CYPRUS AIRWAYS review : 17 May 2008 : by Mike Hurst

Customer Rating : 2/5

LCA-LHR. A330 was full, seating in Y class was cramped. Little choice of meal and just dumped in your lap. Cabin crew harassed and non communication with passengers. One passenger fell ill requiring oxygen, cabin crew vanished, passengers milling around, and when crew arrived seemed to very little knowledge of first aid. (no problem with language as passenger and those around him spoke greek). Eventually passenger recovered with assistance of a doctor and a nurse, no call made for them, and crew decided to then turn up and offer help.

CYPRUS AIRWAYS review : 30 April 2008 : by R Peters

Customer Rating : 3/5

LHR-LCA, LCA STN. Flight out was on A330 with a reasonable choice of individual seat back inflight entertainment. Flight back on cramped A319 and poor inflight entertainment as I had no film soundtrack from my seat. As a general schedule service I found Cyprus Airways gave a fair service at least two complimentary refreshments, no choice of meal just what you are given! All in all an average experience given in the economy Apollo Class.

Cyprus Airways - by R Schuiling

31 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

The worst service I received from an airline. BEY-LCA-AMS on Cyprus Airways, and had to go through the transfer desk in LCA. When I asked if my baggage did go through the answer was: "How can I know". When I asked if this is normal service (work for KLM myself), the answer was literally: "If you don't like it, you can fly with someone else". Met not one person nice throughout the journey, at check-in, at transfer, and also not on board the aircraft. Seems like the staff is forced to work for this airline.

Cyprus Airways - by Tom Maule

15 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

PFO to LHR on a flight aranged by my insurance company following a hospital stay in Cyprus. Despite being told by my insurance company that Cyprus Airways knew, and although I was able to walk, I had to stand for over an hour at check in because ground staff had to enter details manually into their computer system. Flight on an older A320 instead of the usual A330 and a bit cramped at the back of the aircraft. IFE screens were poor and badly placed. No overhead locker space nearby as the crew had used them as storage. Food and service OK, but crew not the happiest bunch. Biggest problem was the inability to steer their trolleys and the kept crashing into seats or rolling back because they didn't bother to lock them.

Cyprus Airways - by James Russell

21 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

I have found Cyprus Airways to be a reliable and comfortable airline to fly with. A330s used on the LHR route are preferable to BA alternative, with seat-back entertainment systems that work roughly 80% of the time. The lower-spec planes used on the Stansted and Manchester routes can be a little cramped after five hours. The onboard service has good food, even if the staff aren't the cheeriest bunch. The airline is accommodating to last minute changes of itinerary - changes can be made by telephone at relatively low charge. The frequent flyer scheme is very generous. A word of warning is they do seem to have a habit, particularly on the Manchester route, of changing the flight times by up to twelve hours in the week leading up to the flight, although they have always been accommodating in re-routing me when necessary.

Cyprus Airways - by S Goddard

17 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London Heathrow to Larnana return business A330. I chose CY as they were £200 each cheaper than BA. On this route they have a superior product than BA. Plenty of cabin crew, plenty of attention and good food and drink. Entertainment on individual screens and good audio and video choice. Ground handling at LHR was good (BMI handling ) and although the flight was late from LCA, the ground handling was also OK. On both flights they held the economy px and let business off first. Arriving at LCA business had a bus to ourselves. There is only one lounge at LCA covering all airlines so it can be packed. I Would definitely recommend them and would now fly with them over BA.

Cyprus Airways - by C Winkler

23 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Using CY for more than 10 years to fly AMS-PFO with our kids. Excellent aircraft (A 330), good service/meals, good flight entertainment. Can't tell any difference to LH or KLM. Hardly any delay. Sometimes check in in PFO is time consuming, but overall very good service.

Cyprus Airways - by P Kavlomenos

4 July 2007   Customer Trip Rating : not supplied

LHR-LCA on a A330 - a very pleasant experience. Decent meal, plenty of drinks, PTVs, clean cabin, friendly and attentive FAs. The only drawback was that the sound in some seats wasnt working, which spoiled the whole IFE experience.

