Ethiopian Airlines: booking check, Book & Hold and Addis Ababa

How to look up a booking on Ethiopian Airlines

1. 1Open Manage booking on ethiopianairlines.com/in, the India site.
2. 2Enter the booking reference (PNR), which Ethiopian describes as “a six alpha or alphanumeric character code”.
3. 3Add the passenger’s last name and search.
4. 4From the booking you can change flights, choose a seat any time before check-in, add a special meal, or view and email the itinerary.
5. 5For a Book & Hold reservation, pay by credit card on the website or app before the hold ends, or it is cancelled.

Book & Hold: two answers on one page

Ethiopian’s payment-options page describes Book & Hold as a way to reserve now and pay later by credit card on the website or app. Its first FAQ answer says a booking can be held “for 24 hours for international and 6 hours for domestic flights” and is cancelled afterwards. A later answer on the same page gives a sliding scale instead, from four hours when departure is under six hours away to 72 hours when it is more than 720 hours (30 days) away.

No fee is mentioned anywhere on the page. Until Ethiopian reconciles the two answers, trust the payment deadline shown when you make the booking rather than either figure.

Even the longest version, 72 hours, ends well before most visa decisions. Book & Hold suits a traveller in Hyderabad or Mumbai who has found the fare and needs a few days to pay. For a visa file, a flight reservation shows the planned Ethiopian flights for the day you submit.

Web check-in from India

Ethiopian’s international web check-in opens 48 hours before departure and closes two hours before, and the India homepage says the same. You need a PNR or ticket number with your name, and the FAQ asks for a passport valid for at least six months. Web check-in covers only Ethiopian-operated flights; codeshare flights are checked in with the partner.

Passengers whose documents need in-person verification, and special-service passengers, cannot check in online, and visas may be requested during check-in. The page sets no India-specific restriction, but if your trip ends in a country that needs a visa, have it ready, and allow time at the counter if the system sends you there.

Ethiopian’s India routes

Ethiopian’s June 2025 release lists Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai, and calls Hyderabad “the sixth destination Ethiopian operates in India”. Ahmedabad is reported as a cargo-only point, so check before planning a passenger flight from there. Travellers from Amritsar or Chandigarh would need a domestic flight to Delhi or another Ethiopian city first.

Addis Ababa–Hyderabad launched on 16 June 2025 with three flights a week: ET682 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and ET683 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Ethiopian’s travel-update page also carries a notice about a Bengaluru departure time whose details we could not read, so confirm the current Bengaluru timing if it matters to your plan.

Planning a connection in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is Ethiopian’s hub for onward flights across Africa. Ethiopia’s own transit rules for Indian passport holders were not part of what we checked, so confirm them with Ethiopian before relying on an airside connection there.

The usual itinerary rules still help. Keep both flights on one Ethiopian booking so bags are checked through, choose a connection time Ethiopian itself sells, and avoid an overnight gap that suggests leaving the airport. Then make sure the final destination’s entry requirements, such as Kenya’s, match the dates in the itinerary.

Ethiopian Book & Hold: hold length by time to departure (FAQ table)

Ethiopian Airlines questions, answered