Monarch Airlines Passenger Reviews and Monarch Airlines Customer Trip Reports

From EMA to TFS. Checking was quick, efficient and friendly. We flew having paid £25 each for extra leg room, and for a 4.5 hour flight this was money well spent. Flight attendants were friendly and helpful, both on the outward and return legs. The flights left on time and the aircraft were comfortable. The biggest downside to Monarch Airlines is there is no in-flight entertainment, and that makes a long flight quite boring. Also there is not much choice of food, and it has to be paid for. Otherwise I cannot fault Monarch.

London Gatwick to Funchal Madeira. Check in at Gatwick very fast and staff at each desk courteous and efficient. Aircraft on outbound flight (28/12/12) was an Airbus320, which was very clean, bright and the seats were in lovely condition and quite comfortable. No delays on this flight and the cabin crew were professional and courteous. Captain made announcements with regard to the route as and when necessary. The inbound flight to Gatwick (4/1/13) again, was an Airbus 320, very clean and bright, but it seemed a little older than the aircraft we travelled on for our outbound flight. Cabin crew were equally as courteous and efficient, as well as mature as the crew on our outbound flight. Captain made route announcements as and when necessary and there was no turbulence at all. Did not purchase an inflight meal, but there were plenty of hot snacks, drinks available. We have used Monarch Airlines in the past and have always found the staff to be professional and courteous.

London Luton to Munich. Firstly, Decided not to check-in online prior to the flight as they claim it to be free, however, when using this option you have to pay an additional charge for a seat. When arriving at the airport, I lined up in a huge queue in order to check-in, there was only 1 check-in desk open. It took about an hour until I finally was checked-in. I do not recommend this airline as the customer service is rather poor, the seat space is tiny and the aircraft didn't seem to be well-maintained because an air vent fell off the ceiling when landing. Compared to other cheap airlines, Monarch is by far the worst.

20/12/2012. Manchester-Lanzarote. Due to depart 07.35. Flight crew arrived at 07.10 so no way this flight was going to leave on time. Boarding commenced at 07.30 followed by an announcement telling people to sit down as they had a slot time to meet. Departed 08.05. Airbus 321. Without doubt the worst aircraft I have flown on. The legroom was terrible made worse by the kind person in the seat in front reclining his seat. The safety card shows the emergency brace position. I doubt that a child could adapt the position let alone an adult. So much for inflight safety. The only way to eat the inflight meal was to cut up the food then lift the container up with one hand and use the fork with the other. Returned 27/12/2012, Exactly the same A321 no legroom. Empty seats which the cabin crew refused to let people use. All in all the worst airline and aircraft I have ever flown with.

8th Dec, Barcelona to London Gatwick. Flight on-time, cabin quite empty for a 757. Friendly staff. Seat comfortable, food for purchase. No complaints for a short regional route.

First time flying Monarch and will not be using them again! The legroom and space between seats is appalling, very uncomfortable for a 10 hour flight. They ran out of meals and had to give us the vegetarian option. The televisions were in a position that we could not view them. On flight home it took hours before the food was given out as they took so long with the drinks trolley. One of the toilets blocked and they just locked the door and did nothing about it, needless to say there was a constant queue for the toilet that worked and the smell coming from it by the end of the flight was horrific! Would not recommend.

Luton to Alicante return. Why are passengers advised that a flight at Luton is 'ready for boarding' and then made to wait at the gate, standing in line for 30 minutes? It is ridiculous and unnecessary. This happens with Easyjet as well as Monarch in my experience. Flight out only two-thirds full and a good service. Return was full and the usual mayhem for those boarding later who had nowhere to put hand luggage - it eventually being taken off to go in the hold ("the hat bins are now full" as the flight attendant quaintly put it). Terrible mess all round and brought about solely as a result of the airline charging for hold baggage (and cramming in as many seats as possible).

Took Monarch flight from Gatwick to Goa and return in Premium Class. Not a bad experience. Flight on time, plane reasonable, flight good, flight attendants variable, much better on return flight (09/12/12) than on the outward (24/11/12) when they appeared harried and slightly bad tempered. No wine with the meal was offered and when requested they seemed to think we had a drink problem! Obviously because we had paid extra for premium we expected to have wine with meal. All in all though, for the money paid not too bad. Would use them again.

Hadn't used Monarch before, and - not likely to again. The food trolley (if not pre-ordered) was very disorganised with lots of calling backwards and forwards, and very little food left after just a few rows of seats. On return (late at night) parked up somewhere in the middle of the tarmac at the back of Gatwick Airport and had to walk up some 'back stairs' (easy to get lost), with at least 1/4 mile walk within airport. No explanation! The leg room is poor and the toilet areas very crowded (and unpleasant by end of journey) - sorry Monarch, not a good experience.

After getting up at 04.30 am for flight from Manchester to Malaga, got to the Airport at 05.30 for 07.25 flight, told change of plane. Told if we wished to travel today would have to get a coach to Gatwick for a later flight. Arrived Malaga 9 hrs Late. Had to incur extra costs.

Travelled BHX - Sharm el Sheikh, 20/11/12 returned 29/11/12. Both flights departed and landed on time, clean Airbus A320, professional crew. Overall good flights.