Cyprus Airways - by Mike Sims

5 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : not supplied

Our holiday plan was to fly from Stansted to Paphos. The travel company rang 3 days before the holiday to inform us that they had been told that due to one of Cyprus Airways planes being taken in for maintenance, we would have to fly from Heathrow. We were told to still turn up at Stansted as buses would be provided to transfer us to Heathrow. Looking around when we got to Stansted there were only about 60 passengers for the flight. At Stansted, passengers waiting there who had booked direct with Cyprus Airways were told for the first time of the airport change, the airline had not bothered to contact them. Clearly, they were not happy. We were told the return flight would be back to Stansted. The transfer encountered the usual congestion on the M25, including an accident which made us increasingly late for check in. This resulted in a huge queue and no chance of decent seats. Worst of all, Cyprus Airways staff at the check in told us that the reason for the Stansted cancellation was due to insufficient passengers to put a plane in there- why can't people be honest, the truth is more acceptable! Flight outbound was on the A330 airbus which was excellent. Very bright and clean interior, comfortable seats, happy and accommodating cabin staff, couldn't have asked for better. Return flight to Stansted was delayed by one hour (no reason given) and we were sitting on the plane for that hour just waiting to go. Flight was on an A320 which was looking slightly worn and tired, cabin staff on the whole were helpful and accommodating. However! One of the two toilets at the rear was put out of order resulting in huge queues for the one remaining toilet, which inconvenienced passengers sitting in aisle seats, and cabin staff trying to get drinks and meals services organised. The frustrating part was that the Cabin Manager was adamant that the front toilet in Business class would remain exclusively for the only two passengers in there. A whole plane load of passengers inconvenienced by this decision which we felt was a poor one with no common sense being used!! Apart from that, an uneventful flight.

Cyprus Airways - by S Philpots

6 March 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Cyprus Airways ground check in staff are the, most uncooperative and downright rudest airport staff I have ever come across in all my time of flying, Although we had arrived to check in over 1 hour before the flight we were told by the checkin staff that boarding was finished. There were 4 of us and we asked if we could board the plane because there was still just over an hour to go. The lady supervisor became very rude and started shouting saying it was all our fault we should have been there earlier and anyway it was full, there were no more seats. (which proved that they had overbooked and we were the ones to get dumped). For an hour we tried in vain to reason with them but Cyprus airways staff totally ignored us, they didn't want to know. This same supervisor even came into the office where we were trying to sort out a way of getting home and tore the staff member off a strip for talking to us. To cut a long story short we managed to get a flight with AJet but instead of landing at Heathrow where we were being met we had to land at Luton. But they were very helpful and even tried to get some discount from Cyprus airways for the extra £790 we had to spend on the new tickets, however they just totally ignored AJet as well and wouldn't even talk to their supervisor. I have been trying for 6 months to get some sort of compensation from them for overbooking the flight, leaving us stranded in Cyprus, being extremely rude, and putting us, especially the two ladies we were with, through worry and stress, but once again they have totally ignored me.

Cyprus Airways - by C Hoblyn

1 November 2006

If you are flying Cyprus Air make sure that you arrive 4 hours before check-in at Larnaca airport - on arrival yesterday two hours before the flight departed, with 5 of us (three children under 9) , we were informed that we could not sit together, after an hour of battling we managed to arrange two seatings of 3 and 2 , acceptable but not ideal, the staff were unhelpful and surly and it was only through my persistence that the arrangements were changed - on the flight it appeared that most families were split up. Once on we were told that the in flight entertainment was not working, the food was not good and the plane was filthy - all in all not a positive experience. I should say that I have never sought to complain about an airline before but I feel bound to warn other families of this experience so that they can try to avoid such angst at the end of a holiday.

Cyprus Airways - by David Ellis

27 September 2006

LHR-LCA Apollo (business class). Check-in at both LHR and LCA was quick and courteous. BMI lounge was actually rather quieter (and pleasant) than Cyprus Airways' lounge at LCA. There was a one hour delay in the flight out which didn't seem to merit an explanation from the flight deck but otherwise FAs were friendly and attentive. A non-alcoholic drink was provided prior to takeoff both outward and inbound and FAs were generous in topping up glasses throughout the meal service. The meals themselves were a bit above the average economy class fare but let down by the usual overcooked main course. Seats (1G and 1H) were very comfortable, IFE adequate for a 4.5 hr flight although not functioning on the outward journey. Given that we paid 415 GBP for a return tickets, I'd say that this is good value business class. I'd definitely use Cyprus Airways in the future.

