Ethiopian Airlines' fifth-freedom route offers affordable fares between Copenhagen and Vienna

For this one-hour flight, I paid a little under $150. While more expensive than Ryanair, Ethiopian Airlines offers a very generous baggage allowance, and the opportunity to fly on the carrier’s widebody fleet was too exciting to pass up. Initially, I booked the flight on the assumption that I would be flying on one of Ethiopian’s six Boeing 777-200LRs, as indicated on my ticket. I later realized that the plane had been switched out for a Boeing 787-9.

Ethiopian Airlines’ baggage allowance is very generous indeed for such a short flight. Each passenger in economy class is entitled to two 23kg suitcases and a carry-on bag. Onboard, my ticket indicated that “snacks” would be served.

As I was not staying in Copenhagen and was traveling to the airport on the same day as my flight, it made sense to check in online. However, I noted two issues: despite it being an intra-Schengen flight, Ethiopian Airlines’ website does not permit the use of a European Union member state’s national ID for travel; also, an Australian passport was not accepted by the system online.

Given these issues, I checked in at the airport itself without major problems. Despite it being an intra-Schengen flight, passport control checks were carried out both in Copenhagen and Vienna due to onward travel requirements.

Today’s flight was operated by ET-AUQ, a six-year-old Boeing 787-9 with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines leased from AerCap since June 2018. The aircraft has 285 economy class seats and 30 business class seats.

I arrived at the gate roughly an hour before departure where boarding cards were scanned and passports checked before boarding began smoothly.

The interior of the aircraft featured Ethiopian Airlines' green, red, and yellow color scheme but seemed somewhat outdated with ample legroom provided nonetheless.

Regarding hard product amenities like IFE systems: my screen lagged often with touchscreen capability failing; access through remote control struggled too; no headsets were provided making most content unusable except inflight map literature about Ethiopian Airlines games which did not work either

Crew members began snack/meal service immediately after takeoff offering drinks including some local brands along sandwiches vegetarian chicken options - choosing latter found excellent! Service though efficient lacked warmth except brief interaction regarding feedback beer choice

Crew ensured passengers paid attention safety video more rigorously compared other airlines asking those distracted remove headphones focus screen played

Soon after meal preparations landing commenced final checks completed stunning views Austrian landscape greeted arrival Vienna brief goodbye crew counted disembarking passengers creating queue slowed deboarding process followed passport control baggage reclaim exiting airport shortly thereafter

Overall experience positive especially considering generous baggage allowance inflight meal/snack service recommended if price right