Airlines Inform - your guide to airlines all over the world.
Copyright © 2008-2024 www.airlines-inform.com. All rights reserved.
your guide to airlines all over the world
Small Planet Airlines Discussion
I have to say I was worried all summer about our flights to Cephalonia in Sept, but they left on time both ways, the planes were definitely no worse or better than any Easyjet or Monarch flight I've had the staff were friendly, the check in all fine, 20kg luggage and day time flights both ways - all for less than £300 each. Can't complain. Would consider booking again if flights and costs were as good as this year!
Reply
Please let me know if anything comes of you taking them to small claims court as I am considering it my self after a over 1 hour delay and were treated appallingly at the airport and by staff Georginagallant@hotmail.co.uk noel scot : AVOID AT ALL COSTS --SMALL PLANET AIRLINES --- I WAS FEATURED ON BBC WATCH DOG DAILY BACK IN NOVEMBER 2012 concerning this disgraceful airline we were left at departure lounge and had a delay of 26HRS with small planet airlines 31 aug 12 manchester to corfu , since the programme was aired we used the caa for complaints and to try and get compensation the CAA was useless about as much use as a chocalate fire guard, the caa after 6 months said we did not have a case which is clearly rubbish, since feb 13 i have sent numerous emails,I am now in the process of taking small planet airlines to the small claims court it costs £60 online . i have also again sent numerous emails to BBC watchdog but they have been ignored??see the link here to the bbc watchdog daily programme concerning small planet www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zkz1k/featur... also i have opened a public facebook page concerning small planet airlines here- www.facebook.com/DelayedFlightManCorfu31... This airline should be stopped as it is a daily ocurrence with delays from 5hrs to 26hrs
Reply
I wish I would of seen this when we booked our oil day !! We had a over 21 hour delay and were told there was a technical issue and a part had to be picked up from Luton when we were at Gatwick and then to,d the crew went over teir hours! Think after reading comments I am going to take it to small claims court too as I have had no emails back from anyone I.e watchdog, the companies I booked through or the airline.
Reply
Guest : How to get compensation from Small Planet airlines, can anyone help ? written e-mailed no reply Please contact here: www.airhelp.eu
Reply
You can contact for compensation here: www.airhelp.eu They have the most experienced people to fight with the airlines.
I completely agree - I similarly followed this discussion about small planet obsessively (almost!)before we flew to Kefalonia early Sept. - I hate flying at the best of times but love travelling so one comes with the other, in fact we really considering paying a whole lot more for seats on a different airline. In the end I had the best charter flight I can remember, on time, informative staff etc. Like any charter, it's often down to luck when flights are late/ the plane looks tired,etc etc purely because of the number of people who want to fliy during the peak season and the congestion that causes. I do feel huge sympathy for those who have had different experiences however... Having seen the horror stories and followed this forum for the months leading up to my holiday I wanted to just pass on my experience. We flew from Gatwick to Kos on 05/09/13 and returned on the 12/09/13 with Small Planet. Both flights landed early and were trouble free. The aircraft was a little tired looking on the inside but certainly not the worst I've been on. And overall the experience was perfectly acceptable and no different to easyJet or other budget/holiday airlines but with the benefit of allocated seating (no free-for-all at boarding time) and a generous 20kg luggage allowance. I think many of the problems on here have been related to Olympic holidays and operations from Birmingham. From my experience and the Small Planet 'stalking' I was doing prior to my holiday it would appear that the majority of their UK services (Gatwick in particular) have been on-time or early recently. If they are improving their fleet for next year I certainly wouldn't be overly concerned by booking with them again. Particularly as the flight times were the best I came across in terms of early arrival and late departure.