Cyprus Airways - by Michael Thesson

30 July 2006

Cyprus Airways' cabin crew must be the grumpiest and downright rude cabin crew. Never before have I encountered such rudeness. My wife and I flew to Heraklion from Larnaca with our 6-month-old baby and we received no help whatsoever. The outbound flight was ok, apart from the cabin crew being as unhelpful and as grumpy as possible. But on the inbound flight (HER-LCA) the intolerable happened. Before even taxiing out, my wife had forgotten something in her bag which we had just put in the overhead compartment. As I was sitting in the window seat, my wife was strapped down with the baby and an elderly lady was sitting in the aisle seat we asked a passing air-stewardess if she could hand us the bag. She opened the overhead compartment took a quick look and said the she couldn't see it. Then she ordered us to get up and get it ourselves. When my wife said that she's holding the baby and it's difficult for us to get up from our seats. The air-stewardess just mumbled something about us making her late, turned her back and left.

Cyprus Airways - by Alex Rotherton

30 July 2006

LHR-LCA Business class. On arrival at the business class check in at LHR there was no one at the desk and they had already started checking in economy class passengers. When it finally opened it took the lady 15 minutes to get me checked in - just hand luggage. The bmi business lounge in LHR is adequate (nothing to do with cyprus airways). The plane was one of the new A330 models with the new seats in business class. The seats looked stylish and were reasonably comfortable, but thats about it. There is no legroom whatsoever and I am not exactly tall. The adjustable headrest was good and the shoulder width on the seats were good but for a 4.5 hour flight more of an effort could have been made. No welcome drink when boarding, the FA'S are reluctant to help you and throughout the flight they marched up and down the aisle bringing back drinks for economy class passengers. A rip off, my fare cost around 600 CYP which is a ridiculous amount to pay for the poor service. I wrote a letter of complaint to the Cyprus Airways offices in London and have had no reply. The flight coming back was slightly better but still unacceptable for business class.

Cyprus Airways - by Maroulla Mylona

26 April 2006

After flying with Helios for several years we returned to Cyprus Airways this Easter and were immediately reminded of why we chose Helios. Apart from the miserable and unhelpful ground staff and cabin crew, the toilet facilities on the aircraft were dirty, smelly and without soap. We had an 11.5 hours delay outward and a two hour delay upon our return. On the outward flight there was a security alert with luggage on board and we sat on the stationary aircraft for 2.5 hours without drinks. On the way home, we were not informed of the reason or that it would be a two hours delay and we were left crammed in the departure gate without adequate ventilation. When some passengers asked for an update, the ground staff were reluctant to assist or even apologise. They just shrugged their shoulders and said they had no idea when we would be leaving. Once on board, there was no welcome from the Captain or apology for the delayed departure. For an established airline like CY, this is extremely poor publicity. I will only fly with CY if I have no other choice and I do not have much confidence.

Cyprus Airways - by A Archontides

18 February 2006

We have been using Cyprus Airways for flights to and from Cyprus for at least 20 years. Despite the new (?) Airbus 330, the inflight customer service has been getting worse for a few years. On Wednesday 8 February flight Larnaca-Heathrow was half empty. For most of the duration of the flight two young children were running up and down the aisles shouting, stomping and generally being a nuisance. Repeated requests to the cabin crew were treated with indifference and reluctance to approach the parents. The impression I got was that they did not know how to deal with this simple situation, or perhaps they did not want to deal with it. I do not feel confident that, should a real emergency develop, they would have the know-how or the courage to carry out any required basic procedures.

Cyprus Airways - by Michael Downey

8 December 2005

Amsterdam - Larnaca in Business class. Flight was very full and the temperature in the cabin was unbearably hot. Seat width was OK but not much additional legroom for the extra money (about 34' as opposed to 31' in economy). Not worth paying business class prices unless you want to be able to use the executive lounges and priority check in and boarding. Quality of food was good, but cabin crew were surly. Return journey was better with the cabin being much cooler.

Cyprus Airways - by Karl Parish

3 December 2005

LHR-LCA-LHR Economy. Planes were the new(ish) A330 type and were comfortable and clean. FA's leave a lot to be desired. Very poor service with just one trip down the aisle to dispense drinks and food. The rest of the time they are behind the curtain in the galley area and are less than impressed if you have the audacity to ring the bell for extra service. No cockpit announcements. I have flown with them a number of times and each flight has been progressively worse. I will be booking BA from now on!

