From Brussels to Sri Lanka with Etihad (part 1) [PICS]

[sn26567]

I had booked a trip to a country I absolutely wanted to see, Sri Lanka, sometimes called the paradise on earth. Initially, travel should have been with Qatar Airways through Doha (with a Dreamliner for the first part of the trip), but eventually the travel agent switched to Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi. I asked her to book me window seats on all flights, and these were confirmed when I got the tickets. Nice!

The day before the outbound flights, I downloaded and printed the boarding passes. No gate was mentioned in Abu Dhabi for Colombo, but I knew already I should go to Gate B10 in Brussels.

On Sunday, 17 August, I arrived early at the airport: the travel agent recommended three hours in advance, but I was there at 08:500, two and a half hours before departure. There were no less than 8 check-in counters in row 10 for Etihad, with a lot of people queueing. But the baggage drop counter was almost empty. Good for me. The gate agent nevertheless reprinted my first boarding pass.

No less than eight check-in counters for Etihad

... and since I had already printed my boarding passes, this was mine: almost empty

Look for EY 058 to Abu Dhabi

The screens of Brussels Airport said that the queue at security control of Terminal B was less than 5 minutes. That was true, indeed, but they forgot to mention that the queue for passport control was more than half an hour long. I had never seen that: people waiting in line through the whole length of the departure hall.

The usual alignment at Terminal B, with the four Jet Airways at the end, and Etihad very close!

My aircraft today would be the Airbus A330-300 A6-EYT

The other side of terminal B with three United flights

After having cleared my documents with the airport police, I made the now compulsory detour through the duty free shops and went up the stairs to see the planes docked at Terminal B.

And final I was at gate B10 one hour in advance. Our plane was parked next to Jetairfly’s Dreamliner.

Etihad Airways Airbus A330-200 A6-EYT at gate B10

Jetairfly Boeing 787 Dreamliner OO-JDL at gate B12 for flight JAF701 to La Romana and Punta Cana

BRU-AUH Sunday, 17 August 2014
Flight Etihad Airways EY058 (codeshared with Virgin Australia VA7058, Jet Airways 9W6369, Garuda GA9913, Brussels Airlines SN4101, AirLanka UL2358 and whoeverthatis XY3058)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300 A6-EYT
STD 11:20, actual 11:20 from gate B10 (GMT+2)
STA 20:00, actual 20:15 at gate 37 Terminal 3 (GMT+4).
Total time: scheduled 6 hr 40 minutes, actual 6 hr 55 min.
Seat 37A (Economy class window, after the wings)

Ready to go...

Boarding by row numbers. I nevertheless arrived among the last passengers, since I didn’t want to stay in line too long. Welcome on board by a stewardess wearing the traditional white scarf. She wanted to see my boarding pass, although I had told her my seat number, and she told me where to go as if I didn’t know . When I arrived at my seat, it was occupied by a veiled lady who asked me if she could stay there. I said firmly “no”, because I had specifically requested a window seat. She moved to another seat and my neighbour became then a Thai lady.

An Etihad stewardess helping passengers

The load factor was 100%. Leg room was just sufficient. Safety demonstration and announcements by a stewardess in Arabic and English, translated into French by Pierre, a French steward. The crew were speaking a large variety of languages: in addition to the three above, there were also cabin staff speaking Thai, Philipino, Chinese Mandarin, Hindi, Russian and Serbian.

Before the on-time take-off, the lighting was switched to blue (this Etihad A330 has a mood lighting with changing colours like the Dreamliner). The IFE and the PA also aired a prayer in Arabic from the Holy Quran. The IFE looked nice, with a lot of features (including direct TV channels), but the underbelly camera did not work properly and during films the image often froze during a few seconds. WiFi and telephone connections (voice and SMS) were also offered, at a cost ($11.95 for 2 hrs, $17.95 for 4 hrs and $21.95 for the duration of the flight).

Mood lighting in various colours, like on the Dreamliner

Taxiing towards Rwy 25R

The remote control of the IFE

The various plugs available on the IFE

Take-off from the usual 25R. After 50 minutes an aperitif was served. One could choose alcoholic drinks if wanted, hence I selected white wine that was served from the bottle and came together with crackers.

In the sky at FL370

An apéritif to start with: for me, it was white wine and cookies (and a glass of water)

One hour later, a four-course meal was served, with a choice between three main courses. Again, alcoholic drinks were available. I thus selected potato and green bean salad with warm bread (and Calsbourg Belgian butter) as the appetizer, steamed chicken breast cooked in Arabic spiced yoghurt with basmati rice and mixed vegetables as the main course, then French Président cheese on crackers and finally strawberry and clotted cream cheesecake. With a glass of water and a large glass of red wine served from the bottle. The meal was served with real metal cutlery, not plastic.

Lunch menu with a selection of 3 main courses

The main course and the Carlsbourg Belgian butter

Afterwards I looked the movie “Grand Hotel Budapest” on the IFE, with the problems which I mentioned above. A visit to the toilet brought a surprise: it had a window!

A toilet with a view (on the Black Sea)

The itinerary flown entirely at FL370 took us over Frankfurt, Serbia north of Belgrade, the north of Istanbul, the Black Sea, a big part of Asian Turkey. From there the shortest route would have been over Iraq between Erbil and Baghdad, but the pilot carefully avoided Iraq and made a detour over Iran involving many changes of direction.

The shortest way over Iraq between Erbil and Baghdad

The actual itinerary took us around Iraq and above Iran, with many changes of direction

A last meal was served 90 minutes before landing. It consisted of what they called a sandwich, but in fact a hot tortilla wrap with either chicken (I declined, having had chicken for lunch) or tomato/red onion/cheese (my choice). And of course a drink, this time a fruit juice for me.

