Martinair

[earthelves]

Whilist searching for flights to Orlando this was one of the flight options i was getting via Holland,Not sure i would use them but has anyone here used this airline??

Tia

 

[grannyed]

We did....but it was in 2006. We went from Leeds/Bradford to Amsterdam and then on to Orlando.

The airline at that time had received some kind of 'charter airline of the year award'

They were okay.....typical charter. The children's packs didn't turn up...but we were delayed for about 5 hours in Amsterdam and when we did board it was all done rather quickly so I expect that's why.

We upgraded on the way home for extra space......but there wasn't much difference.

The crew were friendly enough and helpful.

 

[wayneg]

I almost booked them for next Easter but could only get Weds~Weds 7 date trip, want 10 days if poss, they were just over £300, great price for school hol.
Someone on Dibb did a review a few days ago http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=360088&highlight=martinair

 

[disneyholic family]

i flew them many years ago, so my comments would be very out of date.
However, when i've read other more recent reviews, the comments were exactly the same - so apparently the airline hasn't changed since we flew them.

they seem to have a problem of long delays. And i mean, very very long delays.
Of course, since people tend to comment more when they're upset than when they're happy, you might just be hearing the problems.

We were stuck in Amsterdam airport for an entire day, waiting for the plane to be fixed (mechanical problem of some kind).
In the end, we flew out 9 hours after the scheduled time - not on our original plane, but on a plane of theirs that had just arrived.
they took that plane for the orlando flight, and made the next group of passengers wait.
perhaps cascading delays due to a limited fleet. Just guessing though.

On board, it was pretty much like any airline nowadays. Cramped. But the crew was pleasant.

And it was nice to have a direct orlando flight - not something we usually do (normally we enter the US in new york and connect to orlando).

but we arrived very very late - 9 hours late in fact. And the kids were EXHAUSTED. We were stuck in the airport for 11 hours. (we'd arrived 2 hours before the flight was originally scheduled to leave)
Not a great thing with little kiddies.

I've never taken that route again (amsterdam-orlando).
If i take an indirect route, i prefer the plane change to be in the US. That way, in the worst case scenario (the air traffic system is stopped for some reason), i could always rent a car and drive to orlando.

 

[gemmybear83]

I have seen a few reviews for Martinair on other sites, and they sound fine, no delays but basic flights. the route is a new one via Amersterdam I believe.

If I can get a good price via Newcastle with KLM (I think they are partners/part of the same company) I'm going with them.

 

[disneyholic family]

I have seen a few reviews for Martinair on other sites, and they sound fine, no delays but basic flights. the route is a new one via Amersterdam I believe.

If I can get a good price via Newcastle with KLM (I think they are partners/part of the same company) I'm going with them.

martinair (a dutch airline) has been flying amsterdam/orlando for years....(we flew them to orlando in 1995)...
they're sort of a cheap airline with scheduled flights and also have some charter flights i think....

i believe they're owned by KLM.....not necessarily a good thing...
i fly KLM a lot - not a good airline at all...garbage planes with garbage on board amenities....but that's KLM...don't know about martinair anymore..
but if they're the no frills version of KLM, that's got to be very very basic indeed...

 

[jjpenguin]

As far as I know they are not owned by KLM. They used to be a privately owned charter company.
I've flown with them twice and the last time we had 4 hours delay and then the plane was full of people that wanted to continue to party, at 1 am .... after that I swore never again.
A colleague of mine has flown with them to the US a couple of times (not Orlando) and had no complaints.

They used to fly to Orlando but didn't for a few years, now they're back on that route, but I would not fly them by choice, although for me they are the only company that flies directly to Orlando from Amsterdam.

 

[disneyholic family]

As far as I know they are not owned by KLM. They used to be a privately owned charter company.
I've flown with them twice and the last time we had 4 hours delay and then the plane was full of people that wanted to continue to party, at 1 am .... after that I swore never again.
A colleague of mine has flown with them to the US a couple of times (not Orlando) and had no complaints.

They used to fly to Orlando but didn't for a few years, now they're back on that route, but I would not fly them by choice, although for me they are the only company that flies directly to Orlando from Amsterdam.

Martinair is fully owned by KLM.

From wikipedia:

On 17 December 2008 Martinair announced that it had secured European Commission approval to have KLM as its only shareholder, the transfer of remaining shares took place on 31 December 2008.
On the 5th February 2009 KLM said it is investigating the option of incorporating Martinair and Transavia, both fully owned by KLM, into the KLM brand. KLM wants to create "classic" and "light" versions of itself. Martinair is becoming the light version for intercontinental flights.