Cyprus Airways - by David Rose

6 November 2005

LHR - LCA Economy and LCA - LHR Business. Both flights were shockingly disorganised. Very long check in lines, too few desks open (especially in Larnaca). Boarding was late in both instances (very late on the return). No word of explanation or apology. While there were honourable exceptions, the flight attendants were generally a miserable bunch. I really felt they were doing me a BIG favour just being there. Not a really pleasurable experience, and not to be repeated any time soon.

Cyprus Airways - by C Ferguson

20 October 2005

Stansted-Paphos Business Class. Flights were on time and the service was excellent throughout. We pre-booked our seats in both directions and this reduced the stress levels considerably. Staff were pleasant and courteous. Drinks were more than generously supplied and food good. We even got decent cutlery!

Cyprus Airways - by Patricia Ash

17 October 2005

Heathrow - Larnaca return. Flight out from Heathrow very good with window seats. Staff at Heathrow were very polite and efficient. Crew on aircraft were less than happy, in fact the female flight attendants didn't seem to know how to smile or be polite, the men were better. Food edible but that's about as good as it got. Drinks were plentiful. The flight back was not good. We got to Larnaca Airport and asked for window seats. The girl on the desk was very rude and said there weren't any. I explained that my husband had a problem flying and couldn't bear sitting in the middle of the plane - we even asked if we could pay to upgrade to business class but were told that was full as well. If we didn't want the seats they'd given us then they would off load us and we'd have to make other arrangements. The result was an awful flight home with an extremely upset husband. Food on the way back was the same as the outgoing flight. Drinks again were plentiful and the choice of films was good. Legroom okay, much better than a charter flight. No delays. Because of the way my husband was treated I would never fly Cyprus Air again. Their female flight attendants should either be retrained in customer services or give up their jobs - they are not good representatives for their country.

Cyprus Airways - by Tracy Gradwell

2 October 2005

Have been flying Cyprus Airways from LHR to PFO for some years now. We have had continual problems with the child meals on the flights. We sometimes treated ourselves to Business Class in the hope of a easier check-in and more pleasant flight - but we still experienced the same problems with getting a childs meal (which we always pre-book when booking the flights). We paid a substantial amount of money to fly business and the best the staff could come up with was the remains of a meal that someone in economy class didn't eat. The new A330 planes are definately more comfortable and at least they have entertainment now which keeps the children happy - really like the screens in the back of the seats. The staff are not very helpful and never seem to smile! We have found them to be quite rude at times and they do not seem to like children very much. Problems experienced on every flight with the pushchair - so much so that the man at Heathrow in the outsize luggage area - who has everybody shouting at him (its not his fault) knows me now. The list of problems experienced with this airline go on and on and on. We are going to Cyprus again next year and will probably fly with Cyprus Airways because the alternatives look even worse.

Cyprus Airways - by Patrick Wegener

23 April 2005

LCA-LHR-LCA. Both legs had an A330, full on way out, virtually empty on return. Enough room for a 6" tall man. The window seats have a small black box attached to the wall in front of your legs, which takes away feet space. Food was quite good and drinks were like others.

Cyprus Airways - by M Markou

1 April 2005

A short easter break to Cyprus. Both the outbound flight and the return were superb even though we had a delay coming back. The cabin staff were helpful and the meals on both flights excellent. The In-flight entertainment was great, and legroom ample.

Cyprus Airways - by Jim White

9 March 2005

MAN-PFO, Y Class. No queue at Manchester, helpful check in staff would have upgraded us to Business Class -unfortunately they didn't really want our lively two year old son! New A330 superb, 32" pitch, IFE with 3 movie choices plus 6 other channels. Food average, only fruit juice and water free, kids meal inedible. Took off and landed on time. PFO-MAN, Y Class. No queue at Paphos (small basic airport) again check in staff friendly and helpful. Older A320, all Y class, but ask for rows 1-5 as they were previously BC, with slightly more legroom. Food much better (no kids meal) but served fairly quickly after take off. Cabin crew OK, joy was that our sleeping child was allowed to stay (belted up) lying down for landing - EasyJet etc would have forced us to wake him up/sit up so full marks for Cyprus Airways on that front! Again flight took off and landed on time.

Cyprus Airways - by Roger Trevaskis

2 November 2004

I have just returned from our annual trip to Cyprus having this year chosen Cyprus Airways for our flight. Can i just formally record what a delight it was to travel on such a clean, well equipped and friendly flight. I am in the process of booking again for 2005 and would not look to any other carrier for the flight.

