SATA Air Azores

London Gatwick to Ponta Delgada. After reading negative reviews I was petrified about our first flying family holiday with our 4 and 9 year old. Spending a week on Sao Miguel and a week on Faial. 4 flights, right down to inter island 36 seater prop job. Best flights we've had, smooth, inflight service was always warm and happy, few delays but they always made it to destination on or before time. Family and kids first policy I thought was really helpful. Could not recommend SATA enough. Clean planes, blue leather seats across all fleet.

✅ Verified Review | I made a round trip with SATA Air Azores from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada. The Blue lounge in Lisbon is nothing to write home about. First of all its located on the other side of the airport from where the SATA flights depart. Second the lounge was dirty. Not a good first impression when you fly business class. The flight to Ponta Delgada continues onward to Boston and boarding was quite chaotic. Boarding was announced and we had to make 2 queues which everybody did. There is no priority boarding with this airline. After the announcement nothing happened for 30 minutes and all out of sudden the announcement was made that passengers for Ponta Delgada should be standing in the right row and passengers for Boston should be standing in the left row so everybody had to switch positions again. After scanning the boarding passes it was down on the stairs were everybody had to wait for another 20 minutes before the busses arrived. After the ride to the remote stand we had to wait again for 15 minutes on the bus because the aircraft was not ready yet. During boarding there was no welcome from the crew. It seems they were too busy chit chatting with each other. The flight departed an hour late from scheduled departure time. The aircraft was clean but looked a bit outdated from the inside, strange since this aircraft is very new to their fleet. Food was very good. However the entertainment system is not working. After lunch I wanted to relax a little and decided to recline my seat (2K) which did not work. After notifying the crew that my seat was broken I was told: "It's just a short flight!" and that was it. Not a great attitude towards a business class passenger. On the way back to Lisbon it was a better experience. The lounge at Ponta Delgada airport is small but it's just a tiny airport so no problem. There were some fresh fruits, cookies, crackers, nuts and sufficient drinks in the lounge. The flight to Lisbon on the A320 departed on time this time. A friendly welcome from the crew and I settled into my seat. No real business class seats on the A320 but a standard economy seat with the middle seat blocked. Service on this flight was good. The crew was interested if I liked my stay on the Azores. Food on this flight was not so great. We got a very dry samosa with some vegetables and potatoes which were cold and very salty. The flight did arrive on time in Lisbon and after a bus ride from the remote stand (again) I arrived at the terminal building for my next flight to Amsterdam. To sum it up: On my outbound flight to the Azores the food was good but the crew was rude and the lounge was a mess. On the inbound flight the lounge and the crew was great but the food was not.

✅ Verified Review | Horta to London Heathrow via Lisbon. A lack of customer care and support left us frustrated at Lisbon. Technical issues with the Horta to Lisbon flight meant that we were just in time to board our scheduled connection to London. Our luggage was not - it hadn't been deplaned from the Horta flight. We were given two choices - board the connection now and the luggage might follow today - or tomorrow and it was our responsibility to collect from London Heathrow. Or wait for the next flight three hours later. No choice then as no one wants to be separated from their luggage at Heathrow. I accept that flights can be delayed but the complete lack of ground support from SATA for travelers with connecting flights (even under code share) is unforgiveable. From other reviews it looks like a nice little airline has lost its way in customer service and support. Oh and don't get me started on the in-flight catering - possibly the driest sandwiches in recorded history.

✅ Verified Review | I took 5 times a SATA flight within my 3 weeks holidays. They all were delayed. The last one, from Ponta Delgada to Lisbon was 1 hour delayed, so that I couldn't get my connectin flight back to Toulouse at 3:00 p.m. and had to take a flight (TAP) at 9:10 pm; which has been 1 hour delayed too. So that I arrived around 1:00 a.m. instead of 5:45 pm, and no other means to go further to my home city 60 km away. Thanks to SATA, I arrived in Toulouse with 7 hours delay. SATA gave me just a 10€ voucher for a dinner at Lisbon airport, not even for a drink. The food onboard was quite uneatable. The ground staff was apparently not involved in what would happen to me after this delay, it seemed it was not their problem. I deeply regret SATA being the only way to get to Azores, and I think I will not go back there just because I don't want to fly ever again with this airline. My complain to customer's service has not got any answer so far.

