SATA Air Azores

✅ Verified Review | Ponta Delgada to Lisbon. We were part of a group traveling to the Azores for a scientific conference. We received a special conference discount from Azores Airlines, but several members of our group experienced very long delays or cancellation. So did I on my flight back to Lisbon where I missed my connection to Munich. Because of the discount, Azores Airlines insisted that I have to book the two legs (Munich-Lisbon, Lisbon-Azores) separately, which I did, because they said booking it as one trip was impossible. When I missed my connection in Lisbon because of their 75 minutes late take-off, they refused to help me in any way with finding a new connection or a hotel to spend the night. The stewardess simply said that she could not help me in any way. The person at the counter was VERY unfriendly and simply kept repeating "our contract has ended". I had to book a hotel in Lisbon and find a flight to Munich the next morning, all paid by me. In stark contrast, the people of Lufthansa helped me out very efficiently and offered an inexpensive flight that got me out of my predicament. The message was clear: We do not care about our customers! I will never fly this airline again. The plane seemed a bit old and not very clean, the food was poor in quality and taste. But that was the least of my concerns.

✅ Verified Review | Worst travel experience in 25 years of travel. Tried to fly Boston-Ponta Delgada-Lisbon on June 25th at 10:40pm with SATA. Check-in: three hour chaos, hundreds of people lining up to the other side of the airport. No explanation as to why it was taking so long. Flight delayed: 3 hours with no explanation. We waiting at the gate until 1am, no announcements about delay or apologies. Lots of families with young kids and elderly people who didn't speak English who were at a complete loss. Flight cancelled: they cancelled the flight at 1am and sent us to the check in counter. Chaos. No representative was there from the airline, only an airport employee who didn't have any information about rebooking. They sent us home (or to hotels) to wait for more information. Flight reschedule: eventually booked on TAP airline a day later. Zero communication - no email, no text notifying us of rebooking. I only found out I was rebooked because I was trying to get on a TAP flight. Missed all my reservations in Ponta Delgada. With additional taxi fees to and from the airport I lost over $200.

✅ Verified Review | SATA Air Azores is a disgusting excuse for an airline. Avoid at all cost, nevermind my flight from Boston to Ponta Delgada didn't leave in time but they didn't even have the seats available I paid for. I traveled with a 5 month old and paid for a bassinet, I arrive at the counter to be told the seats where given away because the plane was changed. They had no other options but to sit without a bassinet for a 4 hour flight. They are clueless, avoid at all costs!

✅ Verified Review | Appalling airline. Worst travel experience in over 50 years of international travel. Unfortunately, it is the only airline servicing stunning Azores. Five hour flight delay on the outbound from Boston to Ponta Delgada and two hour delay on the return. Plane sat on tarmac for an hour in Boston waiting for an open gate. Planes must be ones taken out of service by major carriers. Seats are from the 80's. No inflight entertainment, which isn't a deal breaker. Just bizarre that the seat backs have screens. One flight was chartered from a Portuguese airline, HiFly. Never a good sign. One positive was that the flight attendants were accommodating and professional. Food was atrocious. So very frustrating that the spectacularly beautiful Azores is served by this nightmare airline.

✅ Verified Review | Horrible experience for both legs of a round trip from Boston to Lisbon via Ponta Delgado with SATA Air Azores. A two hour layover became five hours, without any communication or information shared be the airline to its passengers. Warning - the cheap comes out expensive. Don't fly this airline.

✅ Verified Review | Flew this horrendous airline Toronto to Las Palmas via Ponta Delgada. Going; flight was 7 hours delayed from YYZ which meant connecting flight to LPA was missed, since this airline only flies every 2-3 days from PDL, meant we were stuck in PDL for 2 nights, 3 days. Airline offered hotel and food and we had the chance to see this lovely city, we missed 3 days of our Gran Canaria holiday which meant hotel and transfer costs were suffered. Collecting hotel voucher in PDL was a nightmare, no help or direction. On return leg, the sole A330 went 'tech' in PDL which meant a 12 hour delay while they chartered another A330 from Hi Fly, no direction or instruction was given to over 200 passengers stranded in this tiny airport, we all had to help each other to find out how to obtain new boarding passes, re-book connecting flights etc., absolutely no agents assisting anyone, no guidance, no direction, totally mis-managed and appalling. NOTE : Azores Airlines has only one A330, if this goes tech you are stranded, Ponta Delgada is not served or connected to North America by any other carrier, connect flights via SATA to other EU destinations don't run every day.

