Aircalin Passenger Reviews and Aircalin Customer Trip Reports     a World 3-Star Airline       Add your AirCalin Review   AirCalin detailed 3-Star ranking   Airline Reviews : A-Z Index   Customer Review scoring : AirCalin   6.7 out of 10 32 reviews

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	Aircalin customer review :  28 January 2013 by Tony Hall    (Australia)
	Rating : 9/10 Cabin Flown Business Value for Money Seat Comfort Staff Service Catering Entertainment Recommended	Brisbane - New Caledonia - Tahiti. First leg was in a bright, clean new A330. Business cabin only half full. My e-ticket had said “cold meal” but I was served a full hot dinner with quality French wines for just a 2 hour flight. IFE was adequate but, surprisingly, had no classical music. Flight was 50 min late departing because of late arrival of the aircraft which I suspect was due ongoing issues at Brisbane airport. The fairly new international airport for New Caledonia was bright and welcoming. The business lounge was small but modern. Excellent canapés and miniature cremes brulées. The flight for the second leg was operated by Air Tahiti Nui. This was not a codeshare as Air Tahiti Nui do not offer the flight themselves. A bright, clean new A340. I was served a full hot lunch with quality French wines. IFE was satisfactory by modern standards. Overall, a very high standard of comfort and service.

Aircalin customer review :  28 January 2013 by Lucas Laffont   (New Caledonia)

SYD-NOU on an A330-200, new economy cabin. Check-in is fast and efficient, boarding on time. New economy class seat is good wit the new IFE entertainment system. Toilets are very clean and cabin too. Inflight the cabin crew served an aperitif followed by a hot lunch.

Aircalin customer review :  19 September 2012 by Romain Lapix   (USA)

Traveled from Osaka to Noumea. Flight on time and friendly crew. Smooth ride all the way to Noumea, with particularly good food compared to US airlines. Inflight entertainment should be renewed, but my average rating remains a 4/5.

Aircalin customer review :  7 September 2012 by L Sebastien   (New Caledonia)

End of June, Noumea-Tokyo. A flight of 8 hours. Good staff with good service and specialities from New Caledonia (like some deer with red wine and sweet potatoes in Economy Class) which were very nice too. A very good flight, only one problem - films and music on individual screens are programmed in advance. You can't even make a pause the film or the program.

Aircalin customer review :  20 July 2012 by D Bath   (Australia)

NOU to BNE. Incoming flight arrived at our gate on time and then they announced our boarding would be delayed one hour due to the late arrival of the incoming plane. An hour later we board, sit there while they decide they need to count bags. They declare they have 2 extra bags and need to look for them. A long time later they announce they can't find them, and have removed all bags and laid them out on the tarmac. We all have to de-plane, one row at a time, in the dark, identify our baggage, and then re-enter via the front stairs. By the time that process is finished there are no extra bags left on the tarmac so they declare it must have been a bug in the check-in software. We finally take off about 2.5 hours late. We arrive at BNE at 9.50pm instead of 6.40pm. Lots of missed connections and no more trains to the Gold Coast. Ground staff unhelpful because they've decided to blame the entire delay on ATC delays at BNE, and claim they're not responsible. No mention of the 2.5hr delay in takeoff because their check-in computers can't count!

Aircalin customer review :  10 July 2012 by Jean Charles   (New Caledonia)

SYD-NOU Business Class - attentive service, good food (rare for any flight out of Australia) and good wine. Clean and functional A330-200 and a half-full cabin. Flight on time. Only let-down was that only one of the immigration forms were handed to passengers leading to confusion on arrival at Tontouta Airport, Noumea.

Aircalin customer review :  3 May 2012 by Roger Stone   (Australia)

SYD-NOU Business Class - attentive service, good food (rare for any flight out of Australia) and good wine. Clean and functional A330-200 and a half-full cabin. Flight on time. Only let-down was that only one of the immigration forms were handed to passengers leading to confusion on arrival at Tontouta Airport, Noumea.

Aircalin customer review :  25 July 2011 by Lucas Lafon   (New Calédonia)

NOU-BNE flight of Airbus A330. Satisfied with the flight, comfortable seats, entertainment on board well. The service on board is correct, the meals provided to us were of good quality.

