!
No, not at all. Very poor.
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 8): Lucky you didn't have a long flight ahead of you ha!
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6079 posts, RR: 56 Reply 10, posted (2 months 3 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 6103 times:
Hi Gabriel!
Nice to see you go to Africa again.
Flights on EY looks nice but very bad with the slow meal service. Also bad that it took so long time to clear the trays after the meal service. That annoys me a well.
Amazing that you had time for a Safari ! Look great !
Looking forward to your next report!
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
eastafspot From France, joined Jan 2008, 467 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (2 months 3 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 5576 times:
Thanks for this great report very funny, especially when your friends asked if everything is free in there.
With all the lounges visited, how did you manged to keep your appetite and for the airline meal.
The meal looks ok but not worth waiting so long for the first EY leg.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 10): Flights on EY looks nice but very bad with the slow meal service. Also bad that it took so long time to clear the trays after the meal service. That annoys me a well.
Yes, it made the flight quite tiresome
Quoting The777Man (Reply 10): Amazing that you had time for a Safari ! Look great !
MIAspotter From Spain, joined Nov 2001, 2272 posts, RR: 26 Reply 17, posted (2 months 3 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 5474 times:
Hi Gabriel, nice read there.
Was this route cheaper than taking the EY from Dublin instead of going back and forth to the UK?
EY seems like a nice airline to fly, just like you, I have only flown QR out of the big 3, I was not dissapointed, but wasn´t really impressed either, (DOH is a total dump) still I think I prefer the A330´s 2-4-2 for a long flight than the 3-4-3 on the 777s
The cabins look very cozy and inviting, and the mood lightning adds a nice touch, food also looks nice.
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6183 posts, RR: 79 Reply 18, posted (2 months 3 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 5438 times:
Hi Gabriel,
interesting first part of your journey - unfortunately pictures didn't load any more in the middle of the report (despite having a high speed Internet connection), so all I could see was your trip to AUH.
EY's product looks fine, especially the food. However, in terms of IFE it's far behind the competition.
jwhite9185 From United Kingdom, joined May 2007, 714 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (2 months 3 weeks 10 hours ago) and read 5287 times:
Hi there Gabriel, great read as usual. In fact, I was so engrossed in it it actually took me more than my half hour lunch break to read it!
EI looked like the standard EI really - much the same as my experience with them last year. Etihad look pretty good though and their planes look in a good condition from the pics - although I wonder why they used an A340 on their sky map when you were on an A330?
TheAviator380 From UK - England, joined Feb 2013, 120 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (2 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 5220 times:
Wonderful TR (as always) !
Having set my time to AUH time already (a midnight departure), I’m slightly shocked at how slow the service is going.
_______________________
I flown on EK20 last time, it was 9pm departure and we didn't get food till we reached over Romania ! I was shocked and couldn't make out why is that. Weather was calm and flight didn't hit any turbulence so god knows why delay was all about.
Also it is bit surprising how EY is having that long waiting time at MAN - 6 hours turnaround is too much..don't they pay extra for this?
But overall service looks fantastic on your both MAN-AUH and AUH-JNB sector.
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1173 posts, RR: 29 Reply 21, posted (2 months 3 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 4992 times:
Hi Gabriel,
An interesting piece! And quite heavy on the photos. Good to see you trying out another Gulf carrier. Since their introduction in BRU, they've always intrigued me in a way. I believe they're doing quite good in BRU. They're obviously not on the same expansion spree as EK lately but let that be a good thing. If there's quality over quantity, I'm happy and you are as well. And you're right, that meal service was too slow compared to the duration of the flight
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, after London.
Hmm, I thought that was MAN given the larger airport but that's no argument of course.
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 22, posted (2 months 3 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 4943 times:
Hi Gab, great to read your start of this African journey. A LOT of pics already, interesting to glimpse into all these lounges... then we get airborne and what dissappoints me also is EY. I expected more. The mealservice slow, really annoying indeed. Good to see G&T, and the blanket black/white design is really my taste and 'different'
I think EY will soon start up flights from AMS, with A330s also. Well, they might offer good fares to e.g. SE-Asia, maybe good to give them a try in the future. The meals are looking mostly fine to me.
btw, the first introduction normal pix of Zimbabwe are great, and looking forward to more
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 18): unfortunately pictures didn't load any more in the middle of the report (despite having a high speed Internet connection), so all I could see was your trip to AUH.
Hmmm, strange. They load fine for me on a slow Zimbabwe connection...? Try on Firexox/IE etc?
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 18): EY's product looks fine, especially the food. However, in terms of IFE it's far behind the competition.
Quoting TheAviator380 (Reply 20): I flown on EK20 last time, it was 9pm departure and we didn't get food till we reached over Romania ! I was shocked and couldn't make out why is that. Weather was calm and flight didn't hit any turbulence so god knows why delay was all about.
I guess they know 95% of pax are connecting so can sleep/eat on the next flight. But still...
Quoting TheAviator380 (Reply 20): Also it is bit surprising how EY is having that long waiting time at MAN - 6 hours turnaround is too much..don't they pay extra for this?
roberts87 From Netherlands, joined Dec 2011, 655 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (2 months 2 weeks 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 3787 times:
Hey Gabriel,
Great detailed trip report, I enjoyed reading it! Looking forward to hearing about your flights to and from Zimbabwe!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Obviously, being a piece of luggage emblazoned with the LH logo (and not overly cheap either), I was expecting a pretty decent quality bag. Sadly it wasn’t
Indeed. I bought a LH rollaboard last year. Already broken a bit too. And although it seemed big, it is really hard to fit just enough for 2 nights in!
25 lukeyboy95: Oh Gabriel . . . As ever, what a delight to read your reports. I have used an hour in an internet cafe to mark the occassion, and the chance to relax
26 gabrielchew: Glad you liked it! I'll get writing tomorrow! Oh dear. Why is LH putting their name on such crap items? Oh, what an honour! Yes lots of lounges. On m
27 MSS658: Hello Gab Finally managed to read and reply. EI looks good fro your point of view, interesting since I'm kinda flying them between LHR and MAN in a mo
28 lukeyboy95: If you think your up to it, I would be more than happy. Probably going to 'retire' fairly soon from this budget malarky anyway. Now. I got your faceb
29 gabrielchew: Yes, EI were pretty good. I think Little Red will be quite different from EI though! Well, overall I preferred QR. Still, it's not a bad airline. Hoh
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