# Monarch Air



## bellesgirl (Oct 7, 2009)

Has anyone ever heard of Monarch Air?  They are a UK low cost carrier to Europe.  My daughter and her husband live in Sheffield and Monarch flies out of Manchester which is more convenient for them than London.  But I have never heard of them - are they reliable?


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## Carolinian (Oct 8, 2009)

I have seen their planes at airports, mainly in the UK, but never flown them.  I was under the impression that they were primarily a charter carrier.


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## helenbarnett1963 (Oct 8, 2009)

*would recommend them!*

we have used Monarch for our last few summer trips from UK to Spain and have always had a good expereince.

Depending on the route/date/time of day they can be cheaper than Easyjet or RyanAir or other low cost carriers.

The website is easy to use, and online bookings are, I think, cheaper than phone bookings.

On the website you choose either a charter flight (MON flight codes) or scheduled (ZB flight codes).  The MON and ZB flights really are completely seperate, and the scheduled part is just like any other scheduled airline (the charter flights are mainly for people booking package holidays, but you can also book them as flight-only on the website - but in the event of delays, airport controllers usually give priroity to schedueld flights so booking a charter will have a higher risk of delays)

You do have to pay extra for checked baggage and pre-allocated seating and extra-legroom seats, but the total cost shows clearly as a running-total as you go through the booking process ,and you can add these options to your booking at a later date.

Food and drinks also cost extra, but the hot & cold sandwiches/snacks are generally very nice.

hope this helps
Helen


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## Keitht (Oct 8, 2009)

Monarch aren't a low cost carrier in the way the RyanAir or EasyJet are.  Monarch has pre-assigned seating available, or the seats are assigned at check-in.  No elbow sharpening required on their flights.
They also have better seat pitch than some of the charter airlines working out of the UK.  I certainly use them in preference to Thomas Cook, for example, who seem to believe that the average passenger is under 5' judging from the legroom on their flights.


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## Judith (Oct 11, 2009)

*Monarch Airways*

We have flown with Monarch several times and had no complaints before.

However, we flew from Manchester to Luxor this January and everyone was complaining about the lack of legroom and how narrow the seats seemed to be.  

Six hours each ways on that plane was enough for us.  One of the stewards said that they fly to Florida from the UK on the same planes.  I wouldn't like to do it.

Judith


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