We recently just got back from diving in Tonga and wish to let everyone know of our experience there.
We dived on the island of Eua. It is about a 10 min flight from the main island Tongatapu or a 2-3 hr ferry trip. Naturally we wished to avoid the ferry and so our travel agent booked us through Real Tonga airlines. A week before the trip, we had not received our E tickets for the Island flight. In fact on the day we were travelling to the airport to fly out of Australia, we still didnt have the E tickets. Apparently (from the travel agents), Real Tonga airlines booked the wrong day for us and were refusing to change it or something along those lines. The travel agent and the LDC (Deep Blue Diving Tonga) spent much time talking to Real Tonga and finally got a flight for us (all be it in the afternoon instead of the morning which meant a 14 hr layover after flying all night). When we got to the local airport, it seemed somewhat chaotic with issues with other people on other prior Real Tonga flights. Finally we got over to Eua and dived with Deep Blue Diving Tonga staying at the Ova Tree lodge.
I will comment further about Deep Blue Diving Tonga and Ova Tree Lodge further later in this post but basically I was very happy with their service.
While we were at Eua we saw people who had booked the return flight from Eua to Tongatapu, and had it confirmed on the prior day as booked and confirmed, only to find the flight cancelled due to maintenance or some other issue, or to be kicked off the flight to let a local who had booked at last minute on the flight. This did not happen only once, but on a number of times in our 10 day period.
A group booking diving with us sent all their luggage back via ferry to ensure that they would get all their people on their booked and confirmed flight, only to have one person kicked off due to numbers once again.
Also during our stay over 10 days a number of flights to Eua and other islands were cancelled due to maintenance issues (see attached link) and this appears ongoing.
Warning issued over Tongan aircraft - National - NZ Herald News
On the day prior to our flight we had our booking confirmed and all was apparently well. That night we saw a flight come in very late but paid it no heed.
We made the airport the next morning with plenty of time and found it all locked up. Waited until our flight time, only to be told by the local, spraying weeds, that the flights were cancelled. At no time prior to this were we informed, had they done so before 1600 the previous day we could have caught the ferry back or gotten the late flight the previous night we saw come in. We then contacted Deep Blue diving who spent many hours talking to Real Tonga. We explained we had a connecting flight to OZ at 1600 that day and should we miss this we could not reschedule as our airline only flys in twice weekly and their next flight was the following Tuesday (we were to be flying out of Melbourne that Tues morning at 6 am to Vanuatu). On that basis if we missed our flight we would have to pay for new tickets with another airline or get back late and totally miss our Vanuatu trip.
At about 1130 that morning we were advised they would fly us out at 1600 that night, we said no that wont work. After renegotiation, they said they would fly in to Eua at 1445 getting back to Tongatapu at 1505. Our international flight was at 1545 but they said they contacted Virgin airlines who would hold the international flight for us and they would have a driver waiting to rush us from regional airport to international. We waited at the airport and their promised flight did not get in to Eua until 1530 and did not make Tongatapu until 1545 and we watched our international flight leave without us as we landed.
On getting in to the Real Tonga check out counter, we were greeted with blank stares. On asking what was happening, all the staff walked away and refused to talk with us but were clearly talking about us in their language. There was no driver waiting for us either as promised. We waited for 15 minutes while the staff made themselves scarce. Only when it was obvious that we were not going anywhere, did someone approach and we discussed the situation. They offered a hotel room at Scenic Hotel with a meal and breakfast, and told us to rebook our international flight. When I explained it was now going to cost us $2000 extra to get home they just shrugged and walked off. I was told to claim it on our travel insurance, but clearly its not covered.
While we were having this conversation someone who appeared important ( a lecturer perhaps I think from NZ), was blowing a fuse as he had booked in to go speak with 100 people on an island and when he got there at the allocated time to make his flight, they told him the flight had already gone. He asked how, if he was on time to make his flight, how it could be already gone? He was livid and said he was now flying home and would not make his speech.
We went over to international and spoke with our international carrier (Virgin) and the manager said he tried to hold the flight but soon as he realised we would not even have landed before their flight time he could no longer hold the flight, but he had the sense to shift our booking to another day so we could at least recover some of our flight costs with them (yet to be confirmed) A BIG THANK YOU VIRGIN STAFF AT TONGA if this is the case.
