MONARCH AIRLINES   Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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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.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  5 December 2009 by M Hubbard   (UK)

We booked a package holiday to Crete and were a little dismayed to learn that we were to fly with Monarch. They lived up to our expectations - poor legroom, indifferent approach and did not try to reseat taller passengers in vacant better leg-room seats (the guy behind us was 6'3" tall and in obvious discomfort). Having flown long haul to the Maldives in the past with Monarch and despite having paid extra for better seats and meals, we experienced clumsy, surly staff who served up limp sandwiches for a return 9 hour flight meal and that's all! This airline needs to look at customer service a little closer - we don't expect 5 star service on an economy flight but even a half star would be appreciated.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  29 November 2009 by F Lycett   (UK)

I recently returned from Luxor to Gatwick on what should have been a direct flight but which landed at Venice to refuel and take on water and change the flight crew. Consequently we arrived at Gatwick almost 2 and a half hours later than we should and fortunately our taxi driver had waited for us to return us to Hampshire in the very early hours. Whilst we were travelling in a group half of us were divided between 2 planes and the one we should have originally travelled on did in fact go direct to Gatwick and was only two thirds full. It was disorganised chaos at Luxor airport with no-one knowing what was going on. No explanation was given as to why we were seated on the second plane which was much smaller when we could easily have been accommodated on the larger plane with the rest of our goup. Having complained to Monarch they have not responded. Needless to say we will not be travelling with Monarch again.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  23 November 2009 by Heather Blackhall   (UK)

Gatwick-Tenerife return with Monarch scheduled. Cabin crew professional and informative. Paid for extra legroom seats and got them. The only complaint would be about the quality of the food on the onboard menu which is very limited and not of great quality. The all day breakfast is £5 but there is not much of it! Sandwiches about £3.95 and the one I had was very inferior.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  21 November 2009 by D Orchard   (UK)

Gatwick - Fuerteventura return. Both flights on time, in fact both arrived a little early. Crew attentive and professional on both legs - no complaints. Extra legroom seats were ok but probably wouldn't bother again for a flight just under 4 hours. All in all good value for money.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  3 November 2009 by H Cole   (UK)

Gatwick-Larnaca return. Flight out was brilliant, had booked extra leg room because we always find ourselves cramped in planes. Great value for money. Way back awful. Picky women at Larnaca airport said we were 6kg over weight limit. Had to unpack suitcases and take it as hand luggage. Flight time changed (later when we got back we found out they had emailed us about this) by 2 hours. Left another hour late. Booked extra legroom on way back too. Never got it because plane we were on had 3x3x3, only had about 12 legroom seats, all taken. Did get refund. Maybe it was just our luck about being not extra legroom and delayed on way back.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  3 November 2009 by M West   (UK)

Gatwick-Sharm el Sheikh and back. The seats are not wide for all but the slimmest adult, and very hard seat backs, but found the legroom OK. Crew, service etc was fine. Did not pay for a meal but I don't think anyone did - everyone given the same small tray of food. Drinks, snacks, headphones etc very expensive. Comfort was a let down but no worse than expected.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  26 October 2009 by Barbara Heal   (UK)

Paid additional £100 for extra leg room. On outward flight only one of seats was classed extra leg room but was so narrow could not complete journey in it (am of moderate size) and had to move. Husband stayed but his seat had the bulkhead in the way which meant sitting was to one side! Return, did not get seats with extra leg room at all, in fact lot of folk complaining of same. Given card to submit for a reclaim. Over warm in middle cabin. Made for most uncomfortable journey.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  19 October 2009 by L Smyth   (Ireland)

Lanzarote - Dublin. Flight was scheduled to depart at 1640 hrs but didn't depart until approx 2315 hrs. We got 9 euro vouchers each which were sufficient as you could get a full meal and drink for this. No announcements made and they were not great at giving us information. We found out the information ourselves by ringing Servisair in Dublin Airport. We got a meal onboard the aircraft - not great but it was free because of our delay. Seats are very squashed together.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  8 October 2009 by J Nevill   (UK)

We went on a package holiday with Jewel in the Crown, flying with Monarch, and basically, have no complaints. Flight times were within a few minutes of schedule. The seats were a bit narrow, but no problem to us. The meal was admittedly mediocre, leg room was acceptable for a 4 hour flight - I certainly wouldn't be prepared to pay extra for more.