We flew from Sydney-Frankfurt and then Dublin-Sydney via Abu Dhabi. Boeing 777 planes.
The flights were on time.
The entertainment system was disappointing and has a much reduced selection with fewer movies than previous flights. I was looking forward to watching good recent releases but there was not much to chose from. The flight was Dublin to Abu Dhabi was on an old plane and many of the entertainment units were not working. The screen would freeze, the sound system was screeching with no audible words. The flight attendants said they could re-set it but the re-sets did not work. Numerous passengers complained of this. One flight attendant explained that everything was breaking down because it was a 10 year old plane – I hope the same did not apply to critical controls in the cockpit!
Most of the flight attendants were very helpful and friendly. They responded quickly and did anything that was asked of them. There was one rude female flight attendant who should not be doing that job. She asked my husband what he would like for his meal. There was no menu card on the flight so he did not know what the options were and he politely asked her what the choices were. She rolled her eyes and told him that she would be rich if she had a dollar for every time she had to answer that question. I felt like reminding her that she is in fact paid a salary to answer that question. My son asked her for a snack later in the flight and she told him to be patient and wait for the trolley service in 2 hours. A different flight attendant found him some snacks and was much more helpful.
The pilots were good and flew the plane smoothly for most of it but we had a SHOCKING landing in Sydney. The plane landed too quickly, appeared to skid and rock from side to side on the runway. I am not a nervous traveller but I had my heart in my mouth for a few moments!
The food was pretty average. It took forever to serve and they were out of some choices by the time they got to the end of the plane. I would swear that there are fewer staff and that it takes longer to serve than it used to.
The air-conditioning was fine for 3 legs of the flights and the cabin temperature was comfortable. However on the leg from Abu Dhabi to Sydney the cabin was suffocatingly hot for the first hour. Then the air-conditioning vents appeared to blow an Arctic gale-force wind directly in our faces for the remaining 12 hours (no doubt full of germ infested recycled air). We all developed chesty coughs and colds after the flight.