Both outbound and return flights from Alicante were late, mostly due to boarding procedures and the fact the cabin was jam packed full of "hand luggage" of gigantic size. The cabin crew observed the chaos but did nothing to assist and were so disinterested not even so much as a hello was offered when boarding. Plane had seen better days and was grubby. I did pay to check in luggage and on arrival at Gatwick waited 2 hours for it to turn up. Monarch didn't care and neither did Swissport its baggage handler, there was a near riot but no one offered any sensible explanation to passengers waiting let alone offer an apology. I complained in writing to both parties and got no response. Looking at other comments about Monarch I should not be surprised, they have turned into a shoddy outfit charging high prices for no service and late departures. Never again, BA are operating to Alicante from London now so I will spend my money flying a proper outfit.

The letter stated 11am to check in, but when we arrived, checking in had started at 10 am - therefore my husband and I were not able to sit together. The lady at the customer service desk did not help and just replied that we should have booked our seats, in 25 years we had never done this with other companies and the point is that the letter was therefore wrong. On the return journey the plane still had rubbish in it from the previous journey - I will not be using Monarch Airlines again.

Just flown with Monarch, outbound from Manchester to Faro on 17th November, inbound on 24th. Both flights on time, smooth flights even though the weather over the UK was atrocious. Great check-in, boarding and onboard service, leg room was a bit tight but overall good service.

Just returned from Hurghada on flight MON 4329, 23rd November to Manchester. Flight left on time, cabin crew did the meal run then followed that with the duty free. They must have worked about 3 hours in total then sat down for the rest of the flight. To make matters worse, the captain then informs us about 4.5 hours into the flight that we will have to divert to Ostende in Belgium because we don't have enough fuel (strong head winds). The crew did not even offer a drink of water or liquids to anyone on board. 21st century, high tech aircraft, yet we cant carry enough fuel for 6 hour flight. Inflight entertainment, again non existent, so much for brochure publicity.

Manchester to Barcelona 23/11/12. Without doubt the most uncomfortable seats I have ever encountered. The legroom was appalling. Have used Monarch before but they seem to have sacrificed economy legroom to get a few quid off the few prepared to pay for tolerable legroom. Never again.

We travelled with Monarch to Lanzarote and back this week. We got on the plane yesterday afternoon, on time, but to be told we would be going to Faro for a refuel due to strong headwinds they had encountered on the previous flight. This added an 1.5 hrs onto our flight, no real apology from them. Told to take our seat belts off during refuelling, why didn't they refuel at Lanzarote? Not enough selected baguettes to go round etc. The crew were tired, I overheard one stewardess state she was so tired she couldn't think anymore. When we landed, in pouring rain we trailed down the steps and onto the Tarmac and walked to the terminal building. Great welcome home. Never again!

EMA to ACE return. Delayed outbound following bird strike and to be fair delayed less than expected but no communication other than 'further info at 16.00'. Replacement A320 needed retiring as interior was past its 'sell by date'. No problem with return A320, clearly a newer model with greater legroom, could actually put knees together whist seated.

Flew LGW-SSH return in November - A300 both ways and both flights on time. Paid for extra legroom which on that aircraft means the front cabin and well worth it. Return leg the aircraft was configured for premium with only 8 abreast and not 9 so wider seats.

ZB216, departure 15.40 from Gatwick to Faro on November 4th. Initially told delayed to 16.10. When we arrived at Gate 38 we were told that the crew both flight and cabin were delayed as some were out of hours and that we were going via Manchester, apparently the aircraft was not flying due to some problem with the undercarriage. Finally arrived in Faro 2 hours and 45 minutes late. Have Monarch bitten off more than they can chew with all the extra routes they are starting to serve? During 2012 we have noticed an increase in the number of delays in our flights to and from Faro and our next flight will be our 16th this year.

Lanzarote to Manchester on 6th November. ZB627. No gate until we were nearly due to take off, no delayed sign. Then gate was changed, twice, then changed over of cabin crew, finely boarded plane, then told to disembark. Plane needed to fly to London. We were told to return to the terminal. Approx two hour delay with very limited information. Finely arrived in Manchester, no ground staff, therefore could not open the doors, then no bag handlers so another delay. I felt sorry for my young Grandchildren. It was an awful experience.

November 8th flew London Luton to Tenerife. Plane 2 hours 20 minutes late leaving, on our return flight we were on time. Apart from this no other problems, staff were all polite and friendly.

Delayed 10.5 hours on 1st November, 07.00 flight from Gatwick to Lanzarote. Ground staff gave what looked like a standard letter with standard excuse for 'operational' delay. Given two £5 refreshment vouchers (two passengers travelling) and provided a 'brunch'. Apologies were scant and neither ground crew or air crew acknowledged extent of delay and severe inconvenience caused. Posting on this site may alert others to the atrocious service offered by Monarch.

Flight back from Dalaman to Gatwick, after a 2 hour delay on 5th November, after supplying food to passengers either end of the plane we where told there was no food left for us and the remaining centre seats. Tempers flew and a man was given some fruit for his children. A while after going to the toilet at the rear of the plane I looked behind the curtain to find the cabin staff all eating. This is the 2nd time this year this has happened.