Latest Airline Reviews & Traveller Opinions
Fiji Link
- 27 September 2011
- I have nothing good to say about this airline. Their schedule is unreliable and their customer service is non-existent. Our inter-island flight was cancelled 3 weeks before our scheduled flight. However, Pacific Sun did not bother to notify the travel agent until 5 days prior, when we were already in Fiji on the first part of our vacation. The information given to the agent was that the flight was changed to a later time. Based on the new time, we believed the later flight would still get us to our second destination (another island) on time. But Pacific Sun either gave us the wrong information, or changed the flight schedule (we could never determine which). The result was that we did not arrive in time to catch the last ferry to Castaway Island and had to wait until morning. Consequently, we lost one nights stay at the Castaway, which cost us $1,000. Had Pacific Sun informed us of the flight change WHEN THEY ACTUALLY CANCELLED THE FLIGHT 3 weeks before our departure, we would have had time to cancel one of our nights at The Castaway and saved $1,000. I wrote letters to several people at Pacific Sun as well as Air Pacific. The only response I received ignored the issue of the late notification (which caused the problem) and offered nothing other than an apology: not a voucher, gift certificate, NOTHING. The suggested that I submit a claim against our travel insurance, but travel insurance DOES NOT COVER flight changes. Several people in Fiji told me of similar problems with this airline. In fact, travel agencies do not encourage people to travel inter-island due to the Pacific Sun's unreliable service. The people of Fiji are extremely warm and helpful. The people who run Pacific Sun are the exact opposite. The people at the parent company Air Pacific, apparently could care less as well.
TUIfly Nordic
- 09 September 2011
- Service is not so good. Don´t fly with TUIfly Nordic.
Helvetic Airways
- 04 September 2011
- I have flown with Helvetic numerous times to Zurich (operating on behalf of Swiss). They are basic, but comfortable and unfussy. Cabin crew are efficient and flight crew friendly and informative. The Fokker 100s are small-ish planes but always feel safe.
Blu-Express
- 26 August 2011
- Our Rome-Istanbul flight was rescheduled for 5 hours later than planned, then delayed by an hour and a half, then by another hour - our 10.30am flight became a 6pm flight, at last count. This would have caused us to miss our expensive connection back to Sydney from Istanbul. The Blu-Express staff were unhelpful, unsympathetic, not knowledgeable at all and genuinely didn't care. After two hours they still couldn't find our luggage after we cancelled with them and booked another flight at our own expense (to get to our connection on time), and they refused to forward our luggage on. it was the guys at Turkish airlines who helped us clean up the mess Blu-Express had made, and told us how we could claim our luggage once we got back to Sydney. Blu-Express is without question the most incompetent, unreliable, unprofessional transport service of any kind that I have dealt with in 10 years of regular travel both locally and internationally. I would not recommend them to anyone, ever.
Aurora
- 22 August 2011
- Flew SAT from Korea to Russia, Excess bagage cost was $ 7 US per Kilo above 30 Kilos. Would only allow 1 piece of carry on < 5Kg or had to check it. Ran out of Russian Imigration cards at row 5 had to sit in the russian immigration to fill out the cards. Staff was ok, Plane was old but in good shape
Airnorth
- 02 August 2011
- If you need to get there on time, drive!!!!!!!!!!!! They are always changing flight times.
Pacific Wings
- 19 July 2011
- I had such a terrible experience with this airline. I purchased a promotional flight from BNA to ATL for early July and was incredibly disappointed with how the airline handled themselves. I got a call from the airline at midnight the day before my flight informing me that the times had changed and to call them back at a specified number. Upon calling them, I'm informed that my flight is not only canceled is discontinued.When I ask what I'm supposed to do about getting to my destination, the agent was very detached and unsympathetic. I was offered a refund and not even apologized to for the inconvenience. I waited two weeks for my refund to process which still never came through. When I called them back to inquire about my lost funds, they nonchalantly tell me that my card number was invalid and therefor unable to process. I had to re-submit my information with them and am still waiting, 2 weeks later, for my money back for a flight I never took. I will never encourage anyone to fly with this airline, and will in fact warn my family and loved ones to steer clear of this company.