Aircalin customer review :  11 June 2010 by G Currie   (Australia)

Business class Noumea to Sydney. Very easy and friendly check in. Air Calin lounge a bit dismal. Showing no signs of life but ok for a drink and relax. A330-200 large business class, cabin very bright and looked new, greeted by the crew with a champagne. All crew were French and spoke decent English. Service very exact, menu offered and pre lunch drinks. Seats quite comfortable and angled lie flat. As the flight is only 2h 40 minutes a good recline was enough. Didn't use the entertainment but looked OK. Good product in the air and on ground, crew professional and aircraft was well maintained.

Aircalin customer review :  24 October 2010 by Pascal Wijler   (Netherlands)

KIX-NOU-ICN in economy. Coming from AMS via HEL to KIX I had only 40 minutes at Kansai to make the connection to AirCalin's twice a week flight to Noumea. Instead of immediately leaving they even waited for the luggage to make the connection from the Finnair flight. KIX-NOU a new A330-200 was not completely full so had room to spare. AirCalin air and ground staff very friendly although it of course helps to speak the language of New Caledonia. Flying back from NOU via ICN and HEL to AMS they even were able to give me all boarding passes.

Aircalin customer review :  25 July 2010 by Jurgen Perlich  (New Zealand)

NRT-NOU-AKL in Economy, plane was full, legroom very limited. FAs are more helpful when you can speak French. Ground staff in Narita refused to check my luggage through to AKL even thoigh I had only 90 minutes transit time - so had to go through immigration in customs and Noumea which is very slow. Food very average, IFE old and screen was too bad to watch movies.

Aircalin customer review :  13 April 2010 by P Bennet  (Australia)

Air Calin are the worst airline I have ever flown. They lost our luggage, with no explanation, except to say that it was "in transit" and then (over the Easter weekend) did not answer their phone when we were checking on the status of our luggage. In all, it took Air Calin 5 days to get our luggage to us, we could have posted it faster! We finally received our luggage 10 hours before we were due to depart. As it was Easter, there was very little in the way of shops open (on Isle de Pin) and consequently we couldn't shop to replace our essential items, so were washing out clothes every night and putting them on wet the next morning. When staff finally did answer the phone, they were rude, abrupt and condescending. All in all, ruined our holiday to New Caledonia, I won't fly with them again.

AIRCALIN review :  28 September 2009 : by J Taylor  (Australia)

SYD-NOU return. Flight Attendants very friendly especially if you could speak a little bit of French. Food was good, A320 doesn't have ptv entertainment but AirCalin television was shown. Check-in at Tontouta was a nightmare like usual. Would fly AirCalin again but would try to get onto a wednesday flight with A330 aircraft.

AIRCALIN review :  25 May 2009 : by A Rumsas  (n/a)

AKL-NOU, GEA-MEE-GEA. New planes, staff friendly. The only drawback is the ground service at Magenta airport, which is very messy. you get a card with "ADULTE" or "ENFANT", a very interesting "flight document" boarding pass.

AIRCALIN review : 6 January 2009 : by B Kauffmann

Customer Rating : 4/5

Tokyo-Noumea and back economy - in conjunction with a flight from and to Paris with Air France. Friendly service - good food - seating comfortable. Much better than Air France. Aircalin should fly from and to Paris, so I can avoid to fly Air France for my next trip to Noumea.

AIRCALIN review : 27 October 2008 : by T Campbell

Customer Rating : 3/5

NOU-AKL: 7/10 for food. 2/10 for cabin crew. It appeared as though some of the crew not interested in the job. All in all would use them again if need be.

AIRCALIN review : 29 September 2008 : by P Soerip

Customer Rating : 4/5

Aircalin is a company which offers high quality service on board A330. The meals are good, individual PTV screen in economy class. The flight crew is available and cordial. However, Business class service on the ground needs to be improved.

AIRCALIN review : 5 September 2008 : by Soren Krumrey

Customer Rating : 5/5

SYD-NOU-SYD in economy. Surprisingly nice experience both ways. Fairly new A320 on the outbound and A330 on the way back. The latter had personal video screens in Economy but even though the flight was almost 3 hours long, you could only choose one of the 8 or so movies shown in the in-flight magazine which didn't make any sense to me. Apart from that, both ways excellent service and a nice plane. Great meals considering the short flight time including salad, freshly baked buns, cheese, desert and plenty of decent French red wine. I speak French fairly well so maybe that has worked in favor of the staff's friendliness but I didn't see any English speaker around me being treated rudely either. Check-in also speedy and friendly both in Sydney and in Noumea, no complaints.

