AIR BERLIN   Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

AIR BERLIN customer review :  15 April 2009 : by B Brattland

DUS-TXL and TXL-CGN in economy. Both flights on time. An A319 was used from Dusseldorf with comfortable slim Recaro seats. On the 45 minute flight a snack and soft drink was served at no extra cost. From Berlin we flew a 737-700 also with comfortable seating. Again a snack and soft drink service was provided. On both flights chocolates were handed out when disembarking. Friendly and helpful personnel, comfortable seats, and all this at a reasonable price. I will be more than happy to fly with Air Berlin again.

AIR BERLIN customer review :  26 March 2009 : by Johannes Kramer

MUC-PMI-ALC-MUC. First leg in a new 737-800. New cabin with leather seats was quite nice. Second leg on a 737-700: older cloth seats with less legroom. 3rd leg on a new 320 with leather seats. Seat comfort is okay with fair legroom and recline. But LH and BA offer more. Still, Air Berlin is better than some no frills airline. Staff was effective and friendly but they did not communicate enough when the last flight was delayed. Announcements would have been nice. A tasty sandwich was offered. You have to pay for alcoholic drinks. I didn`t like the onboard entertainment. It is remarkable that they offer IFE on these short flights, but so you also have to watch advertising clips.

AIR BERLIN customer review :  18 February 2009 : by C Treurnicht

Trip from Dresden to Stansted via Düsseldorf yesterday was a nightmare. Over 2 hours delay - ok the weather was bad in Dresden but we were told things were bad in Düsseldorf so no panic about connections. On arrival about 100 people had to queue to sort how they got further - only one very slow incompetent female on the transfer desk. They rebooked me 4 hours later, then arrival in Stansted - no luggage, and on a business trip to boot. 24 hours later my bag is still in Düsseldorf. For my last business trip I actually paid less money to fly Lufthansa- and was properly looked after. Cheap airline - forget it.All may be great when nothing goes wrong - but if it does they just cannot cope.

AIR BERLIN review :  6 January 2009 : by T Mahr

Of the 6 flights I've taken within Germany and to Finland in the last weeks none was on time (minimum delay 20 minutes up to 1.5 hours), planes rather cramped and ground service is grumpy if not non-existent. Onboard service is usually okay, sometimes smiling (despite the annoying and ongoing commercial show that an AB flight turns into) but lacks consistency - it's better domestic than on European routes where alcohol is available against payment only and the free snacks are hardly edible (the buy-on-board food however is good if expensive).

AIR BERLIN review :  2 January 2009 : by G Fosdal

Alicante - Palma de Mallorca - Copenhagen economy. The flight was timely and checkin and boarding fast. The flights was modern with above average legroom for a low-price airline. We were served a small snack and water between Alicante and Mallorca, and a nice sandwich with a wide selection of non-alcoholic drinks. It was also possible to by a warm meal. All in all a nice trip for a low price airline.

AIR BERLIN review :  1 December 2008 : by Joerg Lehnert

Having used Air Berlin on Berlin-Frankfurt for four times in four weeks I can say they offer an excellent service on short haul flights. They use new A320 with comfortable leather seats. Seat pitch is tight but perfectly all right for a 50 minutes flight. Nice assortment of newspapers and magazines albeit in German only. There is a very small snack (Pretzels) and a free drink. Crew members are usually friendly. Excellent value for money. I have read some critical comments about their long haul service.

AIR BERLIN review :  24 November 2008 : by James Forstner

Round trip from Ft Myers to Munich. The seats were the least comfortable in have ever had . It was a old LTU plane, not redone by Air Berlin. The drink policy was stingy - one glass of wine from a jug at dinner. Disinterested crew who disappeared for most of flight.

AIR BERLIN review :  5 November 2008 : by K Nielsen

This is my second time travelling CPH-PMI return and still impressed. The value of the ticket, the ease of use, a 'kids pack' for the young ones and a pleasant crew on both legs. Truly recommendable.

AIR BERLIN review : 7 October 2008 : by K Knochenbrecher

Customer Rating :  3/5

For a low-cost airline, the service is acceptable, but not good. Planes are frequently late, ground personnel rude, advertising during the flight is annoying and some planes appear to be in bad condition (such as backrest broken, inclines as soon as you lean into it and annoys the people behind you). On the plus side, you get a free snack (that ranges between very basic and tasty depending on point of origin and time of flight), free soft drinks and free newspapers.

