Monarch Airlines Passenger Reviews and Monarch Airlines Customer Trip Reports

We have flown with Monarch twice this year - once to Lanzarote and once to Palma. On both occasions the queues to check in have been ridiculous, so much so that we had to go straight to the gate to board our flights. No time for drinks, despite having had no breakfast, no time to shop, despite wanting to buy some sunglasses. We queued for 1 and a half hours. Just ridiculous. Will avoid Monarch flights were I can next time.

We used Monarch Airlines for our return flight from Alicante to Birmingham. While we were away we were advised that the airline carrier had changed but no mention of the airline they were using. When we boarded the plane and settled down I looked around the plane and panic started to set in! The plane resembled something I flew to the Costas in the 80's! The seats were ripped, there was graffiti scratched into the window sills, rubbish in the pockets and the plane just looked scruffy. There was a garbled message from a Monarch rep announcing that they were using Aurela Airlines, a Lithuanian airline. I will never use Monarch again, this airline they are using is shabby, the planes are ancient and am disgusted that I have paid for a Monarch flight and ended up on this poor excuse of an airplane. If you are thinking of using Monarch my advice would be pay a bit extra and fly with decent airline!

What a nightmare, I will never fly Monarch again! Sat 15th Sep arrived at Dalaman airport at 1pm for a flight to Gatwick at 15.10. At the check in desk we were handed a letter saying sorry for the delay from Dalaman today but the aircraft due to operate your flight has a technical problem and will require engineering work. That was it, no information whatsoever about what time we would actually fly. I spent £6 on a phone call to Monarch in the UK who told me it would be an 8 hour delay! Our flight finally left at 11.20pm (8 hour 10 mins delay) and we then sat in old unbelievably cramped seats for 90 mins before we were offered a drink which we had to pay for.

LTN-GIB-LTN. Outward flight check-in on time and fast. Due to take off at 07.30 - did so promptly. Arrived at GIB but the cloud was very low and the wind was strong. Pilot did a go-around, brought us in low and we landed on time. On the way back however, there was a delay as wind had diverted the plane to Malaga and it had to wait to take off for GIN. Did fast turn-around (one hour). However, we had to wait another 40 mins on the runway as the check-in staff at GIB had allowed 2 passengers to bring large suitcases into the cabin. These wouldn't fit and impeded the lockers from closing, so they had to be put in the hold - no charge for this, we all noticed. Due to this, we lost our take-off slot and had to wait. Captain, crew and all passengers very annoyed at these stroppy passengers. Arrived at Luton an hour and a half late. However, cabin was clean, cabin crew pleasant in spite of having to deal with passengers who refused to obey the rules of switching off phones, ipods, etc. Apart from the lateness, would fly Monarch again, which will be our 3rd time.

Flew to Malaga 7th Sep delayed which was no fault of airline. Onboard, found the staff to be miserable, coming back on 14th Sep on Lithuania plane, staff very nice but plane old and my husband had to sit with his legs in aisle as he had no leg room.

Flew BHX to NCE on 6th September. I was advised a couple of days in advance that "it has become necessary for us to temporarily use another carefully chosen airline to operate your flight." We were a little concerned but were completely unprepared for the experience of boarding the Boeing 737 LY SKA of Aurela Airlines of Lithuania. This plane is almost 25 years old and has not aged well! The interior is scruffy and dirty. My shoe stuck to carpet on some discarded gum The extra leg room seats we had pre-booked and prepaid didn't exist. The cabin was hot and stuffy. The return journey was on the same plane so same issues. I have used Monarch in the past, mainly to get extra legroom, but will not use time again until they drop their use of 3rd level carriers with ancient, scruffy aircraft with crew who can hardly speak English.

The customer service of Monarch is very poor. I have flown with then several times from Luton to Gibraltar and on two of these time the plane was diverted to Malaga and on both times none of the staff seemed to care and the limited information passed to the passengers differed from staff member to staff member. On the second occasion was just dumped in Malaga and never saw another Monarch representative once off the plane. Wrote and complaint to Monarch, not heard anything back from them.

