Cyprus Airways > Reviews > Simply, Fly a different Airline

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Poor
Customer Service	Very unhelpful
Punctuality	Good
Space	Fairly Comfortable
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Spacious Seating, Efficient handling (i . e very little to no delays, and baggage handling was handled very well)
Disadvantages:	Very poor service, Bland and un - intersting food (although edible), Clumsy, rude, and unhelpful unattentive staff

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

* Initial Note *

When I was studying, (again in Dubai- I bet you are all sick to death of me saying this) we needed to go on a field trip with geography. Now, as you may imagine, Dubai is a desert, with no fresh water, and nothing in terms of rivers, or streams.

So, in order to carry out our study on the animal life in both fresh water and salt water environments, as well as topographical surveys (-ok I wont go in to detail)we needed to go somewhere where there were fresh water streams.

Excluding the river nile, Cyprus was the closest place that had streams, and therefore, my teacher decided to fly us with Cyprus Airways. What a mistake that was.

I will now describe my journey to you from Dubai, to Bahrain, and then on to Cyprus. If you agree that this was very poor ( not the review, the Cyprus Airways treatment), it would be very much appreciated if you could pass on your comments.

* The Journey *

Everyone had handed over their luggage to what seemed pleasant ground staff, and started heading off to Dubai Duty Free (A pleasant concept), sneaking bottles of vodka and cartons of fags in to our hand luggage, so that the week that was seeming to be a very taunting, long and horrible a bit more bareable.

Anyway, as the flight was called, everybody hustled toward the gate, all a bit excited about escaping parents for a week. I must say at this point, that the staff were very helpful, and attentive and seemed to manage quite effectively with the approximate 30 eighteen year olds. We were all alocated the seats we wanted on a first come first serve basis

When we got on to the plane, I noticed that the seats were rather thin, and had un-adjustable arm rests, which when flying for over hours, is extremely uncomfortable.. I sat down anyway, wasnt terribly comfortable (however a generous amount of leg room), and thought, well its only 4 hours, it will pass quickly without problem.

I had brought a book with me for reading, and when I pulled down the tray in front of me, I noticed a considerable amount of grime on the back of the seat in front of me, as well as a wide variety of different stains on both the seat and the tray (coffee, tea etc.)

Now aware of this, I became more perceptive to this uncleanliness, and noticed bits of food on the floor, as well as stains (some of which I realised during the flight were sticky - not nice when your on an airline, and your feet stick to the floor)

Anyway, disgusted with the state of the tray, I asked an air hostess to bring me some cleaning materials, such as a tissue or something to clean it off. The air hostess panted at me (as if I was uncoveniencing her - well sorry, if the blooming tray was clean, I woudlnt have to ask for the cleaning stuff) and huffed her way to the back of the aircraft.

When she came back, with a dirty rag, she offered me an unsincere smile, and gave the tray a poor effot of a wipe. I thought to myself, that I wanted just to leave it, otherwise she might spit in my food or something.

About 2 and a half hours of the flight, a different air hostess was offering coffee. When she approached me, she looked at me if I was stupid. So I thought, well I better pick up my cup, so she can pour the coffee in. Well she completely missed the cup, and poured blooming boiling hot coffee all over my hand, and with the reaction you get when touching something hot, threw the half cup of coffee over my head, landing in an unfortunate friends lap.

The stupid woman then tutted at me, and out of sarcasm I said sorry to her. She then said its alright!!! WHAT!!! You have just poured BOILING coffee all over me, and then due to reaction, scoulded my friend as well. As if it were my fault that the pathetic excuse for an air hostess poured coffee on me. This really annoyed me.

About 20 minutes later, the food was brought, and was a little revolted when I opened the plastic container. Inside was an omlette, that looked as if it were cooked last week in somewhere like Baghdad, and as I investigated further, broccoli, and a runny yellow liquid oozed out of the middle of it. Well no way was I eating that! So, I put up with a mars bar, until I could buy something a little substantial and well, edible when I got to the airport in Cyprus.

Anyway, as the flight was about an hour and a half from landing, I realised that I was very thirsty. The air hostesses had stopped attending, and therefore pressed my buzzer (which illuminates a little light above your seat, that means you need something) After about 20 minutes, nobody came to attend me, so I just walked up to the back of the plane, half expecting them to be chatting over a cup of coffee and a fag out the window (I know, a little impossible 20000 feet in the air, but you get the service impression I am trying to make)

I asked, yet, another air hostess, whether I could have a diet coke. She looked at me, again as if I were stupid. (The looks that I had been getting all flight) " Can. I . Have . a . Diet . Coke .?" " Ooooh, Diette Coke, second shelf"

This woman, after a little discussion about what I infact wanted, realised what I was saying and pointed at a drawer at the back of the plane. I was absoloutley mortified - its not a bloody help yourself service. So anyway, as you can imagine on a plane, you have air tight, locked drawers where drinks and things are kept, so that if the plane experiences turbulence the drinks dont fly everywhere. Heres me trying desperately to open one to quench my thirst, and the woman just sat there and said nothing.

After about 5 minutes of having a fight with the drawer, she shouted "Turrrn it to the left" and then huffed to herself, as all the other staff had been doing. So turned this lever to the left, and thank god, opened the drawer. I then took two cans out, closed the drawer and proceeded to walk back to my seat.

The woman, that was sat on her backside then said to me that Coca Cola is very fattening, and will make me fat. Being already fuming about the service I had had, I simply said to her, ' Well I`m fat anyway' and she replied with ' I know I know, but its unhealthy'

So not only did I have to get my own drink, not only did I have coffee poured all over me without apology, well in her eyes, my fault, but insulted and called fat! I couldnt believe it. I was so un-impressed it was unbelievable. So I tutted at her, did a massive humph and walked to my seat. Just like they had done to me all flight.

Why are they so arrogant? It really puzzles me.

* Flight Prices *

Now, the flight prices are very good. My sister, who also lives in Dubai, wanted to travel from dubai to england, then Cyprus, then back to Dubai. Now, with a different airline, she would have had to pay about £1300. With cyprus she paid exactly, AED 3270 which is around , £500, which isnt bad at all.

The itinery for her flight is:

Dubai To Larnaca
Larnaca To London Heathrow
London Heathrow To Newcastle
Newcastle To London Heathrow
London Heathrow To Larnaca with a 10 day stop over
and Larnaca To Dubai

All for under 500 quid! I do however think that the price compromises service, and quality on the flight. So definately not Cheap and Cheerful, more Cheap and Nasty. Anyway, as she has a budget, this is what she is flying, and when shes finished, I`ll ask her opinon and update the review.

*Conclusion*

A dirty airline, with poor unhelpful and in some cases rude staff. You will get a ticket for next to nothing, but when you get to your destination you`ll be hungry, tired and stressed.

Can you compromise a bit of money for a better service?

I sure will in the future
Thanks everyone for reading. All the best, Antony