SATA Air Azores

Our flight from Ponta Delgada to Boston on October 7th was 5.5 hours late after being told it would be 3 hours late. No information other than that was given. No one appeared at the check-in desk until right before departure time. There was no order in boarding. There was no message from the captain at take off (or at any other time during the flight) apologizing for the delay. The crew was surly and rude. The plane was old the movie "wobbled" at times and the headphones did not work. This airline is not doing the Azores tourism business any good. People will not travel to the Azores if they have to put up with this unprofessional behavior. As the flight was so late everyone on it missed their connections. Great work SATA!

My husband and I recently traveled to Portugal (Azores and Lisbon) on SATA airlines. I had read reviews prior to traveling and was a little concerned. They weren't good. But we had the opposite experience. Each flight we took with SATA was just wonderful. Found the check in process easy the planes fine and the staff both on the ground and in the air could not have been any nicer. I will definitely recommend SATA and will use them again.

Flew from Boston to Lisbon and back on SATA. Flight going over was an hour late but coming back we left right on time and even got into Boston early. Overall was not a bad experience. Food was pretty good and service was excellent. Free blankets pillows and wine on board which is not true for other airlines. Maybe we were just lucky but I was pleasantly surprised after reading all the negative comments here. Only negatives were that the cabin was very cold coming back but to me that's better than too hot. Also going up and down the stairs with luggage is tough for some people.

Perhaps we lucked out? We were a little hesitant to fly SATA originally after reading all the reviews but our flight from Toronto to Ponta Delgada was one of the best flying experiences we've had a long time. It was a red eye flight leaving Toronto at 9.55pm in the evening. I must admit at first we were a little worried when we were still waiting at the gates at 9.30pm with no sign of any ground crew. However no less than 5 minutes later the ground staff showed up and began boarding passengers very quickly and efficiently. By around 10pm we were all boarded and the flight left the gate. It was actually pretty amazing they managed to board everyone in 15 minutes and still left on-time unlike many of our Air Canada experiences. The flight arrived to Ponta Delgada as scheduled and during the flight we had two drink services a meal a snack and hot towel service. The flight is less than 6 hours so they actually packed in a lot of value for the duration of the flight (and especially considering how little of anything airlines offer these days). Sure they didn't have an in-seat movie selection but it was a red eye flight so we slept for the most part. The flight attendants were well-groomed and very professional. They were bilingual and were very friendly. We were very happy with our experience and would definitely fly SATA again.

August 8 flight from BOS to LIS. Flight left BOS 90 minutes late and no updates were provided while waiting. We fly business class on SATA however Business class service has go down in quality. In flight meals not as good as they were years ago. Fight was okay however planes could use some updating. LIS to BOS flight was fine less than a half-hour delay. Overall okay.

Recently returned from a one week vacation to Terceira Azores. Plane was supposed to depart out of Logan at 10.15pm as soon as I entered the airport I was greeted by a delay until 1.15am did not take off until 2am. No reason was ever given for the 4 hour delay (weather was perfect) however upon talking to other passengers I found out it was due to mechanical difficulties of the scheduled plane and a substitute plane had to be sent out. Adding insult to injury no attempt to give us food vouchers was made. The last hour before departure the SATA staff dragged out a few cases of warm soda bags of chips and cookies. On the return flight to Logan (#4231) I had requested a window seat instead what I got was a center seat. The overhead air vents were broken and the cabin temperature was very warm. I alerted the flight attendants twice about these conditions and their response was that we cannot repair the vents now as the plane was in flight. A movie was provided so I decided to plug in my earphones and check it out; the jack connection was flimsy and kept falling out all I would get is intermittent static. Both the outside and interior of this plane looked very used and in need of maintenance. To their credit we did arrive on time.

Flew Oakland-Terceira on Aug 5 2014 flight 236. Well aware of the cramped space in economy class I paid over 2K for an executive seat extra leg room and supposed extra comfort on an 11 hour flight. Instead this is what a two thousand dollar "Executive Class”service you get from Oakland to Terceira: 1) The flight had a departure of Aug 4th but it was delayed 27 hours one vacation day lost! 2) My executive seat was not functioning! From Oakland to Toronto (approx. 5.5 hours) I was unable to recline my seat! 3) In Toronto they made minimal effort to repair the seat but to no avail. I did discover how to manually make my seat recline however the foot rest never fully opened up. 4) The meal from Oakland to Toronto was substandard at best however it was much better than the cold sandwich served us from Toronto to Terceira (approx. 5.5 hour flight). 5) In“Executive”we are supposed to have “ priority” luggage which supposedly means our luggage is to be unloaded first -…mine was unloaded 1.5 hours after landing. I was the last person to leave baggage claim in Terceira! Despite SATA touting preferred service for their SATA Plus customers those flying out of Oakland have very little preferred service! If this is the best SATA can do in their Executive class they have no right to charge 3x more for these seats! For the same money I could’have bought 3 seats in economy class had the same service and the same comfort as what I got in Executive.” The only positive aspect to my flight over was that I arrived safely.

I flew Gatwick - Ponta Delgada in June 2014. There was a delay in departing but nothing excessive. However the in-flight service was poor painfully slow in fact and to add to this irritation the fact that the food was disgusting. My payment was accepted for an alcoholic drink however no change given. It is their policy to reimburse passengers after they have finished the final clear up but unfortunately we were not told this and I had the embarrassment of having to request my change from E10 as I eventually concluded it must have been an oversight. Rather expensive flights especially internally. However there is no option as I understand that they have an agreed fare tariff with TAP! It seems that pets are not allowed to travel from the UK. Upon enquiry I was told that this was UK Government legislation. Having contacted DEFRA regarding this they claim it is down to the airline. Tried customer service for assistance but no response. However they have been helpful on other occasions.

On a recent flight to Terceira from Logan plane 4 hours late for departure. No explanation was ever given for delay warm soda and bags of chips were provided at the last minute for the weary hungry passengers. On return trip from Terceira I requested a window seat but was disappointed to find that I was given a center seat instead. Cabin was extremely warm seats were crowded overhead air vents were not working earplug jacks were non- functional. Flight attendants were grumpy. Upon touchdown at Logan everyone erupted into an applause must have been because they actually arrived on time for a change. Why is this the only airline allowed into the Azores? They need competition to bring down the prices and improve the service.

S4222 7/5-7/6 and S4201 7/16. Beware when flying low budget airlines overseas. On the plus side SATA did safely deliver us relatively on time to our destinations both flights. The vintage circa 1983 Airbus 310 added some adventure. Unfortunately it also added a lot of discomfort. The plane was extremely cramped and hot with bad seats no inflight entertainment systems and perhaps the worst food in an industry known for bad food. What was most impressive was the absolute disdain by which SATA staff treated the passengers. I'm pretty convinced they learned to be this way through training as there's no way so many staff in two separate cities and on one of the two flights could all be this way. The bathroom lacked toilet paper drink carts brimming with trash and for at least two hours on the Lisbon-Boston flight the attendants were nowhere to be seen. I loved Portugal but next time will stick to TAP to get there!