I flew Ethiopean Airlines to Harare and back this month, arriving back at IAD last week. The trip out went pretty smoothly. Got a negative Covid test result about 24 hours before boarding at Dulles ($275!!) and check-in went smoothly. It probably helped that I got there at 7:00 AM for a 11:00 flight and that I had multiple copies of all relevant forms in hand.

On arrival at Addis Ababa there was an EA employee at the gate to meet me as well as two other folks traveling with firearms. She whisked us through the airport to the ground level baggage-handling area where we opened our rifle cases for security folks, etc. She then got us all to our gates in time to make our connections. No hassles at all. (It may have helped that we arrived early in the day with few other arrivals at the airport.)

Coming home was a different story altogether. Check-in in HRE was more complicated, with various stations to fill out documents, show papers, etc. I hired Wengayi's firm to facilitate that, which made things smooth. I would strongly recommend it. Changing planes at Addis I arrived at about 9:00 PM to a very crowded airport. There was no one waiting for me at the gate. I contacted the first EA employee I saw and explained that I was traveling with a rifle and didn't I have to do something about showing it to someone before boarding my connecting flight? She got on her phone and spoke to someone and then directed me to speak to someone else down the hall. The someone else told me to go to my gate and that I would be met there. "Just go down the hall and turn left."
So I did and found myself at the end of a long line of people snaking toward a security checkpoint. Ten minutes of that and I'm through security. Zip down the hall toward my gate... only to have to go through another security station. I'm guessing this is because I was flying back to the US with a higher level of security required? I say this because they used a body scan at this second station instead of a metal detector.
Anyway, got through that and then before I got to the gate itself was met with yet another EA roadblock. I told them who I was and they smiled and said they were expecting me, that there were two other passengers with guns and that once we were all there we would do the rifle thing. OK so I waited. And waited. The flight starts boarding and I am still waiting. "Don't worry, they won't leave without you." Finally, with about ten minutes to go before wheels-up, an EA employee apologizes and says they made a mistake, that the other two guys already did their rifle thing, and I am zipped downstairs to open my rifle case, etc. I am not made to go through security again afterwards and make it onto the plane one minute before scheduled take-off.
I guess if there's a moral to the story it's to try to make sure you have multiple copies of all the forms you might need (4457, passport, EA firearms forms) and take the initiative in jumping through their silly security hoops.
And I really don't want to fly Ethiopean Airlines again.

PS-- CBP staff at Dulles were uniformly friendly, polite and patient.

Next time…

Emirates or Qatar.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
Next time…

Emirates or Qatar.

Not sure why anyone would fly EA when they can get to the same destination on QA or Emirates with much better service and less hassle…

My travel agent (Shawn with Gracy) advised EA because Emirates had had many last minute cancellations when I booked my trip back in May. Otherwise Emirates would have been the preferred carrier. All four of the planes I was on this trip were only about two-thirds full.

I had thought about the cancellations back in February when I booked with Emirates for end of July trip. However, figured things would be stable by the time my trip started.

Even at that time I was hearing horror stories regarding firearms checks with EA.

Based on my experiences with Emirates business class I will travel with them once again next July and August to Zimbabwe and Zambia.