Martinair Review

Good Points
The toilets were clean at the beginning of the flight, and one or two of the flight attendants were polite and friendly. The newspapers are free, as is the first glass of wine. If there is no toilet tissue, there may still be paper towelling. I have never had a problem with lost luggage on a non-stop flight. At their worst, Martinair's service is still better than my experiences on Air France.

Bad Points
Yesterday I received the call that my next flight, in September 2007 has been cancelled. Boarding flight passengers are treated as and behave in the manner of herded animals. Late flights cause missed connections for ground transportation. Meal entrees are best avoided. There were no blankets in comfort class in 2007, which is different from 2005. This flight was late. Unfortunately, this is not unusual with Martinair. I switched to Comfort Class, paying extra, after one flight from Amsterdam when I was seated next to a toddler who cried, jumped up on the seat, repeatedly kicked me (!) and squirmed in his seat. I was unable to sleep, trapped and miserable for hours. Of course, the mother did nothing when I asked If she could please control her child. Some of the flight attendants had no time or inclination to monitor passenger comfort. Food and drink service are interminably slow. Toilets' floors are wet for the last few hours of flight. And on one of the flights, the aircraft was changed and I was placed in a completely different seat location (I had additionally paid 65 EUR for a reserved seat) with no window; no comfort for the claustrophobe.

General Comments
The price of all airline travel has increased, the quality of service from this and all airlines I have flown during the past four years has not. I have flown with Martinair for five flights during the past two years. The planes are older, carryon bags are restricted in size and number, yet this policy is not enforced in a fair manner by the check-in employees. I was made to check a piece of carryon luggage on a previous flight, then saw passengers with three bags, who were allowed to board. I was told by a Martinair employee that if people "hide" their carryon bags at check-in, there is "nothing" the airline can do. MY NEXT FLIGHT IN SEPTEMBER 2007 HAS BEEN CANCELLED, AND AT THIS MOMENT MARTINAIR'S COMPUTERS ARE DOWN, so I am left in limbo and must return to the telephone queue for service. This is disheartening and has eroded my confidence in Martinair as a reputable airline corporation.