MONARCH AIRLINES   Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  5 February 2010 by Nigel Williams   (UK)

LGW to Taba. Flight departed on time. Usual sausage "breakfast" served at lunch. Return one toilet out of action, sausage dinner (does Monarch ever offer anything else?).

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  5 February 2010 by M Sewart   (UK)

Arrecife -Manchester. A combination of fierce crosswinds at ACE caused a 5h delay then cancellation- but we were kept informed and then transported to excellent hotel. Good meal, sleep, breakfast and transport back to the airport the following day for more disasters. The plane was boarded but there was a delay because of a missing passenger. This caused a late arrival to Manchester which then closed due to snow and a switch to Birmingham. After two hours, Manchester re-opened and made the short trip north. Excellent response to adversity, excellent communication.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  4 February 2010 by R Knott   (UK)

Regular flyer with Monarch from BHX and I can only comment on aircraft and crews that operate ex BHX, but I have always found their crews to be professional, courteous and provide excellent service. I am not an employee, my wife and I have been involved in the industry for many a year, both in the air and on the ground, and can be quite critical if need be, but Monarch has always been a joy to fly.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  3 February 2010 by M Elkin   (UK)

Manchester-Luxor. On time both ways. Food not served until all the sales were made. Breakfast on outward journey not bad. Sausage and mash on return awful. First time we have flown and had no crackers, cheese or bread. Leg room dictates opinion of flight. It was dreadful. Sitting in the middle of the central aisle I couldn't stretch my legs at all, and couldn't raise my arms to eat. Fortunately all three of us were of average size. On both legs of the journey by end of 5 - 6 hour journey only one toilet was in operation. The rest were blocked. Returning to Manchester, while I queued feeling very unwell, two stewardesses ignored me and stood gossiping and eating chocolates. The steward noticed my difficulties and made me an ice bag. He was efficient, they were surly and withdrawn. I asked for a blanket as the cabin was very cold. Was told I had to pay for it.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  2 February 2010 by John Harling   (UK)

Manchester - Mombassa. Delay at check in at noon for half an hour with long queues building up, while arrogant young man entertained himself playing with mobile phone and chatting to female colleague and refused to open up until instructed to do so by supervisor. Late departure, owing to weather. Very small snack and drink on first leg to Basle. Basle to Mombasa - food not served until long into the flight, by which time we were ravenous, and only two hours later, breakfast was being thrust at us, so there was no time to try and sleep. Return flight Premium Class - I was in middle seat front row and although there was reasonable knee room, one could not stretch legs out because of nearness of bulkhead. There was constant noise - crashing and banging of food carts in the galley, or constant chattering from the stewards, so it was impossible to rest and relax. Paying the extra premium rate for a quality flight was certainly not worth the extra.

MONARCH AIRLINES customer review :  23 January 2010 by T Porter   (UK)

We travelled to Orlando and booked premier seating because of my wife's disability. As elderly disabled persons could not fault their service.

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.