AIR COMET : SKYTRAX EDITOR COMMENT    :22 December 2009

Air Comet has filed for bankruptcy after the airline's fleet was grounded this week by Spanish officials, due to Air Comet's its failure to pay debts.

AIR COMET customer review :  4 December 2009 by B Wilson   (UK)

Like others, we were denied boarding due to overcrowding. Air Comet accepted responsibility but over 12 months later we are still awaiting our legally due compensation of 600 euros each. They ignore letters from the Civil Aviation Authority, the Spanish Aviation Authority, our Euro MP etc etc. Seems like they owe a lot of people money, so no chance of getting our due.

AIR COMET customer review :  25 November 2009 by T Visser   (Netherlands)

Truly horrible experience from booking the ticket to landing. Lima to Madrid. First of all in the days before departure the flight was rescheduled a number of times. When we finally got to the airport, we were told that the flight was overbooked and that we could not fly until 36 hrs later. Because of this we missed our connecting flight in Madrid (500 euros down the drain). For the overnight stay in Lima no decent accomodation was offered (a terrible hotel in a bad part of the city), and the airport transportation never showed up. Once finally aboard the aircraft things got even worse. Because of technical problems and overload the flight made 2 unexpected stopovers in Bogota and Cartagena, leaving us in Madrid after a terrible 17 hr flight (normal = 11 hours). Please take my advice: pay a little more and fly safely and punctually with a respectable airline! And if you should decide to take this one, don't count on getting to your destination on time, and make no reservations for connecting flights.

AIR COMET customer review :  13 October 2009 by T Baker   (UK)

I would be very surprised if air comet continue to exist into next year! I have just travelled from Peru/Madrid/London with them - cutting a long story short it was hell. Apparently they owe money to many airlines and now have lost contracts with other airlines, so any connecting flights with these other airlines from Madrid are not guaranteed. I was offered a breakfast voucher and found it very difficult to redeem in the restaurant as they have not been paid for 3 months. Many more problems but just to say that I recommend you do not travel with Air Comet.

AIR COMET customer review :  10 September 2009 by Patrick Meier   (Spain)

Madrid-Guayaquil-Madrid in Economy class. Here I can summarize how you spend 14 hours on a low cost service intercontinental flight, but with the angry feeling of having paid the same price as a non low cost airline. No blankets, no pillows. Personal inflight entertainment system only available on extra payment. Minimal quantity of food (they don't give you even a butter to put on the dry piece of bread). The only free drink is the one with dinner, if you want an extra drink (coca cola or whatever) you have to pay for it (except water). Planes are new but seat pitch is minimal. Customer service is very bad and there is no online checkin. Pay the extra money and chose dignity by flying overseas with any other airline in the market.

AIR COMET customer review :  9 September 2009 by M Bradley   (UK)

I would strongly advise not to use this airline. We arrived in Madrid from the uk 3 hours before our departure time with Comet to Lima only to be told at the check in desk that the flight was overbooked and we would have to go to the Air Comet Desk to be put on another flight. When we reached that desk there were at least 50-60 other people in exactly the same position. The people working behind the desk spoke virtually no English which maybe was to be expected but after some while we were informed the earliest flight we could get on was 48 hours later and even then they couldn't guarantee it. Virtually no apology or explanation was provided. We simply demanded a refund and were lucky enough to get a reasonably priced alternative with Iberia.

AIR COMET customer review :  31 July 2009 by T Jochem   (Germany)

Madrid-Lima return. MAD-LIM gets canceled (we are notified 36h before). We are put on the next one which is 18 hours later. New Air Comet flight MAD-LIM again delayed for another 5 hours. A lot of confusion among passengers, no information given by ground staff. A new plane is chartered by AirComet (different company), which then takes off. An unscheduled landing in Punta Cana to get extra fuel, adding another 3 hours of delay. Result: Arrival 26h late. Second leg: LIM-MAD gets canceled. Next plane is the next day, 24h later. About 15 passengers are not notified before (we will learn later why not). Standing 2 hours at AirComet counter and no one shows up. 90min before flight, I start walking around and run into some AirComet employees. They tell me that the flight is canceled and I should tell the others waiting (they refuse to come to the counter?!) Later, information staff of the Lima Airport tells me that AirComet cancels at least 2 times per week their flight out of Lima. I walk into their airport office and it turns out that my ticket dates are wrong in their computer system: 3 days later than my ticket says, but onward flight from MAD-FRA is 2 days earlier, so they admit that their system has a mistake. The next day, the flight is again delayed for 5h30min. Result: 29 hours delay coming back; lots of hassle and only with goodwill from SpanAir I get from MAD-FRA to avoid more delay. I cannot recommend this airline. It seems it is part of their business model to achieve lower prices by canceling flights to fill up half empty planes.

AIR COMET customer review :  31 July 2009 by Sara Leitão   (Portugal)

Our flight with Air Comet was Madrid to La Habana. The flight was supposed to depart at 4-30pm but was 5 hours delayed. After Checking-In at 12 am, we were asked if we had any kids less than 12 years old, which we had - so they sent us to a 5 star hotel near the airport to have lunch. We met there lots of passengers from Air Comet, their flights to Bogotá, Lima and La Habana were delayed too. Overall it was a great trip, food was great! The negative aspect was that the entertainment programme had to be paid (7 euro to access to music, films etc and headphones) for each person.

