Air Europa

Business class CDG-AGP being the second leg of the flight from NRT. The flight was canceled due to heavy snow. Till here everything understandable. The company didn't offer us business class seats for the flight next day until I complained and made some noise. Air Europa didn't offer us hotel and left us sleeping in the terminal without any support - no hotel no food nothing. The ground staff didn't give us any explanation or made any official announcement - so all passengers running from one side to another. I can understand/accept a flight cancelled by weather but it's unacceptable that they left us hanging in the airport in such conditions. I'm Spanish and I will avoid Air Europa like the plague - not even a low cost company.Old planes old seats everything looking early 90's.

Paris to Lima in Business because of their unbeatable price and pleasantly surprised by the level of service. CDG-MAD a codeshare by Air France whose Business Class service is below all standards just normal economy. Business lounge in Madrid is very basic but onboard young and cheerful crew who were attentive and smiling. Excellent meals with Spanish flavours and some of their best wines. Comfortable reclining seats allowed a nice sleep. Similarly pleasant experience on the return flight.

Air Europa overbooked the flight and my pregnant wife is now trapped in Argentina and unable to return home for a minimum of 24 hours. Staff are being very unhelpful with arranging alternative flights although other flights are leaving today. Please do not book with this airline.

Barcelona Miami-Barcelona. Based on a decent experience a year ago flying to Argentina decided to fly them again. Now I regret it. BCN-MIA was uneventful; nothing worth mentioning except confirming what others have already written about their old B767s (old no flight entertainment tight seats etc) - crew did smile at times which made me think that they make an effort to differentiate themselves from Iberia. Flight back a complete nightmare: Completely incompetent check-in staff at MIA airport 1.5 hr delay in Miami late boarding and departure without explanation. Thirsty and hungry passengers had to wait about an additional 1.5hrs after take off to have dinner served as crew were busy with duty free sales. By landing 1 hour late in Madrid a significant portion of passengers lost their connections. About 20 of us were connecting to Barcelona and when arriving to passport control section we were told we needed to pick our baggage (they were supposed to go directly to Barcelona?). With tons of baggage connecting passengers had to stroll through Terminal buildings 1 and 2. When we finally arrived at the customer service center in T2 an airline employee got us all BCN passengers together and told us everything was prepared for us to continue our journey with local low cost carrier Vueling since their next flight wouldn't leave until 9pm. At first this seemed like a decent solution but when I asked her if Vueling would accept our 2+ baggages (based on ticket allowance travelling to US) she hesitated and rushed to call Vueling. When she came back she said the answer was no - since Vueling accepted 1 baggage/20k per person and that either we paid our baggage excess with Vueling or we fly with them 5hrs later. Frustrated we took our chances and gave it a shot at Vueling who thankfully checked in the totality of our baggage without charges and who brought us back home 5 hours later than expected. Next time I will be very willing to pay 100 EUR more to travel with other carriers.

Madrid to Las Palmas. 3 hours delay poor information of what is happening. What upset me most is the fact that there was hardly no information of what is happening and it was only in Spanish. I wouldn't travel with them again. The last drop was when my daughter's suitcase arrived broken as well.

Madrid to Gatwick 21st November showed up in T-1 in Barajas 2hrs before departure to find a line for check in that in conservative estimates was at least 150 metres long and with at least 600 people. Air Europa has a considerable number of flights to South America all leaving around midday most passengers show up three to four hours ahead of travel. After 1.5 hours we were only halfway through the line I went to the counter to see what they planned only to be dismissed with poor manners. At 20 min. before departure Air Europa started to call all passengers to Gatwick to step forward it turned out that more than one hundred people were in the same predicament they frantically started giving out boarding passes to all involved massive disorganization many highly upset. Needless to say the flight left late never again.

JFK to Madrid with connection to Venice return via same cities. Plane took off about 2 hours late from JFK but arrived on time with the benefit of a strong tailwind. No explanation for delay provided but once on the ground in Madrid the cabin attendant gave the typical insincere apology for "any inconvenience." The next leg to Venice on time - the only flight segment that was timely. The return to Madrid left Venice about 1.5 hours late and arrived Madrid late by same amount. Madrid to JFK pushed back more than 2 hours late and then immediately halted for a half hour more while mechanics were called on board to fix the air conditioning. We deplaned at JFK 3 hrs late. Again the cabin attendant gave a rote "apology" but no explanation for the delay. Air Europa has no info on its rather primitive web site to inform whether flights are on time or delayed. Delays aside the cabin staff were polite animated and professional except that curiously no one claimed to know anything about the cause of the various delays encountered. This is a Spanish airline and most of the passengers seemed to be Hispanic. Important announcements were given in both Spanish and English but the message was often delivered in heavily accented English. The pilots said little particularly avoiding any discussion of delays. I suspect delays are too sensitive a subject for AE to discuss in a forthright fashion. Check the airline's on time record before buying tickets as I wish I had. Avoid this airline if making onward connections is a critical concern. Passenger comfort in Economy was at the lower end of tolerable. I don't travel enough to make a comparison with other airlines but I'd venture that few airlines afford the economy passenger less seating room than Air Europa if indeed that were even possible. For a relatively new A330-200 the seats didn't return to the upright position without some assistance. Stowed baggage was routed through to the end destinations and arrived without problem. Be careful though at the JFK we were charge $50 for an overweight bag. Next time I'll use something more accurate than the bathroom scale. Food and beverage service were OK. One observation: as the low price leader it's surprising AE has not sought to leverage this advantage by more zealous attention to managing flight delays. If so I would have given higher marks for value. For example they might start by acknowledging a problem exists and that saying nothing won't make it go away. I wish AE good luck but next time I'll pay up to choose a carrier with a better on time record a more informative web site and more seating room.

MAD-ORY-MAD. Air Europa no longer give access to VIP Lounge to SkyTeam Elite Plus members (Flying Blue Gold Card as well as Platinum) which was a quite negative experience. Boarding was chaotic - ground staff announce the boarding stating boarding priorities (families with children elite plus members then passengers from rows 15 to 30 and then rest of passengers). At this time the queue becomes unmanageable everyone moves without knowing the priority of other (why not create separate lines like AF and IB do). Catering service as in low cost companies (paid) no chance to get emergency exit as they charge like in low cost airlines. Special thanks to Flying Members announced on PA but at this time I really felt that they don't really care about FB members.

London Gatwick - Madrid - Tenerife North they had the cheapest fare on the route. I checked in with no problems at Gatwick but as soon as I got through security I saw that my flight was delayed by 1.5 hours - could have been communicated at check in. This meant that I would miss my connection. Onboard crew apologised for the delay (which was due to the aircraft waiting for passengers transferring from a delayed Buenos Aires flight - but lots of people on my flight were transferring across Spain and to Caracas and missed their flights.) The seats were comfortable and crew very friendly. On arrival in Madrid people were waiting for us to give new boarding passes. I was put in business class on a Spanair flight 2 hours later and Air Europa paid for a meal and to use their lounge. To top things off Tenerife North was closed due to bad weather and we had to divert to the south airport. All in all it was all very annoying and a long day but Air Europa dealt with everything well and as best as they could.

LIS-MAD on a regional Embraer aircraft. Economy seating which was only distinguished from business by a curtain (seats exactly the same). Ticket agents were pleasant no line and efficiently provided boarding pass. At the gate agents announced the flight orderly line and boarded the plane from the jetway. Aircraft seemed new seats were somewhat cramped for a 6'1" pax. Refreshments were served. Arrived on time without any delay. Was out of the airport in less than 15 minutes.