Sky Airlines
- 12 July 2011
- The worst airline I have ever traveled with. Unfriendly, rude and unprofessional cabin crew. Lousy food. I hope the cockpit crew is of better quality. They certainly can not speak English.
East Air
- 03 July 2011
- Never take this plane when traveling inside Afghanistan.
Cimber Sterling
- 02 June 2011
- Worst flying experience EVER. We had a connecting flight through Cimber to Denmark from Rome, one of our earlier flights was delayed and we ended up being at the check in desk in Rome only one hour prior to departure - and they had closed. We couldn't check in, missed our flight, no one at the Rome airport worked for Cimber could help us, all they could do was give us the phone number of the main office in Denmark to call (closed from 12-1 for lunch). We called and in order to get on their next flight we would have had to pay $700 in addition to the $500 we had already paid for our two economy tickets (basically buy new tickets). And the 'customer service' lady had the nerve to tell us "well, other people seem to have made the flight, why couldn't you?"? We will NEVER fly Cimber again.
Air Italy Polska
- 17 May 2011
- this airline is bad!!!! we cant even make a reservation online! this is the year 2011 and this company wants to have flights from krk to ord but we cant eve purchase tickets online! and who is panoramatours???? they wont reply e-mails or wont pick up the phone.
Monarch Airlines
- 11 May 2011
- I wish to thank you all the cabin crew on the flight Mon 360-368 of the 20/27april 2011 for the friendliness, kindness and professionalism. Great flights, good spirit, great team.
Chautauqua Airlines
- 19 April 2011
- Good flight from Nashville. Liked the option of a direct flight.
Star Peru
- 20 March 2011
- Worst airline in the world. Do not book your tickets with them on their website. We bought our tickets through their website. Our credit cards were charged and their system sent us the e-ticket number and confirmation. However, when we checked in the airport, they just said they can't find us in the system. Funny thing is, they can find the money charge to our credit card. So, they just ignored us for 4 hours no matter how we try to communicate with them. At the end, they said they can only refund us money in 5 business days without any other compensation. We spent additional $200 to get tickets from the other airline on spot. Seriously, do not risk your money and time with this airline even though it looks cheap. If you search in the Lonely Planet Forum. Many people have the same problems. DO NOT TRAVEL WITH THIS AIRLINE!
Manx2
- 19 February 2011
- This was my favorite air line but recently it has become very devious about its booking charges. For example it says on its booking form than baggage booked on line costs £15 booked at the airport but £10 booked on line, yet when you try to book on line charges you£17.98. Plus there are other charges on top of these which are not made clear. For this reason I for one willnot use them again. Rip off Britain is alive and well
StarLine.kz
- 07 February 2011
- it was the only way to go home every 4 months for R&R. We called it workers flight and its the worst Airplane you can see. Even Ateist people was praying during the flight with this airplane for land safe.
Pluna Lineas Aereas Uruguayas
- 22 January 2011
- Buenos Aires to Porto Alegre (Brazil) with change of planes in Montevideo. Check-in staff in Buenos Aires very unhelpful, even though I was travelling alone with two children and a baby. Had to ask sales desk for new print of e-ticket as check-in desk alleged that we had not purchased tickets, having told us beforehand that we had seats reserved only for the second flight. How on earth we would get to Montevideo to take that flight is anyone's guess. Then the plane was delayed for two hours, which seems to be an everyday occurrence. We were transferred to another flight four hours later, by Brazilian airlines Tam, as we were going to miss our connection in Montevideo. One of our three luggages was lost in this transfer, never to be found. To add insult to injury, it took many trips to the airport and many phone calls to get them to produce a lost luggage form. Very incompetent and very unhelpful. Having travelled with many airlines over many years, would not recommend Pluna to anyone. Never seen anything like it.
