SATA International

✅ Trip Verified | I flew Boston to Lisbon via Ponta Delgada on Tuesday, June 25th. I was flying with 4 other people, and my daughter purchased four of the tickets (mine and three others together). When we checked in at Logan, the agent tagged the bags incorrectly. When I got to Lisbon on Wednesday, my bag did not, and no one could tell me where it was. My daughter called the agency in Fall River, and a woman said to her that she would need to call Logan lost and found. My daughter then started calling Lost and Found in Lisbon. On Thursday, she emailed Lost and Found in the Azores who then told her that the reason they could not find her bag is that it was mislabeled with someone else's tag if she could describe the contents, which she did. She then called Fall River to ask what the limits of per diem were because of the lost baggage. They told her that they did not know and she would need to ask Lost and Found. Finally, the bag was found in Praia, Cape Verde, but no one could seem to confirm this, and no one could get it out of the country. When my daughter called Sales in the Azores to ask about flights out of Lisbon in case I had to leave earlier than the planned date because I did not have any items left, they told her I would have to pay a change fee. If I did not want to spend a change fee, I would have to get authorization from a Supervisor in Lisbon. The number the woman gave was bogus, and no one could be found. After 85 phone calls (not an exaggeration) and 6 days, my bag finally arrived in Lisbon. Customer service is non-existent; none of their employees (except for one) no anything about anything. One woman even tried to tell her that SATA has no agents in Praia because they don't fly out of there. They fly out twice a week. No one has apologized for screwing up twice and ruining my vacation and for having zero information about anything. Avoid this airline like the plague; it's a nightmare.

✅ Trip Verified | Lisbon to Ponta Delgada via Toronto with SATA International. The aircraft had a change which wasn't mentioned during purchase or at any time ahead of landing, followed by hours on the tarmac here without explanation. This flight should have landed in final destination by now but still on tarmac. Entertainment system has not worked or been switched on at any time during this flight and was given one sandwich, it's looking unlikely that I'll now make connection and there isn't another flight to Toronto for a few days. Its not a good airline, no communication at all and misleading to sell a flight ticket with no mention of one of the stops. And no explanation as to why the entertainment is off.

✅ Trip Verified | Toronto to Lisbon via Ponta Delgada. We chose SATA because it was inexpensive and Portuguese. We were scheduled to depart at 9:55pm on March 17 with a 1-hour layover in Ponta Delgada. We did not leave until 3am on the 18th and our layover was 9 hours. We did not think to keep our boarding passes at the time to seek recompense from SATA. This action required the airline to issue new boarding passes, a legal requirement in cases such as these. They stonewalled the request - meaning they offered excuses but did not comply. Based on their response to this issue, we will never fly SATA again. We did love Portugal, however, and we intend to return - just not on SATA.

Not Verified | This was my return leg to Boston, as I flew into Ponta Delgada via TF Green / Rhode Island Airport in Providence via a A321neo, on their only A330 with its whale livery. Needless to say, Azores Airlines, as they are advertised as that, need to improve on some fronts. In flight entertainment was shallow for a 5 hour flight, as there are only 4 movies, a couple of TV shows and some songs available on the seat back monitors. No games, no map, nothing else, either that, the in flight magazine or whatever you brought inside the plane. Those on the A321neos need to get a app to access the same in flight entertainment as on the A330, as well as Wi-Fi, which they provide on said A321neos for free. Food was not traditionally Azorean, as we had spaghetti with meatballs, which tasted average for a flight. There was some bread with Azorean butter though. Seat was average, cabin staff was average, and everything else about the flight was average. The Azores themselves are interesting as islands, but getting to these interesting islands from America requires a bland airline that needs to improve somewhat.

✅ Trip Verified | Toronto to Ponta Delgada. Our flight was due to leave Toronto for Ponta Delgada, Azores at 9:15 pm but just before leaving for the airport, I learned it had been cancelled. We were put on a flight to Montreal, early the next morning, arriving at 9:30 in time to catch SATA's 11:45 flight to Ponta Delgada. That flight was also cancelled. We waited in the Montreal airport for 14 hours, flnally at 11 pm. boarding a plane that SATA had hired from a Spanish company called Plus Ultra. I had been wary of booking SATA in the first place after reading on this site about their frequent cancellations but since they offer the only direct flights from Canada to the Azores, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. Never again. After two cancellations in a row, I'd say these people need to get their act together.

✅ Trip Verified | August 2018, my husband, myself and my sister in law traveled from Toronto to Ponta Delgada in what we assumed was going to be SATA plane. As it turns out when we arrived at the airport we were redirected to an "infield" wherein we boarded a Plus Ultra plane, as we can assume this was a Spanish plane with Spanish speaking crew. The plane was old and rattled, my chair the headpiece kept falling off I'm going to assume that the air condition was broken as it was incredibly hot (little children had to be with just their diapers) and not one single representative from Sata made themselves available if there were on board. What a horrible experience if this had been our first time travelling with SATA needless to say we would not be travelling with them again. The food was horrible, but I don't expect much from aeroplane food. Hopefully, there will be more choices of airlines in the future if we ever decide to travel to Portugal again.