AIR BERLIN review : 2 October 2008 : by E Wescott

Customer Rating :  1/5

I refuse to do business with an airline that charges it's customers .14 Euros per minute to call them to make a reservation. What kind of system is this? Also, I refuse to pay an airline for seat reservation! What has the airline business come to? My family and I travel between USA and Europe at least two times per year. We find the on board service to be sub-standard. We have flown LTU for 27 years, but since Air Berlin has taken over, it has become less customer friendly. Their website doesn't even give an email address for contact.

AIR BERLIN review : 26 September 2008 : by S Lambert

Customer Rating :  4/5

DUS-BKK via TXL and BKK-DUS was excellent. DUS is a very easy airport to depart from, fast connection in Berlin, on time departure and early arrival in BKK. Inflight entertainment was okay, no personal TV's due to the age of the A330's, but we saw 3 movies and and some comedy shows. The seats with standard legroom, but unfortunately not very comfortable for a 10 hr flight. But since the flight was only 50 to 60% full, everyone soon took two seats each. Flight back was a daytime 12hr flight with the same service. Only the food was typical airline food and not very tasty. I'd say a good price for value, because our flights were very cheap compared to flights with other airlines.

AIR BERLIN review : 21 September 2008 : by A Kumar

Customer Rating :  4/5

MAD-HAN with a transit in Majorca. Flight was on time was Madrid to Majorca and was operated by a Niki - one of the airlines in the Air Berlin umbrella as they call it. Seat pitch on A320 was comfortable and cabin crew attentive and friendly. Water offered free of charge and you could buy a range of drinks and snacks. Arrived on time in Majorca to catch the actual Air Berlin flight to Hannover. Once in Majorca the flight was delayed by one hour however we were kept informed by the Air Berlin staff. Once on-board, the 737-800 was in good condition although the legroom was tight. Onboard service started with one free round of non-alcoholic beverages and a complimentary sandwich. We were then able to order other drinks and hot meals from the menus. The variety of the meals was fantastic - meal at Euro 8.00 was quite reasonable. A movie was shown on drop down screens. Air Berlin seems to have perfected the low cost model and offer a service that is higher then so called full service cariers. The ability to provide both complimentary basic service and extra services gives customers the ability to choose the level of service they want and pay for it accordingly.

AIR BERLIN review : 21 September 2008 : by Rupert Dingle

Customer Rating :  5/5

ORY-DUS-VIE Very good first experience on Air Berlin. Flight loads weren't high on either the F100 or the A320 which meant I had the row to myself. Good snack of a bagel with chicken or cheese for both legs with a drink. A320 was new and I like the new seats that they have.

AIR BERLIN review : 19 September 2008 : by Esther Teijeira

Customer Rating : 2/5

DUS-PEK return economy class. A-330 from LTU, the interior was quite old and worn out, seats were uncomfortable and made sleeping impossible. I can't judge leg-space, because we booked the emergency exists in advance (costs extra 14€/pax/flight). On the flight DUS-PEK, staff friendly, inflight entertainment was ok and two meals were served. The return flight was a disaster. The check-in staff didn't check passengers handl uggage, so people boarded with three or four big bags and when we finally got onto the plane, there was no space for our two bags (sitting again at the emergency exit, we weren't allowed to keep them with us, of course). The flight attendants were rude and unfriendly and told us that it was our problem finding a space for our bags and they also refused to put them into the lockers in the business class, saying that there was no space. As we saw that there was no solution, we smuggled our bags into the business class lockers that were 60% empty. One of the economy class toilets didn't work, leaving a plane full of people with only two toilets on the right side of the plane in economy class. We again smuggled us into the business class toilet, but when you were caught by the FA, they said in a very rude way that you weren't allowed to go to this toilet and you must use the others. For us this meant going into the far back of the plane, cross a row full of passengers and then walk back all the way to the front toilet, as you couldn't cross the FA cabin either. The inflight entertainment was very poor, showing at first the same movie as on DUS-PEK, and a film in Chinese with English subtitles that were illegible. All in all, compared to other very nice experiences with Air Berlin in previous travels, I have to say that we felt like little school-children trying to fool the teacher afraid of being caught, not very nice experience on a 11h flight.