Kyrgizstan Airlines
- 09 January 2011
- Worst flight ever! It was a very nervous flight sitting on some ancient soviet era Tupolev Tu-134 for 4 hours no leg room, seats were hard and uncomfortable cabin crew were friendly food was bad with frozen bread rolls and to top it all of one of the engines failed during the flight. Never fly again.
Ozjet Airlines
- 08 January 2011
- horrible! the aircraft are old and the engines on the planes look acient but the crew are friendly but we had a 5 hour delay from melbourne
Athens Airways
- 14 October 2010
- i'd my booking calcelled in may and no refound after 4 month. Iwant my money back
Saudia
- 19 September 2010
- Service is excellent if you are a Priest or an Imam ...very dry ailrine . You must carry a Quran, Bible or any religious book to keep youself occupied in the air...
FlyNordic
- 05 September 2010
- Norwegian is not a bad choice if you have plenty of time to get from point A to point B and are not making any connecting flights. They seem to be a reasonably priced, no-frills airline. However, if you are making any connecting flights, DO NOT fly Norwegian! EVER! Their policies around replacement tickets are absolutely inflexible. Your savings will quickly evaporate if your connecting flight is delayed, as they will make you purchase new tickets. For a family of 4, we were going to save about $120 by choosing Norwegian over SAS. However, because our flight into Arlanda was delayed (and we cold not contact Norwegian because we were in the air), it ended up costing us over $1000.00 extra.
Viking Airlines
- 24 August 2010
- A 23 hour delay in my flight out, a 2 hour delay on my return flight, poor communication a lack of respect for paying customers. A shambles!
Tatarstan Air
- 17 August 2010
- I booked a flight on Tatarstan Airlines from St. Petersburg to Kazan and tried to get a refund or change the date on my ticket as I had to cancel my trip due to the wildfires 2010. Because many of the customer service representatives did not speak English, they hung up the phone on me. This occurred about six times until I finally got through to a representative who rudely forwarded me over to her manager. After speaking with manager for 10 minutes about how unprofessional the customer representatives were, he told me that his representatives were not used to dealing with "Westerners," and apologized on their behalf. I never received a full refund on the ticket. After this experience I vow never again to fly Tatarstan Airlines.
Saga Airlines
- 29 June 2010
- I had flights booked from Newcastle 5th sept 2010 with this airline which were booked in january only 9 wks before the flight they cancelled it,leaving me to try and find alternate flights at the start of peak season and also with a cost of £74 for cancelling the hotel I had booked which cant accomodate me on the only replacement flights I could get which are 2 days earlier and the cost of phone calls to Turkey to find and book another hotel at short notice and card charges made when booking.This would have been the 1st time I had flown with Saga but I certainly wont be making the same mistake again so BEWARE
Smartavia
- 19 January 2010
- Nice service, very little room in seats
Air Macau
- 11 January 2010
- Taipei to Shanghai, via Macao in Economy. Check-in swift and all flights on time. I was allowed to go ahead of the mess of tour groups at the Shanghai counter in order to check in. Seats are cramped and food is fair (you might want to eat before you board). Planes were full on all sectors. Bring a good book for entertainment. Not exactly the world's jazziest airline, but certainly not the worst. Air Macau - by Jerry Lin
Kam Air
- 26 December 2009
- Dubai-Kabul-Dubai. The price of tickets is very high. It costs more to get to Kabul than to the UK from Dubai. Kam Air were OK on this trip. It was a MD-82 both ways and were were almost on time. The only problem was the return because of some stupid security procedures in the airport. They apologised for that, though it was not their fault. Neither flight was full, so was able to get a row to myself, which helps. Kam Air, along with Safi, is still the best way to get to Kabul from Dubai.
FlyLAL - Lithuanian Airlines
- 21 December 2009
- AMS - VNO in Business. Small fleet of 737's, but row 1 A/C has exceptional legroom as there is no cloaks cupboard. Operated as a code share with KLM on this route. Choice of Orange Juice or Champagne pre take off, printed drinks menu then a hot meal service, salad, beef with pasta and veg, choice of bread, chocolate mouse desert, choice of wine. Hot drinks plus choice of more alcoholic drinks if required. Staff very courteous. On board magazine had interesting articles about Lithuanian history, and changes since Independence. Vilnius airport is in process of enlargement but immigration was efficient.
