Why? The flights themselves weren't too bad - the planes are new Airbuses and were comfortable, everything still worked, and the pilots seemed quite able to fly them.
But the hassle factor was very high. The prices listed on banners advertising the flights were bait and switch - ie after you go to buy a ticket you find out that the advertised price didn’t include the "taxes" which are twice again as much as the advertised price. Then there was the factor that you couldn’t get the tickets thru a travel agent – you had to go yourself in person to the airline office and wait in line. Three hours after returning home they called and said they’d forgotten to charge the “fuel surcharge” so I had to go back again, wait in line again for them to charge me more. Then the price is different every time you ask. If you don’t buy the ticket today you can bet the price will be higher tomorrow. In the end, the price was not much less than the competitor’s price.
The routing and time of the flights was also difficult. Some of it was late at night, some in the middle of the night. Had to change airports in both countries. Two stops were over was 5 hours long, the other two were 12 hours. They charged for every kilo over the 20 kilo weight allowance, they serve nothing on board, not even water. Which with the new regulations about not allowing you to bring liquids on board, you are forced to buy their water if you want any. They had a limited amount of junk food for sale on the plane and even what they say they have, they may not. For example, in the flight magazine they say they sell 4 kinds of juice. But on none of the 4 flights on this trip did they have ANY juice at all. Well, okay, it’s a budget airline.
The bus and tickets and advertising material have this goofy cartoon plane character. Made me feel like I was on a kiddie plane. The airline attendants all wore tight T-shirts and low slung skirts or pants. Made me feel like a bunch of teenagers were running the place – and I wondered if they would know what to do in an emergency. I also felt a little sorry for the girls when some of the men from a neighboring country were leering a bit obnoxiously. It would be nice if they could wear a jacket over their skimpy T-shirts, at least on international flights.They also play “games” on the flights. On one flight, my neighbor was the first one to pull out a senior citizen ID card and he got the prize – an inflatable plastic giraffe head and neck. I mean, what on earth do you do with an inflatable giraffe head and neck??? It can’t even stand up by itself. (I would personally have preferred a bottle of water!)
Even the flight magazine leaves you shaking your head. It’s full of full color pictures, and lots of slap-happy upbeat "fun" and weird stuff. For example, an article on how you can help stop global warming. I thought at first that surely it was satire but I don’t think it was. It included: 1) shave your head so you use less soap and water to wash hair. Both men and women can now shave their heads, the article claims, because two famous movie actor/actress (I didn’t recognize the names) have shaved their heads. 2) Do all your washing in the shower, like brush your teeth (I wonder if the clown that wrote the article ever tried to suck up water spraying down on him without choking to death???) Or, keep your underwear on and just wash it while on you as you take your shower. 3) Stop breathing so much. Every breath you take lets off carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming – it really did say that!!!! 4) Fly more often. Planes make contrails which help cool the earth.
Overall impression? I was glad when the trip was over. I plan to take a different airline next time.
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