Air Malta 

I booked a standard ticket from Gatwick to Malta on 3rd June 22 and Air Malta contacted me in the week before departure asking me if I wanted to bid to upgrade to Business Class.
As there were issues at the time with Gatwick I bid 155 euros to upgrade in case there were issues at Gatwick so I could seek refuge in the business lounge.
I e mailed Air Malta asking for how I would get access to the lounge but the following reply:-
"For urgent matter, we invite your kind self to call our International Call Center on 00356 21662211. Opening hours from Monday to Friday from 0800 - 2000, Saturday and Sunday from 0800 - 1800. Please quote your booking code for ease of reference.
For future reference, when travelling with Airmata in business class, you have access to the lounge No 1 Traveller and you can get an invitation at the check-in desk at the airport. Please note that lounge access is subject to capacity."
I rang AirMalta for clarification as I knew I could book lounge No 1 Traveller online but would have to pay and if so would they refund me the cost.
After several failed attempts to get through and all they could tell me was I needed to ask if this was possible when I checked in at Gatwick.When I got to check in at Gatwick all they could suggest was that I go to lounge No 1 Traveller and ask if they would give me access.When I got to the lounge they said they were full and that in any case I would have needed to book 24 hrs before my flight.
Air Malta have misrepresented that they are selling me a "business class" flight when all they are doing in selling me a standard ticket with a 3 course meal and 1/2 bottle of wine.
I emailed a complaint about this to Air Malta on 6th June and 13th June but have not even had an acknowledgement that they received my e mail.

2 and a half years to get refunded for flights cancelled due to covid 19. I was advised to contact a lady by the name of Alison Casha at airmalta.com who got me my refund withing 4 weeks. Still out of pocket due to the phone calls to malta and recorded letters all of which were ignored but at least Alison was able to help and she has helped others as well good luck everyone and dont give up keep pluging away at it.

russel

DON'T PAY FOR PRE BOOKED SEATS! THEY DO NOT HONOR THEM IT'S JUST A MONEY MAKING SCAM.
We have just checked in online to find our block of 6 seats in a 3 in front of 3 configuration that we paid extra for in October, have been changed to a 1, 3, 2 configuration.
Not ideal with 2 young children that we wanted to sit with 2 adults on each row of 3.
We are hoping this will be rectified at the airport tomorrow but reading the reviews fills me with doubt- *I will obviously edit this review to reflect our experience in the morning*. Call centre is shut so we are unable to do anything about this now. The most frustrating thing about this is that we checked the booking 48 hours ago and everything was fine for it to be changed now.
An unwarranted stressful start to our first holiday away in over 3 years.
Disappointing Air Malta.
Update, called air Malta this morning who still had our precooked seats on their end. Check-in desk at the airport said we had to keep the 3, 1, 2 configuration as the flight is fully booked. How do they operate when their systems do not match up?!?

My flight was deliberately overbooked and despite having booked my tickets 10 months prior and arriving at the airport 4 hours early I was turned away despite having a ticket.

We were persistently told different things by different members of staff. I rang Air Malta customer service who said they would call me back and then literally hung up on me. The Air Malta representative at the airport then refused to speak to us. When I rang the day before I was guaranteed the flight was not overbooked and there was no problem.

I have never been subjected to such dreadfully poor customer service.

After having booked a business class flight via Airmalta. We had the most disasterous flight.
EVERY possible thing that could go wrong went wrong.
Flight rescheduled to another airport. Arriving to the airport 3 hours before flight we were not allowed to enter the airport till 2 hours before our flight.
We waited in line- in the beating sun for 5 hours due to high demand on the underequiped airport.
Air malta were operating only one check-in desk, so It was slow. As no online check in was available - every passenger had to check in.
Our flight was obviously delayed as no passengers were even inside the airport.
Our pre book seats - next to each other were changed and given seats in different rows. And this couldn't be changed!?
No flight information was posted and were told just to wait.
Boarded flight with seats in economy being over booked and passengers being re arrnaged.
Luggages needed to be removed as there was no space in the overhead lockers-which needed tags to be printed before they could be taken off.
Business class overed booked - meaning the empty seat (the only distinguishing factor of business class) was over booked - and the flight attendants assuming the check in staff had informed us.
Before take off each business class passenger receieved an email to offer a full refund of the ticket before take off to compensate for the over booked seats (I must admit the airhostess dealt with the issues with grace and could not have handled it better)
After multiple emails promising the refund - no information has actually been provided. Just: 'I will check with them again and make sure that they get back to you ASAP. Apologies once again." +356 79494423
Air Malta once again you provided no aftercare or service.

Paid extra for Go Flex as we wanted to reserve our seats at the front or extra leg room. When we dropped our bags off at Gatwick we were given boarding passes with our booked seat numbers. When we arrived at the boarding gate we were given new boarding passes with seats at the back of the plane. Other passengers were in the seats we booked as the aircraft had been changed. When we complained to Air Malta they say this is allowed and no seat is guaranteed even if you pay extra for it. Seems very unfair. Had a 90 minute delay with no warning, just sat in boarding lounge waiting. Why tell us to go to the boarding gate when plane hadn't arrived at Gatwick ?
Will never book with them again.