SA Express
- 15 December 2009
- CPT-JNB-CPT economy. I booked 3 days before departure for a quick return trip. I would have travelled SAA in preference to the other carriers, but after booking I compared prices between SAA and the four other domestic carriers, and comparing similar timings, SAA was the least expensive (ZAR 1565), admittedly not by much, but so much for 'low cost' carriers. When I saw the long check in queues for the other carriers at CTIA I was even happier to have booked SAA, simply drew my boarding card after checking in online and sauntered to the boarding gate. Flights were punctual, lots of information from the flight deck, cabin crew attentive and friendly, modern clean aircraft, and decent seat pitch.
Air Kyrgyzstan
- 09 December 2009
- Return journey from Bishkek to Osh. This has to be one of the world's most spectacular flights over the mountains between Kyrgyzstan's two main cities. The flight experience was OK with an old Antonov turboprop on the outward leg and a Tu134 on the return. Both were on time and with clean aircraft, although certainly not the newest. The airport check-in at Osh was a bit relaxed in procedure and chaotic, but did the job for the small number of passengers. I'd fly with them again on this route.
Aeropostal – Alas de Venezuela
- 29 November 2009
- Caracas-Quito with Aeropostal, was concerned before flight and rightly so. They virtually ignored all regulations and just took off without any real interest in safety procedure etc. Plane old, seats crap, designed for very small oompa lumpas i think. I feel asleep waiting for water from FA and woke about 30 mins before landing. Food good but service lousy and the crew were still standing when the plane landed and the seatbelt lights etc switched on about 10 seconds before landing. Surprised they haven't had more fatal incidents. Check in a joke too. Complete disorganisation and people running everywhere. Only for helpful Lufthansa staff I wouldn't have got my boarding pass or luggage on the flight. One to be avoided if possible.
Bellview Airlines
- 28 November 2009
- I was recommended to fly with Bellview. The rates are quite good compared to Virgin Nigeria, British Airways etc. The flight out was excellent, plane was empty and it was a night flight so slept over the seats and everyone had a choice of where to sit. Staff were courteous and kind. My flight home was absolutely despicable. The flight was cancelled from Lagos, we were stranded for 2 days until Bellview finally pulled their finger out and put us in a Hotel for two nights. There was a 10% pay back next time you fly with Bellview, but no one was ever given it. The manager of Bellview in Lagos did not know what she was doing. In Lagos airport the staff of Bellview were unfriendly and very unwelcoming and rude. Finally we boarded flight B3282 on the Tuesday two days after it was meant to be. After this, and still no compensation I can say I will never ever fly with Bellview again. They are unreliable, unprofessional and provide a very bad service. I would rather pay more to fly Virgin Atlantic or British Airways as they are reliable.
Jazeera Airways
- 14 November 2009
- DXB-KWI-SAW (Istanbul Sabiha Goken Airport) return. For a low cost airline, I was impressed with the online booking system, inflight comfort (leather seats, good legroom, free IFE (bring your own headset or buy one on board) and connecting flight service. The shows/movies were a mix of Arabic and English, as was the audio channels (x2 English only). All flights left and arrived on time. The area I found a bit inconsistent was the cabin crew. On some flights, the crew were attentive and knew what they were doing. By contrast on other sectors, the cabin crew had an "I don't know" attitude. Of particular concern was on the flight out of SAW whereby the safety demonstration was still being played on the IFE as the plane took off! Can't blame the pilots here, but begs the question as to what an Earth the cabin crew were doing! For a young airline, they have an excellent product but need to make their service a bit more consistent. The product comfort in terms of seats and IFE are amongst the best I've seen on any narrow body aircraft and provided they keep the prices low, I'd highly recommend them.