AIR COMET customer review :  14 July 2009: by Fabricio Noriega

Customer Rating : 1/5

I bought two tickets for my parents to come and visit me in Europe. Tickets bought four months in advance for a direct flight Lima to Madrid. Five days before the trip the company where I bought the tickets called me and told me that Air Comet has cancelled that flight, and that my parents have to fly the next day or reschedule the trip. I was very disappointed because my parents had a connecting flight Madrid to Frankfurt and they were not going to make it - so I had to pay again for changing the connecting flight. Furthermore, my parents had to stay one more night in Lima and pay one more hotel night for this. So my parents checked-in at Lima and the flight was delayed 4 hours - then, the flight stopped in a country in central America somewhere, even though the ticket was for a direct flight - my parents are not young enough to be connecting flights. Once more my parents lost the connection because of this unexpected stop and again no compensation.

AIR COMET customer review :  10 May 2009: by C Gregoire

Customer Rating : 1/5

Our flight from Buenos Aires to Paris had a time change of which we were not notified. We missed the flight & had to argue for 3 hours to be put on the next flight the following day Needless to say, no compensation or accomodation was offered. Very rude, uncooperative staff We had boarding passes issued in Buenos Aires for the connecting flight from Madrid to London. After waiting 4 hours in transit & ready to board, we were refused entry on to the plane! Reason? The boarding pass was fake apparently & there was no such reservation?! Forced to exit and disturbed, we tried to speak to the senior officer. A rude man, he simply laughed and told us to go in search of our luggage and then buy another ticket. We were forced to buy a one way ticket to London at a princely sum of £228 on Easy Jet. A much better airline I might add who were sympathetic to our plight! An unbelievable experience. It makes me wonder- do they offer the cheapest prices to lure customers and then mess them about?

AIR COMET customer review :  24 April 2009: by D Ferros

Customer Rating : 2/5

Aircomet appears to be the Ryanair of longhaul flights. The only positive thing going for the them is that the planes (ours at least from Madrid to Buenos Aires) was practically new, but that won't last.The price was good so can't complain there, but most other things were a let down. Films and entertainment; ALL were charged for, there was 1 free film and that was 10 years old, not ideal for a 13 hour flight. Once you decide to pay for the films, terrible games etc then you have to pay for the headphones. And yes, you then have to give them back at the end. ie, you rent the headphones, to watch the film you have already paid for. Food was the worst airline food I've had. It was edible but it more resembled a extra value microwave dish. If you want a beer or wine to drink with your dinner, get your wallet out, seriously! Only go Aircomet if the price is right.

AIR COMET customer review :  21 March 2009: by R Weyburne

Customer Rating : 1/5

Gatwick to Buenos Aires. As per other travellers we weren't given boarding passes at London for the Madrid/BA leg. We had to exit customs and check in which was touch and go as to whether we would make it and I would not want to risk that again. I had rung days earlier to confirm the bulk head seats so we could use the bassinet for our baby and told it was booked and checked again at Gatwick. As it turns out it wasn't and we had a nightmare trip with two little kids trying to sleep on us. It's not as if those seats were being used by people with kids and they had no interest in sorting it out. The plane was unbearably hot and the staff were surly. You have to pay for everything. It was cheap but I think there is a limit.

AIR COMET customer review :  17 March 2009: by L Hacking

Customer Rating : 4/5

London to Madrid, a gift from our daughters for our anniversary, and we were surprised how smooth our trip was. Flights both ways on time, staff friendly, aircraft small so a bit noisy but would travel with them again.

AIR COMET customer review :  10 March 2009: by S Grist

Customer Rating : 4/5

London Gatwick to Madrid and return. I paid £26 for a return to Madrid and judging by the comments was not expecting much. Flight left 15 mins late due congestion at Gatwick, arrived early in Madrid. Return flight left on time arrived Gatwick early. Leg room better than the last few BA short haul flights I have been on. Got a free drink and staff were friendly enough. Not the youngest plane I have ever been on, but it was a smooth flight. Value for money was excellent. Paid very little, expected vey little, got a lot more!

AIR COMET customer review :  1 February 2009: by N Murphy

Customer Rating : 1/5

Worst flight ever. Lights would not turn off on overnight so could not sleep. Shocking leg space, dreadful food, had to pay for drinks including minerals, abysmal entertainment all in Spanish, reasonably unhelpful staff. Avoid it at all costs - pay the extra money and fly with a more reputable company.