When we went to the Scenic Hotel for the night, it was full of people who had their flights with Real Tonga not made or cancelled. Real Tonga paid for some peoples hotel costs but not others? Some just accepted it but others were livid. A Japanese woman was incensed as she had very similar issues with Real Tonga from another island flight and on her island chaos about all the flights was the same. They made her take a 7 hr ferry trip. She could understand some of their language and said they were talking about her in front of her in their language but not communicating to her, clearly they had no idea she could understand them. They were saying things like she is rich she can afford it, and anyway she can claim on travel insurance etc etc.
It would appear to me that Real Tonga airlines is in crisis. My thoughts are;
No clear management happening, they appear going from one crisis to another and respond to their biggest client booking issues and just drop smaller numbers of client groups and just ignore them as their way of dealing with the situation. It appears from newspapers they have significant maintenance issues. I was told if you fly with them you have no insurance with them?
This must be affecting all the local businesses who I know are very upset with Real Tonga airlines, its destroying their livelihood.
I would like to thank the following who tried very hard to help us with our Real Tonga issues;
Always Dive Expeditions who did a great effort to get us there on time, and got us home when all else failed.
Deep Blue Diving Tonga who tried very hard indeed (thank you Sam and staff) to make our time pleasurable and get our flights sorted out. Nothing was too much trouble for them and I would recommend them.
Ova Tree Lodge Run by Wolfgang, he made our stay pleasurable and was a great dive guide. We enjoyed the atmosphere very much indeed. The lodge is good, hot water and great service from him and his staff. Its not a 5 star hotel but it very much is the best stay on the island (according to all those who tried other lodgings and came there).
Virgin Australia who tried valiantly to get us home and were smart enough to help recover some of our costs.
I do not blame Real Tonga support staff directly although they do lack customer service skills, I put the blame clearly on their Management (or total lack of), and no communication when they are having issues, no apparent training in how to deal with customer crisis, no respect of their customers. To me, clearly the airline has huge maintenance issues and are in crisis.
My recommendation is to NOT fly with them at all under any circumstance. If you absolutely have to fly with them, then allow a number of non critical days either end of your holiday period as they will probably not met their obligations on time.
I recommend take the ferry service, its reliable. I would say, DO NOT FLY REAL TONGA
We dived on the island of Eua. It is about a 10 min flight from the main island Tongatapu or a 2-3 hr ferry trip. Naturally we wished to avoid the ferry and so our travel agent booked us through Real Tonga airlines. A week before the trip, we had not received our E tickets for the Island flight. In fact on the day we were travelling to the airport to fly out of Australia, we still didnt have the E tickets. Apparently (from the travel agents), Real Tonga airlines booked the wrong day for us and were refusing to change it or something along those lines. The travel agent and the LDC (Deep Blue Diving Tonga) spent much time talking to Real Tonga and finally got a flight for us (all be it in the afternoon instead of the morning which meant a 14 hr layover after flying all night). When we got to the local airport, it seemed somewhat chaotic with issues with other people on other prior Real Tonga flights. Finally we got over to Eua and dived with Deep Blue Diving Tonga staying at the Ova Tree lodge.
I will comment further about Deep Blue Diving Tonga and Ova Tree Lodge further later in this post but basically I was very happy with their service.
While we were at Eua we saw people who had booked the return flight from Eua to Tongatapu, and had it confirmed on the prior day as booked and confirmed, only to find the flight cancelled due to maintenance or some other issue, or to be kicked off the flight to let a local who had booked at last minute on the flight. This did not happen only once, but on a number of times in our 10 day period.
A group booking diving with us sent all their luggage back via ferry to ensure that they would get all their people on their booked and confirmed flight, only to have one person kicked off due to numbers once again.
Also during our stay over 10 days a number of flights to Eua and other islands were cancelled due to maintenance issues (see attached link) and this appears ongoing.
Warning issued over Tongan aircraft - National - NZ Herald News
On the day prior to our flight we had our booking confirmed and all was apparently well. That night we saw a flight come in very late but paid it no heed.
We made the airport the next morning with plenty of time and found it all locked up. Waited until our flight time, only to be told by the local, spraying weeds, that the flights were cancelled. At no time prior to this were we informed, had they done so before 1600 the previous day we could have caught the ferry back or gotten the late flight the previous night we saw come in. We then contacted Deep Blue diving who spent many hours talking to Real Tonga. We explained we had a connecting flight to OZ at 1600 that day and should we miss this we could not reschedule as our airline only flys in twice weekly and their next flight was the following Tuesday (we were to be flying out of Melbourne that Tues morning at 6 am to Vanuatu). On that basis if we missed our flight we would have to pay for new tickets with another airline or get back late and totally miss our Vanuatu trip.
