service, cheap, high kind of safety conditions, new machines
Disadvantages:
audio program, pre - check in, meals
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
This is my second op; it’s about my favourite topic: flying! ;) More exactly said about the German airline Air Berlin.AIR BERLIN ~~~~~~~~ Air Berlin’s home airport is easy to guess: Berlin-Tegel! In April 1979 the first Air Berlin machine from Berlin-Tegel started to the favourite island of the German – to Palma de Majorca!
Air Berlin is a charter-airline and approaches destinations around the Mediterranean Sea, the Canaries, North Africa as well as some European big cities.
Besides there are the Majorca shuttles, which already several other German charter-airlines offer. From twelve airports in Germany there are usually several daily connections to Majorca.
The city-shuttle exists since last year. At usually quite favourable prices one can for example fly to London-Stansted, Milan Bergamo, Zurich and many other metropolises - already starting from 29€!!
FLEET ~~~~ Air Berlin owns one of the youngest fleets of Europe; the average age is below two years! Air Berlin still changes its fleet from Boeing 737-400 to Boeing 737-800 since it has a larger range, more passenger seats, it flies faster and because of the Winglets less kerosene is needed.
Security is very important for Air Berlin: as the first German charter-airline it introduced the anti-collision system TCAS.
The fleet exists of:
27 Boeing 737-800 [ 184 seats ] 5 Boeing 737-400 [ 167 seats ] 2 Boeing 737-700 [ 144 seats ], as well as two leased
The BAe machines are leased and usually start from Moenchengladbach (it is near to Duesseldorf) to the European metropolises since its runway is too short for Boeing 737.
RESERVATION ~~~~~~~~~ One can book Air Berlin flights in the travel agency, by telephone (+49 1801 737800) or in the internet (www.airberlin.com).
In my opinion booking in the internet is very easy since you put in your desired travel data and automatically also earlier and later flights are shown, which are possibly cheaper! To a special favourable price one is referred by the clover sheet symbol.
A child reduction of 4o% exists for children up to 14 years, as well as a youth reduction of 2o% to 21 years - such a reduction is not offered by many airlines! Infants up to two years pay just 10% of the ticket price!
There is just one class! The economy class.
CHECK IN ~~~~~~~ Since our flight should already depart to Ibiza at 6 a.m. we used the possibility of the pre-check in. This is possible at all German airports. In Duesseldorf it was possible from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
When we arrived at half past six in the evening, we had to state that only two counters for ALL Air Berlin flights of the next day were opened! Some other airlines offer the pre-check in just for the early flights which I think is better! We had to wait more than two hours, what was very annoying! We recognized passengers who checked in but whose flight should go late in the afternoon!
I wrote an e-mail to Air Berlin and they told me that it probably was because the airport provided only two counters; however they also apologized.
THE FLIGHTS ~~~~~~~~~ Both flights were punctual; we flew with a modern Boeing 737-800. The seats, as well as seat-distance and -width were average. I think that it is quite narrow for larger people (I am 170cm).
Over small screen either maps were shown, or flight data like the height, outside temperature etc… and short films (also a short film for children).
Unfortunately there was only a cold snack. A warm meal is given on flights which take more than 3.5 hours. There was a baguette, a little fruit and a little piece of cake. Besides, there are special menus, for example glow-free menus or menus for diabetics and vegetarians. They are free you just have to order them before the flight! Twice beverages were offered (tea, coffee, juice, coke etc.) but at every time you could go to the galley and get another one.
The Entertainment was not so good - compared with LTU or CONDOR: there were just six audio channels and the short films were also very mad, I think. The headphones for the entertainment could be acquired for 2.50€ which is the normal price. The small screens which hang under the cover on the right and left side in short distances were well observable.
The flight crew was very nice at the ground, as well as in air.
RESULT ~~~~~ + new machines + high kind of safety conditions + service + cheap
- audio program - pre-check in - meals
Altogether was I content and give ****. The flight cost 170€, which compared with other airlines was very cheap! The machine was clean, the service was okay. Even if the audio program was not very good, as well as the pre-check in and the snack onboard, everything was okay!
Thanks for reading, rating and your comments!
RINI2003
More details
Class flown most frequently
Economy
How often do you travel with this airline
Rarely
Where did you book
Directly with this airline
Safety
Very safe
How well does it cater for disabled people
Well
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