Not Verified | Avoid booking with SATA, if at all possible. I took a trip on July 31st from Boston to Ponta Delgada in which the final destination was Terceira. The flight from Boston was delayed 5 hours which caused me to miss my morning connecting flight from Ponta Delgada to Terceira. Needless to say, SATA booked me on the very last flight to Terceira, which in turn, was delayed twice for a total of 2 hours. By the time I arrived in Terceira, I had lost an entire day of my vacation which was not long to begin with. Anyone choosing this airline is taking a huge gamble and risks not being able to return to work as planned. As I mentioned earlier, this review has no impact on SATA, the actions of its administration, or even the government that oversees it but will serve as a deterrent to any future travelers who plan on visiting the Azores. Do yourself a favor and find an alternate way to get there, or an alternate vacation spot for that matter. Keep in mind that we are not talking about a budget airline. Passengers pay top dollar to travel on SATA. Meanwhile, politicians have been elected, members of the administration are collecting fat paychecks, people are paying their taxes, and these issues will still be here for years to come.

✅ Trip Verified | I have been traveling with this airline for the past 20 years and each year it gradually gets worse. Seriously, if there was another airline traveling from my area to the Azores I would take it 100% over SATA. They never fail to have delays on every flight, and none ever seem to be less than 4 hours. Customer Service is absolutely, terribly rude so you’re better off complaining to a wall because you wont get your way with them. I am currently stuck in a 13 hour delay on an island I'm completely unfamiliar with while traveling alone, all because they fail to know how to run a proper airline. I was supposed to arrive at Pico at 9am, and I will now not be arriving until 9-10pm. Lost an entire day of vacation that could have spent outside of a miserable, metal airport. And if you think you’re getting even a small portion reimbursed back, you’re better off seeing God himself. I wouldn’t recommend Sata/Azores Airlines to anyone, you’re literally better off swimming here. I have never been so disgusted and irritated with an airline and I’ve been on a handful of awful ones, and SATA by far is the absolute worst.

✅ Trip Verified | Toronto to Lisbon via Ponta Delgada. We fly with some frequency and this is by far and away the worst airline I’ve ever experienced. Rude, zero customer support, vague, and no accountability when flights are delayed. Getting a coupon for lunch doesn’t really recoup over 24hr of lost travel time and hotels. Awful experience.

✅ Trip Verified | Lisbon to Horta. It is infamous for being unreliable due to having an ancient fleet and the temperamental weather in the Azores. My own experience with the airline is reasonable once on board, but very negative on the way there. Initially, I had booked a Business Class ticket because these are flexible and the website promises "free" changes and refunds, and because of the luggage allowance and comfort. When I asked to change the ticket to a different flight on the same day, staff asked for an "admin fee". I pointed out that the website promised this was free, but they ignored this and insisted. I showed them screenshots, showed them the terms and conditions of the ticket, but they would not budge. Ultimately, I cancelled the ticket (which also cost an admin fee despite being promised this was free) because this airline is dishonest, and doesn't deserve the extra revenue. So I booked an economy ticket. When, I realised that the luggage allowance wasn't going to suffice, I checked the website to see if I could pre-pay for extra luggage. There was no such option, but some quick maths revealed that it was cheaper to buy a ticket than to pay for the 23kg of luggage allowance each ticket includes. So, after again looking through the terms and conditions and not finding anything which precludes passengers from buying more than one ticket, that's what I did. (Incidentally, I did the exact same thing for the British Airways flight taking me to Lisbon). After checking in online and choosing two adjacent seats for myself, I turned up at the airport to drop off the luggage. Things did not go well. Staff told me they were cancelling my second ticket. Not only that, but they told me "this is a no refund fare" so they cancelled it without refunding, then charged me the full amount for the extra luggage. I repeatedly asked them to show me which terms and conditions I had broken (none), and which policies they were following (also none), but to no avail. They would not even answer the questions. I pointed out that British Airways had accepted the same solution without a problem the day before, but they just shrugged. It was like talking to - and asking questions of - a brick wall. As I was the only customer there, it wasn't even as if they had a queue of people to worry about - they just would not try to resolve the situation. If you look at the Azores Airlines website, you'll see that their rules and terms are rudimentary. They look as if they were copied from a template document, without being updated by anyone. When faced with any scenario they aren't used to, staff will try to make the problem go away, without any regard for passengers' rights, or legal contracts. They also will not respond to your written complaints (I complained over a month ago) or the Online Dispute Resolution Service their site links to. Unfortunately, when booking a flight with Azores Airlines, you take the risk that the airline takes your money and doesn't hold up its end of the deal. The flight itself was uneventful. On-board staff were ok, and a ham and cheese sandwich was served. There was no vegetarian option (even though I ticked a box during booking), but for a 2.5 hour flight, it's not the end of the world.