Reply
I was also on the Small Planet flight P7 226 on 10th September from CHQ Chania airport to MAN Manchester. The 6 hour delay was hellish. The "dead" knackered old Boeing plane could be seen sat on the runway at Manchester airport when we finally landed at 11:45pm (6 hours late). This same plane cause problems two weeks previously on the way out to Crete (P7 225) by a one hour delay caused by a faulty, and very smelly toilet. Small planet have not responded to my Flight Delay Compensation email sent on the 13th, which contained scanned copies of the tickets and the boarding passes. I may have to resort to one of those no-win-no-fee copmpanies to get any form of response out of them at all. I received an email from Olympic while I was on my holiday stating that Germainia will be taking over their flights. No company seems to last very long with Olympic these days, TorAir only lasted a very short time.
Reply
Went to malta in August this year no probs at all as people say the same as easyjet Ryanair but with seat allocation well done for such a young company
Reply
Small Planet Airlines is returning two of its oldest aircraft to the owners. Instead of these aircraft, the company has signed agreements regarding 3 newer Airbus A320-200 aircraft. In total, the fleet of the airline will be comprised of 10 aircraft next year, one of which will be a stand-by unit.
Guest : We returned from Crete Chania airport to Manchester on sept 10th with small planet booked through Olympic. When we were picked up from hotel, passengers were already discussing flight delay from looking on Internet. Rep said she had not heard anything and couldn't discuss. Flight was delayed almost 6 hrs. No explanation given. Had to walk outside airport to receive one small toastie - two small slices of dry stale bread with small slice of cheese & small can of drink. Beside us passengers of other airlines delayed for similar time were provided with buffet. We eventually got on our flight at 10pm after 6 hrs delay. Definitely small planet are worst airline I have ever flown with, avoid if you can. To be absolutely fair to Small Planet, although the delay was probably down to them, the way you were looked after(or not) was completely the responsibility of Olympic - at times such as these you unfortunately find out why a cheap(ish) holiday is cheap.
Reply
We returned from Crete Chania airport to Manchester on sept 10th with small planet booked through Olympic. When we were picked up from hotel, passengers were already discussing flight delay from looking on Internet. Rep said she had not heard anything and couldn't discuss. Flight was delayed almost 6 hrs. No explanation given. Had to walk outside airport to receive one small toastie - two small slices of dry stale bread with small slice of cheese & small can of drink. Beside us passengers of other airlines delayed for similar time were provided with buffet. We eventually got on our flight at 10pm after 6 hrs delay. Definitely small planet are worst airline I have ever flown with, avoid if you can.
Reply
Got back from Corfu this morning flight p7356 took off a few minutes early flight,cabin crew were fine plane was a little cramped and old'ish but reading other remarks on here my flights with small planet could not have been better but maybe I was just lucky!.
Reply
If you are getting no joy with Olympic or ABTA then it might be worth it to contact your local Trading Standards dept. If they consider that Olympic are operating "un fairly" then could take action or refer the matter to the Office of Fair Trading.
Reply
Hello. Thought I'd report that......since our fiasco of our flight not departing from Birmingham on 19 July and all passengers being taken to Gatwick and eventually flying out to Skiathos the next day.......I have continued to press for some compensation......as we DID NOT go on the holiday at all. With only a 7 night holiay and already losing 2 nights.......we took the option of not going and Olympic would have to refund all our money. Happy to say our Travel Agent got our holiday money refunded.......but Olympic have been VERY hostile and even a letter and all documents sent to ABTA have yielded nothing. We had out of pocket expenses that day of over £90 and have got nowhere at all in getting even a small amount in compensation......let alone the huge disappointment of not having a holiday at all...... just to illustrate......when the same passengers flight were returned to UK at the end of their holiday.........YES they were returned to Gatwick and bussed back to B'Ham. Those people - like us - had booked a holiday departing from B'Ham......NOT GATWICK...... Shame on Olympic and for them to write to me and say they hoped I had a great holiday despite the problems - is unthinkable. They knew we had NOT gone and that was within their reply in a paragraph higher up the letter. Olympic holidays are worse than the pits.........last week went on a Thomson holiday to Italy - they ARE the professional and I will stick them in the future whatever bargain that Olympic might advertise......DO NOT BE TEMPTED........
