Ethiopian Airlines fly from Dublin to Los Angeles four times a week as part of the service from Addis Ababa. This is an excellent way for Irish people to get to the west coast of the United States and down to Africa.
Aer Lingus is in direct competition on the route, operating a daily service. Ethiopian use Dublin as their European fuel stop for the service to LAX, but you can also book tickets each way on the flights.
Ethiopian Airlines Service
For those heading to Los Angeles, ET504 departs Dublin at 07:30 and arrives at LAX at 10:15. The return flight is ET505, leaving LAX at 23:30 and landing in Dublin at 17:30 the following day. Flights head out Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Heading to Addis Ababa will see you leave Dublin at 18:30, arriving 04:20 the following day. Flights from Addis Ababa to Dublin leave at 00:05, arriving at 06:30.
Aer Lingus to Los Angeles
Aer Lingus returned to Los Angeles relatively recently after several years away. Their flights leave Dublin at 15:00, and arrive at LAX at 18:05 meaning you’re best staying awake the whole flight and going to bed when you get there.
So Who Is Cheaper?
Checking some random dates going out 5 June and back 19 June shows that it depends. It will cost you €734.77 on the African airline in Economy Class or €1,690.77 in Business Class.
Which One Should I Choose?
Looking at it from a pure cool factor, I would take Ethiopian to Los Angeles every time as I am based in Ireland. It’s always good to do something different, plus with Ethiopian being a member of Star Alliance you can earn points on your flights.
Overall Thoughts
It’s pretty cool that you can take an African airline from Ireland to the United States. Ethiopian is the largest carrier in Africa, with a good safety record and a modern fleet. I’d have no hesitation taking them or Aer Lingus across to Los Angeles.
Have you flown with Ethiopian before? What do you think? Thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.
To never miss a post, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All my flight and lounge reviews are indexed here so check them out!
Aer Lingus A330 image by Joe Ravi via Wikimedia Commons.
All other images via Ethiopian Airlines.
I’ve flown Dub to LAX with Ethiopian just after they started the route in 2015 and have booked with them again. Great service, great times and fantastic prices. My brother flew with them on my recommendation twice too, as have friends.
Excellent – great to hear. Appreciate the feedback!
Thanks so much! My daughter lives in LA so this is interesting news! Amazing difference in Business class pricing!
You’re very welcome! It really is a substantial difference! The Ethiopian pricing is far more my kind of pricing since I can probably stretch to that amount if I try hard whereas Aer Lingus is just out of my reach. Let me know if you or your daughter try this, as I’d love to hear what you think of Ethiopian!
I notice Ethiopian also has a flight from DUB to Toronto. DUB – LAX is listed as fifth freedom flight but DUB – YYZ isn’t. What is the difference?
I imagine Canada does not have the same agreement with Ethiopia to permit fifth freedom traffic, or perhaps it’s an issue on the Ireland / EU side. My guess is Canada though!
Dublin to Toronto is just a stopover for refuelling, the same as the Dublin to Washington. LA is the only flight that can board passengers in Dublin.
Yes, that’s right!