SATA Air Azores

London Gatwick-Ponta Delgada Sao Miguel Azores. The outward flight departed on time Airbus A320 aircraft looked in an excellent condition very clean and looked brand new. Flying time 3hrs 40 mins very smooth flight with no turbulence. The crew were very friendly and helpful. A passenger was unwell during the flight and the stewardess was very caring bringing extra drinks cold towels and checked how she was feeling every so often. The flight was approximately three quarters full. The small complimentary baguette tasted nicer than it looked and there was a chocolate bar with tea and coffee. In addition to this there was two rounds of soft drinks water apple juice orange juice etc all complimentary. Alcoholic drinks were available for a charge. The outbound flight was direct but the return flight was via Manchester. The flight left on time just after 1pm and we arrived in Manchester 10 mins early. Flight was very smooth with the same complimentary drinks and sandwiches as the outbound flight. Cabin crew were friendly and very professional. When we landed in Manchester Airport there was some confusion. We knew before hand that we had to disembark the aircraft at Manchester. Some of the passengers were unaware of this and the crew only mentioned that the Gatwick passengers had to disembark when we landed. When the cabin doors opened all of the passengers for Manchester and Gatwick stood up and the crew announced that the Gatwick passengers should sit down to let the Manchester passengers disembark first. If the crew told us this before hand it would have made life much easier. The Gatwick passengers eventually disembarked (with lots of moans and groans) and the passengers were given an in transit boarding card. Gatwick passengers had to take all of their hand luggage to the security check point have the bags scanned and then board the same plane back to Gatwick. The whole process was ridiculous but apparently this is due to UK immigration not SATAs fault. We departed Manchester on the same aircraft 1hr later for the 35 mins flight to Gatwick. We arrived in Gatwick over 20 mins early. Overall very impressed with SATA. Modern aircraft excellent timekeeping with a friendly and professional crew. I will definitely fly with them again.

Boston-PTA Delgada-Boston. Boarding process quite good. Flights left on time. Very attentive cabin crews. Food decent. All in all flights very good. My only complaint is with the US reservation office. Chaotic at best. They do not communicate very well. Don't bother emailing you get no response.

I had a flight from Toronto to Porto with a stop at Ponta Delegana. The flight was scheduled to leave at 10pm. Before leaving the house I decided to go online and check the departure times to make sure it wasn't delayed. It was delayed 2 hours - after I had got ready to leave again checked online again and it was delayed to 2pm the following day. This enraged me as I was paying for my rented car as I was still in Toronto. The following day it was delayed again to 3. I called Sata and it turns out that they divided the Ponta Delegana flight with the Porto flight. This meant that I would be going on a Lisbon airport the day after at 6am. It's not the first time of Sata doing this either.

Toronto to Porto then Lisbon to Ponta Delgada and Ponta Delgada to Toronto. All three flights left and arrived within a few minutes of scheduled times and flight crews were very courteous. Meals as good as any other airlines and wine was probably better. The aircraft were clean and appeared to be well maintained. They had movies during the flight but the plane had the old style drop down TVs. The only real complaint was the flight from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada was originally scheduled for 1250 but was changed to 1630 without anyone notifying us - even though we had provided both cell phone numbers and email. As a result we had to sit around the Lisbon airport for an extra three hours. The seats are also very close together and don't provide a lot of legroom for a long flight. Otherwise everything else was great and we are planning to travel with SATA again.

Toronto to Ponta Delgada and back and flight was exceptional. Service on board was good staff polite. Economy food was okay but I bring my own food anyway. The interior seemed a bit dated legroom was good and there were tv's with movies.

Manchester to Ponta Delgado on San Miguel in the Azores. Got no food or drink for about 3 hours (around 22.00). Had to get off in Gatwick for 1.5 hours while the plane was being cleaned and food put on. Baggage lost for 3 days for self and friend. Trying to get compensation. They won't accept receipts unless the item is named. Now I have to search for the Iban code and BIC/Swift code before we can receive anything. Another member of our crew lost his baggage the next day and 30 other bags had been lost at the same time!

Manchester-Ponta Delgada return avoiding dust situation fortunately. Preferable in-flight service to most crew pleasant meal and wine agreeable. Most satisfied - would look forward to further flights SATA Azores.

We recently travelled to Sao Miguel with 10 members of my family and had a good flight there from the UK. Unfortunately we couldn't fly back to the UK as planned due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. SATA booked us all into a hotel and provided meals for 5 days at their expense until we could be repatriated. A First class service! Well done.

Boston to Azores was on time and a fine flight but the way back was a disaster. Our flight was supposed to take off at 5:45 got delayed to 7:45 delayed again until 8:30 and we finally took off round 10:30pm. This was not due to weather or any unforeseen circumstances it was all SATA's doing. The flight was half full so we think they were trying to get another feeder flight into the flight from Lisbon to make the flight more profitable. Apparently the same thing happened to the flight earlier in the week. They covered dinner at the Ponta Delgada Airport which was nice but they did not cover anything else. We missed our connection in Boston had to stay overnight (at our own cost) and pay higher fees for new tickets the next morning. They said that is was not their policy to cover any other travel issues for any of their customers even if the issues were caused by SATA. Interesting that they promised to upgrade us to Business Class if it was available but when the time came they said they could not - even though seats were available. They said that there were not enough Business Class dinners and as a result they could not let anyone sit in those seats (even if the passengers didn't care to have dinner or were OK with a Coach Class dinner). We were both surprised and astonished but could do nothing since they are the only carrier that goes to the Azores. We will try to avoid this airline at all costs. You should do the same they clearly do not understand the meaning of basic customer service.

Boston to Lisbon and back. The flights were on time. Pleasant crew and food great. Felt very relaxed all the way. The price is the best you could find for this time of the year. I would recommend SATA airlines.