Air Mauritius Reviews | Opinions of Air Mauritius shared by travelers

Our departure from the dinky little Airport on Rodrigues Island was OK.

There were two flights of Air Mauritius ATR 72’s were scheduled in the space of 20 minutes. It’s a good idea to check in on line if possible
The small checking in area was small but quite well organized. Maintenance and extension work are still going on at the Airport terminal, so some areas of the building were still blocked off with temporary panels.
Loudspeakers were not working in the departure lounge, so all boarding announcements were yelled out. ! So there was a bit of sorting out between the two lots of passengers waiting to board the two planes on the tarmac.
The flight to Mauritius -90 minutes approx was OK. The Airfield in Rodrigues is subjected to cross-wind restrictions on load- so 6 or so seats are not sold until the last minute.
This domestic flight to Mauritius was OK, but there is an identity and document check at both ends. A snack box and a non alcoholic drinks service is supplied free. Good cabin service and helpful announcements from the flight deck.
Landing more or less on time and a good quick baggage delivery allowed me to be outside the Airport building 20 minutes after landing.

The Air Mauritius website kindly offers a seat request plan for all passengers booking on line at no extra charge.
On line checking-in is available in Mauritius(and Rodrigues) but not on Air Mauritius flights from Singapore.
The bag drop at the airport in Mauritius is in the business Class Priority checking in area and also available for passengers with Kestrel flyer FF Gold and Silver cards.

The aircraft used Mauritius -Singapore was an Airbus A340-300. I noted that, very surprisingly, Air Mauritius recently issued a Press Item with the astonishing (to me) statement that their fleet included “A340 aircraft no longer suited for long haul missions!.”
Why?
As a passenger, I can’t think of any aircraft I would rather have on a ‘long haul mission’ that an A340.
This is especially for peace of mind when the trip is over large stretches of ocean…. and for the comfortable seating. .
The A340 has lots of two abreast seating and 4 engines.
Much preferable to the three, four or even five abreast (AA 777) seating and the two engines of the 777
(I guess the Air Mauritius statement is more addressed to their Accountants and Shareholders pay-outs, than their passenger’s comfort and well being)

The flight was full, but the meal service was good and the cabin staff very efficient,helpful and polite.
Excellent in fact.
But although it was a night flight there were no eye shades or socks or hot towels on offer.
No menus either.
It does make a bit of difference.
The IFE system on the ‘Classic’ version of the Air MK A340’s is not AVOD, but the old system with small seat back screens seemed to be working OK..

There was a transit stop at Kuala Lumpur before the hop over to Singapore.
The return flight to Mauritius needs careful planning as there only two rotations a week to Singapore.
Although Air Mauritius does sometime use its Airbus A330-200’s to Singapore – we had the same A340-300 for the trip back- a day flight- and this time we did get hot towels.
The same films as the outward trip were being screened despite the In-flight magazine promising different ones. They seemed to be having trouble within the system as we had several false starts with the IFE.
The flight was again full, but it was a day flight and everyone seemed happy. The in-flight service was again very efficient and helpful and the flight more or less on time.
The big plane baggage delivery was a bit slow this time on arrival in Mauritius..
The flight back to Rodrigues Island (next day) was also completely full and OK. It was on time and there was only one plane operating this time.
All in all…. I can offer top marks to Air Mauritius for a safe, comfortable and pleasant trip.
I hope their re-structuring keeps the rate of service at this level.