Monarch Airlines

✅ Verified Review | Flew Monarch Airlines from Manchester to Porto. Pleasantly surprised. Booked an extra legroom seat outbound and was pleasantly surprised by the legroom. Inbound however was a standard seat and was tight to say the least (5'10" tall). I would certainly opt for extra legroom on future bookings. Service although buy on board was courteous and efficient and the food quality was actually fine. It puts the budget airline British Airways to shame. Being able to pay cash was a bonus. Outbound was running around an hour late and I received an email from Monarch whilst in the airport to say rescheduled which was a nice touch. Inbound was just as efficient and arrival in Manchester was on time. Overall I would book again providing the flight schedules are suitable.

✅ Verified Review | Birmingham to Fuerteventura. Flight was delayed for nearly 4 hours, we were boarded onto an aircraft that had flown in with a known fault so we sat in our seats with technicians running around for 1.5 hours, we were then disembarked given a £5 voucher and sent back to departures. Another aircraft was flown in and we finally departed at about 18.00 hours - original departure time should have been 14.15, arrived at destination airport 22.00 getting to hotel at 23.00. I had spent nearly an hour on the phone at Birmingham ringing the transfer company and hotel with updates as departure times kept changing,. We paid for priority boarding, that didn't happen on boarding either planes (when I queried this one of the cabin crew I was told not to ask), we expected to arrive mid evening, relax have a nice meal and start our holiday, instead we arrived absolutely shattered and went straight to bed. There was a lack of information, we were herded around like cattle, we should never have been boarded onto an aircraft with a known fault.

❎ Unverified | My wife and I flew to Majorca on 10/5/17. Everything was fine as far as the flight was concerned, on time, very courteous and professional cabin crew. My main gripe is the lack of legroom between the seats. I am six feet tall and weigh just over 19 stone. I could not fold the food and drinks tray fully down and had to put my coffee on my wife's tray. My knees were pressed up against the back of the seat in front. I didn't see why I should have to pay for extra leg room, I have flown several times with other airlines and have never had problems in that respect. On arrival at Palma there was no Rep to greet us and show which bus to get to our hotel. Eventually we got a Jet2 rep to show us where the Monarch desk was to find out the number of our bus. At no time did any correspondence from Monarch (or indeed Thomas Cook, our original booking agents, who placed us with Monarch) give any instructions about procedure upon arrival at the airport. I feel that this is an area that needs attention, I feel that Thomas Cook took our holiday booking, placed us with Monarch, and then washed their hands of us and took no further part in our holiday, the same applies to Monarch.

✅ Verified Review | Faro to Gatwick. I regularly use Monarch Airline for short trips and family holidays.i have always been satisfied with the Customer Service and inflight staff. I have recommended Monarch to family and friends who tend to book through this airline. 2 weeks ago I travelled to (Portugal) Faro airport from London Gatwick. I was due to stay for a few month and book my return thereafter. However due to an immediate exceptional change in circumstances I had to book an earlier flight back o the UK. I didn't need to take my luggage with me just a small piece of hand luggage. I booked on line and accidentally clicked the 23k check in luggage. I rang Monarch to explain, however the customer services adviser was quite dismissive as well as abrupt she advised me Monarch can add extra baggage but if something has been done in error or there are exceptional circumstances they cannot refund or change. I emailed Monarch and received an email reply from customer services reiterating the information i had been given over the phone, 'sorry' for the staff member i spoke to and added it will be looked into. No further comments were made except I apologise for any inconvenience caused. I emailed again and explained that I was not satisfied with the response. I explained that I will be returning to Portugal in 2 weeks and would like to book with Monarch again as I always do and in addition to this I have 5 of my family members travelling a few weeks after who would also like to book with Monarch. I received a reply 5 days later advising me that Monarch is a non refundable airline this applies to all fare and extras you wish to add regardless of exceptional circumstances. There was no mention or the fact that they will lose the custom of 6 regular members of my family (including me) who have been loyal customers over a number of years to Monarch. Monarch can take your money additional baggage allowances etc after checking in but due to exceptional circumstances they cannot make a simple decision to keep loyal customers. They said I should have read the terms and conditions prior to booking however under such circumstances you don"t. I do think at times common sense must prevail - however if your making as much money as Monarch do why would the loss of 5 regular customers matter. I will never use this airline again.

