TAROM ROMANIAN AIRLINES review :  28 May 2009 : by C Read

Customer Rating : 2/5

The meal from Bucharest to London was the worst on any airline we have travelled. There was a similar standard meal outward bound. A Mars bar for breakfast on the domestic flight. A piece of fish (1.5 x1.5 x1.0 inches) with a smear of a red sauce and cold penne. A stale roll with a pat of butter and a strange pink mousse. No wine offered or beer. The only juices available were orange and tomato. Not good on a 3.5 hour flight. The plane was clean and punctual, but you are an international schedule airline not a not a cheapo!

TAROM ROMANIAN AIRLINES review :  15 October 2008 : by Gene Attwood

Customer Rating : 3/5

OTP-CDG Business Class. I flew them for a second time on this route in C class and I can't really complain. FA's nice but not there when you needed them. There was a choice of meals between fish and beef. The downfall is a very small choice of drinks and only one red and one white wines. No menu either. The best thing are the business class seats. Very wide and comfy.

TAROM ROMANIAN AIRLINES review :  22 September 2008 : by M Sanchez

Customer Rating : 3/5

MAD-OTP economy class. Plane was quite old with worn seats, though clean. On check-in I asked for an emergency exit seat - surprisingly on board I found out that I didn't have the emergency exit. IFE restricted to air-show. FA's efficient. Food of average quality.

Tarom review by Emiliano Morchi

11 August 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Romanian domestic flight OTP-Tirgu Mures. The fare was correct but they don't issue e-tickets so we collected are paper ones at OTP: anyway the domestic ticket office is opened from 8am to 12 and from 1500 to 1900, so we waited long time before it opened. ATR-42 was old but clean and we were served some sandwiches and coffee for free. We had to do a scheduled stopover in Sibiu: an airport employee entered the plane and asked who had to get off, then a dozen people left the plane and collected their own baggage straight from the luggage van! Then we took off again and when we arrived in Tirgu Mures and landing was very scaring. On the TGM-OTP the flight almost like the previous one with the difference that one of the 2 FAs was clearly drunk. The TGM airport, moreover, is not very modern and the airport workers took our luggage in the departure hall and loaded it on the plane manually. Fortunately the flights were very short and we didn't suffer too much for the small legroom

Tarom review by Davide Greco

17 May 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

My first time with Tarom: OTP-SOF route and a positive experience. Flight operated by ATR42-500, very small plane but comfortable for such a short hop. A snack was after 20 minutes from departure. My final rate is 3 stars.

Tarom review by James Duckworth

23 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Tarom use A310's for their London route but on both trips less than half full. Interior of the planes are worn but leg room generous and light loads make for comfortable travel. Inflight service perfectly acceptable. Planes parked at remote stands on both trips requiring a bus to the terminal at OTP but immigration quickly cleared and baggage very quick. Tarom fly one return trip daily and are a very acceptable option.

Tarom review by Victor Neagu

12 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

London-Bucharest Economy Class. Quick check-in. Boarding on-time with only about 40-45% passenger load on a Saturday morning. The plane was a deconserved Airbus 310-300, quite old but in relatively good condition. The hot meal was a choice of lamb and salmon - free wine and beer made the experience even better. Some music and video clips shown on the main TV screens soon after take-off. Flight attendants should learn to smile more to passengers.

Tarom review by Rob Weeks

26 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London-Bucharest return. Reasonable food and free bar - quite modern aircraft. Prior to the flight was a little concerned about not being able to get on the BA flight - but fears were unjustified. Would use again.

Tarom review by John Apsey

20 April 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Bucharest to Sofia . This route is flown by a small AT5 plane. It carries 50 passengers and (I was told) can take only 500kilos of luggage. So if you have a full plane this pans out at 10kg each. This was the case on 14 March when a number of us arrived in Sofia to find that our bags had been left behind. At a guess it was the heaviest bags that were left. So if you are taking this flight watch out.

Tarom review by Cristian Radaneata

20 November 2006

I have flown them a few times and service seems to have improved quite a bit over the last 5 years. Never a full flight on the CDG-BUH-CDG route, so finding a decent seat to stretch out is never an issue. I am not sure if anybody else has experienced this, but half way through the flight, after the meal service, the FAs have the tendency to congregate in the back galley and smoke.

Tarom review by Robin Brunold

17 October 2006

OTP-MUC. My seat slid back even without me pressing the button, the earphones didnt work and the duty free computer was broken. Thank god the essential parts of the plane worked.

Tarom review by Victor Neagu

30 September 2006

Chisinau-Bucharest. ATR 42-500 with leather seats. The flight was only 50 minutes so obviously didn't expect a full service but was surprised to get a tasty early morning sandwich and a good selection of drinks. Crew were friendly and did their job in a professional manner. Would certainly fly TAROM again who is the best option on the direct Chisinau- Bucharest-Chisinau segment.

