BE VERY CAREFUL! This is kind of a public service announcement regarding Air Europa . I'm 25 and have been flying since I was born. I've been pretty lucky with service and such on MANY different airlines. Even when things happen like when they loose your luggage, well, these things happen from time to time and you do your best to deal with it. However, NEVER in my LIFE have I been so upset with an airline the was I was with a flight from Air Europa last August.

Some info: Our flight to start, was delayed (this was leaving from Madrid to New York City). No big deal. Then we started to get announcements... There is mechanical difficulty.... the plane has not arrived... no wait, there is mechanical difficulty.... (can we PLEASE make up our minds??!) Still, no big deal... well, 6 in the evening rolls around (we were supposed to leave at 4!) and still no plane, no clarity.

Now our plane was ready to go. We took off, and had to make an emergency landing and turn around and go back to madrid (now me at this time, knowing we'd land ok, was not too upset by having to go back! jejej )

Finally, around I think it was nine or something, Ladies and gentleman, we're sorry but there is a mechanical difficulty and the piece needed to repair the plane has to be flown in from London on a flight that will be arriving at around 11pm.!!!!

Well, even before this people were mad... but now, and it only got better. Since it was so late, all of the other airlines' planes had taken off and nobody could get any other flights... we stayed in the airport another hour while it was debated what they would do with us, leave later that night if possible and it was fixed (it would mean taking off at 3 or 4 in the morning) or send us to a hotel and put us up for the night and leave at 8 or 9 am the next day. People (myself included) were already going to miss work, they wouldn't pay for our phone calls home to the people waiting for us either, so our plane in NY should have landed and no sight of us (let's not worry anyone, right?!) ...

So they shipped us off to a hotel, still with no word as to what time we would leave. Now lucky me, I have family in Madrid and could call so they would call my mom and also my roomate in NY.. ad I had a cell phone to which I loaned to a couple of different people so THEY could advise their loved ones... At the hotel, NO rep. from Air europa, it was the blind following the blind. We did get dinner, but were refused rooms, even to rest awhile So, tired, and stinky we ate what we could and waited. We were carted back to the airport.. turns out that it wasn't the problem they thought after all... and were sent on our way to New York.

FINALLY in NY, 5 am... I lived in Hoboken New Jersey, several other passengers having to go to CT, NJ, PA... and guess what? Do you know that at that time of the morning there isn't much public transportation to ANYWHERE! Unless its a taxi!? Forget about the people who had to get to the Port Authority or lived outside of Manhattan. Well, tired and pissed, I wait and wait and wait for an Air Europa person, after getting information to call their offices.. do you think anyone was around? No. Well, another girl who decided to wait with me and I FINALLY got 2 of the air europa stewardesses and upon their advice, took a taxi home and get a reciept that the airline would remburse us for it. For me that meant a $78 dollar cab ride. I sent all the info necessary in and in the end got paid $20 bucks for my phone calls (I let them know I had to pass my cellphone around) and a Sorry, but no cab $$.

That's insane! And their customer service dept. is in Palma de Mallorica, so calling and speaking to someone there was a whole new can of worms. ( I did manage to get their NY office to conference me so at least THEY paid for those calls).

Sorry this is so long, but there were many upset angry people on that flight. I tried to take it with a grain of salt, but feel that the treatment they gave us was horrible. I wouldn't give that kind of treatment to a cockroach! True, the tickets may be cheaper, but you know, if they're going to leave you exhausted and stranded in the middle of nowhere, I'll pay an extra $200 for a more reputable company who will at least treat me with a little respect and let me call my family to let them know I'm ok. (oh, and did I mention there was a car bomb that morning at the Barajas airport?) A month later Sept. 11 happened.

Many of the people on that plane were people who travel to spain often, I know they lost a lot of business that day. My trip to spain went off without a hitch. But when something bad happens if they're not even going to TRY to help you.... well, frankly life is short and needs to be lived well. If you choose to fly with Air Europa after this, I wish you the best. But know that you were warned. I've found that with some of these less expensive airline companies it really does pay to do some research before you purchase. I wonder what they would have done if they lost my luggage?!
Your trip starts and ends on the plane, I don't
wish ANYONE such a negative experience!

Take care and good travels!
Espe

Air Europa no longer flies their aircraft between Spain and the US but code shares with Continental. Meaning that the flight is run by Continental between Newark & Madrid and is identified by both airlines' flight numbers.
Took the wide-bodied B-777 from Newark two weeks ago & it was full!
Trip was very smooth & we arrived about 40 minutes early, and no one was ahead of us at immigration!!

I'm glad you had a good flight. Like I said, the trip TO Spain was fine, it was the way BACK we ran to all the troble. My complaint is more than anything a consumer warning. Same as if you buy a car or house and expect a certain standard of quality, and if its not met, you buy it with a warentee. With airlines, the warentee is built in, but they chose to ignore it. They can only do so, if the consumers allow it. Well, I don't intend to not say anything negative about them and let some other person go through what we did that day. If you buy the ticket knowing that something like this is a possibility, then ok. But I think its only fair people be forwarned. Again, everthing can go 'smooth as pie' and even if something does go wrong, its quite possible that THIS wouldn't happen, but it IS possible.

As far as the code sharing, it has nothing to do with anything. I can assure you I went on an Air Europa plane and I was dealing with Air Europa staff. Like I said, this was August 2001, so if they're not actually flying planes there and have hooked on so Continental takes care of it (a.) THANK GOODNESS and b.) I wonder why?!?!?!!? then that's different. I just want people to know what COULD happen. Its not only important for an airline to get you safely to and from, but how they treat you in the event of some unfortunate event that a consumer should also be aware of. This company has serious customer service and communication issues (communication both within company and with the public) and I let them know. I saved the letters that I wrote and what they sent back to me. There is NO EXCUSE for the treatment they gave us and made no decent effort to satisfy us afterwards.

They are legally obligated to pay for it, but managed to get around it because their offices are in Spain. That's not right. Airlines are obligated to get you to your final destination within certain peramaters due to certain conditions. There is a reason why flights from certain destinations to some places don't have redeyes. THEY choose to fly at that time, and leave us abandoned at the airport.- Earlier that summer, my roomate flew with virgin airlines to london, and they too left 5 hours late, and due to the time, paid for the transportation to her hotel.-- They SHOULD have paid for the taxis for those of us who had to take them, ESPECIALLY due to the time they got us there, if they didn't want to, they should have put us up for the night and returned us to the US at a decent time so we could arrange our own transportation- which would have been at a MUCH more reasonable cost. This too is part of the deal they supposedly have with you when you get your ticket. An airline cannot LEGALLY leave you stranded in an airport for more then x amount of hours and ship you off when they see fit. Upon our arrival, they left us stranded at a deserted airport. We got treated like crap, and no consideration was given for us, or for those who may have been worried about us.