MONARCH AIRLINES   Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  19 January 2010 by J Marsh   (Spain)

Monarch scheduled LTN-GIB early morning flight. The flight was on time and paid for extra legroom seat was comfortable enough. The service however is getting worse and worse. Used the new facility to pre-book a meal at the increased price of £6.50. After take off, there was a 'service' of hello magazine and top gear magazine for purchase then a service of drinks and refreshments for purchase. After the pay services were completed, I was finally presented with my breakfast. The meal is not even served on a tray! I was given a box similar to the old BA deli-box containing a small orange juice, a small bread roll and a very small muffin. The hot dish was handed in it's foil container and contained a very small plain omelette, small vegan sausage, two hash brown potatos which were undercooked and inedible plus baked beans. A plastic cup also given to me. No coffee was offered until I asked where it was when the crew finally came along to collect the rubbish after the duty free sales service with cigarette prices far higher than in Gib. If you are flying to Gib, don't buy duty free on board! I was then provided with which must have been the weakest cup of coffee I have ever been served anywhere. Looked like very watery tea and undrinkable. Complaint about the coffee got the response that Kenko coffee was available for purchase at £1.80. Declined the offer. The crew no longer even have the little trays to put the cup on when they pour the coffee; the full cup is just passed from hand to hand over the other passengers to my window seat. Despite the price increase, there is no longer a menu so you have no idea of what the meal is going to be. The e-mail received from Monarch stated that meals were no longer available unless pre-booked but onboard the crew were trying to sell these so-called meals for £7.50. In view of previous problems with meal availability the idea of pre-booking meals is a good one but why do they have to increase the price but reduce quantity and quality yet again and why no trays?

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  19 January 2010 by Pat Thorn   (UK)

We flew to Lanzarote and paid for extra leg room. Outgoing flight on time, no problems. Return journey wasn't good. The plane was full and although we had again paid for extra leg room the five seats adjacent to our seats were given to a family who didn't have a seat. For 4 hours we had to listen to 3 teenagers who were seated alongside us saying how great it was that they had masses of leg room but hadn't had to pay extra. I asked the stewardess whether they had paid extra and she told me they had. I told her that the people occupying the seats had quite blatantly told me they hadn't paid extra she told me she couldn't comment. I wrote to Monarch on my return and was told that the additional leg room seats shouldn't have been given to passengers if the plane was full. I was not satisfied with their answer and wasn't offered a refund.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  17 January 2010 by Kirsty Greggs   (UK)

London Gatwick to Maldives return. I was anxious when I booked, but the Maldives was so expensive I just could not afford another £1000 for flights - so Monarch it was. We had 26 hour delay on the way out. Appalling service, couldn't care attitude. We now think our aircraft was diverted to assist the 48 hour delay on the Calgary flight 2 days earlier. Food and entertainment and legroom were disaster. I can pretty much eat anything - but even I couldn't manage the Monarch food! On the return we had 1.5 hour delay. Then nearly 2 hours for our luggage. What scared me was the cabin crew didn't even bat an eyelid at the delays - it was clear these 1-5 hour delays are perfectly normal. In future I will listen to my gut instinct and avoid Monarch. I have learnt my lesson!

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  14 January 2010 by Pauline Griffin   (UK)

Birmingham to Larnaca return. Both journeys were we delayed one hour because all the overhead storage was full and excess baggage had to be put in the hold. On the journey out to Cyprus, baggage was incorrectly counted and we had to wait again while bags were taken out of the hold and counted yet again.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  14 January 2010 by V Bowman   (UK)

LGW to Maldives. Booked premium economy seats after reading poor reviews and this proved to be a good choice. Delay 1.75 hours outbound and 5 hours inbound. Left in resort inbound so had a few extra hours on beach so no complaints. Staff on both flights very professional and efficient. Food not too bad, drink included in PE, seat back tv and amenity pack provided. Overall I think PE offers what other airlines provide as economy.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  12 January 2010 by Andrea Mason   (UK)

