Hi everyone, welcome back to another flight review! Today’s flight was one I was debating over whether to do a review for, mainly because I was asleep for 95% of the journey, and so wasn’t really able to elaborate on the soft service too much. However, digging through my pictures (and some of my girlfriend took + her experiences with the crew), I thought it would be worthwhile also to produce a comparison with the 787 Etihad review from Beijing Daxing already on my account. You guessed it, it’s a continuation aboard Etihad today following that first flight, from Abu Dhabi over to Lisbon aboard EY’s Boeing 777-300 ER.
A quick preface, I barely slept on my previous flight and was fully beat. I apologize for the rather short review today, but I wanted to take the opportunity to briefly review the EY J lounge and the different J hard products offered on this fleet. This will be a rather generally shorter review than usual, given my unconsciousness! Anyhoo, let’s get into it!
An upside of this review is a recap of EY’s J lounge in Abu Dhabi, which was not included in my previous review. For those who may remember, I had just come off being yelled at by a drunk passenger at the transfer security check, fair to say that spirits weren’t at an all-time high…
Arriving at the J lounge, I was shocked by its sheer size and the massive escalators. A couple of floors, I recall.
It was an awkward hour, being around midnight. The hot food area features a variety of pastries, and a cold salad/dessert/fruit section.
I snatched some fruit, a chicken sausage roll, and some fried rice balls.
There was also a scan to order a-la-carte option I didn’t notice until leaving the lounge but judging by other passengers utilizing it, they did so mainly for cocktails.
This was by far the largest J lounge I’ve seen, that’s probably including EK’s in Dubai.
The fact this one encompasses multiple full floors was quite incredible. Never will you be struggling to find a seat here. I can also imagine great views of the tarmac during the day.
Before moving on, I just wanted to take a quick moment to praise AUH as an airport, beyond the lounge experience. AUH must be the coolest airport terminal I've been in. Maybe it's the glitz and glamor of the all the lights and shops resembling the inside of a giant fun-filled modern mall. It might also have been the sleep deprivation and alcohol, but I still insist it's one of the coolest.
With boarding imminent, we headed out and over to our gate. I promise I’m not exaggerating when saying I so nearly passed out during the 10 minute or so walk over.
Coming off what was a stellar J hard product from Beijing, I was shocked when boarding our 777-300, and was one of the main reasons I decided to share this rather short review. The hard product aboard EY’s 777-300 J class is extremely underwhelming, probably up there with the most outdated I’ve experienced in J.
The first look at the cabin, there is essentially zero privacy throughout, and showing far more age than that on the 787’s.
The first two middle seats pictured here were ours, in a honeymoon suite setup contrasting with those further apart in the row behind us.
Waiting at our seats were two pillows and the same blanket/mattress and slippers offered on the 787 flight from Beijing. A menu card and packaged wet wipe also on offer. You can also probably tell, the seatroom is far smaller than on the 787. For my readers that checked out the 787 flight, immediately the contrast is stark.
In addition, the IFE screen was tiny, again showing the age of the cabin.
There’s a bottle holder and small light on the side, and a very small stowage area which was another aspect that lacked with this seat.
The menu and wet wipe. The seat controls and IFE controller were also located on my left side.
The tray table was attached to the back of the seat in front, with a small coat hanger on the left side.
Another strange element to this journey was the minimized amenity kits. This one was around a third of the size compared to the one offered from PKX-AUH and featured half the amenities. Unsure why the kits were smaller on this flight departing EY’s hub. But again, I was just ready to pass out.
WiFi cards were then distributed rendering internet free for J passengers. Although WiFi was also free on the arriving flight, no cards were offered. So this was a nice touch.
With the lack of a significant divider (there is a small on that can be raised briefly), sitting next to a stranger in this setup would present quite an awkward journey.
Looking at the menu, again it’s appreciated that EY condenses so much information into a few pages. Breakfast was on the cards today, with a plethora of beverages.
For some reason my girlfriend can function without sleep for 24 hours, but that’s beneficial to me and my readers since she got to sample some of the dishes while I was away in dreamland!
Welcome drinks were then offered, and I opted for a glass of champagne to further accelerate my passing out.
There's a little bit of storage space on the left side below the seat controls, but barely large enough to fit anything substantial. It was unfortunately also quite dirty.
The charging ports were located on the bottom of the area in front. Direct aisle access is always appreciated, but the narrow J cabin layout meant I kept smacking my leg into the hardware, leaving me with a significant bruise to kick off my Portugal journey :(.
We took off from AUH at 01:44, 4 minutes behind schedule, on our 8 hour 11-minute journey to Lisbon.
I genuinely couldn’t even recall the taking off process, as fully passed out and didn’t wake up until 3 hours to landing just to visit the restroom. I was glad I took a snap of the starry ceiling.
These were the headphones on offer, the same ones from my previous flight from Beijing. I didn't use them this time, but they were very effective and quite comfortable on my prior flight. (sorry I yoinked this picture from the other flight).
During my brief awakening, I swear the entire plane was asleep other than my girlfriend who was busy indulging in the food…. Which brings us to that portion of the review! Thanks to her <3
She opted for the cheese omelet and bircher muesli: featuring yoghurt, milk, vanilla, and fresh fruits. Her feedback was the omelet was quite average but bircher muesli was excellent. One of her favorite foods ever is fruit and yoghurt comes in a close second, so I can’t help but question some bias there!
We touched down in Lisbon at 06:55, only to be greeted with the infamous customs there which lasted a good 1.5 hours before leaving the airport.