The aft galley

Sunset over Iran

Before arrival we circled once above Abu Dhabi, and finally landed on 13R at 19:58 before a long taxi took us to gate 37 in terminal 3 at 20:15, fifteen minutes late (a consequence of a voiding Iraq probably).

The airport of Abu Dhabi

After arrival, I had 1 hour 10 minutes to change gates. The outside temperature was 37°C, after having peaked at 44°C earlier that day. After a rather long walk, there was a new security check with a 10 minutes queue. And then through the (luxury) shoppers paradise, where I did not stop by lack of time, to gate 28. The heat was unbearable in the waiting area of that gate, contrarily to the rest of the airport which was nicely air-conditioned.

At Abu Dhabi airport, free strollers for parents with babies

Announcement of my next flight at Gate 28

The gate agents didn’t know very well what to do and had some problems with several passengers, including me with my home-printed boarding pass which was not recognised at first before finally being accepted after a colleague came to help.

AUH-CMB Sunday, 17 August 2014
Flight Etihad Airways EY266 (codeshared with a number of airlines among which AA, AB, AF, AZ, KL)
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200 with sharklets A6-EIW (delivered 24 Jan 2014!)
STD 21:25, actual 22:25 from gate 28 Terminal 3 (GMT+4)
STA 03:35+1, actual 04:32+1 at gate B22 (GMT+5.30).
Total time: scheduled 4 hr 40 minutes, actual 4 hr 37 min.
Seat 17A (Economy class window, after the wings)

When I boarded a bus to take us to the plane at 21:25, another bus had already left. It was nice to be on board of this air-conditioned bus after waiting in the overheated gate area. But it lasted long: late connecting passengers kept arriving. Finally we had to wait on the plane itself as well, as a third bus arrived well after 22:00 with the last passengers. The captain had missed his slot and had to wait until 22:25 (thus one hour late) before he could push back. Meanwhile the stewardesses had delivered a glass of water to all the waiting passengers.

Etihad Airways Airbus A320 with sharklets A6-EIW flight EY 266 to Colombo

Runway 13L for departure

This 6-month old A320 with sharklets (a first for me) was nice, with a full IFE on each seat presenting the same features as for long-haul, except that the ear sets were difficult to maintain in the ear (I switched for my personal ones) and the screens were smaller. The business class was also like for long-haul: 16 large comfortable seats in 2-2 arrangement.

Another nice e-Box for IFE

The load factor was around 96-98%. Take-off from 13L after having waited 6-7 minutes for a Qatar A320 to land (new ATCO who was afraid to let us take off before?).

After reaching the cruise altitude (first FL310 then FL350) a three-course dinner was served. Same large choice as on the previous flight, but this time with a Singhalese touch: I selected Mudardara salad with mutabal dip as the appetizer, mappas fish curry served with coriander rice and garnished with caramelized onions as the main course, and Gulab jamun in vanilla mousse as the dessert.

Another nice meal, with a selection of three main courses

The meal

The itinerary: United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Arabian Sea until the southern tip of India at Kochi, and finally Colombo.

Itinerary: Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sultanate of Oman, Arabian Sea, southern tip of India at Kochi, Colombo

Landing on Rwy 22 before reaching gate B22 one hour late. This delay would be increased further by the long wait at immigration: all the flights from the Arabic peninsula arrive around the same time.

It was a long trip: some 14 hours and 15 minutes from push-back to final gate. But Etihad made you feel comfortable.

[Wohowbagger]

thanks André! nice report, as always.

whoeverthatis XY3058

should be Flynas, Saudi-Arabian low-cost airline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynas

[sn26567]

Updated with all the pics!

[regi]

Nice report. And you are more succesful than me taking pictures through the windows at BRU departures.
I think that the Qatar return flight will give you that little bit extra , e.g. leg space.

[Sai]

I think that the Qatar return flight will give you that little bit extra , e.g. leg space.

If it's the Qatar 787 to BRU in Y-class I wouldn't count on that...felt cramped

[airtrainer]

Thanks for sharing this great report, André. Have a wonderful trip in Sri Lanka (a country also well placed on my travel wishlist ).

[boeing747]

Very nice report André, enjoy the trip.

[Comet]

Brilliant report and photos - I would be angry too if someone sat in my seat after specifically choosing the window.

[Lysexpat]

Welcome on board by a stewardess wearing the traditional white scarf. She wanted to see my boarding pass, although I had told her my seat number,

They check the boarding pass to see if you are boarding the correct flight.
It does happen that passengers board the wrong aircraft...

[sn26567]

Sure, but this is already done by the gate agent that allows you to walk to the plane. Better twice than not at all.

Envoyé de mon GT-I9100 en utilisant Tapatalk

[Lysexpat]

Sure, but this is already done by the gate agent that allows you to walk to the plane. Better twice than not at all.

Indeed, mistakes do happen, so better check twice

[b-west]

Wait till you have to board a plane in India, it'll feel like half Delhi has checked your boarding pass

[sn26567]

I think that the Qatar return flight will give you that little bit extra , e.g. leg space.

If it's the Qatar 787 to BRU in Y-class I wouldn't count on that...felt cramped

I'll come back with Etihad on the same type of planes, although I'm not sure the A320 will have sharklets this time.

[galaxy]

Nice report, very beautiful country .
We went to Sri Lanka in september 2004 and spend 2 night at the Yala Reserve National Park hotel ,who was completly devastated 3 months later by the Tsunami .

The hotel the day after the 2004 tsunami
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Obs ... la-010.jpg

Many people died :
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/m ... -interview

[luchtzak]

Nice report André! Enjoy your holiday!!

[rix]

Thanks for the report André.
Look's like airlines are afraid of flying over IS controlled parts of Iraq - the lessons of MH17 probably..