Dishonest and devious sidestepping of accountability

On xxth May 2024 I travelled on flight ET*** from Addis to Stockholm. I paid extra money to be seated in an upgraded seat - a Window Seat with Extra Legroom, and was assigned seat 28A. On boarding this flight, I was changed to another seat. This seat had a number of problems and was ultimately not what I paid for, and actually ended up being worse than a normal economy seat. I lodged a complaint with the stewardesses at the time of the incident, and over 20 times with Ethiopian Relations Service to no avail. Eventually I got a despicable and shocking response that "we confirmed that this is a preferred seat" and that was the end of the reply. I attached numerous pictures showing the state of the seat. The evidence is indisputable, but Ethiopian Airlines refuse to comment on my specific claims. Some of these flaws included : 1. The padded cushion seat itself was completely compressed and worn out – you could feel the hard metal frame directly through the seat – very uncomfortable for an 8+ hour flight. This is clearly visible in the picture, in fact you can see the frame through the seat ! 2. The seat did NOT have a window – I requested (and was verified on booking) and paid for a window. This was absolutely decisive in my deciding on paying the extra money. 3. At about knee position, the hard plastic panel of the fuselage jutted out significantly, such that I was forced to sit at an angle in my seat producing back pain. This “rib” also had a sharpish edge to it, which “cut” into my legs the whole journey. This produced backpain and discomfort due to the angle I was sitting at. 4. Bearing in mind that this seat was meant to be consistent “extra leg room”, my left leg could not be extended much due to a large protruding squarish door panel. 5. The seat was so close to the curving fuselage panel at my left shoulder that as per the picture, I was tightly wedged into the seat and having to lean slightly. In fact I was unable to use the left arm rest as both the brochure holder, as well as the panel extended into the armrest space.

This sort of side-stepping and money-grabbing approach from Ethiopian Airlines has left me utterly gobsmacked. For the “best airline in Africa”, it is certain this is just beaurocratic pay-off where the customer is never asked for a rating or vote. On a previous trip I had issues where my meal choice was not on-board although pre-ordered. And broken touchscreens, skew backrests, amongst other flaws.