Does anybody have traveled before with Monarch?
 

Hello,
I want to travel next month from Manchester to Tenerife and I found some cheap flights with Monarch. I was wondering if anyone has traveled before with this company and could give me some feedback. I'm really afraid of planes and I have never traveled before even with Ryanair. However, I have traveled several times with Easy-jet. I wouldn't say that is the best company, but at least I felt safe with it. Is Monarch better or the same as Easy jet?

What's your problem with Easyjet? It's impossible to answer your question helpfully if Easyjet hit some nerve of yours incomprehensible to anyone else.

Monarch's fine for what it is: like all the low-cost operators in the British Isles (including Easyjet and Ryanair), it's got an infinitely better safety record than BA, Air France, Lufthansa or any of the big US carriers and is generally good on timekeeping.

For a 2 hour flight, I really can't imagine what else, apart from price, matters.

I don't have problem with Easyjet, but if I find the same price with another company which has not the low-cost profile I will definitely choose the other one.. With EasyJet the seats are quite uncomfortable. I can barely fit there and another thing is that I can ever find place to put my hand luggage. There is never enough space and there have times that they couldn't really help me with that. But apart form that, the most important is not only the price,but the safety... and to Tenerife is round 4 hours of flight, not 2 and I have heard that many people had experienced many ''air pockets'' when they fly to Canary Islands and this make me worry a bit more..

It is though good to hear that has better safety record than other big companies.

Actually, an American airline company (Southwest) has the safest record depending on how you measure them

http://travel.ninemsn.com/holidaytyp...safety-records

I don't understand the issue with a lowcost airline, they are the big companies these days. They also usually have the newest fleet, for example when I flew with Ryanair a week or so ago, it was on a 737-800 which is brand new. Same with Easyjet which is the UK's largest carrier. You can purchase speedy boarding if you want your seat allocated beforehand and if you have too much luggage then you need to check it in (purchase bags beforehand). Which is something else I don't understand, is the taking onboard of roll-on luggage the whole time. With some of the small out of the way airports that some of the LCC's use, the luggage is on the belt before I even get thru passport control.

To answer the question, there is nothing wrong with Monarch and there is no reason to avoid them. Yes I have flown them to Italy for a skiing holiday and it's a popular airline.

Flown Monarch many times, still here. Ryanair's main problem is about their relationships (with customers and suppliers) their actual aircraft are ok and made by the same guys who make everyone else's.

Odin thank you for your help. I don't have problem with a lowcost airline. I just mentioned Easyjet to make a comparison. And Inever had a flight with Ryanair because I always found better price with Easyjet for the destinations I choose. But my question was about Monarch: if it safe or not, as I have never flown with it and I am really afraid of planes.. And I need feedback, not critic. As for the luggage policy, I surely know that I can have one hand luggage and I always carry a small one. But it is frustrating every time not to find place to put the hand luggage above your seat and need to find place in other people's seats.

Thank you bilboburgler for your post. I have heard about Ryanair's customer service that is not so good..

Consider someplace other than Tenerife for this trip. Flights can get bouncy when you fly over mountains, tall ones, and when the plane makes the transition from over land to over water and vice versa.

Save Tenerife for when you have a few more successful flights under your belt.

I've not had an issue with Ryanair customer service either.

When I returned from Sweden a week or so ago, the flight was delayed 5 hours due to heavy snow which resulted in the closure of the runway. Ryanair disembarked the passengers from our flight (we were onboard when the runway closure was announced) so we could sit in departures. They gave passengers EUR5 voucher to use at the restaurant which is the same amount a scheduled airline would give.

There were 5 Ryanair flights impacted, none got actually cancelled, for one of the flights, the passengers were transferred to another airport where they had flown in another aircraft & crew to take them home. On my flight, they had flown in a plane & crew from somewhere else to operate the flight (unsure what happened to the original crew, maybe they were over their hours). In the meantime, I received an apology email from Ryanair with details of the flight delay for travel insurance purposes and options for rebooking if I wanted to take myself off the flight. The only flight that got cancelled was on another airline.

And it's not the first time either, I had similar experience when another Ryanair flight from Malmo was diverted to Luton due to fog, in this case Ryanair laid on a coach transfer to the original airport.

My one trip with Monarch was before the budget-airline proliferation, when charters dominated the lower end of the market. It was okay for those days, long enough ago that smoking was still allowed. My only point: They've been around for awhile, through changing times when poor airlines, at least in competitive markets, don't survive. Just tailor your expectations to the price level.

It seems that is not so bad.. I think I will give it a try.. and will share my experience with Monarch next month. I just hope that it's not going to be too bouncy...