Air Malta

✅ Trip Verified | I was routed onto the Air Malta website by Skyscanner to book simple 40 minute puddle jump from Catania to Malta, and tried booking my flight through there. Never got a confirmation e-mail or anything, which would be strange for most airlines but, as I'm reading the reviews here, is typical for Air Malta. So I called up "Customer Services" long distance and after 40 minutes got a hold of a pretty friendly fellow who looked up my reservation promptly rebooked my flight onto the wrong day. Finally got a confirmation of my flight on e-mail, spotted the mistake, called them back. Got a new guy who went through the whole procedure all over again. Got confirmation e-mail. Wrong flight. Then called again and got some crazy fellow who started screaming at me on the phone and put me on hold for half an hour, and wanted to charge me twice the amount for the flight I had already booked. I demonstrated to this out of control hothead how easy it was to book on another website by actually booking and canceling my flight on Expedia while he waited - that's how desperate he was to prove the point that their website worked fine which he lost. Too complicated. Just took the hydrofoil over as I'd lost faith in this small and incompetent crew. Too bad as the hydrofoil proved to be much more interesting and faster than the entire time I spent on the phone with these guys. I understand from captive clients in Malta that no-one books on their website but goes through third parties or even travel agents to avoid.

✅ Trip Verified | Rome to Malta. They have a dysfunctional technical system and website that might do booking errors and even send you confirmation emails with wrong data. The better part comes when you try to deal with their customer service for emergencies; this is when you realize that their call center is only person and that they are not “customer service” but rather “Customer Support” for ticketing as they mentioned. Finally for the cherry on top; even if they do realize they made a mistake they never own up to it but rather tell the customer that it is their fault for trusting the confirmation email they received. So they ask the customer to solve his issues and try to fly somehow either on other airlines or by paying for new tickets with new prices till they asses the case and decide whether a refund for the old booking is required. That is all besides the fact that their airport staff are of course hugely incompetent. I have travelled with more than 23 different airlines but this was by far the worst experience i had with an airline that supposedly charges you regular prices but operates as a low-fare or worse. Try to avoid them as much as you can!

✅ Trip Verified | Malta to Heathrow. I used to go business class but unless you have the front row the leg room isn't very good. It is also quite antiquated compared to say Cathy Pacific where for the same flight-time of around three hours you get your own cubicle, a menu and top-class service. I now fly economy and every time there is a problem with check-in. Instead of having designated check-in desks for each destination they have about five for all destinations. This causes all sorts of problems as each flight destination has differing takeoff times. It's not rocket science to figure out if there's a huge holdup in your queue with everyone going to different places that the earlier flights have the danger of either missing their flight or spending so much time queuing you get no time to relax or have breakfast before boarding. When I travelled to Heathrow from Malta in April this year the computer in our queue packed up. Instead of using some sort of intelligence and splitting our queue into other ones which were working we were simply standing waiting. I had got to the airport early and spent almost an hour in the queue just standing. In the end I jumped queues as I was worried I might miss my flight. The check-in staff are very slow, the slowest out of all the many airlines I've travelled with. The only trouble is I have to use them as there is no alternative.

✅ Trip Verified | London Gatwick to Malta with Air Malta. The first face of the airline is the check-in counter. My experience was very bitter. Not friendly and acted as if you were not welcome at all. Also the lounge is a joke. They use the No. 1 lounge, which is packed with priority pass members - so packed that there are no places to sit and the food selection in the morning was bad.

Not Verified | Flew LGW to Malta and return in April with Air Malta. Flights both ways were on time and comfortable. Cabin crew were friendly and welcoming. On board snacks to buy were good value. Seat pitch average but not cramped.

✅ Trip Verified | Our terrible time with Air Malta started with baggage check-in. We bought our tickets through Expedia and they just said "Economy". Turns out Air Malta has like 5 different ticket types and the one we had didn't have checked baggage. We didn't know this in advance, but whatever, we payed to check-in our luggage. We were traveling as a group of 3 and my friend was in a wheelchair because her leg was broken. She has been in a full cast up to her knee for over a month. On our way to Malta from Israel on flight Air Malta 829 that departed Sunday morning Apr. 14, 2019 at 7 AM, my friend was questioned about her cast, how long she's had it and if she's cleared to fly. We answered all of their questions, told them the cast was a month old and that the doctors cleared her to fly. In the end of this questioning we were all allowed to board and the Israeli ground stewardess even found my friend a row of seats so that she could elevate her leg comfortably. On our way BACK from Malta to Israel on flight Air Malta 828 that departed Friday morning Apr. 18, 2019 at 1 AM, my friend was giving the same round of questions, except that this time they declared she was unfit to fly and that their doctor said it would be very dangerous for my friend to fly with a full cast. It did not help that we told them we flew with there airline 5 days ago and that she was fine (they said that this was a mistake and she should never have been let on the first flight to begin with) or that we had papers (in Hebrew) proving my friend's cast was at least several weeks old - nothing helped. They told us she had to go to a clinic in Malta to get her cast cut so that it was a half (and not full cast) and that we were wasting our time. My 2 traveling companions got in a cab and went to go get the cast cut, in a foreign country where we knew nothing of the healthcare system. This would have been fine, but the clinic they sent us do didn't have the equipment to cut the cast! So that trip was a waste. When we asked what we could do if their own recommendation didn't pan out and they said that my friend would have to stay to get her cast cut at the hospital. We tried to find out from the Maltese Air Malta manager if there would be any kind of compensation since they would not let my fried on the plane - could they transfer her ticket? Book her a hotel for her extra overnight stay? We were given a negative response on both counts and she told us that it was stated clearly in the Air Malta rules that you cannot fly with a full cast (we searched for a while for these alleged rules and couldn't find them, only general airline guidelines that said you shouldn't fly within a few days of getting a cast) so this was our problem. When we tried to find out what else we could do and if we could maybe get the hospital that treated my friend to send an email in English that cleared her to fly, the manager speaking to us was very rude, said she was repeating herself and just walked away. Since the 3rd traveling companion and I could not afford to wait any longer or buy new tickets, we left my friend in a cast, with her wheelchair and crutches, to stay alone overnight and try and book another flight. Air Malta was obviously no help whatsoever. In the end my friend got a doctor's letter in English saying she was cleared to fly, and booked herself a flight back to Israel through another airline company (with a layover in Vienna, so this was not the most convenient flight.

