Monarch - www.monarch.co.uk Review

Oh my oh my oh my, I don't quite know where to begin. We'd heard awful things about this airline but you cannot argue with £100 a ticket. The check-in for the outbound flight went swiftly, boarding was fast and we took off on time. In fact, the flight got in 30 minutes early. The cabin crew were friendly and efficient. That is where my praise ENDS. We worked out very quickly why they can do it all so inexpensively. They cram the seats in. I'm not even 5' tall and my knees were cramped. Never mind my 5'10" husband, or anyone even taller. They charge for food, which most airlines do now, but frankly I'd rather spend an extra £5 on a ticket and get fed than have the cabin crew hawking vile looking sandwiches and chocolates and crisps up and down the aisles every 5 minutes. They said coffee and tea were free but when I asked for a glass of water (it is my understanding that they are legally required to provide free water), I got handed a bottle and charged £1.50. Now not only is that not free, but that is three times the £0.50 a bottle of water usually costs me. Then it took something like 30 minutes once we were through customs before the luggage even began to come through. Same thing both ways.



Then there's the return flight. The Monarch website says to get to the airport at least 2 hours before the flight. We assumed the 'at least' meant get there over 2 hours before, if possible. When we got there it took ages to find the check in desk (it was not posted anywhere, not the airline's fault though) and there was a massive queue already. It was 2 hours and 15 minutes before the flight and the check-in desks were not open. They did not, in fact, open until 1hr 30 min before the flight and then were chaotic, slow and did not follow the queue. In fact the service was quite rude. The lady kept walking away from the desk to talk to her mate at the next desk while in the middle of serving someone.



The bad weather meant that first we were delayed boarding, then sat on the runway for ages. All I can say is the captain was equally annoyed with the service he got on the ground and at least gave us a running commentary on what was going on.



I was massively uncomfortable, tired and hungry but there was no way I was spending over the odds to give the cheapskates extra money at a ridiculous markup. So there you go.