Bulgarian Airline (Bulgaria Air)

Member Name: AGONYAUNT

Product:	Bulgaria Air
Date:	22/08/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good airline

Disadvantages: No good lounge at Heathrow

Bulgaria Air is the Bulgarian national airline and one i have used regularly in the past 15 months due to the nature of my job.

I only flew with Bulgarian Airways from London to Sofia and the way back, and from Sofia to Varna and way back.

One of the reasons why my travel agency selected them is that they are cheaper than BA in business class. I am allowed to travel in business class on European flights, while on the national flights, whether they are in UK, or abroad, I need to fly economy. I therefore had experience of business on the London to Sofia route and of economy on the Sofia to Varna route.

The airplanes are modern and relatively clean, however, I find that the quqality of the seats is not as good as BA, the material used seem to be quite cheap.

The staff are useful and I never had an issue with the language, even on the national route, although I speak Russian and some time I understand Bulgarian, but other than that, I normally speak to airline staff in English.

I never had any issue with punctuality, we had few situations when we departed with delay, but they managed to make up at elast a portion of that delay on route, I think there was only one occasion when the plane was 40 minutes late, but this was due to traffic congestion at Heathrow since we were kept for 20 minutes circling London like voltures before a landing slot came available.

Food is ok, not the best airline food I had, but the wines are both international and local, and they tend to change them quite regularly.

I think that for those who need to fly to Bulgaria, this is a good alternative to BA, particularly in business class, where the difference in price I was told is more than 100 Pounds on a return ticket.

The only thing I regret is that I cannot use the BA lounge at Heathrow when we depart.

Summary: Good airline