Found a good deal to S.A. but two legs are with Ethiopian Airlines.
Any experiences? Doesn't sound like one's first preference....
Any info on their rules on firearms?

- Lars/Finland

I flew Ethiopian in 2011. They were a bit sketchy on firearms both going and on the return. Everything worked it's way out but I seriously thought I was going to get stuck in Addis on the way home.

I've flown them several times around Africa, but never with guns. All my experiences were good, they have some very nice new planes.

Flew with them to Zim 3 years ago. Everything went fine. Food and entertainment were okay. Well worth the reduced price I paid over going with delta or SAA.

Like George I had a minor problem with my rifle on the way home. Once I got a hold of a security person who spoke good English all was well. Just opened my rifle case showed them that the rifle serial number matched the forms everything was okay.

A humorous side note. A gate agent escorted me down to were my rifle was. After security said okay, the gate agent looked around to see who was around. He looks at me and says ive never held a rifle before, can I hold yours? So they all held it sighted down the barrel at something. Big smiles all around.

Yes, I flew them this past year from washington Dulles to Addis and then to Nairobi. No weapons on this trip, it was a missions trip. On the way over, I had a delay leaving daddies to nairobi, they apparently lost the flight!? That is what I was told. Delayed me about 3 hours. Conway home again was late leaving addis. The plane was sitting at gate for along time, few hours, but we were not boarding, left about an hour late and put me right in the middle of a snow storm in Washington, that I would have beat if one time. Flight attendants and equipment were fine. Will I travel them again? Possibly one more chance if price is worth it.

i will let you know in a few weeks. booking a trip to RSA with united points, on the way there we fly ethiopian thru Addis on the way to JNB. saa/united on the return home. we leave next saturday the 22nd of aug. i'll post a report when i return early sep.

I have flown Ethiopian many times (all good), but never with firearms. There is hunting in Ethiopia so it won't be like firearms have never been admitted into the country, but I have no idea of their documentary requirements. But like all airline travel, I would try to get something in writing from the airline on exactly what they want you to have.

Ethiopians can be VERY bureaucratic. Rich Elliot of AR has probably flown on Ethiopian with rifles more than anybody else. You might want to PM him on this.

Flown with Ethiopian a few times but never with a rifle - mostly in and out of Juba (South Sudan) on their F50s.

Pretty good service all round and if you have to be waiting around in an airport in Africa there are worse places than Addis.

Flew Ethiopian to/from Tanzania with a gun and ammo - all went well getting into Tanzania, but they confiscated my ammo coming back from Tanzania...didn't make any sense, but I had to put up with it.

This was a while back, but beware: while Ethiopian itself will load guns, the connecting carriers may not have a "baggage agreement" with ethiopian that allows them to transfer guns. I had this issue with United. They refused to check my guns here in the USA, connecting to Ethiopian. They said they will ONLY transfer guns to SAA. So there I was, at the airport, with rifle and a snarky lady. I offered to leave teh rifle with her. She called the cops.

Flew Ethiopian Air last week. DC to Addis Ababa then on to Kiliminjaro.

Flew Business Class, all flights on time, very good service, food was typical

Business Class fare. Planes were new & clean, overall was pleasantly surprised.

No hesitation to fly them again!

Flew Ethiopian Air on the way to JNB, left Washington-Dulles aug 22. originally we had about a 3 hour layover in Addis. a couple months out, our flights were changed and that shortened us down to around 1:30 layover. I was nervous with the 3hr window, when that got cut in half i was really nervous.

We were late leaving Dulles that morning, 2 hours, and missed our connection to JNB. Luckily they had a flight out that night, so we spent 15 hours trying to sleep on the chairs in the airport.

The planes were new and nice and clean. the staff was very friendly. the airport is the most awful, clusterf*** ive ever seen when trying to check in to your next flight. that flight was late as well by over an hour, but we got there, and so did our bags.

all in all i would rather not connect in Addis again, but i would fly the airline again direct somewhere. we did not check rifles, only bows in hard sided duffel bags, no issues there.