Braathens Regional Aviation
- 12 November 2009
- UME-BMA, economy. This little Swedish airline brings back what flying used to be in the good old days. The flight was an 1 hour short hop between Umea (a small city up north) and Bromma (a tiny, central airport of Stockholm), in an Avro RJ. Plane was clean, and flight attendants nice - free newspapers (Aftonbladet and some in-flight magazine), followed by a coffee service, a free meal (sandwich, fresh orange juice and chocolate cake)! Before landing, we were given hot towels and sweets.
Kish Air
- 07 November 2009
- I have to travel with this company every month. Generally it seems that security is at low priority. Old shabby planes, sometimes with defect seats, defect or missing safety belts and during the safety brief they speak about the safety folder in the pocket in front of me - but there is nothing in that pocket Every |Iranian has to use their cellphone during take-off and landing and the crew don't do anything.
Air Mandalay
- 04 November 2009
- Pleasant flight from MDL-RGN touching down in HEH. Aircraft not full but comfortable enough even if it had been. Open seating could have been a problem if the plane had been full. Flight early into RGN. 0820 departure almost bearable!! Flying internally in Myanmar is actually a rather pleasant experience. Again the image perception given to us by the tv media!
Eurofly
- 01 November 2009
- JFK-FCO and FCO-JFK in economy. On both legs of the trip, check-in/gate staff and FAs were attentive and courteous. They offered to block an extra seat so my four-year old daughter could have extra space to sleep. While the food was average, the amount was certainly adequate. The FAs made frequent rounds with drinks and they served a light snack before landing. On the trip from FCO-JFK, the gate staff promptly preboarded an elderly disabled woman and families with children (including ours). My only concern is that the planes are beginning to show signs of wear, particularly the condition of the seats and the IFE system. However, after numerous unpleasant experiences with Delta on flights from New York to Italy, namely the rude, disgruntled and unresponsive staff and the filthy cabins, I have decided to stick with Eurofly. The pleasant attitude of the staff is the deciding factor.
Aigle Azur
- 01 November 2009
- I did some flights with Aigle Azur on Paris - Hassi Messaoud route (Algeria, for those who are not familiar). This flight has only one type of customer: oil & gas people. I have found the service as fair overall, crew friendliness and meals are actually in good category (crew friendlier then Air France). It's a pity Aigle Azur does not have baggage transfer handling agreement at CDG, which means that each time we transit at CDG to / from other airlines, we need to go through the immigration to recover our luggage, no automatic transfer between Aigle Azur and other airlines at CDG (leading to LOSS of luggage at CDG for those not in the know, such as in my case). I hope they could one day operate inside Algeria (the company owner is Algerian - French), since with the local monopoly by Air Algerie, the service is non existent.
Spanair
- 28 October 2009
- MUC-BCN. Boarding was delayed by about 20 mins for some unknown reason, and Spanair were not about to provide the answer. No apologies were made whatsoever about the fact that we left Munich and landed in Barcelona late, both the cabin crew and the pilots merely ignored the fact. Seat pitch was incredibly tight - never seen so many seats in an A320. Thankfully the passenger in front did not recline their seat. A light lunch consisting of a small sandwich served in an unnecessarily wasteful plastic lunchbox was accompanied by a miniature cup of tea, no refills, and a choice of non- alcoholic beverage. A small sweet encouraging you to upgrade to a higher fare class (mine said "business") was given to each passenger just before landing. The baggage arrived promptly in BCN. For a short flight it was bearable.
Eurocypria Airlines
- 27 October 2009
- LGW-LCA on Eurocypria as part of our holiday to Cyprus. Outbound we were delayed 22 hours due to a technical fault with the aircraft's pa system. Very badly handled by the company as they kept feeding us poor marooned passengers incorrect information, hiding behind the handling company Swissport. We were held at the departure gate for four hours, in the middle of the night, until they decided the plane was not going to fly. They used many excuses to dodge the fact that replacement parts did not turn up from Cyprus or Heathrow as first led to believe. Anyone would have thought that this was a special plane but it was no more than a common B737, surely they could have done a deal with another airline for the replacement parts? The outbound flight, for me, was a painful experience as I had to endure the 'I'm on holiday so I'm going to recline the seat fully' person in front of me, making the poor legroom even worse! Having endured the ordeal outbound we did not have much hope for the return journey. Needless to say everything was on time & as a bonus we were the last to check in so we got extra legroom seats for free, small compensation for losing a day of our holiday!
