SATA Air Azores

Customer Reviews

3 star Skytrax Rating
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Seat Comfort 12345
Staff Service 12345
Value for Money 12345
Customer rating from 168 reviews
4/10
3 star Skytrax Rating
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1/10

"nightmare airline"

(United States)

Verified Review | Appalling airline. Worst travel experience in over 50 years of international travel. Unfortunately, it is the only airline servicing stunning Azores. Five hour flight delay on the outbound from Boston to Ponta Delgada and two hour delay on the return. Plane sat on tarmac for an hour in Boston waiting for an open gate. Planes must be ones taken out of service by major carriers. Seats are from the 80's. No inflight entertainment, which isn't a deal breaker. Just bizarre that the seat backs have screens. One flight was chartered from a Portuguese airline, HiFly. Never a good sign. One positive was that the flight attendants were accommodating and professional. Food was atrocious. So very frustrating that the spectacularly beautiful Azores is served by this nightmare airline.
AircraftA340
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteBoston to Ponta Delgada
Date FlownJune 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
2/10

"cheap comes out expensive"

(United States)

Verified Review | Horrible experience for both legs of a round trip from Boston to Lisbon via Ponta Delgado with SATA Air Azores. A two hour layover became five hours, without any communication or information shared be the airline to its passengers. Warning - the cheap comes out expensive. Don't fly this airline.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteBoston to Lisbon via Ponta Delgado
Date FlownJune 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"Flew this horrendous airline"

(Canada)

Verified Review | Flew this horrendous airline Toronto to Las Palmas via Ponta Delgada. Going; flight was 7 hours delayed from YYZ which meant connecting flight to LPA was missed, since this airline only flies every 2-3 days from PDL, meant we were stuck in PDL for 2 nights, 3 days. Airline offered hotel and food and we had the chance to see this lovely city, we missed 3 days of our Gran Canaria holiday which meant hotel and transfer costs were suffered. Collecting hotel voucher in PDL was a nightmare, no help or direction. On return leg, the sole A330 went 'tech' in PDL which meant a 12 hour delay while they chartered another A330 from Hi Fly, no direction or instruction was given to over 200 passengers stranded in this tiny airport, we all had to help each other to find out how to obtain new boarding passes, re-book connecting flights etc., absolutely no agents assisting anyone, no guidance, no direction, totally mis-managed and appalling. NOTE : Azores Airlines has only one A330, if this goes tech you are stranded, Ponta Delgada is not served or connected to North America by any other carrier, connect flights via SATA to other EU destinations don't run every day.
AircraftA330
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLPA to YYZ via PDL
Date FlownMay 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"it was a free for all"

(Canada)

Verified Review | We were delayed over 9 hours for our flight from Lisbon to Toronto and not once did they communicate with us as to why the flight was delayed or apologize for it. They would post a departure time and once the departure time had past, they would notify us of the following departure time. The flight time was delayed 5 times prior to us boarding. To begin with, because the flight was delayed from 15.25 to 17.00, the check in booths were moved without updating the boards. They postponed the flight from 15.25 to 19.00 to 21.00 to 21.30 to 22.30 to 23.30 and we flew at 00.00 hours. Not once did the team in the airport know why we were being delayed or how long it may last or what the next steps were. Meanwhile, they switched us to a smaller gate where there wasn't enough seating so most younger people sat on the floor. They offered us a voucher that worked in only one restaurant by the gates so there was a large lineup and shortage of food in the restaurant. They gave us new boarding passes only to tell us there was no need to line up for new boarding passes as there are no assigned seating arrangement on the flight, it was a free for all, first come first serve seating on the plane. Absolutely never flying SATA Air Azores again.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLisbon to Toronto
Date FlownApril 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
10/10

"smooth transitions on both ends"

(Canada)

Verified Review | My wife and I flew from Toronto to Ponta Delgada on Mar 22 2017 and the flight and service provided by SATA was nothing but excellent. The flight left on time, food was great. Boarding and retrieving baggage was without a hitch, can't say enough good about this airline. We took a SATA prop plane from Ponta Delgada on March 30 to Funchal, again smooth transitions on both ends. Great experience.
AircraftA330 and DH4
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteToronto to Ponta Delgata
Date FlownApril 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
yes
5/10

"web system could not handle request"

(Canada)

Verified Review | Toronto to Gran Canaria via Ponta Delgada. Administration and ticket sales were a huge disappointment. I wanted to fly in business class, but since we had legs of our trip with no business class availability, their web system could not handle the request. There were only 4 seats left for our international legs on the day we were ready to buy (several months in advance of the trip), so I booked through a re-seller (SATA's Toronto office hours are not great on weekends). However, I first checked via email with the Portuguese office to ensure that I would be able to upgrade after purchase. Bought the economy seats for all flights (Toronto to Ponta Delgada to Gran Canaria via Madeira return with a short stop in PD). When I attempted to upgrade our international legs (Toronto to Ponta Delgada return) I was given a price about 50% higher than the business class premium should have been. Eventually one staff member told me that the upgrade now included a fee for changes. The only remedy they offered was for me to check on flight days to see if there were any upgrades available. Of course there were not. (In fact the only response I got in Toronto was a condescending smirk.) I tried contacting customer service and appealing to the logic of other representatives with no good result. I understand penalties for changing dates or downgrading seats, but they should really rethink policies that prevent a passenger from upgrading reasonably. I am unlikely to use the airline again because of this policy. As for the flights - they were on time, or within reason with no threat of missing connections. Flight attendants were pleasant. The food and drinks were not great, but always provided. No hot drinks on short flights; complimentary wine with meals only. There is no on-board entertainment or USB plug ins. There were monitors on the Toronto to Ponta Delgada return flights, but did not work. There was a credit card slot, so perhaps you could pay for service, but I did not see anyone attempt it. Economy seats were not bad for size and comfort. Our Toronto to Ponta Delgada flights were in row 22 just in front of the washroom. This was great for the night flight but not great when passengers are awake. Lots of crying children. (I have no idea how they have the energy to cry so much and so loudly and how their parents can stand listening to it without remedy.) Washrooms were abominable and smelled strongly of urine after about 3 hours into the flight. They did replenish toilet paper and hand towels immediately when made aware of the need.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteToronto to Gran Canaria via Ponta Delgada
Date FlownMarch 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
1/10

