Ethiopian Airlines/Travel with Son

I flew Ethiopian Airlines from London to Addis and from Addis to DC.

Overall it was a good experience.  They had plenty of food and friendly flight attendants.

On both ways, my AV equipment didn't work.

The flight from London was on an older airplane.  It was way too hot for me.

The flight to DC was cool (good for me, I'd rather be cold than hot). 

The flights were packed both ways (my flight from Newark to London had a lot of empty seats).  And, there was a lot more chatting on airplanes than I usually notice.  In general, I've noticed people tend to keep to themselves on airplanes.  On the Ethiopian flights, people were chatting with everyone around them.  The chatting stopped when the lights went down, though.

With my son on the way back, everyone was very nice to me…even when he had a diaper blowout and I was unable to change him and dissipate the eye-watering funky smell until after we hit cruising altitude out of Rome.  The bassinet was very helpful.  I had never seen one before.  Basically it is a collapsible bassinet that pops into the wall in 3 spots.  It was great for him sleeping, as well as to sit up and eat.  It was kind of hard to get out of the window seat to go to the loo with bassinet in place, though.

I had packed a shaded umbrella stroller in my suitcase for the return trip.  It was definitely a lifesaver since he spent most of the time sleeping at the Addis airport, as well as for hoofin' it across airports for the rest of the trip.  I'm sure a baby in a sling would be OK, but I wouldn't have made it with my big toddler in a sling!!