Batavia Air
- 26 October 2009
- Jakarta CGK to Manado MDC and return. Shiny new A319 aircraft was spotlessly clean with reasonable seat pitch for a 3 hour domestic run. Good to see local airlines updating fleet after years of elderly 737's. Check-in staff and cabin crew all friendly and efficient - plenty of in flight info and extra tea and coffee offered after meal service. Food was disappointing, however, with a savoury snack and small pastry insufficient for 3 hour flight. The first-world flying experience in a new plane contrasted with distinctly third-world baggage reclaim at both ends, with painfully slow service and pesky taxi touts.
Dubrovnik Airline
- 18 October 2009
- Dublin to Dubrovnik. The cabin crew was friendly and able to cater for passengers requests. Dubrovnik prove that even in the current economic climate it is still possible to offer that little extra (complementary tea and coffee and croatian brandy) to make your journey more enjoyable. There was a short delay but this was explained and apologised for.
USA 3000 Airlines
- 16 October 2009
- My wife and I just returned from Florida. I need to comment on the policy for seat assignments. On our flight down to Florida, we were the first in line when the assignments were made. On our return flight, we were the FIRST in line, also. We were assigned rows 23 and 24. On our flight to Florida, we were assigned Rows 16 and 17. We were with my daughter and son-in-law. The ladies that were in charge told us they were saving seats all the way across for families. I find this extremely upsetting. The "families" were not there when we were. I definitely think this is grossly unfair! This was supposed to be first come - first served. I am upset about this unfair treatment.
Valuair
- 13 October 2009
- Denpasar Bali to Singapore last week. The airline is basically Jetstar under a different brand name. Check-in was pretty easy at Bali. The flight arrived on time and arrived a few minutes early. It's basically a lower-cost airline, though with assigned seating, which is in contrast to Air Asia. The Singaporean crew was helpful enough for the just under 3-hour flight, though with the seats, they do squeeze you in. I didn't bother buying any of the snacks they offered. There is no entertainment onboard, but since you're flying into Singapore at half past midnight, a nap is probably better anyway. Overall, a decent experience that I'd be willing to do again in the future.
Blue1
- 09 October 2009
- Helsinki to Warsaw. Nice planes, company has sort of a young, energetic vibe to it and they seem upbeat, which is nice to see in these days on downtrodden, world weary flight attendants and gate agents. They are a little nickel and dimey on cabin service with any drink, but then who isn't these days I guess.
Regional Express
- 07 October 2009
- Sydney to Albury , Staff at Check-in genuine, warm and inviting. On time departure on small and very full plane, no room for much baggage. Just over an hour flying time . One crew operation and I was looking forward to a bubbly friendly crew member however this Hostess was abrubt and rude. Most of the short flight she stood in the flightdeck with door wide open talking with the flight crew. A little girl sitting opposite me travelling alone ( 6yr old ) pressed the call light 3times to no avail of the hostess. This was my first experience with REX and maybe I should try again as most comments posted here are positive.
PrivatAir
- 07 October 2009
- Had flights between Dusseldorf and Newark recently in Airbus 319. In a way I like the concept of having a limited number of paasengers, 48 in my case. The service is adequate and so is the food and the wine. Not good are the seats with a sliding down effect. Why not directly horizontally, a trend that cannot be avoided! The IFE is a personal DVD player, which is quite unpractical. An integrated system into the seat would have been much better, as there is hardly room to place the device and the extra cables are a pain in the neck. The movies on the way to Newark were the same as on the way back. A Swiss lack of fantasy I presume. All in all I give them three stars as a maximum, since seating is the most important point to me, besides flying on time!