The service we received by the ground staff at Larnaca was deplorable. All we were offered was a 7 Euro voucher for refreshments, you cannot even buy a sandwich and a hot drink for that amount in Larnaca airport. Once we had passed through departures we never saw or heard anything from LGS Handling, we were not offered any meals, phone calls, or accommodation as we were entitled to. The night was spent trying to get some sleep on the floor in the departure hall. On check in we were told the new departure time would be 0600 local time which was then put back to 0645 when the outbound flight departed Manchester at 2315 BST. On boarding the plane at 0715 we then had to sit and wait 1.5 hours while a decision was made as to whether we flew to Manchester or Birmingham due to fog at Manchester. During this time we were offered no refreshments. I recently flew Ryanair and was offered refreshments when the flight was delayed after boarding due to the weather. We then flew to Birmingham and then had to sit on the plane for an hour while a new crew arrived to take the plane from Birmingham to Manchester as the crew were now out of flying hours to go any further. During the flight no complimentary drinks or meals where offered which I think under the circumstances was the least that could have been done.

Sitting at Manchester Airport awaiting flight to Tenerife. Should have left at 7.55 am today flight delayed and they are now promising it may leave at 22.35 pm tonight. They first said 16.30 pm this afternoon but then changed it. Communication from staff has been inaccurate and they have made very few announcements. I only found out the 16.30 flight was not happening because I passed the information desk and heard rowing between passengers and staff. What a disgraceful situation and the staff are unsympathetic and don't seem to know what's happening. They are now trying to send us to a hotel for food just to get us out of the airport. There are over 300 people on this flight! By the way, we had actually boarded this morning and had to vacate the plane after sitting on the runway for 1 hour plus. Unprofessional and uncaring to customers.

BHX-PMI. The same flight every year, the early 06.15, 20 mins late due to ATC problems. Back on same plane, 2 mins late push back, BHX 10 mins early. We always take cabin only luggage and preprint boarding cards. We do not have to endure the awful check in at Palma, Like Ryanair and easyjet, just treat it like a cheap bus and stick to the rules.

Travelling on 8 September. Found out on arrival at Palma for 9.30pm flight to Manchester, it was delayed 7 hours. The only notification was at check in that said operational problems, the check in computer was down so trying to find out anything was impossible. We were directed to Iberia and given vouchers. Once we got on the plane the captain informed us our flight had been redirected to Edinburgh.

Booked on a scheduled flight from Malpensa (Milan) to Gatwick on 6/9/12 departing 19.55' arriving 20.30. At check-in gate only 2 ground staff, and handed typed letter stating Monarch were experiencing technical problems within the fleet and that we would now travel at 02.30 next day on an Airbus A321 when it returns from a previous flight. Ground staff didn't say anything other than to hand out individual meal vouchers. These vouchers turned out to provide a dried out main meal plus a water or coke. No hot drink or dessert allowed. Between booking in at 5pm and getting on aircraft next morning at 2am no information given by Monarch. When we got on the plane a further delay was experienced because apparently 3 passengers had gone missing. 15 minutes later after no-one else had got on but more likely the probable realisation that their staff cannot count, we took off. It was only when the pilot gave a bleak apology for the delay, apparently because our original plane going through a sandstorm coming back from Algeria. The cabin crew then had the cheek to come round and charge for coffee or tea. The whole experience was compounded when chief stewardess came on the tannoy hoping we had enjoyed our flight with Monarch and made no reference or apology for the inconsiderable delay we had experienced. It' s all very well hiding behind "passenger safety" as their primary concern but doesn't customer service appear in the top 100 list of objectives. Monarch meal voucher value and audacity to then charge for hot beverages on flight reflects sub-standard service and a company chasing money. You certainly will not see any of our money ever again.

The planes are old and unbelievably cramped. I ordered and paid for food but on both legs but none came. On the way out I could fortunately provide evidence. The staff member looked at me sarcastically all ready to show me what an idiot I was. When she could see I had booked she said oh, she hoped she had some food left! I did eventually get food but had to then ask for a drink. We were left with the rubbish for ages as by now they were on a break. At no point did anyone apologise. The head stewardess said she would sort for our return leg but had identical problems. This time one of them tried to convince me that 'food purchased' on my invoice meant I hadn't paid for food. Poor service.