Let me preface this by saying I rarely write negative reviews as I am usually blown away by most of my travel experiences, but as I was sure I was about to die of a heatstroke because of this Godforsaken airline, here it goes.
Royal Air Maroc-my own personal hell-was sitting there at the Casablanca airport in Morocco (without air conditioning) on an over 100 degree afternoon while the passengers fanned themselves desperately, reaching up towards their AC spouts like they were praying for divine intervention. Meanwhile—for reasons unbeknowst to anyone-the flight attendants and pilot kept the plane off without making any attempts (water, please?) to help anyone in the extreme heat.
This horrible experience was part of my connnecting flight to Marrakech, mind you following my 6+ hour Royal Air Maroc flight from NYC, which proved cramped and sleepless with horrendous inflight bathrooms. In fact, the only reedemable quality of this airline was the meals that were unfortunately overshadowed by the sheer chaos and disorginization of how this airline runs itself.
Upon landing in Marrakech, I realized the airline had left my bag in Casablanca and rather than address my concerns or frustrations the employees were non-chalant and entirely useless, telling me only that I should “check back at the airport later.” My first day in Marrakech became a cat and mouse game of going back and forth to the airport-wasting money on cab fare-to check arrivals of other flights from Casablanca because the airline offered no courtesy drop off of lost baggage.
Flash forward ten days later and I found mysel back on this flying circus wagon headed towards New York. After my flight from Marrakech to Casablanca was inexplicably delayed, I managed to make my connecting flight to NYC by the skin of my teeth-arriving at the plane sweating, frazzled and literally stumbling over my carry-on luggage. The flight to NYC was like a playground in the air with little kids running-yes, RUNNING-around the plane while the flight attendants actively ignored the multiple attendant calls from passengers in the cabin. The bathrooms were in a dissaray (I dreaded the moment I actually had to enter one) as at least one person has gotten locked in a restroom (the flight attendants being nowhere to be found) and had to be helped by other passengers.
Becoming thirsty (and realizing these flight attendant call buttons were only for show) I marched to the back of the plane for water and approached a flight attendant who was on her cell phone. When I asked for water, the annoyed attendant simply pointed towards the water bottle with a stack of cups behind her and went back to her phone. As I angrily served myself, I leaned towards the stewardess to let her know the bathrooms were in horrible condition with no toilet paper, paper bags strewn across the floor and bloody tissues popping out of the garbage. With a sigh, one of the other flight attendant pulled himself away from gossiping with other staff to begrudgingly clean the restrooms, leaving the mirror swung open and not bothering to pick up the restroom. When I went back to my seat, the constant ding ding ding of flight attendant call buttons going off only increased as no flight attendants made any effort to check on the passengers. It was only after I approached that same flight attendant busy playing with her phone and alerted her to the numerous call buttons being pressed, did she get up with a sigh and check on the passengers.
The Takeaway…
AVOID Royal Air Maroc as it is truly an uncomfortable, dirty, disorganized and an unreliable flight experience to subject yourself to. From the flight attendants to the staff on the ground; this airline is absolutely, stunningly horrible.
Have you had a horrible flight experience? Share your stories and comments below!
Woah this sounds awful!! Good on You for writing this and letting others know. I love a real honest account and definitely won’t fly with these guys!
Wow I never heard before of such a bad airline! How can the cabin crew just ignore the passengers?!
I know! I was absolutely shocked how the call buttons kept going off and then I’d look back and see the flight attendants just sitting there on their phones despite over 10 flight attendant lights being lit in the cabin. What a mess!
Thanks Sophie! I was so so frustrated with this flight experience that I didn’t know what else to do but write this review and share the experience because it was just so comically bad!
Stephanie says
I know I’m a bit late joining the conversation, but I also have Royal Air Maroc on my “never fly again” list- and my experience wasn’t even as bad! The flight attendents didn’t ignore us but the service was lacking. I also had delays on the tarmac and in Casablanca (though I think my delay was the fault of the airport security crew, rather than the airline) and missed my connecting flight. A friend’s baggage was lost on the NY-Casa connection and it took over a week for the airline to find it and then they didn’t deliver it they sent it to the Fes airport which was two hours from where we were staying AND they didn’t tell her they’d sent it there- she called and asked and was told it was there waiting for her!
Yikes! Yes, this airline seems to run into a lot of issues and is really horrible with customer service. One of my friends also had her baggage lost because the airline decided to put it on a later flight from Barcelona to Marrakech and not let her know. I actually sent this review to their customer service and no response…
JW says
Horrible airline! I bought two tickets JFK - Milan connecting in CAS because price was really good ($500 in May), and morning flight from JFK - CAS would help fight jet lag. Called the airline to book because reservation system wouldn’t let me complete the purchase (it was broken) and the agent wouldn’t book me on the morning flight out of JFK (I have no idea why but he kept insisting that it didn’t exist even though it was scheduled and in the system). After finally getting him to book the flight and arguing with him that I could actually afford to pay $100 for an airport hotel in Casablanca, I was able to get the itenenary I wanted. I asked him to hold the booking while I confirmed dates, and was told ‘maybe I will, maybe I won’t. It might be there when you call back, but we might cancel it.’ I should have stopped right there, but booked with Expedia anyway. Yesterday I checked the reservation and noticed that the airline changed times for both the outbound and return transatlantic flights, leaving us stranded in Casablanca with no connection to Milan on the outbound and a 19 hour layover on the return. I called Expedia to cancel, and when Expedia called RAM to get an authorization code the RAM agent wouldn’t give one and hung up on the Expedia agent. Got refund from Expedia and I will never book this airline again.
Mo says
Horrible airline. They won’t put me on the next after I missed my connecting flight. The people on the ground are extremely rude! My bags were lost for days. No one seems to care.
miguel says
Hi guys. Expedia plus this airline have no shame. Was supposed to return to Nairobi from Madrid next week wednesday with my family. They just decided to cancel the flight last week, and both of them, Expedia and the airline, they do not care , and they just give you the option to fly later or earlier, but it is two days in both cases. They give you the option, as well, to return your money for that leg. - how am I supposed to get now a ticket at a good cost with just a week in advance ?? - Still, the no shame is from Expedia, they just collect fees, and when there is a problem, it is about the airline….
On top of that , hotel booked in Madrid, that can not be cancelled, and rental car, none refundable. Do you thing they care ?? Not any more Expendia ……
Not any more.