Meridiana

Awful airline! I flew to Olbia on the 30th of August 2014 and returned 6th September. On the way out after booking we got informed our flight had changed from 16.00h to 08.00h giving us almost one whole day less on holiday. When leaving London Gatwick we arrived at the airport 2hours prior to out given departure time 18.50h to find the flight was not at 20.40h (approx). This change meant that we arrived to Olbia at 00.30 where our car rental desk was closed our apartment did not answer calls and all surrounding hotels cost at least 150 euro! Not to add customer service on our ancient plane was terrible luckily this had improved on out return. Our first night of holiday was a disaster thanks to this airline and then in addition with was cut from 7 to 6 days.

I flew more than a few times from Cagliari-Linate and Alghero-Linate. Planes used were mostly old McDonnell- Douglas MD-80 although the company has recently renewed seats and overall furniture flying on these planes still has an 80's flavor. On MD-80 seats are ok but a very tall person could feel somewhat unease. There is not a lot of space for the hand-luggage on the over-head lockers. Meridiana also own much newer and more comfortable Airbus A320 but they are less numerous than MD-80s. On the numerous flight I took I don't remember major delays. Staff was always nice. Snacks and Drinks service could be improved. Overall I will for sure fly again with Meridiana but for flights from Sardinia to the Peninsula I will always prefer Alitalia.

LIN-OLB on Aug 11th back on Aug 23rd. First time flying with them a kind of throw back to the 80's flight experience. They had a sort of monopoly for flights to Sardinia Island before EasyJet came in as a new player still very strong on this route. Onward leg on time but terrible seat pitch on the MD82: the flight is short about 1hr otherwise it would have been painful. The dedicated counter for baggage drop off was left unattended so only one queue in Linate: check-in procedures looked slower than I am used to with other airlines but luckily there were not so many people waiting for being registered. Return leg delayed 15 minutes again an old MD82 with slightly better leg room. Staff were polite nothing more. Drinks were served quickly after take off. Ticket was expensive (300EUR) because of the peak of the holidays season: Easyjet was offering more or less the same rate but with lower baggage allowance and departing from MXP which is far away from my hometown. Not my favorite airline for sure but I will probably give them a second chance. Olbia Costa Smeralda airport is a brand new shiny and pleasant place: this was the best part of my trip actually.

Flight from London Gatwick to Olbia and back. Plane delayed about 45 mins going out. No explanation. Poorest leg room of any airline I've travelled with. No inflight information. Otherwise ok. On the way back. Well I'm typing this in the check-in queue. I've been queuing for 90 minutes so far. No explanations offered. They seem to be taking about 15 mins to check in each passenger. Original flight time shown as delayed by 30 mins. They will need more than that at this rate of check in. If there is a problem surely someone has the customer service initiative to tell us.

Having only ever flown with Easyjet before to Italy I decided to fly Meridiana to Naples from Gatwick North Terminal and was pleasantly surprised. The fare included a 23kg free bag which when added onto to the cost of Easyjet made it more expensive than Meridiana. Check-in at North Terminal was easy and quick and the boarding process at the gate was efficient and in staggered boarding from the back. On board the seats were comfortable and room for me at 6ft2" tall. There was a complimentary onboard service of sandwich and soft drinks which was adequate and again saved money. Cabin crew were attentive and not too many announcements which you can get on some LCC.

I would call it a disastrous experience if there was any. They simply cancelled their flight on 7 August 2014 between Moscow and Naples Italy without offering any alternatives. The story behind this was (as I heard) that due to weather conditions their plane landed in a different airport in Moscow and for some reasons they could not or did not want to relocate it to the proper one. What a good partner for BA! Never fly Meridiana!

Flight out of JFK was scheduled for 3 pm and didn't leave until 5 but we got upgraded to bulkhead seats across the front row which was nice. Seats are a little narrow but food and wine was delicious (surprising for airline food) and we arrived only one hour late (7 am instead of 6). Coming home from Naples fullL flight. Bigger plane (40 rows) I think going there was a little smaller (but we were toward the front so not sure). Anyway it was on time and a great smooth flight. And arrived 45 min ahead of schedule. Would recommend Air Italy and/or Meridiana. No issues at all with luggage or accommodations.

I had used Meridiana before with no problems at all good enough service no delay no comments on the food because I do not eat on planes anyway so far so good. I bought another ticket from Meridiana from Olbia to Gatwick and to my surprise the flight was from Blue Air a Romania airline company. The airplane was at least 25 years old very noisy inside air con blowing hot air when you need cold air really. I'd rather pay more and travel with Meridiana. If I had known that when you by Meridiana it does not mean that you fly with them I would not have bought the ticket.

Notwithstanding full price tickets bought months in advance Meridiana fly changed the flight schedule for the second consecutive year thus messing up my plans and partially ruining my holiday. The average low level of customer satisfaction found on the web alerted me but I tried last year the company because of its no stop flight to Crete. Due to the above mentioned schedule change that I may suppose is caused by intentional overbooking they made me lose one day of holiday. Monitors were turned off at check in so that it was difficult to find the proper line that was interminable and badly assisted. It took more than one hour to clear it. Aircraft was not properly cleaned and seats were uncomfortable. This year despite a sharp increase in prices the trick was just the same: they sold an evening ticket and pretended to re-program us on the morning flight. The call center answers after 15-20 minutes and they say they can't help. Never again on Meridiana.

Recently flew Meridiana to Naples from New York. Could not have been more impressed with the service and timeliness of the flights. Would fly this airline again any time.