Review: Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine business class Kuala Lumpur to Addis Ababa

Star Alliance carrier Ethiopian Airlines was my choice for a trip from Europe to Australia. I decided to splurge on Cloud Nine business class, guaranteeing lie-flat seats for the long overnight services.

The long journey back to Europe began with a flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines. Once in the Malaysian capital, I had a few hours to wait between flights and planned to visit the lounge.

There appeared to be no lounge!

According to the Star Alliance lounge finder, Ethiopian use the Plaza Premium lounge in the Main Terminal building. Since I arrived in the C gates and was departing from the same area, it seemed I was out of luck.

Nobody appeared to be able to assist, so I gave up and resigned myself to sitting by the gate. Eventually it opened and after a boarding pass scan and security screen, I waited some more time for boarding to start.

ET639 – Kuala Lumpur to Addis Ababa via Singapore (KUL-SIN-ADD)
1 May 2025
Boeing 787-8 – ET-AOS
Seat: Cloud Nine 2A and Cloud Nine 3L
Departure: 23:15 Arrival: 05:50+1

There seemed to be plenty of people flying on the sector tonight. Once boarding was announced, I headed down the jetbridge and turned left – always a pleasant thing to be doing!

Cloud Nine Business Class Cabin

Seats on the Ethiopian Dreamliner are arranged two by two by two as you can see on the seat map. I had selected 2A and so that is where I was sat for the journey. At check-in I had asked the agent at the desk whether anyone was beside me and it seemed nobody was – on this sector at any rate.

While these are not the latest in seating, they are quite spacious and comfortable enough. With all the modern conveniences such as being lie-flat, having a reading light and water bottle storage, it was going to be perfectly fine.

All the Canapés!

Ethiopian offer welcome drinks, usually juice and water or Champagne. One touch I really like is that two crew do the rounds, one with the tray of juice, water and some empty glasses and one brandishing the bottle. Ask for bubbles and it’s poured in front of you. I like it!

After the safety demonstration, we headed into the air. Canapés are served on the one hour Kuala Lumpur to Singapore sector, and I was given both plates without asking. That was just fine with me! There was tomato stuffed with cream cheese, salmon, the vegetable skewer and little wraps. Quite nice!

The Singapore Shuffle

At Singapore Changi, you get off the aircraft and are then directed straight back to the gate. That means you go through security screening again and then wait an hour or so until boarding. I went for a little wander down the terminal and when I came back the line stretched for what seemed like miles.

I decided to sit tight until the queue was nearly done – after all, they weren’t going to go without me! Once done, we waited to board again. It is a bit of a shame there is no premium line, but that’s not how it’s done in egalitarian Singapore.

Someone next to me!

I checked with the agent as I scanned the boarding pass and there was someone beside me for the next sector. Inexplicably, both 3J and 3L were free, so I ended up moving myself across to 3L so I’d be on my own. Turns out a guy and his adult daughter had been seated in 1C and 2C, so when I moved, she then moved to 2A and everyone was happy. Who knows how that happened (lazy check-in agents?), but how ridiculous.

Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine business class passengers are offered slippers as well. Since I really like these, I snagged both a grey pair and a green pair for wearing around the house.

Middle of the night meals

Departure time from Singapore was 2am, and after take-off a full meal is offered. Not one to shy away from food at any time of the day, I happily tucked in. The starter was billed as, “Air dried beef with Chicken Madras, Pickles, Russian Salad, Lettuce Leaves and Parsley”, served along with a fresh seasonal salad.

There appeared to be plenty of chicken but no beef. Oh well… all of it was quite tasty, which was pleasing. Bread was offered and they had garlic bread, something I really like for two reasons. Firstly, I like garlic bread and secondly, it’s so rare to get on flights. For the main, I selected the “Stir fried chicken with sesame oil, served with jasmine rice, roasted Asian vegetables and Szechuan sauce”. Well, as you can see above, that is most certainly not it. I’d describe it as, “Hunk o’chicken in marinara sauce, Asian vegetables and noodles”. It was quite strange!

Dessert and Sleep

On my flight out from Addis Ababa to Kuala Lumpur, they had none of the advertised Ice Wine in stock. Happily they did on this flight, so I ordered that to accompany my dessert.

Since I didn’t really like the chicken, I was a bit peckish so I went for both the “Black Forest with Blueberry Coulis” and the “Cheese Selection with Crackers”. Hilariously, what was served most definitely wasn’t black forest, but it was nice. The cheese was fine as well and so that was done and it was time to rest.

Breakfast Time

After dozing for a while in the comfortable and quiet cabin, it was time for breakfast. Everyone receives the cereal (with milk poured at your seat), the pot of yoghurt, and an offer of Danish from the basket. The difference is only in the main course, and this time I chose the Omelette with sausage, hash brown and broccoli.

All of this was fine enough all round and once done everything was cleared in. Finally, we landed in Addis Ababa after what was a comfortable flight. As I had 16 hours in transit, I headed off to my free transit hotel, the Ethiopian Skylight.

Overall Thoughts

The food situation in Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine business class always amuses me. Crew always collect and re-use the menus, so they always seem to be only partially correct. I never really have received exactly what was on the menu, it’s always “sort of”. Quality of the food varies from pretty good to not great, so it’s really a crap shoot.

Otherwise, the crew are friendly and obliging. Seats are comfortable if not private, but that’s no issue with nobody sitting beside you. All round it’s a solid product with some world class touches like the slippers, so I’d happily fly ET again. To see all the flights I took on this trip, you can find them all here.

What do you think of Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine business class? Have you flown it before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Dreamliner by byeangel.