✅ Verified Review | We were delayed over 9 hours for our flight from Lisbon to Toronto and not once did they communicate with us as to why the flight was delayed or apologize for it. They would post a departure time and once the departure time had past, they would notify us of the following departure time. The flight time was delayed 5 times prior to us boarding. To begin with, because the flight was delayed from 15.25 to 17.00, the check in booths were moved without updating the boards. They postponed the flight from 15.25 to 19.00 to 21.00 to 21.30 to 22.30 to 23.30 and we flew at 00.00 hours. Not once did the team in the airport know why we were being delayed or how long it may last or what the next steps were. Meanwhile, they switched us to a smaller gate where there wasn't enough seating so most younger people sat on the floor. They offered us a voucher that worked in only one restaurant by the gates so there was a large lineup and shortage of food in the restaurant. They gave us new boarding passes only to tell us there was no need to line up for new boarding passes as there are no assigned seating arrangement on the flight, it was a free for all, first come first serve seating on the plane. Absolutely never flying SATA Air Azores again.

✅ Verified Review | My wife and I flew from Toronto to Ponta Delgada on Mar 22 2017 and the flight and service provided by SATA was nothing but excellent. The flight left on time, food was great. Boarding and retrieving baggage was without a hitch, can't say enough good about this airline. We took a SATA prop plane from Ponta Delgada on March 30 to Funchal, again smooth transitions on both ends. Great experience.

✅ Verified Review | Toronto to Gran Canaria via Ponta Delgada. Administration and ticket sales were a huge disappointment. I wanted to fly in business class, but since we had legs of our trip with no business class availability, their web system could not handle the request. There were only 4 seats left for our international legs on the day we were ready to buy (several months in advance of the trip), so I booked through a re-seller (SATA's Toronto office hours are not great on weekends). However, I first checked via email with the Portuguese office to ensure that I would be able to upgrade after purchase. Bought the economy seats for all flights (Toronto to Ponta Delgada to Gran Canaria via Madeira return with a short stop in PD). When I attempted to upgrade our international legs (Toronto to Ponta Delgada return) I was given a price about 50% higher than the business class premium should have been. Eventually one staff member told me that the upgrade now included a fee for changes. The only remedy they offered was for me to check on flight days to see if there were any upgrades available. Of course there were not. (In fact the only response I got in Toronto was a condescending smirk.) I tried contacting customer service and appealing to the logic of other representatives with no good result. I understand penalties for changing dates or downgrading seats, but they should really rethink policies that prevent a passenger from upgrading reasonably. I am unlikely to use the airline again because of this policy. As for the flights - they were on time, or within reason with no threat of missing connections. Flight attendants were pleasant. The food and drinks were not great, but always provided. No hot drinks on short flights; complimentary wine with meals only. There is no on-board entertainment or USB plug ins. There were monitors on the Toronto to Ponta Delgada return flights, but did not work. There was a credit card slot, so perhaps you could pay for service, but I did not see anyone attempt it. Economy seats were not bad for size and comfort. Our Toronto to Ponta Delgada flights were in row 22 just in front of the washroom. This was great for the night flight but not great when passengers are awake. Lots of crying children. (I have no idea how they have the energy to cry so much and so loudly and how their parents can stand listening to it without remedy.) Washrooms were abominable and smelled strongly of urine after about 3 hours into the flight. They did replenish toilet paper and hand towels immediately when made aware of the need.

&#✅ Verified Review | My husband and I recently traveled to the Azores and arrived home over a day later due to the flight delay of SATA Airlines. I would not recommend that anyone fly with this airline. If you travel with SATA Airlines expect very uncomfortable seats with little to no leg room, extremely limited selection of beverages, No international entertainment with limited Wifi connectability, lengthy flight delays, and No reimbursement for extra expenses caused by SATA. When my husband and I were traveling home from Ponta Delgada to Boston, the flight was delayed for 2 hours before we could even board the plane, so we arrived over 3 hours late into Boston and missed all of our connecting flights to Maryland. We both ending up missing a day of work, since we were placed on stand-by the following day and had to pay out of pocket for a hotel room in Boston that SATA Airlines refused to pay. After reading other reviews, I now see that this airline does not care about customer service and since they do not accept responsibility for their company's repeated flight delays and customer's out of pocket expenses caused by them, they will eventually go out of business or be bought out by another company. I do not recommend SATA Airlines to anyone.