Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Flights, Airlines and Airports => Flights to Dalaman and Turkey, Airlines and Airports => Topic started by: Scunner on April 26, 2013, 23:44:59 PM
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With the exception of my old mate Kenkay (who is biased because his daughter works for them ;) ) - what are member's thoughts on Monarch?
The reason I ask is that although mine are relatively few, they are generally dire. Nice planes, nice staff, always delays. The last time we flew with Monarch was to Rhodes, where we were to arrive at our hotel around midnight, but were so delayed that we walked straight in to breakfast after putting our bags in the room.
Now Easyjet give you a seat number and the ridiculous scrum at the gate is no longer required I think they are my favourite but for the destination and dates Monarch are the cheapest by quite some margin
Any thoughts or opinions on them?
Cheers!
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Used them last year. Out - ok. Back - crap..
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Using again in June. Tesco vouchers ;)
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Ah yes that was your two planes fiasco wasn't it..?
I can't remember being delayed on Easyjet by any significant time on non UK to UK flights, even out of Dalaman - they always seem to make the time up when delayed a little. Same with Jet2. My track record with Monarch is fairly opposite to that.
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I have flown with them about 5 or 6 times and never had a problem. I would choose them over Thomas Crook any day.
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I'd choose the dolmus over Thomas Cook :D
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We were on the same flight as Stoop for the two planes saga. It was intended to send an A330 for the original flight but they couldn't staff up to crew it. (I've got to stop our Joanne taking maternity leave :)) Instead they sent two A321s but obviously they couldn't arrive together. I'm told that they studied the passenger list and sent the more needy families on the first, as scheduled, flight. This is the only real delay I've had with Monarch and the 20% familly discount more than compensates ;)
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We nearly always get delayed on Monarch
But do like the flight times.
The prices are ok if you go outside
School Holls.
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Frequently used them and never a problem. If you have a booking with them at the moment, if you want to order a meal, there is a 25% discount available if you book it now - offer expires tomorrow.
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Flown many times with Monarch and no real delays. They are now the only flights offering extra leg room (apart from emergency exits) since jet2 removed theirs, so will be pretty popular with us now.
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Various family members have used them, been ok getting here but have been some 4 and 5 hour delays going back
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Ken,
I was told that they messed up and simply put the late arrivals on the early plane. I did get an apology, my money back for the pre- booked seats and a bottle of champagne (full size) on our next flight (in June).
I've flown with them in the distant past and they were great. Now they are just another cheap airline but don't seem to do it as well as the others. However, times and price have made me try again this summer. Easyjet for Portugal though as I used my Emirate miles :)
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I wish they were a cheap airline Stoop.
Come back Aegean all is forgiven.
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Using them in 3 weeks time for the first time this thread is filling me with confidence about them......not :(
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This is the only real delay I've had with Monarch and the 20% familly discount more than compensates ;)
Do you know, we've known each other many years Ken and over that time I've started to see you as a bit of a father figure.
Is that enough for me to use the 20% family discount too :D
I guess it is all down to personal experiences, which can be quite different. My experience of Monarch is pretty awful over many years and some on here have never had a problem. I have the same experience of Easyjet, always seem like a well oiled machine and on time always. I think for the price difference I will take my chances with Monarch. Knowing my luck I'd pay the extra Easyjet want and it will be them who are delayed as the Monarch flight departs 10 minutes early :D
Surely has to be better than Thomas Cook - I have developed quite a hate of them over the years, I rarely even check their prices these days :(
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Last flew Monarch a couple of years ago now. No problems that I can remember. Food crap though! Buy your own at airport to take on board.
Would use them again if they were cheaper than easyjet.
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We've used them quite a few times, only had one delay, that was last June for approx 1 hour delay, so not too bad, fingers crossed i'm not about to jinx us for this Junes flight!!!! Staff are always friendly, take our own food. To be honest, we have often got to our destination a bit early, roll on June :D
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Mmm... Booked with them in May and then again in August. Wondered why they were so much cheaper... : :)
I had a 5 hour delay with Easyjet first time I went to Portugal. The worst part of it was that they have no ground staff so we were told there was a delay but not whether it was 1/2 hour or 48 hours. People were getting quite angry at the lack of information. I think people can cope with quite a lot if they know what's going on.
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Thanks all, the replies are genuinely appreciated. I suppose previous experiences have no relevance to future performance. I checked Jet2 on Thursday and they were £121 one way - I like Jet2. However on Friday the same flight was incredibly £252. I'm a fan of Easyjet but will now bite the bullet and book with Monarch - a saving over Easyjet of £236 one way for our party has helped me take a chance on Monarch :D
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Don't forget the discount code Keith :)
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Never
And the Quidco - I was taught by Crabbit ;)
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Lol
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Thanks all, the replies are genuinely appreciated. I suppose previous experiences have no relevance to future performance. I checked Jet2 on Thursday and they were £121 one way - I like Jet2. However on Friday the same flight was incredibly £252. I'm a fan of Easyjet but will now bite the bullet and book with Monarch - a saving over Easyjet of £236 one way for our party has helped me take a chance on Monarch :D
Pity our Joanne's on maternity leave, I'd have bought you a drink through her. If she was on it of course :( silly me :D. Interestingly all our Manchester Tuesday flights are on Airbus 330s this year. Two aisles 3-4-3
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Ours have gone out on time with them, and everything has been great. t cook is the nightmare for us,always a problem. People warned us about onur air, and thats got to be the best flying experience we have had.
