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TIV-BEG return route. The 35-40 minute flight is quick and easy and landing in TIV can be spectacular. Flight crew seem efficient and reasonably friendly, but it scarcely matters when the flight is so quick. Ditto the meal, with which I seldom bother, opting instead for juice or tea. The airline is upgrading to new Embraer jets, which is a welcome event. From Tivat, they've also just expanded to service London (LGW), in addition to Paris, but the flight times are not hugely convenient. It would be great if they could add more routes from TIV. TGD-FCO flight which leaves mid-day Friday and returns Sunday night is brilliant.
Heathrow to Luxembourg on E145 and return to London City on a new Q800. Two crew on each flight. Who obviously enjoyed their job, despite both flight being full. On each occasion, the flight was slightly delayed. But the onboard friendliness and the wonderfully tasty snacks they serve, more than made up for it. They are not cheap though.
Moscow to Sakhalin - fly this airline and you will think flying economy class on another airline is like first class. The plane was 5 hours late due to mechanical problems, then we stayed onboard for about an hour on the tarmac, no drinks offered during this time.It was an 8 hour flight and the temperature on the plane was roasting. Smallest legroom I have ever seen. When reclined the seats in front crushed my leg, I had to recline my seat the couple of degrees that was available to be able to have some angle to slide my legs under the seat in front. You would have thought the water was the price of gold as they were reluctant to give any water out and was only offered half a glass of water in 8 hours. Toilets like a pig trough and were not cleaned in the 8 hours. Staff unfriendly not a smile amongst them.
We just returned from HKG-LGW economy. It was 12 hours flight and the entertainment only work for about an hour - and staff were very child unfriendly both ways. Food was OK. Will not use Oasis HK again!
Bangkok-Dusseldorf. I was very grateful for LTU helping me to return to Europe but the ticket was very expensive (it was apparently the "last seat"). The plane was modern A330 Airbus - 13 hours with very little IFE in Economy. But the Cabin Service was disappointing - it was just a bit borderline unfriendly. It was an efficient enough flight but let down mainly by some unfriendly, unhelpful service.
Amsterdam-Reykjavik and back early March. Planes fairly full but luckily I found a row with no neighbours next to me. They provide entertainment but very bad sound quality, impossible to follow the movies or music channels so take your own CD-player. One way I got earphones which keep falling out. On the way back I had a small headphone. Mediocre meals. I would never fly this airline transatlantic in these narrow-body planes (all Boeing 757's). Nice was that I could check in and get my boarding pass and labels in my hotel in Reykjavik, the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica, the first hotel that has that possibility, not that you can get any idea of how full the plane will be, but at least I could select an aisle seat the night before the return flight. Good transport to airport for 1300 ISK.
Tashkent-Urgench-Tashkent. Staff try to get your money for everything, even if most of them knows me personally after 5 years of same destination - extra baggage, better seat, etc. When you want to reserve a seat, mostly you'll get a negative answer first. They will tell you that flight is full. What they do is reserve some seats for artificial names. That way, the flight seems full when you attempt a reservation. If you pay an under-the-counter fee, she will change the name on the reservation on your name, and you got your seat. Same during check-in : they will ask you to put your hand bag/computer/whatever, on to the scale. If you are somehow +20, they will start to make faces, and convince you that it will be too expensive if you pay official fee. They will ask you to pay half of the money that you'll pay officially directly to check in staff. I don't do that now, as the official fee is also is not that much. I simply ask them to write the extra weight, which I check each time, and go to pay to the counter. The officer in the counter is also surprised, as this is not very common. If you'll ask for a specific seat, they will make you understand that it is available against a small tip (2-3 USD). Don't, as usually, no one sits in accordance with the assigned seats, and it is almost impossible to convince the person who have sit to your place to move. In the past, you might also tip (20-50 USD) in the cabin and ask for a Business Class seat, but I do not know if this is still possible.
Cairo to Heathrow. The aircraft was a 777 and looking rather tired. The seats were comfortable and there seemed to be quite a lot of legroom. We were served a soft drink after take off and another with the meal, followed by tea and coffee. Food was no worse than other airline food I've tasted. There was a recently released film shown, which managed to keep the children occupied for a few hours, although the nearest screen to us was about 7 rows in front, making it difficult to see. The crew were friendly and good with the children
Recently travelled to LPA - booked and paid 46Euro for emergency exit seats for the leg room, got the seats ok but they have no extra leg room - standard seats. On the way back they decided to land in Tenerife and pick up more passengers so 4 hours became 6! Watch out when booking - you pay for anything and everything - so much so that the only people who get coffee are those that have paid for breakfast. When I asked if I could buy a coffee was told No!