Reply
Guest : I am wondering where I should start with this story; the fact that Small Planet is the worst airline I have flown with to date or the fact that Olympic tour Reps are liars and wimps! Flight P7356 fr om Corfu to Gatwick scheduled for 00.20 Corfu time: our check in time was 10.20 we arrived I would say just before this and upon arrival our rep Stacey announced the flight was delayed by 1hr 30 mins. We were waiting on a plane that was sitting in Gatwick P7355 scheduled for 18.20 UK time now please note Corfu is 2 hours ahead so technically they should have known about this delay from 20.20 yet we were picked up from our hotel at 21:00 and not informed until arriving at the airport! As you can imagine people were slightly annoyed but an hour and a half never did anyone any harm. After this time still no plane ( you can see the planes landing from wh ere you are sat!) At this point little information was given; we were told the plane had a technical fault so we won't know how long the delay was. We enquirer when we would receive some kind of refreshments the Olympic holiday reps were standing like plums at the entrance of the airport which meant you had to go back through security to ask them anything! We were told between. 4 -6 hours before you get light refreshments! Guess what? 4 hours passed and that rep Tracy said ooo we have sent an email to the airline to get authorisation to give refreshments! This never came through 6 hours of waiting at the airport Tracy said she didn't know what was going on they were making "phonecalls" however a kind lady who worked for the airport enlightened is that she was arranging accomodation as the pilots had passed their legal amount of time to fly! I forgot to mention about 4hours into the delay Tracy decided to come through and face the increasingly * passengers just to tell us lies and brush off out questions! At 04.30 am we were told to get out luggage as we were being taken to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we were promised out two courtesy calls a part of small planets protocol. ( I never received these!) I must say the only positive thing I can say is that the hotel was very nice Hotel Alti all inclusive and lovely staff. We were made to check out of our rooms at 3pm/3.30 I think and were told we were being collected at 5pm now onto the next rep Ursula telling us the plane from gatwick had been boarded I am not an idiot I checked on my phone the plane was still on Last call. Then she came with the bunch of lies that a Cosmos plane was coming to get us have me a SP airline number that wasn't even scheduled until 5hour later. Many of us refused to be taken to the airport until gatwick would confirm the flight was airborne. After 20 hours delay we finally landed in gatwick and I actually had very little faith that we would with the noises the plane was making. Finally to add insult to injury Ursula told us we can collect out letters from Meridian office at Gatwick detailing the delay which is needed for the claims process; this desk did not exist! And surprise surprise the correct desk had no one in sight apparently they were done for the day! I hope you read all of this Small Planet Airlines is a sham and Olympic holidays this is the first and last time I will be using you honesty is always the best policy so look out for me as I will be taking this as far as I can! Your Truly, London passenger flight P7356 3/08/2013
Reply
I dont usually write reviews but I was so worried about my holiday when I read other reviews I thought it fair to people already booked to give our experience. We have just returned from Kos flying from Gatwick on 5/9. Booking in opened on time and the flight was on time and arrived in Kos 15mins early. Yes the plane was old but seat room I would say the same as Easyjet and no problem with our seats. The cabin crew were very good, polite, Food and drink were available. On the return flight again booking in was good and plane took off on time.( about 10 mins early. Unfortunately the cabin crew were messing about on the safety demo, in fact did not complete it because they were laughing so much. Some people thought it also funny but I think that there is a time and place for having fun and this is not one of them. Having said that the service was OK on the flight. Would I use them again probably not. I
Reply
Having booked out Holiday to Kos with Monach holidays (Cosmos) we found that Small Planet where our chartered Airline. I read a few reveiws and became a little nervous at what i read. Anyway, September 6th arrived and the 4 of us arrived at Manchester well on time.The flight was at 16.10. We arrived in the departure lounge and saw the Airbus A320 there awaiting us (looked ok, no loose screws or panels missing). Then.. Bing Bong!! "flight delay due to no cleaner for the air craft.. sorry". Approx 1/2 later "Bing Bong !!, "sorry.. still no cleaner for the Aircraft". I looked at my wife said that what we had read seemed true. The next announcement was 1 hr 15 mins after our departure time "extra cleaning was needed". Anyway, we boarded & found my seat at the rear of the plane, The arm rest wouldn't release on my isle seat. My wifes was the same opposite, most other passengers seemed ok but i did notice some others where the same. We eventually left Manchester almost 2 hrs late. Has for the flight it was very cramped and with the arm rest jammed into my left thigh, it was a somewhat uncomfortable 4 hr flight. The attendants where ok and seemed very helpful. Summing up i suppose that some of the things i had read where true, espcially about the faulty arm rests and delays. Has for the return flight. The check in wasn't open for 45 min, the Aircraft arrived late and we eventually left Kos 35 minutes late. I ask.. would i use Small Panet again, Absoloutly, if it mean't getting away from the Uk to the Sun somewhere for a few days, then i would even fix the arm rest for them and clean the Aircraft myself, Thanks Small Planet and all the best for the future
Reply
Check for compensation as you could be entitled to £500 each for a 4 hour delay. See Martins Money Tips for a template.