AIR BERLIN review : 18 September 2008 : by M Jerman

Customer Rating : 5/5

STN-TXL. Checked in on-line so no need to queue. During checking in on-line seat map of a 737-800 shown, however once at the gate 737-700 appeared. It was only 20% full so that was not an issue. Inbound a/c was slightly delayed, no explanation given by both gate staff or flight/cabin crew. On board service, excellent. Fair enough you only get half of a tiny sandwich but it is only 1hr 10 min flight so better than nothing. Drinks were offered, both hot and cold, free of charge. They have supplementary menu with alcoholic drinks and snacks which seemed reasonable priced. During the entire flight moving map was shown, with some short movies (headsets were for sale). Landing in TXL on time. Lovely airline, with comfortable seats, good seat pitch and excellent service.

AIR BERLIN review : 16 September 2008 : by R Maxwell

Customer Rating : 3/5

Munich to Berlin. Mixed bag - in-flight service was excellent and on-board staff exceptionally pleasant. A different story on the ground. The flight was delayed by almost two hours and this was not handled well. No information. Originally insistent that the flight would leave on time despite there being no aircraft at the gate after the scheduled departure time.

AIR BERLIN review : 16 September 2008 : by A Jane

Customer Rating : 1/5

Noticed our flight to Berlin in December was not listed on their website yesterday so rang today to check. Stunned to be told that they had cancelled their winter flights between Stansted and Berlin. Call centre claimed the person who had booked the flights had been informed. They hadn't! They said they are in the process of re-routing the Berlin bookings and will let us know in due course, and if that's not suitable, then we can cancel & get a refund. Not happy is an understatement.

AIR BERLIN review : 6 September 2008 : by Pierre Knoblauch

Customer Rating : 5/5

Using Air Berlin on nearly all my flights in Europe. Last flight was from Zurich to Barcelona via Dusseldorf. It was the second cheapest option and the service was outstanding. The sandwich was cool and fresh, friendly cabin crew and clean aircraft.

AIR BERLIN review : 22 August 2008 : by J Hinzmann

Customer Rating : 5/5

Stuttgart - Berlin. Air Berlin offers value for money. Even though I booked this flight at short notice I only paid around 30 Euros. Chose seat 2D in the online check-in which is available 30 hours prior to your flight. Even on a short domestic flight lasting about one hour you get free alcoholic drinks, soft drinks and a choice of potato chips or cookies. Whilst all the flight attendants on every single Air Berlin flight I have been on lately were courteous and friendly I finally encountered the exception to the rule. One stewardess on this flight had a lot of attitude and gracefully handed over your drinks, conveying the feeling it's a terrible mistake that she must be serving passengers instead of being on a catwalk in Paris. Unprofessional, but quite amusing.

AIR BERLIN review : 2 August 2008 : by P Roos

Customer Rating : 5/5

Qe booked with Ai rBerlin in January. In April, we were informed they were cancelling our flight (Munich to Los Angeles via Dusseldorf) and rebooking us to the next day. Consequently, we ended up with additional expenses in Munich (extra day at hotel + additional car rental day) and having to rebook twice our connector flight in LA to Las Vegas. In addition, we lost our change fee with Delta. We emailed Air Berlin and they were very responsive. We sent them are cancelled Delta ticket information and car rental and hotel information. After not hearing from them for two months, we received an email from them stating how regretful they were for our interruption and apologized for all the inconvenience they caused us. And, on top of that, they refunded us the money for our extra day in Munich and car rental and reimbursed us the Delta Airline Change Charge that Delta refused to reimburse. We haven't even flown with them yet and they've already done more for us than what most air carriers would do.

AIR BERLIN review : 30 July 2008 : by K Nielsen

Customer Rating : 5/5

CPH-PMI-CPH, and as a first timer on Air Berlin I was entirely impressed from start to finish. Value for money, schedule, ease of use, punctuality and on-board service was second to none. What made a big difference was the on-board service, which was delivered in a particularly pleasant and personable yet professional manner (although we had a particularly stroppy purser on the return flight).

AIR BERLIN review : 23 July 2008 : by V Popp

Customer Rating : 1/5

Air Berlin just changed my depart time from 11:30 am to 3:40am. The flight was booked 5 months ago strictly because of the 'just before noon' schedule now 3 weeks before we leave (in the peak of high season) the times are changed. Thus far Air Berlin have been indifferent to the disruption caused, taking a 'take it or leave it" stance through e-mails. Phone number for customer service has always been busy. Any thing I can do? Any constructive advice?