Kuala Lumpur to Fuzhou (monopoly operator for the route) was rather chaotic. The flight attendants were fairly rude which may be attributed to the number of passengers who did not follow rules during take-off and landing. However, this is no excuse for the appalling level of service (or lack of). FAs impatient and unhelpful by international standards. Generally, this is expected from a Chinese domestic operator except the price was even higher than flights going the same distance to other Chinese cities.
Overall, it is a 3 star airline but considering the price for tickets, would give it a four star. When I bought the tickets, I thought it was budget airline. A three hour flight from Kunming to Nanjing only cost me 45 USD. But aircraft were new and there was free meal. The quality of the food and beverage was average.
BOM-DEL. Flight was late, eventually departing about 1:40 hrs past the scheduled departure of 1410 hrs. No information till I reached the boarding gate (I had picked up boarding card several hours before), despite providing my mobile number for SMS alerts while booking online. No explanation offered, nor apologies, even on-board, except the standard regret at touchdown. Very mediocre. That's two of two poor experiences with Go Air.
I was transiting through Damascus Airport. I had to stay for about 8 hours at that airport before going out to my final destination on Syrian Airlines. I had a business class ticket, so I approached the business class lounge to have some rest there until my departure. Astonishingly, the employee supervising the lounge told me that I can use that lounge only two hours before the flight time! When I inquired why, his answer was that these were the instructions of his Director General! From that time on, I decided never to go on board Syrianair again.
Booked our family holiday with Virgin as we had heard they were the best. After a 27 hour delay, we boarded the plane. Just glad to get on it, travelling with our two children who were just keen to get there. The flight and service was good despite them running with a minimal crew. The flight back just an hour delay, seatback TV's not working correctly - they did correct this. Thank goodness! I was asked if I wanted duty free and both items I wanted were out of stock. Not impressed at all and certainly not the best airline that I have flown with.
I have made several trips with Taca, on trips to/from El Salvador, usually changing in Miami, but also in Guatemala City and San Jose (Costa Rica). They haven't once been late, my luggage has arrived all but once (left in Paris by Air France) and the inflight service is far more friendly and helpful than most european airlines (especially Iberia). The seats are comfortable with better legroom than transatlantic economy flights, but I still get allocated in the emergency rows on a regular basis from San Salvador, which shows they use their common sense because I am taller than most of the locals. The boarding is well organised and adhered to by the customers. The first time I went to El Salvador and arrived at Miami off the Air France flight from Paris, I went to the information desk before immigration and a very helpful staff member took me to a waiting room and then to the gate. The staff all speak english, check-in is efficient and staff courteous. In San Salvador, customers can go to the office in the MultiPlaza shopping mall and check in a day early, which means that you don't have to queue with everyone else for check-in. The baggage drop-off queue is much shorter. Perhaps the only gripe is that they put the airconditioning on to the maximum setting while boarding, which can make one rather cold if already dressed for the tropics.
The general attitude and helpfulness of Air Astana staff, especialy those on the ground is appalling, especially if you have even a slight problem. The training prgramme they attend (if they do) must be the worst in the world.
Has JetBlue ever heard about Intelligent Boarding ? This refers to start boarding from the rear of the plane first and pack them in towards the front. On a round trip flight in JFK-SFO and SMF-JFK, both times the call was made for pre-boarding - passengers needing assistance and those traveling with children. Of course everyone started queuing causing congestion with those truly in need of special assistance. On board also confusion as passengers in the front section were blocking the aisle for those seated at the rear. Could have easily been avoided had JetBlue kept passengers with seating in the front of the cabin for last. Intelligent boarding is not important for JetBlue and they should be commended for contributing to stress in travel. Compounding matters, the entertainment system did not work for the entire aisle. The flight attendant was rude and had a total lack of compassion. On the positive, good leg room.
Manchester-Prague return . Outbound, no queue for check-in and staff pleasant and helpful. Walked straight through security and flight departed pretty much on time. The seats were wide enough and legroom pretty decent for a low cost airline, my only complaint was that the seats were quite short and didn't have headrests so felt a little uncomfortable (not that it really mattered on a 2 hour flight). Food fairly-priced and tasty; cabin crew polite and friendly. Bags came straight through on arrival in Prague. On the return good service from the crew but this time the seats were good - I later learned that Bmi Baby are retrofitting their whole fleet with these new seats. All in all a fantastic experience and at Ј80 return I can't fault them.
I fly American Eagle about every two weeks, year round. Equipment-wise, the ERJs and CRJ-700s are late model and sophisticated. The pilots are likewise. BUT what I can't understand is that virtually every Eagle flight I take, is late. Regardless if clear skies, no air traffic problems, my flights are still late. And I mean late, like an hour or more. I just dont get it. AA must be crunching these RJs into and out of the hubs with not enough time to recover any lateness. This is both DFW and outlying stations.
