Star Peru

My husband and I bought round trip tickets with Star Peru from Lima to Pucullpa two months before our trip. We got to Pucullpa okay, but upon our return flight, the airline claimed to have no record of our tickets and made us pay day-of prices for new tickets. This happened even after I showed them our receipt and proof of payment. I talked to the two employees they had at the airport, and both were very rude. We ended up paying twice for our return flight. The plane was in very bad shape as well. I will never fly with them again.

I flew with Star Peru from Tarapoto to Iquitos and from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado. The positive thing is that Star Peru is cheaper than LAN or Avianca and the small planes they have means that boarding and disembarking goes very quick. Booking a flight is in my opinion easier than the booking systems of LAN (more steps, finally did not work) or Avianca (also did not work at all) From Cusco to Puerto Maldonado we were sitting in the plane, when the pilot said that we can not go, because of bad weather in Puerto Maldonado. In Peru, this is a dangerous sentence, because If there is a technical problem or so, all airline will say, that the weather is bad, so they have not to pay any money/compensation to the passengers. But this time, it was true, also Avianca and Lan did not go to Puerto. Two hours later all airlines started, so four planes landed almost at the same time at the airport of Puerto Maldonado, which had only two stairs. Star Peru is a small airline, so if there is a delay like this, they cannot replace an aircraft to be on time on other routes of this aircraft. The negative thing is the airport of Cusco. On the screen are only flights mention who starts in the next hour. So if your flight is not on the screen, he is delay, but you don't know about the delay. If there is no flight of a airline from Cusco at this time meaning that there will be no airline-staff to ask about the delay. So you feel lost. I like Star Peru, but If you have a short time connection, choose the bigger airlines LAN or Avianca which seem to be less susceptible for delays.

We flew from Cusco to Lima. The seats were $120 each (one way), not especially cheap. Our flight was late getting in from Puerto Maldonado due to mechanical issues, so we were delayed. The flight after ours (also Cusco-Lima, scheduled for one hour later) was also delayed due to mechanical problems. The captain would not release the plane for the flight. We were ultimately delayed for almost 5 hours. Meanwhile, Star Peru had a flight on the same Cusco-Lima route leaving every hour, and all of those flights got to go while we waited and waited. People were missing their connecting flights, and no one would help us or give us any info. Apart from what seemed like pretty significant maintenance issues, the airline appeared to be badly short-staffed. Even though there was one flight every hour going to Lima, we only ever saw four Star Peru employees at the airport. Communication between these employees and the inflight staff was apparently also a problem because no one had any idea what was going on, as far as we could tell. They gave out no information unless we specifically asked for it. We were told the flight was delayed 15 minutes. Then another 15 minutes, then an hour, then another hour. It was really frustrating, and the staff seemed to have nothing to offer, not even sympathy. Anyway, we scheduled ourselves a last day in Lima to relax and have a bit of fun, but we got in so late because of the delays that it blew our last day of holiday.

An airline is best judged in critical situations. Having used StarPeru on a couple of previous occasions my group and me found ourselves trapped in Puerto Maldonado in November. Despite other airlines left on time StarPeru gave the explanation that the weather permitted the plane from departing while everyone could see technical staff trying to fix an engine. In Spanish and English it was announced that "news will appear in half an hour". The "half-an-hours" became one-and-a-half during that afternoon until the flight to Lima finally was cancelled and was planned for next morning at 6AM. Thereafter everything was chaos. No money for taxis and hotels were offered only that we could get our luggage. So we went having to pay everything ourselves - a very bad experience. The plane was airborne 6.15am next morning landed in Cusco and were delayed here caused by technical problems meaning further delay. Nothing was explained. We suspected that the plane left Puerto Maldonado with technical problems that could be fixed in Cusco. Anyway we landed safe in Lima where our ground agent got the money for accommodation and food out of the rather hesitating crew from this low-budget airline. Next time Avainaca or LAN.

CUX-LIM on 23rd Oct. Took off a few minutes late but arrived in LIM just about on time. Snack and drink served on this short flight. Ageing BAE 146 but looked as if it had just had a fresh paint job inside. Was booked on this as part of a tour so not sure on value for money but flight was uneventful so no reason not to recommend.

LIM-CUZ-LIM on a clean and tidy (despite being quite old) BAE 146. On time departures in both directions smiling crews inflight snacks and drinks what more could you ask for?

Last week we had the flight Cuzco-Lima at 8.30 but Star Peru' decided not to leave on time because of weather in the Lima (their security airport in Pisco was closed). The company chose to leave 2 hours later but instead taking just 1 hour 10 minutes (as announced by the hostess at the microphone) the plane arrived in Lima at 12.15 causing us loss of connection the flight Lima-Caracas (by LAN). Please don't buy tickets with them if you want to arrive on time!

Lima - Cuzco - Lima. Thought both flights were great. Both left on time and got in early. Boarding done in 5mins. The only annoying thing is you can't pay for the tickets online you have to do this at the counter in Lima and well they use their own exchange rate which is much more than the banks. So try paying in local currency. So it ended up costing more than we thought. FA lovely food was a small sandwich and biscuits.

Star Peru isn't a serious airline. We were a group of 13 people 12 of us bought our tickets from Lima to Cuzco in Lan Peru (which was good) but one of us had to buy his ticket here what a mistake!! Lima to Cuzco the flight left earlier but Star Peru never informed it to our friend so we had to fight with the Star Peru people at the counter to force them to get a ticket for him in other airline. The worst was our way back they just said the flight was cancelled and that's it - "I'm sorry" they said. NO money back nothing. Additionally they were very rude.

LIM-CJA-LIM economy class. Good service on time and snacks and drinks given in a short 1 hr flight. Not much legroom but for an hour it is ok.