Monarch Airlines

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to Venice. We were hesitant about this airline having read reviews, but booked it for the low price. I have to say the flight exceeded our expectations. Check-in and boarding were both an extremely smooth process. I think we were at the bag drop desk for a total of 2 minutes, and boarding was much quicker than with other low-frills airlines. We paid in advance for extra legroom seats (my partner is 6'7" so this is an essential for us) and were surprised by the amount of space and comfort. We sat at the front of the plane with plenty of room to stretch out (unlike Ryanair and EasyJet, whose exit row seats only have an extra inch or so). Flight took off and landed on time, and was far more comfortable than we'd anticipated. There are definitely some areas to be improved upon in terms of the pre-flight process - I have not come across any other airline in the past few years that makes you print out your own boarding pass rather than making it available electronically. It's also pretty irritating to be told you can't check in online unless you pay for it - this could potentially lead to long queues at the airport on the day. These points lower my overall score for the airline, but the flight experience itself was very pleasant.

✅ Verified Review | Malaga to Birmingham. I booked this flight online one week before flying. I needed to book for 3 adults, one child and one infant. However, I found when checking prices it was cheaper make two separate bookings than the whole group at once! I booked for two adults, then another booking for one adult and two children. This is unbelievable! Also you aren't allowed to check in online until 24 hours before you fly, unless you book a seat for 11 euros each. Which is a bit impossible as you are in holiday at this point! Just another money making scam. However, we booked for free while in Spain, and our hotel were kind enough to print our boarding passes for us! The plane was clean, but the seating is just too cramped. My husband had sit with his knee protruding into the isle, and the trolley kept knocking him when going past. Food and drinks are too expensive, luckily we bought some snacks and refreshments from the departure lounge before leaving Malaga. The staff however are really helpful, and I'm sure they know it's not the comfortable of places to sit for 3 hours, and do make an effort in making people feel welcome and providing a good service. They were quick to help with the needs of my 18 month old. The pilot kept us informed of any changes, as we were experiencing a lot of turbulence. We were also informed as we approached the UK coastline and also times for arrival were given. The plus side, we didn't have any hold luggage and were able to check in infants pram at the departure gate. Meaning we didn't have to wait in the long bag check in queues. Overall, we paid premium prices for seats on a below average quality plane. Thanks to the stewards for their efforts in trying to compensate for this.

✅ Verified Review | One of the worst flying experiences ever. Seats so tight and packed in like sardines. Couldn't even get the tray down. Only airline I've been on that does not have decaf coffee (medical reasons) and when I provided my own sachet of coffee they wanted to charge me for the cup! Crew are extremely rude and have no time/don't care. Can see this airline going back into bankruptcy and I will never fly them again. Used to be one of the best, look how far you've fallen!

✅ Verified Review | Las Palmas to Gatwick. The app doesn't allow for paperless tickets, they tell you to print them! What age are we in? They then charged €36 for an extra leg room seat and finally I paid €72 for two seats and the airline insisted under its t+c's that I use their exchange rate, and then stated 'customer chose to accept' the exchange rate. Daylight robbery, disingenuous and unacceptable. I will not be flying this airline again.

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to Lanzarote. Short queue at Gatwick check-in, staff were polite. Boarding process fine. Plenty of overhead locker space as flight not full. Departed about 20-30 mins late as 1 passenger failed to board and bags had to be found and removed from aircraft. Announcements from front of cabin and cockpit were clear. Announcements from rear of cabin totally unintelligible. Announcements in english only. Smooth flight. Cabin crew professional. No attempt at interaction with customers unless you wanted to buy something. Typical uncomfortable, hard, non-adjustable seats. Leg room was OK for a 1m 75cm adult. Clean aircraft. Clean, well stocked toilet when I used it. No bells and whistles but they get the basics right for the price paid. Would use again.

✅ Verified Review | Alicante to Manchester. I don't normally write reviews but the shocking service has left me no choice. The flight out to Alicante went without a hitch; it was only on my return flight that the nightmare unfolded. Arrived at the airport only to find out that my flight had been cancelled. I was ended a piece of paper by the Monarch Airlines representative and told to make my own arrangements and they would give me a full refund at a later date (that refund is just a little difficult to get hold of). No food vouchers, no aid in organising another flight /accommodation, no nothing. The piece of paper sent me to Swissport ticket sales who then sent me to Iberia. The only flight I could get back to Manchester was the next day. I had to organise my own accommodation for another night and fork out over 300 euros in total. To top it all off, I used a refund website to claim compensation and they have sent me an email saying Monarch Airlines have ignored my claim and they have to result to using legal action instead.

✅ Verified Review | The flight was ok, the landing smooth but the service can be described as bordering on rude. One lady at airport in Porto (Oporto) (flight Porto-Luton) was simply rude, she saw I had two bags half empty already prepared for having one over my head and another in front of my seat. She not only made me put one bag into another before getting on the plane but she also told me off for that and changed the shape of the gate excluding me from the queue when I was at the very front. Also, on my way to Porto, I wanted to ask a flight attendent if I could order some hot food so she could put it in oven (it takes some time to prepare) and she answered in a rather rude way that they don't serve at that stage. However, the pilots were very nice. I'm not really sure why but I would still recommend the airline.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Monarch from Birmingham to Funchal. Good flights both ways FA's were attentive and ever present. Lots of leg room in the extra leg room seats which cost an additional £57 so not particularly cheap but I think worth it for a 4 hour flight. I'm not particularly tall but there was a good 6 inches between my knees and the seat in from to me. On the return leg arrived 25 minutes early shame it was Birmingham 20 minutes to find steps to disembark the aircraft.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Monarch Airlines from Almeria to Manchester. Paid for extra leg room at the front of plane - when boarding we were told plane had changed and so our seats were not available, however they would still give us extra leg room in a different row - when got on the plane these were not extra leg room at all. Emailed Monarch about this only to get an automated response saying our payment for the extra leg room would be returned. No real apology or nothing. The comments I had made in the email therefore totally ignored.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Monarch from Alicante to Gatwick on the ZB265 on the 29th May 2017 on board A321 (G-ZBAK). Seated in row 1 seats were very comfortable and leg room generous. Cabin crew really helpful and also very cheerful. Flight left on time and also arrived promptly despite a missed approach initially into LGW. Overall a great flight experience and far more superior product to some of the other UK based low cost and charter airlines. My only criticism and something I was not happy with was that Monarch do not appear to apply a 2 crew rule in the cockpit at all times.