AIR COMET customer review :  6 January 2009: by A Hibbett

Customer Rating : 3/5

London to Lima via Madrid, I was told in London that my boarding pass for Madrid-Lima would be waiting for me in Madrid. When I got to the check-in in Madrid there was a huge queue; apparently 3 flights were checkin in at once. Luckily, after battling my way through to an information desk and insisting that my boarding passes were waiting for me, I was told to approach the business class check in point where they were indeed ready. So, my recommendation is that if staff are unhelpful and uninformative, insist. If I hadn't had insisted, I would have been in that queue for hours. But in the end, at the gate in Madrid, boarding for the flight to Lima, it was announced (in Spanish) that all seat numbers on boarding passes were obsolete. There was a scramble for seats as people who travelled together tried to get seats together. Chaos. People who didn't speak Spanish had no idea what was going on. At least it was on time and nothing happened to my luggage - and it was the cheapest flight around.

AIR COMET customer review :  24 December 2008 : by J Castellote

Customer Rating : 0/5

One of the worst airlines for the Paris - Madrid connection. I think just above the level of the now defunct Air Madrid. Flights are very frequently cancelled and the call center reroutes you on random flights, and random dates and times, most frequently on Air Europa with which the have code share flights; (This happened to us twice in the month of december). I think it is a shame for Air Europa which is a serious airline, to have its name associated with Air Comet. I'll never make the mistake again to fly with them.

AIR COMET customer review :  2 December 2008 : by Georgina Webb

Customer Rating : 3/5

It's funny reading the reviews, the same problems come up time after time and I also experienced some of the problems. On a GTW-EZE flight via Madrid, Air Comet didn't give us the boarding pass for the second leg of the trip. The air hostess on the first leg of the trip told us to go straight to the gate when we arrived at Madrid in order to get the connecting flight, no problema etc. We went straight to the departure gate (the plane was boarding), and the staff said, where's your boarding pass?. After much arguing we got on the plane, the lady on the gate wrote us a boarding pass in pencil on a scrap of paper! If we had checked in again in Madrid like the airline and airport staff wanted us to, we would have missed the connection. This airline changes the departure times at the last minute with no notification, get there early in case they bring your flight forward by an hour so. This happened to us coming back from EZE to London via Madrid, regular flyers in the queue said it happens all the time. This airline delays flights at will. Our 11 and a half hour flight was delayed by 8 hours (Cabin crew needed resting apparently!) Again, the regular flyers in the queue said this is standard for this airline. On a positive note, the food was nice from Madrid to EZE and the cabin crew were pleasant. We also had leg room and they're a bit cheaper than the rest.

AIR COMET customer review :  1 December 2008 : by J Barnes

Customer Rating : 1/5

Quite simply the worst airline I've ever experienced. Every flight we booked has been cancelled/rescheduled leading to unwanted overnight stays in Madrid, hours and hours waiting in airports and loss of valuable days of holiday. The staff were generally unhelpful and rude and offer no apology or compensation for the numerous problems and extra costs to us. I'll never fly with this airline again and recommend you avoid them as it seems to very common for them to provide an awful service.

AIR COMET customer review :  22 November 2008 : by A Van Hoof

Customer Rating : 4/5

Buenos Aires to Madrid. This was the best price/quality flight we had. A new plane, friendly staff, enough food, cheap and on time. You do have to pay extra for headphones (3€), alcohol.

AIR COMET customer review :  19 November 2008 : by C Garcia

Customer Rating : 4/5

Paris-Madrid-Buenos Aires and back. What can I say, got the ticket for 521€ so actually had no expectations at all. All flights on time and planes very good (from Madrid to Buenos Aires was brand new). The plane from Buenos Aires to Madrid was a refurbished one from Air France in a decent state. Food had to be paid in Paris/Madrid leg. The food on long haul was not good but enough to survive. Cabin staff are not the friendliest though. Would fly this company again, hopefully at the same price!

AIR COMET customer review :  11 November 2008 : by Dieter Trybou

Customer Rating : 3/5

CDG-MAD-EZE return. First 3 flights on time, last one (MAD-CDG) 2h delay because of technical problems. Friendly and professional crew, decent food on long-haul (buy-on-board short haul). Planes old but well-maintained (PTV's didn't work on long-haul). You need to pay for headphones and alcoholic drinks on long-haul.

AIR COMET customer review :  7 November 2008 : by J Pope

Customer Rating : 1/5

Madrid to Lima was delayed 34 hours because it was overbooked. We were taken to a hotel first night but had to go back to the airport on the next day to get a voucher for the second night in the hotel. There were about 60 passengers in the hotel in the same situation as us. We got vouchers for compensation but there seems to be no way we can get them to pay up. I'll never fly with them again.

AIR COMET customer review :  23 October 2008 : by N du Fresne

Customer Rating : 4/5

Madrid to Paris. It was unpleasant being bussed out to their Airbus 320 in the rain and standing on the cold, wet and windy boarding stairs while people who had pushed their way to the front mucked around in the aisle stopping everyone else getting in out of the cold! The seat in front of me was broken and wouldn’t remain upright however the guy occupying it moved to another seat so that was ok. The service from check in to boarding was excellent - true the FAswere a bit grim faced but we arrived in Paris on time, although the luggage took a long time to arrive nothing was missing. Maybe some passengers could be a little more caring about others and not stick their chewing gum under the seats or take such a huge quantity of carry on luggage that they hold everyone else up both boarding and leaving.