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We have used Thomas Cook, Monarch, Easyjet and KTHY before it went bust and of all of these we have had more delays with Monarch than the others.
Easyjet was by far the best overall experience but they are now so pricey, Monarch it is this year for flight times and dates.....
Hope everyone whoever they travel with have a good journey :) :)
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mmmm we have the delights of Monach on Thursday....I shall be able to report. In the past we've experienced delay after delay with them....one was 11 hours going out to the greek islands, not funny. We were persuaded to try again because of the price, much cheaper that Sleazy this time around. Fingers crossed.......
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teetee you have brought back good memories when you mentioned Kthy now their was a proper airline.In the five/six years we used never late, good food incl free drinks( incl bottles of vino), decent seating 25kg hold luggage. on arrival only a handful getting of at DLM (the rest onto Ercan) the speedy passage thro A/P (visas,baggage reclaim)How could they fail...now I remember something to do with the 400+staff and only six aircraft!!!Oh well good while it lasted.
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We're veering off topic into memories :)
Couldn't agree more Dave, KTHY were magnificent, for all the reasons you mentioned. We actually moved to Turkey on a KTHY one way from Stansted. 88 kg over between the 4 of us, no charge at all :D
Another good one was British Midland/BMI who did Dalaman for a short time. They were excellent and used to take off from Dalaman, land at Antalya, pick up some golfers and then off to Blighty.
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Still off subject but KTHY had a great early morning Friday slot at Gatwick about 7am which was perfect......memories ;)
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Yes indeed - I can't remember the last time I arrived at Dalaman in daylight :(
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No Scunner but if you ever do you will pay handsomely for the privilege ;)
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Actually last time I did, I didn't pay handsomely. It was a delayed TC flight that landed after daybreak the next morning :D
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Not really what I would call a bargin then ;) Hope our Monarch afternoon flights in a couple of weeks are on time as we may just get there in time for a bit of daylight.......19.50
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Just updating this.
Flying out with them from Mancland we flew on an Airbus A321. Very cramped legroom-wise. Also delayed about 50 mins but we landed only 1/2 hour late. Not a bad experience and they were good to their word on the free bottle of champagne so that helped :)
Coming back was on a wide boddied A300 with the 3-3-3 seating arrangement and there was far more legroom. Great flight. Set off on time and landed 5 mins early. No champagne though ;)
All in all I would use them again. It cost us £505 for two adults with 20kg each. Booked back end of last year. The big draw for us is that we can use our Tesco vouchers. We had £200 worth which knocked £300 off the cost of the flight :)
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Must have missed this subject on the forum, but would like to add we always use Monarch, from Luton airport, as it is local to us, we have never had more than a half hour delay, I pick the seats on-line, and book in our luggage, meal etc. We have had several really good meals, with tea/coffee (not cordon bleu, but very acceptable.) If you book in online there is no queuing, and we have always had very good cabin staff, and as we like to sit in the front row if possible, we usually manage to have some banter with them.
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Hi
Tend to fly from Manchester with Monarch on a regular basis now and only been delayed once. Cabin staff are reasonable, but still room for improvement. With the 7.15am flight it gets you into Dalaman in the daylight. The only thing is though it is an early morning start. :)
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Hi
Cabin staff are reasonable, but still room for improvement. :)
Can you please explain this comment. I know a "cabin staff" and I bet you are one of the customers who she thinks is a pratt.
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We are just back from our annual pilgrimage. Flew both ways with Monarch - Excellent in both directions, would book again no question.
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I must admit I found the cabin staff excellent on both flights.
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Kenkay you need to be careful in passing judgement. :P
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Quite right - there's just the one t in prat . Having said that I've always found Monarch to be very good.
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I tend to use Monarch as their prices are competitive and flight times from Birmingham are in the daytime. However I have noticed that delays between a half hour to 1 hour were more frequent. The pilot blamed the delay on a slow turnaround at Rome for one delay and another was to replace a brake part. I have checked the flight on the flightstats website and the airline does have a poorer performance than Thomas Cook. Average delay overall was 13 minutes. Would still book with them for the flight times and prices though.
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I am murder for checking Monarch flights to find out when they are the cheapest. After a lot of ground work I have found the best time to book with them is on a Monday,after 12pm. For some reason the prices drop significantly at this time.
Example..
Last Monday, 2 return tickets from Manchester to Dalaman £329.00. Tuesday and rest of week £379.00 for same flight. Today at 12.30, same flight £299.00. Check it out, its amazing but don't tell everybody.