"does not care about customer service "

(United States)

&#✅ Verified Review | My husband and I recently traveled to the Azores and arrived home over a day later due to the flight delay of SATA Airlines. I would not recommend that anyone fly with this airline. If you travel with SATA Airlines expect very uncomfortable seats with little to no leg room, extremely limited selection of beverages, No international entertainment with limited Wifi connectability, lengthy flight delays, and No reimbursement for extra expenses caused by SATA. When my husband and I were traveling home from Ponta Delgada to Boston, the flight was delayed for 2 hours before we could even board the plane, so we arrived over 3 hours late into Boston and missed all of our connecting flights to Maryland. We both ending up missing a day of work, since we were placed on stand-by the following day and had to pay out of pocket for a hotel room in Boston that SATA Airlines refused to pay. After reading other reviews, I now see that this airline does not care about customer service and since they do not accept responsibility for their company's repeated flight delays and customer's out of pocket expenses caused by them, they will eventually go out of business or be bought out by another company. I do not recommend SATA Airlines to anyone.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteBoston to Ponta Delgada
Date FlownFebruary 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
2/10

"lowers the bar one more notch"

(Canada)

Verified Review | Toronto to Lisbon via Ponta Delgada. We were flying to Lisbon with 2 carry on bags and 2 bicycles. My wife emailed ahead and confirmed bicycle tranport with weight and dimensions. She asked for price and was repeatedly referred to a website with no costs included on it. She asked again no response, just a website. Chat requests are directed to email. Long story short, the mobile version of their website differs from the dekstop version and omits critical information. I got dinged with significant oversize fees for bikes that i had previously provided info on and asked for cost. A link with the info or a heads up that i was looking at an extra $600 would have been helpful. Do not expect [email protected] to fill in the gaps or do anything beyond the minimum - actually dont even expect "the minimum". Do not expect check in staff to do anything but plead "no authority". If flying out of North America on an evening flight do not expect anyone to be available that has "authority". In fact do not expect to ever speak or IM with anyone. IMs result in being directed to email. No in flight entertainment. Meals and seats were fine. No complaints there. In a hated industry, with ever dissatisfied customers, SATA successfully lowers the bar one more notch.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteToronto to Lisbon via Ponta Delgada
Date FlownFebruary 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
3/10

"undue stress and frustration"

(Canada)

Unverified | We travelled on Flight S4301 from Lisbon to Toronto on Feb 10th. Firstly, the entertainment system did not work on our flight to Lisbon on Jan 7th and still was not working on Feb 10th flight. Most importantly: We never check baggage when flying: however SAT Azores limits cabin baggage to 8 kg so we reluctantly checked two small bags weighing approx 10 kg each. Arriving in Toronto the whole flight's luggage did not arrive on carousel 9 for 1.5 hrs. Other flights landed after us and had baggage on carousels before they got thru customs e.g. Georgetown/Port of Spain, Miami and Reykjavik. 1.5 hrs to get luggage is totally unacceptable - no one can leave for a connecting flight without taking luggage thru customs. This caused undue stress and frustration for the whole flight.
AircraftA330
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLisbon to Toronto
Date FlownFebruary 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
5/10

"fly again if the cheapest option"

(Portugal)

Verified Review | I have mixed reviews. The check in process in Boston was extremely smooth and my flight was right on time. My first leg from Boston to Ponta Delgada was on an old plane with very small seats and tiny overhead bins. I have never been on a plane with smaller seats. I am 5ft 2in and when the tray for the meal came down I couldn't move my legs one bit. We landed in the Azores on time and instead of going through the transit line like the people going to Lisbon, the connecting flight to Porto had to go through immigration and customs (even though I had a boarding pass for my next flight and the flight was made all on one booking), out to the check in area and back through security, only to walk directly back past the transit door on the way to my gate. My next flight to Porto was delayed two hours because the plane was late coming in from Toronto, but delays are expected so that didn't really bother me. My plane going to Porto was a newer plane with large, leather seats and lots of space in the overhead bins. If only that was my plane from Boston I might have gotten some sleep. The flight was smooth and the flight attendants on both flights were nice and helpful. The food was fine, nothing special but not bad. Overall, it wasn't the worst travel experience but not the best. I would fly them again if it was the cheapest option by a significant amount but would probably pay a little extra for a nicer airline.
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteBOS to OPO via PDL
Date FlownJanuary 2017
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no