Shameful airline, avoiding my refund now for over a year. Emailed over 20 times, called over 10 times. Somehow could pay back the cheaper ticket but magically lost the exact same bank details for the more expensive ticket. Fly with anyone else.

The flight was ok, but the customer service received after was quite bad: we're eligible of a compensation since our flight was 3+ hours delayed. Air Malta confirmed, the have all our data but we've been waiting for the refund for over 3 months now. I'm speechless, I really did expect more of this airline.

Mela is all good and fine it's even charming sometimes when you are on the island. What isn't charming is when you get to the check in and the clerk casually tells you that you're flight has been delayed. There was no notice prior and when we try to go trough security we weren't let through. Apparently the flight was delayed by 13 hours to our surprise. Finding any info was impossible and talking to the staff and calling support gave us wildly different information. Only to end up being told the flight might leave at 2 pm or 8 pm they weren't sure.

Oh dear oh dear, at least they’re consistent with the lazy feel that the rest of the island has. Changed my name easily and the call centre staff are great but my flight was late taking off there and back (obviously they don’t declare it’s delayed). To be fair I just laugh at Malta related timeliness issues now. Fortunately I was returning from working in the UK but if I was a holiday maker and they ate into my time I don’t think I’d chuckle

First time I used them and unfortunately it’ll be the last.

I changed a flight 90+ days in advance, paid penalty, and received a confirmation email but no e-ticket; it promised in the email to be given to me in 4 hours. Over a month later, after several calls and being on hold for hours, when the prices have gone up significantly, I was informed that the two choices I have are to either get refunded on the amount that I paid or pay significantly more for the same tickets ($3200). The flight promised to me originally is currently on Kayak and would cost around $800 if I were to make a new booking for two people. The only other resolution offered after several conversations were changing to a different inconvenient flight, and therefore it was unacceptable for me. The supervisor promised to check on more flights and call me at 8 AM yesterday. I had not received any callback. I spoke to this supervisor 4-5 times in the last week, and every time, I was asked to wait 2-3 days, another day, etc. I called customer service four times yesterday, I was put on hold anywhere from 10 min-1 an hour and got hung up on without a follow-up. At the last call yesterday (where miraculously I was not hung up on), the supervisor told me they "need more time" to resolve that issue. When I called today, I received an update that the penalty amount was refunded back to my account, and the booking was canceled without my consent or discussion. I filed a complaint with Air Malta and the US department of transportation.

The experience was not the best, to say the least. Would not recommend it.

Air Malta promised to refund our cancelled flight tickets in January, but despite several false promises about refunding our fees, no money has been returned. The customer service has been appalling as they don’t respond to emails or phone calls. Please think carefully about making a booking with this company.

If I could give this company a zero I would, been waiting for a refund since July 2020 for a cancelled flight. Customer service is appalling, they don’t reply to emails and also do no provide promised call backs.

Absolutle shambles. I spent 8 hours on the phone to this incapable company. We had to change a passengers name. I did this with RyanAir in a 20 minute phone call. (we flew out with Ryan air and back with airmalta).Airmalta however not the case.

Tried to change one month prior to departing, they have an absurd policy that you have to get the person who is no longer attend sign a consent form and scan in their passport, even though all they had thus far was a name and no documents. This has to be done within 24 hours. Again ridiculous. People have jobs and not everyone has a scanner.

We got it in anyway, I called to check they had the documents and was told they did and I'd get the new ticket within 24 hours. After 24 hours I still hadn't received the documents. I then called back for another hour and a half call where they told me at the end of what seemed like eternal hold music, that they hadn't received the documents. So then we had to do another form! This call was somewhat hilarious as everything time the agent came back off hold, the cost for the name change, changed! It was 90 euro, then 125 euro then 145 euro before in the end being 75 euro! Do they have a bingo machine for their fees?

We then did another form and finally the ticket was sent through with the name change.

Oh, but that isn't the end of the saga. The day before flying home I had an email, "don't forget to check in" so I went to the website as they don't have an app.
Tried to sign in, it wouldn't sign in. However, it did sign in with another travelling passengers surname. And guess what!? After hours on the phone and forms signed and documents sent in, they had removed me from my return flight and left the passenger who wasn't there on the flight!

So then on my last day of holiday I had to spend 2 hours on the phone to Airmalta again to get them to change it. Which they did. They then put us on 3 separate bookings with new booking references.

Their website is awful, there are two ways of checking in, either the way that works by clicking "Check in" on the home page or the way that doesn't work by clicking "Check in" from the side bar. This way looks like it works and you'll fill everything our but it doesn't populate the document form so it just says "error, require document information " even though it doesn't load the page within the process. So if you're unlucky enough to have already booked use the "check in" off the main page.

Also, the person we added to the flight booking they didn't update the contact address so everything was going to our friend back home so luckily he was about and able to send through the new tickets!