Aircalin review by Bill Atkins

4 June 2008   Customer Trip Rating :

NOU-SYD. Lacklustre crew with very few smiles. Food of mediocre quality for Business Class, cabin too hot and not adjusted despite request. Not an experience to remember.

Aircalin review by Paul Stevenson

13 May 2008   Customer Trip Rating :

SYD-NOU return. What a disappointment-after reading some of the good reviews, I was looking forward to the trip. The check in at SYD was a disaster-4 economy desks with only one manned until they could find one more as the economy queue got longer and longer Also the outward journey was delayed by 45 minutes with little explanation . Once onboard, the cabin crew were condescending if you spoke no French and the food was stale. The PTV was ok on the A330, but I returned on the A320 which only had limited audio. This flight was also late. There was hardly any legroom and to top it all off the bags didn't arrive at the carousel until at least 40 minutes later.

Aircalin review by Peter Sierwald

12 March 2008   Customer Trip Rating :

SYD-NOU Economy A330. Wonderful flight and service - especially compared to Qantas on the way back! Great food. Lovely wine and digestif..

Aircalin review by I Heim

20 December 2007   Customer Trip Rating :

SYD-NOU: We departed with an hour's delay and arrived late, not too bad though. The plane was super, very new and very clean, the staff attentive and the food great. It was a very French experience, their English could be improved.

Aircalin review by S Martin

22 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

The planes are quite new A320 & 330, roomy and comfortable, featuring blue lagoon (fishes) seats. Nice PTVs (reliable and good quality screen and content) in A330. A320 have footrests, adjustable headrest and good pitch even in economy. Hibuscus business class seats on 320 & 330 are very good, especially for 2 or 3 hours flights. Meals are good, even on short flights (NOU-BNE, 1:35) you have a hot meal with choice of 2 dishes if the flight is on lunch or dinner time, if not, a snack or breakfast. On medium (PPT) to long haul flight (NRT & KIX), you have two meals. Wines, champagne in business class, liqueur after meals and aperitif. Overall good FA, although it can really depend : there are better and worse FA. The check-in is usually efficient, excepted during christmas holidays : additional flights and Noumea Tontouta's 12 check- in counters are not enough for 3 flight nearly at the same time. Boarding is quick, and flight rarely late.

Aircalin review by Bill Atkins

26 February 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

SYD-NOU Business Class. Nice roomy A330 - very clean and well maintained. Friendly crew - nice champagne and wines but food not up to much. Pleasant relaxing and uneventful flight.

Aircalin review by Thierry Magnier

31 August 2005

NOU-NRT return. Almost new Airbus A330, good flight entertainment system but the crew wasn't nice and seem to be inexperienced and not very conscious about safety (customers walking in the cabin while the seatbelt sign was on). The meals were similar to low cost airlines and choice of drinks was also very poor. I wish I had the choice of another airlines between Noumea and Tokyo but unfortunately Air Calin is the only one on this destination.

Aircalin review by   Steven Morrow

2 December 2004

Brisbane-Noumea-Brisbane. The legroom on the A320 was great. The cabin service was ok. The entertainment program on both legs was very ordinary and the food abysmal - I am sure that the sandwiches and cake for the Sunday flight were prepared on Friday - they were extremely dry and the cucumber in the sandwiches had dried out and pickled itself. We did see a menu left behind from the previous segment from Auckland - it looked much better. The quality of food and entertainment really let the airline down.

Aircalin review by   Tony Burns

6 September 2004

As a regular traveller throughout the Pacific for over 30 years, I have found the Aircalin services especially good. The check in service is excellent and friendly, the staff helpful for those who don't speak French. The menus are always a surprise with generous meals and drinks presented in immaculate style. Their new planes are first class in comparison with the Qantas 767 Sunday afternoon flight from Noumea to Sydney, where old planes (200 series) and grumpy staff generally bring you back to earth with all of the finesse of a smack in the face.

