Blue Air

Bucharest Baneasa - London Luton. Delays delays and more delays with terrible customer service. Flight time changed the day before from 1545 to 1835. Half the people on the flight including myself were unaware of the change so were at the airport way too early. I asked at the Blue Air desk why the flight was delayed and I was told "Blue Air don't have enough planes". Baneasa airport is worse than a bus terminal nowhere to sit poor air conditioning (in 35C temperatures) and uninterested staff. 1835 came and went but we did eventually board a plane at 1910. The excitement was short lived as we were asked to get off the plane and were bussed back to the cramped terminal. There was no information given out by the Blue Air staff and for long periods they disappeared to avoid angry passengers. People were having to phone the airline to get any information. After being strung along for a while with false promises we were told we would be taking off at 2240. They initially did not want to give out refreshments even when reminded of the EU regulations but after much arguing eventually did. Never again!

We were stranded in Bucharest after the Sky Europe Collapse so we had no choice but to fly with Blue Air to Brussels. Baneasa airport is terrible has to be one of the worst in the world badly organized Staff unfriendly rude and unhelpful throughout. Only 2 checkin counters for about 5 flights leaving around the same time terminal is tiny and was fully packed. To make matters even worse they have a stupid policy where if you have baggage to checkin you need to pay a fee of I think 20 euro per piece but they cannot take the money at the checkin desk you need to shuffle through the fully packed terminal and then go and line up at another desk with even more people and pay for it separately then return to the checkin desk so they can check you have paid. The whole process took around 2 hours and we never moved more than a few metres the whole time. When we were finally bussed to the plane the staff were rude and someone I was travelling with has a fear of flying so they wanted us to be seated together but they would not allow it even though there was a spare seat at the back which I then moved to after the flight took off. One cabin crew member yelled very loudly at me because apparently my bag was too heavy but no one mentioned it in the terminal. Staff at the airport spoke little English. The plane was old and we really questioned the safety of it. Complimentary water served but then cabin crew at the back of the plane for the rest of the flight they even were not present to prepare the cabin for landing. On landing there were many people (Romanians) on mobile phones making phone calls etc none of the staff said anything. Mentioned it to staff after landing and they said they did not see it happen. I hope never to fly with them again and I urge anyone to have a think before choosing blue air or a flight that leaves from Baneasa but the whole thing is an experience in itself.

Luton to Sibiu. The flights were early staff friendly and spoke ok English. The aircraft on this route is an old B737-300 with rather uncomfortable seats. Excellent fares when booked in advance.