Air Malta

Heathrow-Malta on time staff friendly and relaxed. Hot meal (nothing spectacular but we didn't expect much at this price) hot and cold drinks. Online check in available flying back from Malta but not flying from Heathrow. Can cost a little more than airlines such as Ryanair - but worth it.

Heathrow-Malta return on A320. Friendly and welcoming crew. Awful legroom and space but a complimentary hot meal served with cold drinks and later tea and coffee. Inflight entertainment for the 3hr flight consisted of a wildlife documentary. Overall experience was good but let down by handling agents at Heathrow who took 1 hour and 30 minutes after we had landed to deliver the bags.

We told them the connection between Terminal 5 and T3 on Sunday in Rome was too short. Our family of 6 was denied boarding because we were there 30 minutes before departure instead of 45 minutes and the seats were given to others. They promised if we missed that connection we could rebook on the next flight 11 hours later at their airport desk. Air Malta does not have a desk in Rome they rely on Lufthansa. But Lufthansa said they are authorized to sell but not rebook tickets and they were too busy rebooking their own passengers to help us. Air Malta did not answer their phones because the offices are closed on Sunday. Hotel concierge finally got an inside line and we were told that our entire itinerary was canceled because we missed the Rome connection. We had to buy replacement tickets. Air Malta refuses to reimburse the EasyJet tickets or the money we paid them for their flight we were not allowed to board. We found out later that Air Malta has a well earned terrible reputation.

Heathrow to Malta and back to Gatwick economy class. Flight just under an hour late leaving Heathrow due to the French air traffic strike but on time leaving Malta on return. Free Maltese newspapers given out on boarding and hot meal served which was basic but edible. Free soft drinks and alcoholic ones charged at £2.50. Inflight programmes shown on overhead screens but no headphones give out. Overall quite basic and could be improved considerably with little extras but still better then many other full service carriers.

Manchester to Malta return and encountered no problems. A320 on both flights with pleasant professional cabin crew. Both flights on time. Meals were basic but adequate for such a short flight.

Paris (CDG) Malta return. The inbound flight was delayed for 90 minsh without any explanation and boarding was a mess. Both flights on clean aircraft with enough legroom for the duration of the flight. Inflight tv but no headphones . Food edible except for the bread and ok flight attendants. Altogether an okay airline but nothing to write home about.

Third time I have travelled London to Malta with my family. Flight was excellent food fine and staff very helpful.

I recently flew from Copenhagen to Malta Via Amsterdam. Upon check in at Denmark I was told I had to check my bag all the way through to Malta as I had not much time when arriving in Amsterdam to transfer. When arriving at the gate in Amsterdam airport for my connection I was told I could not board as my bag had not been transferred from the flight I just came off! They said it was policy not to allow passengers to fly without their baggage! I was then left stranded in the airport without anybody from Air Malta to advise or assist me. I had to find a hotel in Amsterdam and then come back to the airport the following day. Next day SAS who had helped me the night before managed to book me on flights that night and told me the real reason I had been stopped boarding was due to overbooking of the flight! I am currently back in Malta trying to get refunded for all my expenses from Air Malta who will barely respond to my emails. Draw your own conclusions for this but be prepared for the worst.

Catania - Malta. Queuing at Catania a complete mess and took approx 45 minutes. Once on board allocated seats in row two were filled by two pasengers travelling through from Frankfurt. Had to wait with whole family including two tired seven year old daughters until all passengers boarded and then load supervisor arrived to sort things out for us. Purser was very apologetic but unable to do anything until load supervisor could sort things out. Flight otherwise uneventful until the hardest of landings I have experienced in 40 odd years of flying. No apology or comment from flightdeck or cabin crew on this which was a little disconcerting.

Flew Air Malta to Rome. Outward flight was cancelled by Air Malta with the reason that there was an airport strike in Rome Fiumicino. Interestingly enough there was another flight to Rome Fiumicino with another airline departing an hour later that left as scheduled without any delays etc. Air Malta offered re-routing on another of their flights departing 8 hours later but did not give us any vouchers for meals or snacks or rerouting on an earlier flight with another airline as stipulated by EU law. According to them it was not their fault that the flight was cancelled and therefore we were not entitled to anything. Check-in staff helpful both in Malta and Rome Staff at ticketing desk and cabin crew could not care less about our situation or about the passengers in general. The flights were rather uneventful. Meals can be hardly called dinner or lunch as they consisted of half a sandwich and a small water container (100ml). On the way back we had stopover in Reggio Calabria airport which took about an hour during which about 20 passengers got off and on the aircraft. Would not recommend Air Malta for this route as it is currently being served by much more competitive airlines offering direct routes.