Aircalin review by   Geoff Hudson

28 April 2004

Travelled SYD-NOU-SYD with Air Calin. The experience could only be described as brilliant. Take-off was on-time in both directions, food was very acceptable, in-flight service was impeccable with wine, drinks and quality French brandy offered to all in economy class. The aircraft was new and very clean. I would highly recommend them and would definitely fly with them again

Aircalin review by   Adrian Wiseman

25 April 2004

Air Calin AKL-NOU (originally also NOU-AKL as well - but they decided to go on strike). Apart from boarding the aircraft (a beautiful A330) and waiting around an hour for who knows what reason as all passengers were seated and ready for some tropical sunshine and French culture which awaited us 3 hours away, it was a pleasant and well done flight. My Kosher meal was bought to me before take off so I could "break the seal" and it could be heated up for me - the meal was nice but lacked presentation and creativity of everyone elses meals - which looked and smelt divine. The FA's all very well groomed and with mediocre manors were to some extent inhibited with their english skills which were good but just hidden behind shyness. The seats were very comfortable, excellent PTV entertainment with each movie in four languages and at least 6 options + games - too much for a less than 3 hour flight. The inflight mag was also good but there wasn't much in the way of newspapers. Very scenic approach to Noumea -  however I was a bit concerned about one of the stewardess' continuing a conversation with a passenger she obviously knew for half the flight (not actually doing any thing else after the meal was served) and continuing it until about 20 seconds to touch down - way after the announcement had been made to be seated. Tantouta airport is not made to handle a full A330 on a summer day, it felt like there was no air con and the lines were horrendous - made worse with another wait for our bags. Customs was very relaxed though...as was any laws regarding smoking. Coming home was a bit of a feat. We turned up at the airport at 5 am after being told that there was only one previously delayed flight going to AKL due to a flight attendant strike or something along those lines. We were put up in a rat hotel by the airport by Air Calin until 1am in the morning when we were all shuttled back to the airport to check in etc (more lines) and a few hours later find out that our rescue ride home hadn't even left NZ yet - more waiting in one of the least entertaining airports in the world. Finally our air NZ plane arrived (on which my boarding pass was labelled with KSML yet did I get one - pity as I was looking forward to the far more entertaining Air Calin to carry me home and end my French Fling in my favourite holiday destination with a French Flair and decent service!

Aircalin review by   Mark Thomson

12 February 2004

I recently travelled Aircalin BNE-NOU-BNE in economy class and cannot report with the same enthusiasm as other reviewers. The meal out of BNE was served immediately upon take-off and fell well short of the 'French-style cuisine' advertised on Aircalin's website, consisting of a stale bread roll, 4 slices of cold meat and a bland lettuce salad. The seat pitch in economy was reasonable and the PTV's on the A320 offered a good range of options, including movies, games and destination info. FA's were efficient, though it was obvious that French-speaking passengers were receiving preferential service. The return flight was delayed by 2 hours due to the crew needing a rest (bad scheduling?). Meal on the return flight on the smaller 737 was better, again served immediately upon takeoff. FA's were not to be seen for the rest of the flight once the meal service was over. No PTV's on the 737 and the entertainment on the main screens was only in French, with no subtitles. Generally, the experience was very average and I would not be in a hurry to fly Aircalin again.

Aircalin review by   Yohan Delathiere

22 October 2003

Aircalin NOU-SYD and it was a very pleasant flight. Check-in staff was friendly and helpful. The meal provided for this early morning flight was very good and plentiful. Got an omelette, with sausages, French bread, croissant, brioche, fresh fruit, yoghurt, cheese, tea and coffee. There was also a second round of warm bread and drinks. The cabin crew was very pleasant and smiling. The plane was their 737-300 and it was a bit run down, but Aircalin is replacing the aircraft with a brand new A320 in January. Well done Aircalin, you are doing New Caledonia proud.

Aircalin review by   D Tate

20 October 2003

SYD-NOU-BNE in coach and was pleasantly surprised by their product & service. The aircraft was a brand new A330, cool blue interior (seashell feature), each seat had its personal tv, reasonable seat pitch given that I'm 6.2ft tall. The check-in staff at NOU were very friendly & helpful given that I don't speak french!

Aircalin review by Stephane Le Junter

22 September 2003

I have just completed a round rip from Papeete to Osaka via Noumea with Aircalin. I was extremely surprised by the quality of service provided onboard and on the ground. I flew their Hibiscus Business class PPT to NOU then coach and I have to say that Aircalin beats several major airlines I have travelled with during the last few years. The plane used was a brand new A 330 aircraft and once onboard you can expect to be greeted with warm and friendly smiles from the flight attendants. The food was plentiful and varied. The entertainment system was tip top. All in all for very long flights a generally pleasant experience, would definitely consider flying Aircalin again.