Air Madagascar

Flew Air Madagascar frequently on a month-long trip from Canada over Christmas. International routing CDG-TNR-CDG. Also flew TNR-Morondava and back TNR-Diego Diego-NosyBe NosyBe-TNR TNR-SainteMarie and back. Across these flights I experienced their B767 on the international route the B737 on the flight to Diego and ATR72s on the other domestic routes. Overall I enjoyed the airline. The 767 does have a tired interior and I would certainly prefer to have preassigned seating. Flight attendants were friendly on all flights but English was not good so I'm not sure how I would have managed if my wife wasn't with me to translate from French and Malagasy into English. All of our flights left on time but I couldn't understand why we were asked to arrive so early for these small flights. My biggest complaint is with the airports in Madagascar not the airline. Seating is very limited and if you can find it it is most uncomfortable. Found the airport in Morondava to be surprisingly the best of the above locations and the airport in Diego is just plain awful. I did find it difficult to deal with Air Madagascar when booking my tickets from Canada. You can't deal directly with the airline but rather their North American agent Sita World Travel and I found they're agents friendly but not all that smart and very slow to answer e-mails. Simple questions like finding out flight availability and pricing seemed to be a big task. I would prefer an online reservation similar to that offered by other major airlines.

CDG-TNR-FDP-TNR-CDG The outbound flight was fine but CDG was awful. The queues at check in were a bit long but after an hour we were checked in. The food was nice tea and coffee were served often along with a choice of soft drinks. The seats were quite cramped but there was just enough legroom. The choice of films were not up to much but the music channels were fine with some good Malagasy music in there as well. The aircraft was a 767-300. Flying from Tana (Antananarivo) to Fort Dauphin was an experience. We had to wait for 3 hours at the airport being served coffee with horrible sweetened condensed milk and being handed week old newspapers with payment demanded. We checked in all right though. The plane was an old second generation 737 with no allocated seating. The announcements were in Malagasy and French and some sort of inconprehensible English which just sounded like the air hostess reading some English off a card. Almost no inflight service just a drink of orange juice. Fort Dauphin Airport is interesting no luggage belts so your bag number is shouted out and you have to hand them your ticket to reclaim. The return trip was much the same as the first. At TNR we were delayed for 2 hours for some technical fault which seemed to make no sense whatsoever. It was claimed that Engine number 3 had some sort of problem but there are 2 engines on a 767. As neither of the engines were started when we got on the plane the airconditioners weren't working. There are no vents above your head on this 767 either. Some people fainted as we waited for 2 hours on this sweltering plane before we departed. We missed our connection at CDG too. In the end the flight was ok good for third world but bad for everything else.

MXP-NOS (Malpensa-Nosi Be) return in Economy. The Y fare is good Business is expensive with no airmiles in any alliance so opted for Y class. Outbound leg on time (767) flight completely full seat backs a little thin but reasonably comfortable (exit or bulkhead rows 11 18 19 and 20 are best for legroom). FA's smiling speak good French. Food and wine OK soft drink selection limited and they ran out of beer quickly. Movies surprisingly up to date (In Her Shoes etc) but dubbed in French or Italian both of which I speak but would have still preferred the original version. No PTV but ceiling screens every 8-10 rows. Landed in NOS on time huge queues for visa-on-arrival in a tiny stifling airport. Take my advice and obtain a visa beforehand you will breeze through immigration. Return leg delayed by 5 hours although I had confirmed the day before and had supplied a contact phone No I arrived at an empty NOS airport at 7am for a 9am flight to be greeted by a cleaning lady and told that the flight would leave after 12 noon. My friend and I spent 3 hours in a small quaint cafe across the street from the terminal eating spaghetti and drinking Malagasy beer overall an interesting way to spend time! At 10am some airport personnel started to arrive apparently the plane had had engine trouble in Antananarivo hence the delay. Check-in began at 11.00 we managed to check-in among the first but long Italian queue in a tiny airport which cannot really handle such passenger numbers. The 767 left at 2pm many empty seats on this leg so we could spread out a bit OK inflight catering 2 full meals better drinks selection. Memorable daytime flight over Africa with fantastic views of Kilimanjaro and the Rift Valley.

BKK-TNR. This relatively new service is performed by leased B767. The layout is overwhelmingly economy (in a 2-3-2 configuration) with very modest seat pitch but the flight we got was only about 60% full. Exit row seats 18ABFG and 19 ABFG give a good deal of extra legroom with row 18 preferred due to row 19’s proximity to the lavatories (which seemed to get a lot of use in our flight!). However none of these exit row seats recline. 20 C and E may have a bit more stretch room also. Service is good but meals and entertainment are somewhat from a previous era with one meal of a sandwich and some strange tasting orange juice and with one screen for every 8 rows or so. On approach to landing an interesting looking video of Madagascar was shown but unfortunately only with a French soundtrack and quite poor audio at that.

MXP-NOS-MXP Y-Class. Air Madagascar features quite old aircraft (B767) but clean. FA's attentive to passengers' needs polite and ready to offer you a smile. Tasty food but poor entertainment program (no PTVs). Very punctual flights on both legs. Nice amenities were given on board.

My recent experience shows Air Madagascar to have very poor customer service. I was downgraded from business to economy 2 minutes before boarding they said because business was full. However when we boarded business was less than half full. I asked to be moved to business since I had already paid for it. However they told me it was to late and against the procedures. Why have stewards on the flight if they can't make simple decisions especially if the airline has clearly made a mistake. I feel cheated by the airline.

Air Madagascar which has a dense domestic network and reasonable regional links has at this time only one intercontinental route Paris - Antananarivo and one aircraft to fly the route a Boeing 767-300 Extended Range which comes from Air Canada and is fitted with the current AC Business Class long range seat a six abreast 66 inch pitch recliner with extendable foot rest. Not quite a bed but an extremely comfortable arrangement with at least 160 degrees recline and almost horizontal leg support. This is superior to any competing business class seat in the region. The lumbar support is deactivated and mostly stuck in the "hard" position a minor inconvenience as is the availability of only 1 toilet in business class sometimes insufficient for a 24 seat cabin plus use by the crew. On the other hand when was the last time you found real cloth lemon grass scented napkins in the lavatory reminiscent of another age? Food and beverage service are of a high standard not quite the F/C service of top long range airlines but well above normal intercontinental business class. DVDs are provided with a limited choice of films. Service by the crew was always attentive polite and going the extra mile. Punctuality was perfect to the minute on both legs of the round trip. Although there is only one aircraft serving the route scheduling provides for extended periods to catch up with delays before the next flight. Altogether a very enjoyable experience definitely superior to the competition's product.