We got to the airport 2 hours prior as a standard. Our boarding passes said Boarding at 08:10. So I went and ordered a breakfast, but airmalta had other ideas, they call out every passengers name over a tannoy 1 hour before boarding saying report to an attendant at the gate.

So I then had to not receive my breakfast and walk through the second passport check to the gate, where I walk to the attendant like the others that had their name called, expecting to then board the plane. But no! They check my passport and then say "take a seat". We then sat in the seats unable to go back through the passport check, to our breakfast until 08:25! So we were all sat there waiting for an hour with no food and then when they biarded us, they do the usual passport and boarding pass check, so what was the point in calling us there 1 hour before if they're going to do it all again anyway?

Avoid this company at all costs, if I was to go to Malta again I'd do Ryan Air both ways. This company was incompetent every step of the way. I'll be interested to see how they handle my complaint and request for my seat fee back and phone bill compensated.

WELL,
I really do not know where to start, regarding this airline, I actually spent at least 4 flight tickets for humans and 4 times 4 tickets for my 2 dogs. the customer service do not know their job tasks. They cannot manage the english language properly even though they are sitting by a telephone managing customers worldwide. I am expecting English to be the first language required to work within these types of branches. I dont want to be rude, but they dont mind charging my credit card but they apparently mind giving me the right services needed. We shall not even discuss the low standard of communication with the customer service, and even not the complaint department nor the HEAD office who do NOT (IM GUESSING) want to take responsibility of their staff doing/working whatever you want to call it! I really wonder whats going on in their offices during work hours. Doing their tasks doesnt seem to be a priority.
When I kindly ask them to register my telephone number in case the call disconnects (which it did, and thats why i required such a thing from the beginning-obviously) they play along, notes my phonenumber, continues to charge my creditcard, disconnect the calls and so the story keeps going on and on. PLEASE notify its 4 different flights. So im kinda getting used to their mentality. Further along some wooden spoon in customer service was trying to lecture me on my language when Im quite fed up from all the dialogoues having with these people so far and then hang up on me AGAIN. WITHOUT OUR money they will not be able to capitalise and get paid. I do not call this service. Excuse my french.
Finally i paid that little extra and flew with the gracious, serviceminded, modern, very accomodating TURKISH AIRLINES and i met my final destination, no thanks to Air malta. Do not use their services. Im going to sue the hell out of you. Money is not an issue, but youre not keeping mine. If anybody feels the same way that ive experienced, please contact me. My phone +46709881880. Kind regards A.S

Shambolic Customer Experience - Avoid If Flying Business.

Having queued in the Business Class line for 45 minutes at check, I thought things couldn’t get worse. However they could… Air Malta had turned the direct Flight to Heathrow into a flight that now goes via Lyon - not what I booked and paid for. However Air Malta staff didn’t want to tell passengers this… it was quicker to get Trailfinders to explain what was going on… apparently they decided to change the flight at 6-38am on morning of flight, but don’t tell passengers… To add insult still sitting on tarmac 45 minutes after stated departure time on this magical mystery flight…. Staff ambivalence is universal to passengers…

If you’re flying business do not waste your money - better off slumming it with Ryanair as a better chance of getting away on time on the route you selected.

Booked three tickets for myself and friends for a wedding in malta. They constantly kept cancelling flights and moving us to different flights on different dates at different airports. Would not confirm cancellation when requested on multiple occasions, and reviews/social media make it clear you will never gete a refund no matter how patiently you wait.

Customer service was a joke, if they say they will call you back the chances are they will not. The one time they did call back they got my name and flight details wrong and were clearly talking to the wrong person. I have been rudely hung up on several times despite never being rude or angry myself. The customer service staff are unable to do anything over the phone...

I did a section 22 Credit Card chargeback and got my money back, I suggest you save time and effort and avoid this airline that went bankrupt during covid and is now struggling very hard.

This has been the worst flying experience I have ever had. I have flown all over the world and this three hour flight has been moved and delayed and moved again. After swiftly making our way through security and securing the obligatory pint, we patiently waited for the information for our gate to appear. However rather then something appearing, the flight disappeared. Going to the help desk, was no help. Several other airMalta travellers couldn’t find or contact a single member of staff. Relying on information being passed through group chats and other social media. You think with Malta holding a festival the national airline would be able to organise themselves a bit better. Fast forward 4 hours and somebody who we assume works for airMalta (we assume, nobody said anything) gives us vouchers for food, ready for our 12 hour delay, just the 12 hours, trapped in a terminal with no access to fresh air. Our 11:55 scheduled flight and we are called to our gate at 22:10. After sitting at the gate for a while we are then told our airplane doesn’t have a toilet and that is also needs to wait for a “fluffer”, aeronautical engineering was never my strong point but I don’t think many people knew. 23:10 we are now told we need a new a plane. It’s 23:30 and we still don’t know where we will arrive in Malta. Waste of money and a waste of time. Severely understaffed and appalling customer service when it was actually presented to us.