Reply
SP failed to provide an aircraft for our flight to Crete at the end of August and we have claimed compensation of £500 each under the current law. The return flight was also a shambles and they brought the flight forward 1 hour resulting in 300 people being run through the airport without a chance to grap a coffee. The aircraft found were poor although the crew were pleasant on both flights. The headlining on the first aircraft was buckled and most of the rivetts were missing from the engine cowling. The food was almost inedible. So far we have not been provided with a response from Small Planet and are planning to take legal action against them which may involve Bailiffs visiting their UK offices to remove items to the value of £1000
Reply
There absolutely fine! Delayed 4 hours on the way back but the flight was safe and no problems what so ever with the journey itself! H Kingswood : Flying with Small Planet from Humberside to Verona on Sept 22nd for a weeks holiday after reading some of these reviews I am a quite worried. Has anyone done this flight recently ?
Reply
Flying with Small Planet from Humberside to Verona on Sept 22nd for a weeks holiday after reading some of these reviews I am a quite worried. Has anyone done this flight recently ?
Reply
Manchester to larnaca was fine! The plane was fine no problems pleasant flight, landing etc. Currently waiting due to delay, suppose to fly at 15.00 apparently flying now at 19.00.
Reply
Yes, they are lithuanian - can't see what the problem is with that? Guest : Some one in the queue at the Airport in Corfu said SMA was a cover for Luthuanian airlines!
Reply
Guest : Hi I have booked a holiday through very cheap holidays.co.uk and the tour operator is Oylimpic Holidays My flight is P7191 with small planet on 09/10/2013 Gatwick to larnaca returning on the 16/10/2013. I am really worried as I have seen all the post on here and other sites. Is any one on that flight or anyone flown on that route in the last couple of weeks and have any comments We flew with them in July and they were fine. I was really worried about all the things I read, but this flight (from watching it for several weeks beforehand) always took off relatively on time and vice versa for return.
Reply
Guest : flew back fr om Corfu last Monday with Small Planet. Flight out was on time, but plane very old. Flight back was delayed/ rescheduled by 10 hours. This would have been a big problem with car hire and accommodation, but both were very understanding. Staff on the return were excellent and the steward said they always flew in the evening not the morning!!! A friend trains pilots at BA and and flew with Small Planet. She was shocked and scared to see two bald tyres on the plane!!! Also the guy at the airport said he had seen several airlines go bust in the last few years. SPA would be added to the list soon. Wh ere did you fly from?
Reply
Guest : flew back from Corfu last Monday with Small Planet. Flight out was on time, but plane very old. Flight back was delayed/ rescheduled by 10 hours. This would have been a big problem with car hire and accommodation, but both were very understanding. Staff on the return were excellent and the steward said they always flew in the evening not the morning!!!
