FeuilladeTravel: Airline review: Ethiopian Airlines B787 Dreamliner economy class, Oslo to Stockholm

Ethiopian Airlines 787-900 Dreamliner economy class, Oslo to Stockholm
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01. Trip report introduction
02. Ryanair 737-800 economy class, Stockholm Skavsta to Niš
03. Hotel Sole, Niš
04. Exploring Niš
05. Ryanair 737-800 economy class, Niš to Bratislava
06. Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel, Bratislava
07. Getting from Bratislava to Vienna Airport
08. Austrian Airlines E195 economy class, Vienna to Oslo
09. Ethiopian Airlines B787 Dreamliner economy class, Oslo to Stockholm
10. Trip summary
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Oslo (OSL) to Stockholm (ARN)

Date: 2018-04-07
Flight number: Ethiopian Airlines ET715
Aircraft: Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner
Registration: ET-AUO
Age of aircraft: 6 months
Duration of flight: 0:50 (gate to gate)
Seat: 40L (economy class)

(No seat map for this flight, as the ET 787-900:s are too new. Seatguru hasn't added them yet.)

In the trip report introduction, I expressed some concerns regarding the affordability in Oslo, Norway. And sure enough, the Norwegian capital was pricey. I only spent a couple of hours, as this was more of a layover before trying out the Dreamliner than wanting to sightsee in Oslo. Since it was Saturday, a lot of people were out and about celebrating the weekend. It actually was a little too crowded for my liking, but the city was quite okay. I especially liked the Opera House, rising from the fjord. I doubt that I will return, however, unless I have a good reason.

Then I took the airport shuttle back to Oslo Gardermoen Airport (OSL), where I had almost two and a half hours to kill. The reason for going back so soon was that Ethiopian don't use mobile boarding passes. According to the information when I checked in online, I needed a paper boarding pass, and in order to get that, they recommended that I show up at the airport at least two hours prior to departure. (My father travelled ARN-OSL-ARN on the ET Dreamliner only a few days later, and he managed with mobile boarding passes, so I wouldn't trust the information supplied by Ethiopian too much.) And then I figured I might as well have dinner at the airport instead of in downtown Oslo.

When I arrived, they had opened the check in counters, but there was no line. It was a matter of seconds before I had my paper boarding card and headed towards security. In fact, from arriving at the airport, it only took six minutes (!) to find the check in counters, get a boarding card and pass through security. Must be some sort of a personal record, at least for an airport this big...

Back at OSL for the flight to Stockholm

Heading towards the F pier

Dinner consisted of kale salad with peanut sauce and a chia seed pudding. Exorbitant prices at OSL, but really tasty food! Then I headed towards the F pier, from where the non-Schengen flights depart. A Norwegian flight towards JFK was just about to take off, but after that, no flight would depart until our bird left for Stockholm/Addis Abeba, so this part of the terminal was almost completely empty. Kind of an eerie, post-apocalyptic feeling walking through an empty terminal...

Kale salad and peanut sauce. €10...

Chia seed pudding. €5...

Hello! Anybody here?

I found gate F20, where the gate area was just as empty as the rest of the terminal. After a short while, the aircraft pulled up to the gate (for some reason, the ET714-ET715 planes are parked in Oslo for a full day before making the trip back to Ethiopia via Stockholm. Maybe they don’t have time to use it on another flight during the day, but it still seems like a waste...

An hour before scheduled time of departure, the staff (two male pilots and eight female flight attendants) boarded.

Gate area just as empty as the rest of the terminal...

Excited to fly the Dreamliner for the first time!

Here she comes...

Peek-a-boo!

Looking good!

Flying on an African airline with Addis Abeba as final destination. It doesn't feel like I'm headed home..!

The gate area filled, but only partially. I estimate that only fifty people travelled the OSL-ARN leg. Hopefully a lot more people boarded at Arlanda, or otherwise this fifth freedom flight won't be around for long... Boarding started a few minutes ahead of schedule.

This almost brand new 789 Dreamliner had a 3-3-3 configuration in economy class, where every “unit” was green-yellow-green. I kind of liked the colours in the cabin, and you could tell that this was a new aircraft. Some of the seats were stained, however. If they serve Ethiopian food on their long-haul flights, I’m not surprised, as that tends to get messy. It’s absolutely delicious, though!

Walking through the cabin

Even further down the cabin... I had chosen row 40, as there seemed to be fewer passengers there

Here we go! I had not just one row to myself, but several rows if I wanted to...

Decent seat pitch

I was among the first to board, and since they boarded early and didn't seem too eager to take off ahead of schedule, I had plenty of time to get acquainted with the seat and all its details.

The cabin felt fresh, and I liked the green/yellow colours

As you can see, it's not too crowded on today's flight...

Trying to get some creative shots...

The Dreamliner windows don't have blinds, but are dimmable with this button

Welcome screen on the in flight entertainment

Pakistan International Airlines here at OSL - I had no idea they operated so close to Stockholm. I occasionally see the Lahore-Toronto flights way above my house in Stockholm...

Seat details

Coat hooks on the seat in front

It took 42 minutes from boarding until pushback, so like I said, even though this was a very short flight, I still had a lot of time to check everything out, including safety cards and the safety demonstration video, which was given in Amharic and English. So yeah, it didn't really feel like I was going home...

Safety card

Safety demonstration video

Alright, I've got the seat figured out now. Let's get going!

Take-off was incredibly smooth and silent, and once we were airborne, every turn felt so graceful. These birds are really made for flying! Only five minutes after take-off, while we were still climbing steeply, they switched off the fasten seat belt sign. I didn’t mind, as I wanted to check out more of the cabin, including the lavatory. Totally unnecessary on such a short flight, but what good would this trip report be otherwise?

After a punctual pushback, we were finally on our way

Lining up for departure!

The moving map was the only part of the IFE that I used for this short flight

Fresh and spacious enough in this lav. See that circle to the right on the mirror?

It's a magnifying vanity mirror!

Heading back to my seat - I like this cabin!

I wonder how many people boarded in Stockholm... This flight was almost empty

The sun had set by now, so photo conditions were far from perfect

Seat was comfortable enough, seat pitch was good, the headrests were adjustable, and the recline was kind of generous. I’m guessing that this economy class seat is not bad at all, even on long-hauls. Maybe it’s some sort of placebo effect on such a short flight, but I felt the air was a lot less dry than the regular aluminum aircraft, and my ears didn’t pop. (The Dreamliner is built with carbon fibre instead of aluminum, which enables a lot more air in the cabin, as it doesn’t expand from the pressure.)

Here I've dimmed the window - it was getting darker outside anyway, so I'd like to try this out on a daytime flight

Despite the fact that this was a short-haul flight, the cabin crew came around offering drinks (water or tropical juice) and snack bags. A nice gesture!

Tray table is ready for juice and snacks!

Some sort of Italian biscuits

Tropical juice

And then, just as we had levelled out on our cruising altitude, it was time to start the descent. We were only airborne for 35 minutes, so this really is a super short flight. I was more than happy to try it out, though, and at roughly €45, it's a bargain if you want to try an exotic airline or a Dreamliner, but don't want to go far. This is definitely a lot more fun than flying a SAS or Norwegian B737... Hopefully, this fifth freedom route will be around for a while. If it is, I might consider flying home via OSL some other time as well...