Highlights were the food and wonderful staff. Airplanes were exceptionally clean.
Aegan Airlines compensates for its outdated business-class seats with excellent food and onboard crew service. Launge was also excellent.
For a business class, it barely met the standards of a basic economy on most carriers. The seat would barely recline; no pillow or blanket unless you ask a crew member; no leg rest (at least in the 1st row). The crew was friendly and attentive, except for one male crew member who was very inconsiderate toward many business passengers who were already sleeping or trying to sleep, slamming the doors of the kitchen compartments. He did so twice till another passenger complained to him. Overall, business class is an economy experience except for the food.
On every Aegean flight it seems, they ask people to check in carry on luggage. That seems to happen less often with other airlines for some reason. The food is very basic for a full service airline. We do not need a meal with trays, but something of higher quality (even just higher quality pies) would be better. The cabin crew was very nice and professional, though.
Seats that recline. Ice for soft drinks. No charge for did drinks. Wifi.
Aegean Airlines was great! Great spirit, very helpful and efficient. Overall Aegean Airlines was a great experience.
The flight was excellent but the onboard WiFi wasn’t working.
The flight was full. The young man in the seat in front of me had reclined and I asked him to put the seat up just a bit because it was encroaching my space quite a lot. Turned out he couldn't because the mechanism was broken. The choice was all the way up or all the way down, no in-between.
The seat was hard as a rock. Business class seats were coach seats with no one in the middle. Service and food were excellent.
The crew was awesome. There was a school group of about 60 14 year-olds. The food is standard greek fare, Baklava was pre-packaged like it would normally be sold in a vending machine, and it was the highlight of the meal. Plane was in great shape, and seating was like a any A319 you would experience at a national-level carrier (i.e. not like Ryan Air). Like many European airports, they bused us to the plane, so the process of boarding groups is useless, and not well understood by infrequent travelers.
The service, the crew, the cleanliness, and most of all, the comfort and space between seats in the economy class was excellent! The seat spacing was better than all my international flights in recent memory.
I stood in line for two hours חודא to drop off my suitcase. When I arrived just before the gate closed and asked to drink the water I bought a minute before boarding, the flight attendant rushed me to throw away the bottle and get on the plane. She spoke rudely, even though I had been standing in different lines for 3 hours; I felt bad and needed water. The delay was the airline's fault, not my fault. I expected understanding, not rudeness.
Extremely expensive airlines! Very tights leg room although I was upgrading my seats. Flights attendants hit you when they walk by due to very narrow gap. Food was bad. Cold AC, they did not agree to change it. Wi-Fi did not work. Do yourself a favor and avoid ElAl!
The space between my knees and the chair in front of me was the smallest I’ve ever seen. I could not reach the blanket that was on the floor. The entertainment included very many Israeli movies and tv shows. The El Al app did not update to tell me the gate. The most important thing you should know is that El Al is very security conscious. Prepare to go through a security check at the gate. They look through the passport and boarding pass, through your carry on bags, ask questions, etc. Then they give you a sticker and only then can you board. So get to the gate about half an hour before you would otherwise.
The entertainment was mostly Israeli movies and tv shows. Food was good though. Flight was incredibly full with very religious Orthodox Jews. Maybe they had a convention.
Flight was super full. I had to check in my carry on bag. They didn’t give me a seat until the very last minute - during boarding.
We got upgrade to premium It’s another way and feeling flying premium then economy…
Poor service! If I can I will never fly with them again.
Great quality food. clean cabin and bathrooms. Fast boarding and overall comfortable flight for the duration and times.
Underpricer was a nightmare to deal with they would not help us and blamed the airline and the airline said underpricer just lies. So no we were not happy! The crew on the plane was wonderful.
The lady at the check-in got into a complication with the computer and didn't know how to get out of it even though they came several times to help her and direct her until finally the lady from the other position did the check-in. Just before take off they announced a delay that took two whole hours and caused a lot of trouble starting with the fact that we were hungry and they didn't even give us a glass of water (we asked and they said no) I am a sick person who takes medication (diabetes and heart disease). And this delay made me sicker. order a taxi again. after to work. and more
The flight was late with no explanation given to the passengers.