At about 1130 that morning we were advised they would fly us out at 1600 that night, we said no that wont work. After renegotiation, they said they would fly in to Eua at 1445 getting back to Tongatapu at 1505. Our international flight was at 1545 but they said they contacted Virgin airlines who would hold the international flight for us and they would have a driver waiting to rush us from regional airport to international. We waited at the airport and their promised flight did not get in to Eua until 1530 and did not make Tongatapu until 1545 and we watched our international flight leave without us as we landed.
On getting in to the Real Tonga check out counter, we were greeted with blank stares. On asking what was happening, all the staff walked away and refused to talk with us but were clearly talking about us in their language. There was no driver waiting for us either as promised. We waited for 15 minutes while the staff made themselves scarce. Only when it was obvious that we were not going anywhere, did someone approach and we discussed the situation. They offered a hotel room at Scenic Hotel with a meal and breakfast, and told us to rebook our international flight. When I explained it was now going to cost us $2000 extra to get home they just shrugged and walked off. I was told to claim it on our travel insurance, but clearly its not covered.
While we were having this conversation someone who appeared important ( a lecturer perhaps I think from NZ), was blowing a fuse as he had booked in to go speak with 100 people on an island and when he got there at the allocated time to make his flight, they told him the flight had already gone. He asked how, if he was on time to make his flight, how it could be already gone? He was livid and said he was now flying home and would not make his speech.
We went over to international and spoke with our international carrier (Virgin) and the manager said he tried to hold the flight but soon as he realised we would not even have landed before their flight time he could no longer hold the flight, but he had the sense to shift our booking to another day so we could at least recover some of our flight costs with them (yet to be confirmed) A BIG THANK YOU VIRGIN STAFF AT TONGA if this is the case.
When we went to the Scenic Hotel for the night, it was full of people who had their flights with Real Tonga not made or cancelled. Real Tonga paid for some peoples hotel costs but not others? Some just accepted it but others were livid. A Japanese woman was incensed as she had very similar issues with Real Tonga from another island flight and on her island chaos about all the flights was the same. They made her take a 7 hr ferry trip. She could understand some of their language and said they were talking about her in front of her in their language but not communicating to her, clearly they had no idea she could understand them. They were saying things like she is rich she can afford it, and anyway she can claim on travel insurance etc etc.
It would appear to me that Real Tonga airlines is in crisis. My thoughts are;
No clear management happening, they appear going from one crisis to another and respond to their biggest client booking issues and just drop smaller numbers of client groups and just ignore them as their way of dealing with the situation. It appears from newspapers they have significant maintenance issues. I was told if you fly with them you have no insurance with them?
This must be affecting all the local businesses who I know are very upset with Real Tonga airlines, its destroying their livelihood.
I would like to thank the following who tried very hard to help us with our Real Tonga issues;
Always Dive Expeditions who did a great effort to get us there on time, and got us home when all else failed.
Deep Blue Diving Tonga who tried very hard indeed (thank you Sam and staff) to make our time pleasurable and get our flights sorted out. Nothing was too much trouble for them and I would recommend them.
Ova Tree Lodge Run by Wolfgang, he made our stay pleasurable and was a great dive guide. We enjoyed the atmosphere very much indeed. The lodge is good, hot water and great service from him and his staff. Its not a 5 star hotel but it very much is the best stay on the island (according to all those who tried other lodgings and came there).
Virgin Australia who tried valiantly to get us home and were smart enough to help recover some of our costs.
I do not blame Real Tonga support staff directly although they do lack customer service skills, I put the blame clearly on their Management (or total lack of), and no communication when they are having issues, no apparent training in how to deal with customer crisis, no respect of their customers. To me, clearly the airline has huge maintenance issues and are in crisis.
My recommendation is to NOT fly with them at all under any circumstance. If you absolutely have to fly with them, then allow a number of non critical days either end of your holiday period as they will probably not met their obligations on time.
I recommend take the ferry service, its reliable. I would say, DO NOT FLY REAL TONGA