Reply
Guest : Anyone flying from Gatwick to Larnaca through Olympic with Small Planet Airlines. Our flight is supposed to be at 10.30am on the 11.09.13 but I cant find it listed anywhere. Any help/advice would be very nice. Thank you We are a party of four due to be on the flight to which you refer….don't panic, it is rather early to have flight details published this far in advance, hopefully they will appear during the course of the day tomorrow. it is somewhat disconcerting to read some of the terrible reviews here, so let's hope we are one of the "Lucky" flights! Will post here again if we come across the published flight details.
Reply
Hi a second plea here as no response before but does anyone know a link for actual times of arrival/departure of airlines please? I can only find a link for scheduled services and need to know exact times for the compensation claims - for Small planet and monarch please.Thanks
Reply
My wife has just flown out to malta,using this cheap budget airline,when initially was expecting to fly with monarch airlines which have been good,unfortunately everything on this plane was so cramped,her knees was touching the seat in front and she is only 5ft 6ins.if you pulled down the food rest/tray it was touching your body nearly,,dont use this airline if you suffer from small cramped spaces..
Reply
Hi I'm in Corfu at the moment our flight out was faultless ontime,cabine crew were fine, was worried sick before hand after reading some posts on here but can't complaine I'll post again after my flight home hopefully that will be just as faultless.
Reply
Just returned from a holiday in Skiathos, Greece. I had read so many negative comments about Small Planet that at one stage I was thinking of cancelling my holiday. However I have to say everything was fine throughout. The outgoing flight and the return flight. No problems at all. The planes condition was no worse than any others that I have travelled on. How many flights now give you boiled sweets on entering the plane either? I hope this puts some people's minds at ease. I had worked myself up into a right state. Thank you Small Planet.
Reply
Just got back from perveza flying from Manchester with small planet, speedy flights both ways, no probs. Old aircraft but this is the same for most airlines. Cabin crew were great thank you Shelley, Alice, Catherine. Just wanted to put some peoples minds at ease as I was very worried having followed this forum for weeks. Fingers crossed for all.
Reply
How to get compensation from Small Planet airlines, can anyone help ? written e-mailed no reply
Reply
Airlines ticket prices are high today for a number of reasons. For starters, the industry has consolidated a lot over the last few years. Less competition means less need for cheaper prices. Prices go up and down for many reasons. No one can really predict when or if a price is going to go up or down. Only the airline knows that. But there are four things that drive prices: competition, supply, demand, and oil prices. The first and last item are the ones that really affect prices ">personalmoneynetwork.com/payday-loans/">... the most.
Reply
Went to corfu with this lot last year, half hour before the coach was due to pick us up for the airport, the rep knocked the door and said sorry flights delayed by 11 hours , heres 15 euros, we mentioned it to the hotel staff who told me it was a regular thing with small planet, seems to me they advertise nice flight times but have no intention of sticking to them. I am in the process of suing them for the price of the flight, they acknowledged me at first , but now three months later they are just blanking me , so writing to the eu commisionair and let them sort it Guest : Hi I have booked a holiday through very cheap holidays.co.uk and the tour operator is Oylimpic Holidays My flight is P7191 with small planet on 09/10/2013 Gatwick to larnaca returning on the 16/10/2013. I am really worried as I have seen all the post on here and other sites. Is any one on that flight or anyone flown on that route in the last couple of weeks and have any comments
Reply
Think we were on the same flight, did you have any feedback from Olympic? Guest : Booked a holiday with Olympic via Secret Escapes to Crete not knowing at the time what airlines would be used. On the outward flight on Tuesday 30th July the plane didn't turn up so after a delay of four and half hours Gatwick managed to get a contract signed to charter another plane from Sam airways which had to be brought from Milan. Problem was this plane was smaller than the first so the last 35 passengers to check in couldn't be accommodated on the plane and had to be flown on another route to the opposite side of Crete and endure another 4 hour taxi journey to get to their destination. On the journey home another airline was used and thankfully there was only 10min delay. I would steer clear of Small Planet and Olympic. I will be making a complaint against our rep at the hotel as she was a nasty piece of work. HEQ8C
Reply
Hi I have booked a holiday through very cheap holidays.co.uk and the tour operator is Oylimpic Holidays My flight is P7191 with small planet on 09/10/2013 Gatwick to larnaca returning on the 16/10/2013. I am really worried as I have seen all the post on here and other sites. Is any one on that flight or anyone flown on that route in the last couple of weeks and have any comments
Reply
I booked flights to Zante from gatwick with Olympic. However the tickets arrived and said the flight operator was small planet. I was then extremely worried after reading all the comments/reviews on th Internet. On the day, we ends up flying with "travel services"who were fantastic. Plane was on time both ways. We were given extra legroom seats both time without asking/paying extra. Staff were extremely friendly. All in all, a very good flight!