✅ Trip Verified | Flight operated as wet lease by Smartlynx (Latvia) having two additional flight attendants from Air Malta on board to overlook the board sales. Ex Lufthansa airplane. Although boarding on time, they had several minor problems, then always new paperwork and of course each time the promise that we will be in the next 10 minutes airborne. Takeoff delay about 1 hour 45 minutes, arrival still 1 hour and 15 minutes. This may happen, but it was the first flight in all my life, that had not only smaller technical problems but as soon as we were airborne also all toilets out of order at once. Not pleasure at all! Would not recommend SmartLynx. Air Malta was so far ok, nothing special but ok. And cheap, so you get what you are paying for.

✅ Trip Verified | Vienna to Malta. The problem started when I tried to book AirMalta on their Website. After 2 days without any success I booked the flights through tripair. No chance to see on air Malta booking page whether the booking existed. Web check in impossible. I finally phoned Malta Air in Malta and they sent boarding passes to my Email address in Vienna. For the return flights the same chaos. I tried the web check in for one hours; always breakdown! Finally the girl on the hotel counter tried it by phone which took another hour (waiting in the line). Then they promised to send the boarding passes to my phone. Did not work! Finally they sent them to the hotel's email and then to my phone! The seat reservation I had made in Vienna was gone. The service unfriendly and on the plane the charged for a cup of tea and a cup of coffee 6€. A real "Malta Experience". They either don't understand the business or just don't care.

✅ Trip Verified | Southend to Catania. A few miles from destination the pilot announced that we could not land to Catania due to Etna eruption and instead we would land in Malta. There are at the least 5 airports nearby Catania (Palermo, Comiso, Trapani, Reggio Calabria, Lamezia Terme). Soon after the captain announced that we would land to Comiso (Sicily) but his lack of experience did not allow him to fight against the winds so he headed to Malta. As soon as we spoke with the Luqa airport Air Malta ground staff and the Info kiosk staff we realized that we would not have any chance to spend our Christmas with our families. Air Malta staff appeared unaware of our redirected flight and was unable to answer our requests for assistance. Malta is connected regularly via ferries and speedy boats to Sicily but the Air Malta staff told us that there would have been an announcement in 20 minutes time. Twenty minutes passed and so 40 and so 1 hour and the staff from the help desk was abandoning their seats till when there was no staff at the front office. Passengers were worried, and we started asking for bottles of water and lunch voucher but they kept saying there would be an announcement in a minutes. We could have been transferred to Sicily by ferry boat or speedy boats but instead Air Malta spending time agreeing a strategy: useless to contact them by phone as the operators were keeping saying that the number was only for reservations. After 5 hours standing up, without drinking nor eating the staff told us to move at the check in desk for the flight to Rome that would land in Catania first. We moved at the check-in desk but the staff at the desk was unaware that would land to Catania and denied us to check in. After other 45 minutes standing up in front of the desk the first passenger received the boarding pass. The flight was planned for 19:00 but I received my boarding pass at around 19:45. The flight was already in extreme delay and the crew was going back and forth counting the passengers on the flight delaying even more the departure. We would have already been in Catania if the flight would have departed on time but Catania Airport shut down again at 9.30 pm. The captain went out from the cabin and called the police to force us to leave the airplane. The situation was unreal: children crying, an adult having a crisis that required the assistance of a doctor, the police shouting against frustrated passengers stressing them even more until when they started forcedly removing our hand luggage. At that point we had no option than return to the terminal. After 3 hours we received our first and only light meal for the Costa Coffee and a hotel accomodation. Nobody wanted to get stuck in Sliema because of lack of transportation (it has not been offered to us) on Christmas day so the majority decided to sleep on the ground or in the seats of the Costa Coffee in the airport. At 5 am we queued at the check-in, we received our boarding pass and we arrived in Comiso at around 8.30 am on Christmas day; from Comiso a shuttle bus brought us to Catania airport, were our parents were waiting for us. We arrived at destination with more than 20 hours delay, we stood up on our feet for more than 8 hours, we did drink for more than 5 hours, we did not eat for more than 9 hours, we will never trust Air Malta again.

✅ Trip Verified | First time flying with Air Malta from Frankfurt to Malta and Malta to Berlin TXL using their old A320 and A319. I would say, this airline is worse than low-cost airlines serving the same route. My both flights delayed about 20 minutes. Nevertheless they arrived in-time as scheduled. What I have paid for the ticket was not equal to the service which I got. Drinks and snacks for the economy passengers are for a fee. The seats were dirty. I assume as their Airbus was a lease plane. Hence, I would not recommend this airline to fly to Malta. Better to have a stop-over but good services.