Tarom review by Tomi Virtanen

22 September 2006

VIE-OTP in economy on a rather empty Friday morning flight. It was my first flight with Tarom and I have to say I was positively surprised. I got an exit seat with very generous leg room. The aircraft was B737-300, not the newest I've flown with, but clean and well taken care of. The inflight service was magnificent taken the actual flight time was only 1 h 20 min. A tasty hot meal and free drinks were served. The cabin crew was professional and polite, especially the purser who smiled throughout the flight.

Tarom review by Will Burnett

6 September 2006

Bucharest to Heathrow. Only previous flight on this route was using BA and using Gatwick. All in all pretty much the same. Tarom was cheaper by about 20GBP. It is also the later flight. The onboard staff were as friendly as they needed to be and food was pretty good: beef stew with runner beans and carrots. Wasn't feeling too well so stuck to water but there was plenty of beer and wine going around as well as tea and coffee. Downsides are that they haven't developed the e-ticket yet; or at least hadn't when I booked. So I did have to queue to pick up my actual ticket before checking in at Otopeni.

Tarom review by Ranjit Pradhan

12 June 2006

London Heathrow - Bucharest in Economy. Generally a good flight and decent service for a 3 hour trip. The plane was a 737 and a bit tired as others have mentioned on this forum. My seat cushion was worn out and seriously sloping to one side. But on the flip side the place was only about 70% full so we all had some empty space about us. Food was excellent and served in generous quantities. A quick drink service preceded the meal and we had a choice of wine or beer -- both free. A welcome relief indeed from the stinginess of US airlines. On the whole not much to complain about. FA's were not the most chatty and proceeded with their work with a quiet efficiency. It would have been nice if they walked the aisles offering drink refills or at least water. I had to walk to the galley and ask for it myself. All in all a satisfactory flight and good food . Room for improvement on the aircraft and service.

Tarom review by Peter Heath

12 January 2006

I have flown frequently Heathrow-Bucharest-Heathrow and had generally good experiences. FA's very pleasant, food good. Always on schedule. Only drawback planes, 737's always, seemed old and tired. Not good in today's flight market amid safety fears. It's a shame low cost carriers don't fly to Romania because it would open the country up to all, it's a beautiful place.

Tarom review by Rob Wallace

24 April 2005

If you fly business you only pay a little more than BA economy and get genuine 2+2 seating - service is uniformly excellent up front . BA Business is highly variable - I've had really excellent flights and some real 1980's style shockers.

Tarom - by Richard Stokes

21 April 2005

Flew Tarom to Bucharest then internal flight to Cluj, found the staff very pleasant, the food was very good and plenty. Will certainly use this airline again. Excellent leg room for a change, not cramped like sardines. Plane was a 737.

Tarom review by Dave Stanley

21 January 2005

London to Bucharest and back. The aircraft were 737's. Both fairly old but clean. We left Heathrow on time, which I think is the first time I have ever done that. Inflight, the food was pretty reasonable and the leg room very good. I had no problem with the FA's unlike others below. On the way back, we were delayed by 30 minutes, most of which they made up on the flight. The only negative points to the whole experience was London Heathrow, I wish they flew from Gatwick! One other thing, watch the excess baggage, at London it is charged at £10.50 per kilo. It is about half that at Bucharest.

Tarom review by Laura Burger

21 September 2004

Flying Tarom is always an adventure. More often than I like to admit, the in-flight service is absolutely dreadful. Am not trying to offend anybody, but the older FA are really rude, doing their manicures in the back of the plane rather than attending to the passengers' needs. They look bored, fed up and - too old to be doing this. The young FA's though are very polite, have a good command of English language and can make the flight a very pleasant experience. Too bad there are only a few of them around. So, for instance, when you pay over $600 for a BUC-DXB-BUC flight, with no onboard entertainment, you can at least have a nice, polite service from a friendly face, not a wrinkled face and a dodgy voice telling you" Peanuts are served only in business class". And, whilst Romanians take so much pride in their hospitality, I have to tell you, flying Tarom is not always the best impression that foreigners get. Thank God Romania is an amazing country, with beautiful, kind people, and stunning places

Tarom review by Cristina Augood

22 June 2003

How do you get the London Tarom office to answer their phones? Do they really not want you on their planes? Appalling customer service.

Editor: Their LON office is worse than useless, and you may do yourself a favour by choosing another airline.

Tarom review  by Claudiu Badea

14 May 2003

JFK - OTP - JFK. Plus side - best airline food I've had. Plane was A310(?), with 2-4-2 seating in economy. Average personal space. Free drinks. Direct flight Bucharest to New York was not tiring at all. Minus side - inflight entertainment is limited. On JFK-OTP leg, FA attentiveness and politeness needed improvements. Also, the cabin lights were never dimmed during the overnight flight and children ran rampant in the aisles - making it very difficult to sleep.