Reply
Have just returned from kefalonia the flight was on time with no problems,also the flight to kefalonia from lgw was on time, was no different to any other airline i have used over last couple off years except maybe cabin crew could have been a bit more professional but was ok.pilot gave us plenty of information on our flight .Maybe we were lucky?
Reply
I am certain who i flew with (small planet) otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to post a comment on this forum! However, as I said, I was dreading the whole experience after following this site for months and our experience turned out to be trouble free . I think that we were just very very lucky and our very smooth journey was an exception to the rule, as can be seen from all the horrendous stories on here. Didn't think there was any harm in sharing my personal take on my journey tho'.
Reply
This airline actually SUCKS. 22hr delayed flight to GRAN CAN in JUNE and NO reply to any of my emails or letter. Please do not fly with them! No idea who the below people are but I'm confident they didn't fly with Small Planet. Staff were so rude!
Reply
Booked through 9 holidays - (use others - see review elsewhere) 24/31Aug13. Ended up with Small Planet to Rhodes. Was concerned by previous reviews. Delay 1 hr ex LGW due to crew duty hours issue; on time return ex Diagoras. Old aircraft, very clean, good cabin crew - food usual expensive stuff. This charter company is as good as any other cheap short haul carrier and is better than a certain carrier who charges for everything and then makes you dash for a seat! Check in appeared not too concered with overweight/size cabin baggage at LGW but beware it is 5kg !
Reply
I have been dreading our trip to Kefalonia from Gatwick since reading all the stuff about small planet. However, after years of flying charter and no frills airlines we were really impressed and they came up trumps completely, better than any others we have used . The flights were on time, plane clean, staff polite and calm and as a terrified flyer I was surprisingly calm through the flight. Of course, each route/flight is different, but I just thought I would make a positive comment as I have been literally dreading the holiday since we found out who the carrier was. They;re a small outfit and I reckon they have been doing their utmost to fulfil what was required of them, but perhaps the package company overbooked things in a bid to make more money??
Reply
Sounds just like strategic airlines who we flew with to kos 2years ago ,1hour delay going out 5 hour delay coming back landed back in Manchester 12.30 dinner time after being up since 7am previous morning shattered is nt the word.had to take another day of work to get over my holiday avoid all these Mickey Mouse airlines nothing but headache s ,Olympic holidays do nt care who they use as long as they get your hard earned cash
Reply
Guest : I have read all sorts of reviews about small planet and am now officially worried! Has anyone travelled on small planet airline to Skiathos from Birmingham? Very few people have flown this route with Small Planet - given that since the beginning of the season they have more or less been unable to supply an aircraft to do so! Most flights have been with Cyprus Airways, who are superb, but it seems that this contract will shortly end and the route will be flown by an Airbus chartered from Atlantic Airways of the Faroe Isles
Reply
I have read all sorts of reviews about small planet and am now officially worried! Has anyone travelled on small planet airline to Skiathos from Birmingham?
Reply
Just returned from a holiday from Malta flying with Small Planet. My experience was a very positive one, I had read previous reviews and was very worried but we had no problems, no delays, seats comfortable, legroom ok, very helpful polite cabin crew and on the way back a very informative pilot. If you get the chance try there Ham and cheese hot paninis very tasty, they came round once and then served you whenever you wanted or needed them. A very positive experience from a very nervous flyer
Reply