Cyprus Airways - by Benjamin lLrner

28 April 2004

During my flight with CY from Paphos to Amsterdam (April 20th) I could see (through the partition curtain) that the cockpit door was open for at least 20 minutes, while a stewardess was talking to the captain. It is 2004 you know. Nobody of the cockpit crew took the time to give any public address during the 4.5 hour flight! Cabin crew should be expected to greet passengers when entering or leaving the aircraft.

Cyprus Airways - by C Demos

20 April 2004

I have been travelling with Cyprus Airways for the past ten years, and I feel they have improved significantly. I remember a few years ago the service was bad, and now that they are expanding and have younger people in their aircraft, they improved a lot. It is no Singapore Airlines or Thai Airways but I feel like they have come a long way in the past couple of years - especially with the introduction of the new aircraft. I hope that they will continue to improve.

Cyprus Airways - by G Jones

19 December 2003

Flew with them to Paphos in November. The outward journey was a disgrace - cabin crew served food as soon as they could - no pre-drink offered so that they could just sit at the back and eat their own food. Any further requests for drink etc were dealt with reluctantly. One of the toilets caused a problem - blockage of some sort and they were told of this at least twice to my knowledge before action was taken to close it down. Return journey was better but I would now only fly with Cyprus Airways if the price was really good

Cyprus Airways - by A Spendiff

10 October 2003

Returning from Paphos to Stansted left me very uncomfortable. I was travelling with my 16month old son - as we left the aircraft I asked for our pushchair and was told to collect it with my baggage. By the time I reached the carousel my arms had gone numb and I felt like a orang-utang. No pushchair arrived, my luggage did, which I was expected to lift and carry as well as my child. I waited and waited, so I asked the member of staff watching the carousel, who informed me that my pushchair would either arrive here or at outsized baggage. Nobody was sure - I went over to outsized luggage but it was closed so returned to the carousel. Finally my pushchair arrived with all the others. Frustrated, I wanted to speak to someone with my grievance so that this situation doesn't keep happening-it seems whoever put this procedure in motion is unaware that parents only have two hands to do everything. To speak to someone was another feat, and proved quite impossible with all ground handling staff denying any knowledge or responsibility.

Cyprus Airways - by Sue Salter

28 September 2003

Since the introduction of the new A330 I feel passenger comfort has been overlooked. Good in all other respects except I feel the seat width and pitch has been reduced. Not as comfortable now.

Cyprus Airways - by S Saad

19 February 2003

I think that Cyprus Airways offers very poor legroom in general because when I flew with CY I tried several seats and they were all too small. If the person who is sitting in front of you reclines the seat, the situation is even worse. 

Cyprus Airways - by Alan Williams

01 January 2003

Your experience almost entirely mirrors my own experience!! I may not be 19 stone, but I am tall and did exactly as you have outlined. It seems more than a coincidence that I too was given the Row 12 seating - being assured this was extra leg room seating!! I contacted Cyprus Airways by letter but was still left with the bad taste of poor customer service. I have since discovered that the allocation of extra legroom seats is given to Cyprus Airways employees / close connected personnel - whether officially or unofficially I don't know!

Cyprus Airways - by Maurice Burlem

27 October 2002

My wife, my son-in-law and I travelled from Heathrow to Larnaca 18th October 2002 on flight CY 327, and returned 25th October 2002 on flight CY 326. I am a large man, being over 19 stones in weight, and my son-in-law is at least as big as me - consequently we are aware we are at risk of adverse cardiovascular events, thrombosis etc, if we are too confined on long flights. I telephoned Cyprus Airways some time before the outward flight to ask if I could pre-book seats with extra leg-room, such as those near the emergency exits. I was told that it was not possible to pre-book seats in Economy class on that flight, but I was advised to arrive early at check-in and to request extra leg-room seats then. We made sure that we were the first in the queue at check-in but, when I requested the extra leg-room seats, I was told that they had all been pre-booked and there were none available. When we checked in at Larnaca for the return flight, we again arrived early, and I again asked for extra leg-room seats. The check-in lady gave us seats in row 12, which she assured us were extra leg-room seats. On boarding and going to our seats we found that this was not so, but that it was the row behind us, row 13 which had the extra leg-room seats, those being occupied by people whom, by their size, clearly did not need the extra room, my son-in-law and I, however, being very uncomfortable on both the outward and the return flights. Before these events I was convinced that Cyprus Airways had a good reputation for customer service, but I was very disappointed indeed with the service we received - I must say that we will think twice before using Cyprus Airways again.