Oh "Bloody Hell" I have done !!!!!!!!!!
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Kenkay you need to be careful in passing judgement. :P
Why?
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recently had brilliant Monarch flight, not a full flight so had three seats to sleep on, no delays on return flight in fact we arrived 20 mins ahead of schedule to Gatwick... hubby had a delay coming out but was not the airlines fault, a plane caught fire at Heathrow just as his flight had taxied so all flights due to land at Heathrow were diverted to land at Gatwick therefore nothing was taking off from Gatwick, this would have been all airlines and was just bad luck and timing! in fact it was a lovely plane defo more leg room then Thomas Cook, nice friendly cabin staff who in my opinion seemed to take the fact that it was a night flight into account and got the trolley parts over with fairly quickly as they knew people would want to sleep :)
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no problems
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Kenkay you need to be careful in passing judgement. :P
Why?
Short memory I think! Your quote Kenkay from July 2009
What right do you have to categorise what type are or are not Mc Donaldites[?] I have many friends including family who would take exception to your listing. However I'm sure that they'd all agree to categorise you as a pompous, supercillious prat. Good job I replied to this sober or I might have been rude )
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anyone is better than Onur Air
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Must have been lucky,never had any probs with Onur,only H4U
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Just checking out Monarch for flights to Dalaman in October, less than £200 each including luggage, seats, meals, taxes etc. This is cheaper than last year, so including transfers, apartment rental etc we are having 11 days for around £350. I cant grumble at that.
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I had an email off Monarch today with a promo code.
Get an extra £20 off per person on return flights - Use code EXTRA20
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I must return to the topic I started about Monarch to give my reports on our return flight.
As mentioned in the opening post, my experiences of Monarch have been few but fairly dire. I regretted booking our return flight with them almost immediately fearing 7 hours in Dalaman Airport with all that brings. Why didn't I book easyjet who have (touch wood) never let us down on flights to and from Dalaman...etc...
Well, I must say we were very happy with the whole experience - fast check in (far more check in desks than any other airline at Dalaman that I can remember), very friendly staff indeed, nice plane, on time, arrived in Manchester a little early.
I'm not just here to complain you know - credit where it is due :)
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We have booked with Monarch for next year but I just realised they may not offer the same check-in options as our usual carrier (Easyjet).
With Monarch, if you have no bags to check-in, can you print boarding cards at home and and go straight to security - or do you have to endure the check-in queue?
Ian
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We did have cases to check in Ian but as I recall there was a desk called something like 'online check in & bag drop' which suggests you need to at least attend it if you checked in online rather than just head on through. Didn't seem too busy there either.
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Does anyone know how to find out which aircraft specific flights use without having to go through a dummy booking process to the 'select seats' page? The wide 3-3-3 aircraft are much more comfortable, especially as the extra legroom seats up front have a 2 4 2 option as well. I've emailed Monarch twice but no reply.
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I thought ours was 3-4-3 (down the back anyway) Bluey
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Bluewise,
go onto holiday truths.co.uk you can find and or ask for info on there,.
Ron
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I thought ours was 3-4-3 (down the back anyway) Bluey
We were up the posh end so didn't really notice - were you on the 10pm (ish) flight from Dalaman to Manch on Saturday? We found the seats bearable on that aircraft and having just 2 seats was good as you didn't have to disturb anyone to stretch your legs.
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Bluewise,
go onto holiday truths.co.uk you can find and or ask for info on there,.
Ron
Thanks Ron, I will.
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were you on the 10pm (ish) flight from Dalaman to Manch on Saturday?
We were indeed, the legroom down the poor end wasn't great to be honest.
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p.s. I was the one that started the round of applause on landing - something I only seem to see at Manchester?
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Haven't heard the "landing clap" for years ! ;D
(We were on that flight but back in September)
I can't bear my knees touching the seat in front, I can hardly move in the seats as it is without having to turn my knees sideways too!
I think it's worth the extra for the posh seats - but there's only two of us so not so bad.
Not many airlines left offering more than 29inches now - even Jet2 have scrapped their extra legroom up front.
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I think it was £25ish for extra legroom seats - so £100 for four of us (or £200 for both flights) is something I'm unlikely to be paying :)
I used to use the space in front of one of our girls' seats, but now they have longer legs I can't :D
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p.s. I was the one that started the round of applause on landing - something I only seem to see at Manchester?
Would you have booed if you had crashed (God forbid of course)
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We were given extra legroom seats by the nice check in man. When we got on the plane there were the 2 front rows left and they offered them out to passengers for £20 each. :o
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We did have cases to check in Ian but as I recall there was a desk called something like 'online check in & bag drop' which suggests you need to at least attend it if you checked in online rather than just head on through. Didn't seem too busy there either.
Thanks Keith - we will look out for that.
Bypassing the check in queue when you don't need it has got to be one of the most pleasurable airport experiences.
Ian