Air Berlin

Flew from Los Angeles to Berlin and my only complaint is that the passenger behind me asked me not to put my seat back as she then would have no room. I obliged because the passenger in front of me also did not use his seat recline so that I could have a little room. Flight staff very hard working and I remarked to the purser that they did a very good job. The food was adequate plane was clean and fairly new and we arrived to our destination on time. I would fly Air Berlin again.

DUS-AUH. When we booked this flight on Opodo it was listed as an Etihad flight. As we have flown Etihad a number of times and were always satisfied we were looking forward to this experience. It wasn't until a later stage - after purchasing the flight - that this part of our trip (to Australia) was listed as "operated by Air Berlin". After having had a considerably bad experience with them on flight from DUS to MIA two years ago we weren't too excited about this but wanted to give Air Berlin another try on a long haul flight. Sadly things turned out to be even worse than expected: The plane was old didn't have an entertainment system installed and the leg room would have been OK on a trip to PMI from Germany but not for a 6+ hour trip. Ridiculous! The flight attendants were rather bossy the food awful and we were in doubt if the a/c was actually working. To us the "climate" in the cabin is an integral part of the success of a flight. There was hardly any oxygen which makes every flight an unpleasant experience. Altogether it was a very poor experience. This might have been state of the art back in the early nineties but we aren't talking about Ryanair here. Why has Etihad agreed to a codeshare with Air Berlin? It is just like booking a four star hotel but staying in a two star room.

Abu Dhabi to Berlin on a A330. First time flying with Air Berlin and a disappointing experience. First problem was the lack of leg room. I'm 181cm and my knees were hitting the seat in the front while when reclined I had trouble stretching out. The second negative was the in-flight service. I can't remember the last time I came across such a sour and unfriendly bunch. No smiles and total lack of effort and interest. Half the food I didn't even bother touching it was so unappealing. One positive was the IFE which was modern and had a fair amount of choice. Air Berlin might be fine for short-haul but I will certainly not be flying long-haul with them again.

The baggage drop off service on both Mon October 1st from Zurich (1 hr 10 mins) and the return flight on Thur October 4th at Berlin Tegel airport (1hr 25mins) is simply ridiculous. Why bother to check in on-line and then expect such a delay to drop off your bag. The staff counters were opened for 4 lines (incl business) at Zurich and 3 lines (incl business) at Tegel. I for one will never bother with Air Berlin again as I simply do not have this time to waste on such a pathetic level of customer service.

My wife and I flew (non-stop) San Francisco to Dusseldorf AB7393 Sept 5 2012. Everything from check-in to landing could not have been better! Everyone on the ground and in the air was friendly all smiles food and movies great leg room was good. The trip back on Sep 19 AB7392 was the same. I have flown in to Dusseldorf 2 other time on other airlines and Air Berlin will have my business from now on.

Flew Las Vegas to Dusseldorf and Dusseldorf to SFO. AirBerlin has chosen to cram as many seats as possible on the plane an Airbus A330-200 reducing the seat pitch in economy to 30 inches. To do this they removed all padding in the back of the seat and space for legs. Nearly the least comfortable seats I have ever been in and certainly the worst for an 11 hour flight. Lots of empty seats on the plane an indication of how attractive the airline is. The flight out of Las Vegas was 2 hours late in leaving; there is no online check-in for Germany-USA flights the counters do not open until 3 hours before the flight so you drag luggage around until they do open. The cabin was cold not merely cool. Otherwise the food was tolerable the drink cart did have free wine and Baileys the new - not on all flights - On-Demand entertainment system with seat back screens did have an OK selection of movies CDs TV programs; and the staff was efficient and polite. If AirBerlin in the future will get me a direct flight over a painful series of connections I would take them again - otherwise there is another German airline.

Palma-Hamburg Economy. The plane was a A330 which was fully booked. The boarding process was disorganized (no zone calls big queues) and as a result of the chaotic boarding we lost our departure slot and had to wait about 40 minutes for a new one. The inside of the plane was a little old the seats were moderately comfy but quite narrow. Air Berlin offers hot meals for a surcharge. The crew did take orders but forgot all passengers in my section. Since they were also not reacting to call buttons I got my meal about two hours into the flight and it had to be removed quite soon since the flight is only about 2.5 hrs long. Arrival delay was 40 minutes. Baggage delivery in Hamburg took over one hour. When I booked the flight Lufthansa was only about 30 Euros more expensive and I should have paid the difference.

I have been impressed with this airline before but they have seriously let me down. I had a booking Alicante to Lisbon via Palma de Majorca where I am picking up a cruise ship. I have just received an email from them alerting me to the fact that "due to urgent operational requirements a flight time change could not be avoided". Fortunately I looked closer and found that not only was there a time change but they were now flying me to Faro not Lisbon (no mention of this in the email). I then had to ring a premium number to query this. The person I spoke to did not seem to find it strange that people book a flight to Lisbon because that is where they want to go and that Faro some 300 miles away is no substitute. I have a cruise booked and an overnight hotel booked but now no flight. And to add insult to injury before ending the call I was asked if there was anything else she could help me with.

JFK-Berlin-Stockholm. The JFK-Berlin leg was in Business and the Berlin-Stockholm in Economy with no other option. I found the initial flight to be very good helped by a highly professional cabin crew plenty of room and good facilities even though the plane was older. The food and beverage were very good and generally this rates as high up on my scale of satisfaction. The seats are to be upgraded soon but were not bad if not entirely flat in bed mode. Berlin's newish Tegel Airport was something of an experience. The flight parked on the tarmac and in pouring rain once we were off the plane a people mover took us to the terminal for immigration and customs. Thankfully the process was fast and efficient although I had to race in order to ensure getting to the next gate for the flight to Stockholm. The next flight was however delayed without any explanation and ultimately proved to be less memorable. The plane was older and again required a walk in rain to board. Berlin Tegel is therefore an airport to be avoided in future. To Stockholm there was a limited service although staff had been trained well. I will watch and use them again.

FRA-TXL. Non-Stop on an Airbus 320-200. Check in line and security was fast and efficient. Gate was a short walking distance from security. After waiting at the gate for half an hour we were let into departures lounge. The lounge provided complementary magazines to all passengers. Since I do not speak or read German I was unable to read them. When boarding was finally announced everyone rushed to get onto the plane. After our boarding pass was checked we board a bus and were taken to the plane. Since the plane was about ¾ full everyone had a lot of space. Staff were great and helpful. Most spoke German English and a third language. Once in the air flight attendants provided us with a complementary non-alcoholic drink and snack. Landing was great and we arrived early in Berlin. As we were getting off the aircraft everyone was given a thank you chocolate. We again had to board a bus which was a short drive to the terminal. It did not take long for my bag to show up on the arrivals belt and for my vacation to begin. For the price I paid for the flight with taxes $108 CND/€87 they are a great deal. TXL is a dump so it will be nice when Brandenburg opens up.