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.


For the return flight, departure time from LAX is 19:50, with a 14:05 arrival the next day. Aer Lingus use older Airbus A330 aircraft on the route, whereas Ethopian use modern Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners.

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.


By comparison, Aer Lingus will charge €586.18 in Economy Class and a whopping €2,751.58 in Business Class. Aer Lingus have a habit of charging huge amounts for their Business Class but more power to them if people are paying that!

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.


Of course, Aer Lingus has the brand awareness in Ireland which means people would book through their web site quite naturally. Plus, they have Wi-Fi on their transatlantic services which is a big plus in my book.

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.

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Aer Lingus A330 image by Joe Ravi via Wikimedia Commons.
All other images via Ethiopian Airlines.