Air Europa

You get what you pay for (and sometimes you don't) - they were cheapest across the Atlantic but the seatback video choice was poor and some machines for our party didn't work. But they were the cheapest. When you don't get what you pay for: we booked an Air Europa flight not knowing it was a codeshare flight with Spanair. Spanair went bust on 27 January. We got an email over 4 months later telling us our flight had been cancelled. Unimpressive? I think so.

London to Miami via Madrid. Long haul leg was awful the plane tatty and the service slow and snappy. An old aircraft with poor entertainment. There did not appear to be enough cabin staff to service the plane size. On our return the airline stranded us in Madrid due to a pilot strike. What was significant here is that it was a weekly regular dispute that the airline knew about but let passengers book and fly then knowingly allow them to become stranded. Worst of all they had made no attempt in Madrid to put staff on to assist inbound customers in Madrid airport. Young families were in floods of tears with Air Europa staff hiding away to avoid facing them. Even if this had not happened to us I would still avoid this airline - the worst I have flown with. Avoid at all cost.

I read these reviews before I flew and thought that they must be one offs but that was until I experienced an Air Europa flight. Recently flew indirectly to Havana via Madrid. Going out we had a 45minute delay which was nothing compared to what we experienced on the way back. The plane was as expected - not much legroom but comfortable enough for the price paid. Flying back was a disaster - flight from Havana to Madrid was delayed by 6 hours meaning we missed our connecting flight to London. The worst part was not knowing what was going on. Air Europa were unapologetic and couldn't answer our questions about what would happen when we got to Madrid. They did nothing to reassure us and left us feeling completely vulnerable. When we arrived in Madrid a representative told us that the next flight they could get us on would be in 24hours they did offer to put us up in a hotel for the night but we'd had enough by this point and paid 200 euros to get on an EasyJet flight home.

From Madrid to Palma de Mallorca. The flight was totally full. I did not have much space for my legs but flying time was only 1hour 10 mins. No free food or drinks service. 3days later I flew from Palma to Barcelona. This time was better and I had more space. Flight was on time.

MAD-CUN-MAD. Both flights on time. Comfortable seats with PTV's but very limited selection. Three services of food: one meal sandwich with drinks and pizza with drinks before landing on outbound flight inbound flight I only had dinner. Crew nice on both sectors. Overall a good experience and will be happy to fly them again.

MXP-MAD aboard B737-800 and quite a pleasant experience. Departure on time plane was clean and in good condition cabin crew approach to customers was fair. Prompt baggage delivery. You need to pay for food and drinks in economy including water. The selection of refreshment is however very good and the items are reasonably priced. Seats are rather cramped.

London-Madrid-Las Palmas. Significant savings being routed via Madrid and very little extra hassle. Airbus 330 looked brand new. Being short-haul there were no inflight snacks and drinks however kids were given an entertaining gift. Both flights on time. The only thing that was very strange was Air Europa's use of the original Madrid Barajas airport. It's a very disjointed terminal you get bussed around clearing immigration having hand luggage re-scanned etc. All in all I would be happy to fly with them again short haul.

London to Madrid and onto Miami. I was a little nervous as it was our main holiday and we were picking up a cruise ship so didn't want problems the flights were both good and on time 1 hour delay coming home from Madrid good cabin staff clean plane but a bit old still had ash trays in seats. 767 really smooth flights would fly with them again and we had young children with us.

Flight from Paris-Madrid-Buenos Aires return. Paris-Madrid was provided by Air France in codeshare. Good and cheap flights almost on time departure from Madrid 1 hour delayed but made up for lost time and arrived nearly on schedule in B.A. Luggage ok (23kg) food correct free meals and snacks blanket and pillow provided staff efficient plane looked clean. 3€ for the headphones 2€ for travel set.

Just came back from Buenos Aires via Madrid the service provided was ok apart from the seats on the long haul flight being too close together. But that's to be expected with a charter carrier. Will use it again.