SATA International

Yet again SATA has cancelled its London / Manchester to Ponta Delgada flights with little notice and making no effort to assist passengers who have had to either cancel their plans completely or alternatively book expensive last minute flights between London via Lisbon which means they fully benefit from the ticket between Lisbon and Ponta Delgada. I have complained about the situation to Customer Services (they don't know the meaning of the word) and the European Commission as have my friends and no one as usual receives a reply from the airline. Please be aware that this company has a complete monopoly on certain routes in and out of these islands (sometimes with a TAP codeshare) and you are at their mercy. They do not respond to complaints properly (or at all in many cases) particularly if something is serious. Open competition will come to these routes soon and maybe then this airline will have to treat its customers with respect. If you do actually fly with them on a flight you will find service standards to be good.

LGW-PDL-LGW. One flight a week from Gatwick to Ponta Delgada. Very friendly crew on outbound and return meals adequate drinks adequate. Staff in Ponta Delgada very helpful. Good value flights shame that their Euro 50 last minute upgrade didn't apply to London legs. Business was empty both ways.

A310-300 flight from PDL to BOS. The aircraft had to detour to Santa Maria because fuel in PDL was contaminated. The flight to BOS was torture : cabin was very hot and there was no effort to cool it down. There are no individual air blowers for each passenger so things became miserable. Passengers were using magazines to try and cool off and turning the light fixtures thinking that they were air controls. The pitch between seats was very small (I was unable to read a book when the passenger in front pushed back their seat). On a long flight from the Azores to Boston there was one meal and one beverage service in economy. The sound systems for passengers was not working so no one was able to listen to the movie not tune in audio channels. The crew sat in the back and chatted.

Dublin to Faro return on a charter flight with SATA and was impressed. The staff were professional and service very good. Seats were reasonably comfortable and plane was modern. There was even a complimentary food and drink service onboard which was a pleasant surprise.

FNC-LPA-FNC economy. The checkin was pleasant and efficient at both ends and the inflight service perfectly acceptable. The seats gave me enough room even though I am over 6ft. Crew professional. All in all the experience was better than I expected and I would be happy to fly SATA again.

I have travelled between Lisbon and Punta Cana and both trips were ok. The crew was quite sympathetic. The seats were comfortable and the movies that were played during both flights were good. Both flights were on time.

I use them frequently between Madeira Island and Lisbon. Their product is better than TAP or SATA Internacional. Food better than standard attentive cabin crew confortable chairs and generally on time. Only thing they can improve is by making some renovations in their planes as they are already showing their age.

Manchester to Ponta Delgada return. We were pleasantly surprised. Both flights left and arrived on time. Although there was no choice the food was good and tasty. The cabin crew were excellent and looked as though they enjoyed their jobs. Seat pitch was better than many European carriers I have used. IFE a dead loss. If entertainment is important to you bring your own.