Overall a good experience for a short low cost flight . Boarding and departure was on time, crew was nice, airplane conditions were ok. The Heraklion airport is not convinient at all, especially as it doesn’t have an air conditioner. But this is not related to BlueBird.
I think I will never fly agsin with Blue Bird
The check in was really bad. This was my worst experience as far as i can remember. Very slow without any real reason.
There was a delay on the flight, in addition although there was a delay there was a last boarding sign earlier than the boarding time. So overall - stressed to come quickly to board and then waited a long time and arrived later than planned
Awful. Got charged full price for bags at the airport because there is no way to pay in advance even though it says you can. Plane wasn’t loaded with enough paper cups for the whole flight to even have water.
From New York to Tel Aviv, the flight was horrible unfortunately we were delayed standing in the aircraft for four hours, when we got off Tel Aviv, the belt was broken and we had to wait additional two hours for our suitcases. Finally, when I received my suitcases one of them was broken and when I got home the entire content all of my clothes and gifts were soaked in water, since they broke my suitcase and due to the fact that the suitcase was outside in the rain, I tried to contact arkia, but couldn’t get in touch. Also my suitcases was returned however they made me pay additional 100 shekel for a replacement and the suitcase that they broke was much more expensive than the one they replaced overall the experience from JFK to Tel Aviv was horrible, not comfortable by all means and to top it all up all of my gifts and content was soaked. I had to dry clean all of it.
As a low-cost flight, I understood that not all amenities would be included. However, booking through a Kayak agent rather than directly with the airline created significant issues. We were unable to add checked bags in advance and had to pay $140 per bag at check-in. We also couldn't select seats and were assigned to the last row. Most frustratingly, there was no customer support available—neither Arkia (who didn't answer phone calls or emails) nor AirfareAssist (who also didn't respond to emails) could help resolve these issues. Once aboard, the flight experience met expectations for a low-cost carrier. No complaints there. Recommendation: Book directly with the airline to avoid these third-party booking complications.
The flight was 3 hours late. No notice in advance. The plane was not clean.
I wasn’t registered for the Flight Took them long time to approve Thanks god, the flight wasn’t full. After they approved to let me fly, they fight with me about luggage ( I paid in advance for 2) It was a nightmare The airplane was very dirty and I was very disappointed I will never fly with Arkia
This airline is known for shifting flights timetable, cancelling them altogether and overall you feel that you are in a charter flight (oh they do that too quite often). Rates aren't so cheap to make up for the overall experience so it is advised to mind the alternatives before booking.
The flight was cancelled. I'm still waiting for a refund from the agent from which I made the order on Kayak app
TERRIBLE. THE ONLINE CHECK-IN REQUIRED CHOOSING FROM A DROP-DOWN MENU THE AIRPORT OF DEPARTURE. PARIS WAS NOT A CHOICE AND COULD NOT BE ENTERED MANUALLY. THE WHEELCHAIR SERVICE RESPONSIBLE TO TAKE ME From My Arrival Delta three hours in advance refused to take me from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 without the Arkiya Boarding pass. I was helpless and missed the flight to TLV. I had to buy a separate ticket one way on Elal at 14:30 from Terminal 3 and PAY $715. ADDITIONAL MONEY. I DEMAND THAT ARKIYA REIMBURSE ME FOR THAT $715.00 DUE TO THEIR INOPERATIVE ONLINE CHECK IN THAT PREVENTED. ME FROM MAKING THE FLIGHT
Crew was super nice, boarding was fast (all trolleys were asked to be checked in), no entertainment at all, food - well, better if one brings ones own, and, surprisingly, they kept the schedule. This time around - 2 thumbs up.
I liked: Helpful, informative, pleasant crew. Could be Better: Check in. Stowage space General cleanliness especially toilets. Ugh!