✅ Verified Review | Toronto to Funchal via Ponta Delgada. This is not the first time we fly SATA Air Azores, I'm very disappointed with the service and planes we have available to the Acores! Very stuffy (no air) no movies! Actually we were giving the earphone (but never saw a movie) it's a long flight so entertainment is a plus! Why do we (flying from Canada) have to fly in old aircrafts when Boston have the new ones? If there was other planes to the Acores we would never fly SATA Air Azores! My whole family travel to the Acores every year!

✅ Verified Review | Boston to Ponta Delgada with SATA Air Azores. I was very disappointed with this airline, the seats were extremely small, and I am only 5'4", so I can imagine how bad it was for taller people. The flight to Ponta Delgada is an overnight flight, but the lights kept coming on and off the whole flight. They served a meal a few hours into the flight, but it smelt so bad (and I was woken up from sleeping) that I didn't try any. The food on the way back to Boston was edible, though. We left Boston almost 45 minutes late as well. We also flew from Ponta Delgada to Santa Maria for a few days, and that 15 minute flight each way was on time and fine. When we left Ponta Delgada to return to Boston, the flight was an hour late leaving, making me miss my flight back home to Phoenix. They spent the time busing us all from the gate to the plane, even though they made us walk the distance when we first arrived, and that process was slow and unorganized. I have never seen such a disorganized airline, even in Boston, they don't have lanes to line up in, so everyone crowds the doorway, making it impossible for the people who are supposed to be boarding to board. This happened on all flights, very disorganized and no semblance of order for the passengers. The video and entertainment systems did not work on any of the flights, either. I really hope to return to the Azores Islands, as they were beautiful, but I really hope there are better (and more) choices for flights the next time I go.

✅ Verified Review | Boston to Ponta Delgada with SATA. Just like every other airline tryingg to scrape every last dollar out at any cost. Lights stayed on on the overnight flight, no free booze, no TV, terrible food, very small seats/leg room, flight departure changed times +/- 2 hours several times without notice due to poor logistical planning on their part.

✅ Verified Review | I recently flew SATA Air Azores from Lisbon to Boston, with a stop in Ponta Delgada, and they surpassed my expectations. They served lunch on the first sector, even though it was a relatively short flight. On the second sector, they served a full dinner and the food was surprisingly very good. The selection of wines was also great. The crew were very attentive and worked hard throughout the flight. They tried their best to make the passengers happy and I would fly this airline again. The A330 we flew on looked brand new.

I flew with SATA Air Azores in December 2015 from Toronto to Lisbon. The aircraft interior was a bit old. They had those small TV screens overhead playing VHS tapes. I found it quite amusing. They didn't play any movies on it, instead they had little ads and commercials and destination guides. I couldn't sleep that well as the crew kept coming down the aisles and switching the lights on, despite it being an overnight flight (was only 5 hours long though). The staff were nice, although it wouldn't hurt them to smile a bit more. The food was ok. I had brought my ipad to watch movies on, you might want to do this to pass the time. The main thing is that it was a safe flight. Overall, I would fly them again as the cheap price gets my nod. I would just make sure to bring some entertainment along.

We had no problems with SATA during this trip. We were a bit scared based on other reviews, but the trip was very smooth. In fact, after flying other American based airlines, it may seem a bit luxurious. They offer you drinks and a full meal. The meal was nothing special, but it was a nice gesture to get you through the flight. I did think it was weird that they served dinner at 11:30 pm on an overnight flight. It would have made more sense to serve a breakfast, since the flight landed at 7 am. The chairs on the side of the airplane reclined a lot, which was my biggest complaint. This led to a really rude couple in front of us taking full advantage of it. With the seat fully reclined, we did feel pretty cramped. But, overall we will definitely fly them again.