MANDALA AIRLINES review : 2 September 2008 : by Tapani Utunen

Customer Rating : 4/5

Denpasar-Yogyakarta-Denpasar. Booked one week ahead and got a good rate. DPS-JOG early morning, new Airbus A319, take-off and landing ahead of schedule, full cabin and service good by a smart cabin crew. Return flight JOG-DPS late in the evening with 1 hr delay, full cabin again and the cabin crew great disappointment this time: giggling and laughing teens that clearly lacked professionalism. All in all very good value plus reasonable prices for food & drinks with a brand new A319 on this sector, but some members of the cabin crew need more training to become professional. Didnīt feel safe to fly with giggling teens who easily tarnish the promising image of the New Mandala.

Mandala Airlines by R Chao

15 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Initially booked CGK-JOG-DPS-CGK. Arrived at CGK for CGK-JOG sector. Surprised by the flight dep time was changed 30mins earlier than what it is in my printout (which was printed by Mandala office). Luckily I arrived the airport early. However, the flight left late 1 hour. Food for purchase on-board. Second leg - JOG-DPS: arrive JOG airport and got another bigger surprise. The 1:35PM flight to Bali was rescheduled to 8PM. Upon request to the Mandala staff saying that we need to connect an inter-island flight in Bali. One staff arranged a Garuda flight leaving 230PM. The final leg - DPS-CGK: Called Mandala office in Bali to make sure the flight schedule is as scheduled. Indeed it was changed 30 mins earlier than originally scheduled. And asked about any delay knowing Jakarta was under water. Answer was NO. So I arrived at the airport on time. Check-in staff informed that it'll be delayed due to flood in Jakarta. Flight came late from Jakarta 3 hours late. Gate staff provided boxed lunch. That was a nice touch. We finally depart 4 hours later than scheduled. Mandala planes are brand new A319 and A320 and seats are comfortable. FAs are friendly. Lesson learned flying with Mandala - schedule is not reliable. Recommend to call and check before the flight. Other than that, Mandala is fine. It's Indonesian airline after all and do not try to make connection. Then you will be fine.

Mandala Airlines by David Allan

11 December 2006  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

CGK-DPS via SUB - positively ancient 737-200 which looked like nothing had been refitted/refurbished since its manufacture in the 1970s - certainly not the seats (mine was held together with brown tape); the bulkheads (badly worn/stained); the carpet (ditto) or the overhead lockers - which were ridiculously small (I've seen bigger glove compartments in cars), meaning most people's cabin baggage could not fit and had to be offloaded/stowed in the hold by the ground staff airside. They also had ripped flimsy PVC fabric as their 'top', exposing various wires and pipes - hardly reassuring. Cabin was also very smelly - kind of acrid/mildewy damp smell. Was glad to reach DPS in one piece, but would never fly them again.

Mandala Airlines by Yoga W Pramono

12 February 2005  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Mandala Airline from Padang to Jakarta. We surprised that in flight service was fantastic. The foods was tasteful and lot (we got fried rice, nugget, fruit, candy, hot tea and orange juice). The cabin and toilet was clean. FA was professional do care, polite, beautiful and always smile. The flight was on time. Pilot do professional. On ground service was very efficient. We got a lot of service compare to cheap fare (about IDR 350,000 or USD 38) on one and half hour flight.


 

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