✅ Verified Review | I haven't flown with Monarch for a number of years as I don't tend to travel on package holidays, however, on a recent trip to Rome the airline offered a return ticket price which was substantially cheaper than any competetors which scheduled flight times which were perfect for a short city break (early morning outbound, late evening inbound). The booking process was painless. Their website is easy to navigate and displays fully what you are getting for your fare at every opportunity. After initial booking I opted to download the Monarch app to try and stick to my mantra of being a 21st century traveller (eTix, mobile boarding pass etc). I was slightly disappointed that the app encouraged you to check in early and then made it appear that you could not proceed with booking until you had purchased a seat as I feel that this could mislead many families, particularly those that aren't very tech savvy, however, I understand that this is how low cost airlines operate and therefore I'll put that issue to bed. On arrival at BHX I was disappointed at how the check in desks were organised and operated. My wife had 1x item of hold luggage that she had declared at online check in, however, we still had to wait in the mammoth 6am queue with those that had not yet checked in something that I feel could easily be rectified with a bag drop only desk or 2. Following check in we proceeded through security to airside departures. One thing I was quite surprised by was how early the airline called 'Last Call'. We were directed to the boarding area some 50 minutes before departure and then had to wait in said area or in our allocated seat. What added further insult was the delay we then experienced. With no direction from the cabin crew or flight deck we experienced a 20 minute doors closed delay. Alas, we eventually got on our way and despite everything else I have said in this review so far the flight was actually very pleasant. Leg room is at a premium - something I am not particularly bothered by as this is what you expect with low cost short haul. The seats were comfortable with sufficient recline, the pitch of the recline was such that it didn't chop the knees of the passenger behind which is commendable. Following departure the flight deck crew were informative and managed to recoup some of the time we lost on departure. The cabin crew were pleasant and friendly. They did 1x drinks/food service and 1x duty free service which is more than sufficient for 2 hours. The inflight menu was quite pricey, I only had a non premium gin and tonic, however this still came to 8€, expensive compared to land prices! The meal deal, however, offers good value for money and shouldn't be frowned at. Overall the journey was smooth with a perfectly executed landing. Although the A321 we flew on was ageing (c2007) you still had more comfort and opportunity for a nap than most other low cost airlines I have travelled with. Without the ground issues this would have been a good journey overall.

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to Tenerife South. This was my 2nd Budget Airline Flight in the last 2 months, the other being EasyJet, of the 2 Monarch was the one I was dreading the most. The check in was quick and efficient, a new plane or recently refurbished, more space than I imagined, both seat width and leg room. Cabin attendants professional and very efficient. Down sides -seat cushions a bit hard for a 4hrs+ flight, and on board food and drink very expensive. They float on the time efficiency but the plane could of departed a bit earlier as everyone was on board, but then got stuck in a long wait for take off, 30 mins. I will in future give Monarch a look in when booking a cheap flight. Let's hope they keep up the good work.

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to Tenerife. From booking to the flight attendants and private taxi transfer was faultless. The staff are courteous and professional. The plane was spotless and whilst we were a little delayed leaving Gatwick the staff kept us fully informed at every step. Even the checking in desks at both ends of the journey are customer friendly.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Monarch Airlines from Las Palmas to London Gatwick. Very good service received following an incident requiring our flight to be unavoidably delayed. Monach staff were helpful and professional. We were accommodated overnight in excellent hotels which was no small task with over 200 passengers. We would not hesitate to fly with Monarch again thanks.

✅ Verified Review | Booked to fly Monarch Airlines from Tenerife to London. This is the worst customer service you can ever imagine. I tried to check in online 24 hours before because I wanted to sit next to my 4 year old daughter and there is no option to check in online if you have booked with anybody else. I had to wait 20 minutes on the phone to hear somebody try to flog me things I dont want. I eventually spoke to somebody who said they would only do it for 22 Euros. I asked if they would put my 4 year old alone in the cabin if they refused and they said yes!

✅ Verified Review | Luton to Rome-Fiumicino. This is my first experience of flying so prepare for potential ignorance. We arrived extremely early to London Luton to ensure no delays in our flight to Rome. A departure gate was given about an hour before the flight was due to depart which was when we first encountered the staff for Monarch. We had chosen to travel carry on only and had checked in digitally. At present, Monarch does not provide the function to use an electronic boarding pass on your phone so we had to use printed boarding passes. The staff at the gate were pleasant enough, if a little distant. It was apparent they had strict time deadlines and so politeness was kept to a minimum. We spent about 20 minutes waiting in a stairwell for us to be able to board the aircraft; Luton doesn't have the facilities of the larger airports and so boarding was done via stairs fore and aft. The plane in question is an A321-100 which was fully booked. Though clean and tidy, it had the appearance inside of being a little bit "old" but then I have no real experience elsewhere. I am fully appreciative it's a budget airline as well. Boarding took an age as the flight was jampacked but we still managed to leave roughly on time. The cabin staff were all friendly enough. The captain gave us a thorough commentary of the flight which is a nice touch. After take off, the refreshments run was made. Prices are steep but I expect nothing less on an airline; sadly, no refreshment provided with booking due to the short flight. Still, food was presentable and reasonably tasty with both warm and cold options. Monarch did have a "shopping round" with some duty free goods available on the plane but unsurprisingly no one partook. We arrived in Rome very slightly ahead of schedule and disembarked quickly. In all, the staff remained courteous and professional throughout. No one took issue with my hold luggage which I was expecting and the flight was conducted smoothly and without incident.