We flew with Monarch Airlines to Mombassa - out of all the airlines we have flown, it was by far the worst. The airconditioning was poor, the legroom and seating the worst we have experienced. At the last minute we were told that we would have too stop at Cairo in the early hours (about 2.30am) adding about 3 hours to our journey - which had already been delayed. The food was not too good, and they would not even give a drink of water unless you paid for it - even though the flight took much longer then anticipated.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  9 January 2010 by David Hedges   (UK)

Flight to Egypt and return. Flight out in ordinary class seat which was narrow and had insufficient legroom even for average height man. Paid extra for seat with extra legroom on return - not up to standards of other airlines. Air circulation system appeared very noisy and passengers advised cabin could either be hot or cold so it was first one and then the other. Not all toilets working and for most of flight appeared only 3 toilets available for whole plane. Flight not direct but over Austria which increased flying time. Uncomfortable and not to be recommended. Not helped by problems at Gatwick with unloading baggage.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  7 January 2010 by C Rose   (UK)

Genuinely the most awful airline we have experienced. 26 hour delay (charter flight to Calgary due to leave Gatwick 19/12/09) and no representatives from Monarch at the airport at all once we had all checked in. They failed to keep us informed of what was happening and we only found out the full story from the Captain on the flight the next day when it did eventually leave - Monarch only have 2 A330 airbuses in their fleet and both had technical faults so couldn't fly. We were initially advised of a 12 hour delay due to a technical fault when checking in at 6am that morning. We could have dealt with this, but then the delays continued including being called to the departure gate, being held there for over an hour before being told we would have to go back to the terminal as the replacement plane also had a technical fault. The promised announcement didn't happen at 8pm, and the poor Swissport air handlers had to deal with 300 very angry and tired passengers demanding to know what was going on. Eventually we were all escorted out of the terminal and told the flight was cancelled until the following day. When we got back the next day, we then sat on the plane for 2 hours waiting to leave. The flight crew were rude and it particularly did not go down well when they were announcing 'believe me, we feel as frustrated as you do' - I doubt that, they were being paid to do a job and we had the privilege of taking precious annual leave and paying to go on holiday in order to stay at Gatwick for over a day! The plane itself was tatty and dirty; I have no idea how all the coffee (?) stains got on to the overhead plastic trim. My overwhelming advice is never fly Monarch Airlines.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  1 January 2010 by Keith Simpson   (UK)

LGW-AGP. Great service, excellent crew , felt like a full service carrier. The problem is no leg room on the A321 - as a result will not fly again and will go back to Aer Lingus on this route.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  31 December 2009 by Hugh Jones   (Cyprus)

Larnaca to Manchester was 23 hours delayed on 21 December. They landed in Athens to refuel and then stopped in Brussels for 10 hours because the crew had flown over their hours. A total waste of time. No proper explanations, and crew were very inexperienced.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  19 December 2009 by F Myrgren   (UK)

LGW-BJL return. Our flights was slightly delayed both outbound and inbound. Modern A330 clean. Staff efficient and friendly. Food ok. Headphones given out for free on both flights. I would fly with Monarch again.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  7 December 2009 by Barry Searle   (UK)

Gatwick to Chania on Monarch. It was a package holiday and it was not until after I had booked it did I discover it was with Monarch. Our flight time was changed by 3 hours. Worse still our flight home was delayed 8 hours due to technical reasons. Being stuck at Chania airport for all that time is no fun. As we arrived back at Gatwick at 3am with no other way to get home than by taxi. I know air safety is important but why does Monarch have so many problems with it's aircraft. It really is not acceptable. We often travel with many other airlines (including Easyjet) and never have these problems. Do Monarch realise they are spoiling people's holiday which they have to save hard for!

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  5 December 2009 by A De Kretser   (UK)

You get what you pay for. Travelled to Maldives with Monarch. The economy class seats are very narrow and very little leg room. We upgraded to the Premium cabin which is for the price you pay, very good - similar to premium economy on main airlines. On the way back, we paid extra leg room seats, which are good.