Flying with Monarch *

I had never flown with Monarch until this year, this very flight in fact. I’m not sure why or how that has happened as I feel like I’m forever on planes this year! They offer flights from five major airports across the UK including Birmingham, Leeds Bradford, London Luton, London Gatwick and Manchester to over 40 destinations and our route was Gatwick to Barcelona.  Early in 2018 Monarch will celebrate their 50th Birthday, see the first new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and introduce a new cabin crew uniform.

With Monarch, you’re allowed two cabin bags up to 10kg which is my preference as I like to often travel with just a cabin bag but like to have a smaller bag for my purse, passport and those little important bits you like to keep close. You are also allowed to take on one bag from Duty-Free too.

This time around we did take hold baggage too as we were away for 6 days and needed to pack sleeping bags for our tent. The staff at the check in desk were really polite, had good banter and we were heading into departures to get lunch pronto.

Our flight out boarded and took off on time which was the dream as we had a connecting bus to get from Barcelona. The aeroplane was really clean and our extra leg room was something I wish I booked on all flights after this! We received a warm welcome from the staff and were soon up and into the air.

The in-flight food and drink offerings were really good. They had lots of cocktails in cans which I had never seen before and tasted great. They’re also pretty strong! We couldn’t start our holiday without a cheeky beverage, could we?!

Our flight was quick, we were through passport control even quicker and our bags appeared minutes after that. I’m one of those that freaks out that my bag won’t appear, so well done Monarch and BCN airport for not leaving me to worry for too long!

Our journey home was a bit of a tough one, I’m not gonna lie! I’m a very anxious flyer and our flight was delayed due to an issue at Gatwick where the runway had to be closed for a short time. We were left in the lurch at the airport; just eagerly awaiting news of the incoming plane that we were due to board but we received none of this – I understand that staff in airports may not be employed by the airline but we were still really unsure if we would be flying home that night.

When we did eventually board – two hours later, we were chatting to a Monarch Air Steward who explained to us that Monarch will rarely cancel a flight, unlike those other budget airlines that had already cancelled flights back to Gatwick that night. They would rather push a flight back a few hours and get their customers home then leave them stranded in far flung destinations; this is a total winner for me as I’d much rather get home later than a few days down the line as it often can be with cancelled flights. I’m very much ‘just get me home’ at the end of a holiday.

The rest of our flight was great; I got my English Breakfast Tea I had been craving, an hours nap and we landed safely back in Gatwick just a little later than planned.

I would certainly book flights with Monarch should they be heading to the destination I’m looking for. It’s quite a peace of mind knowing they do their best not to cancel flights as it’s something that makes me so worried. The staff are also top notch!