Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Air Mauritius: Any Experience?

I am planning to fly Air Mauritius in first class from HKG to MRU in late June. The flight is 10 hours long, in a 767, with the first class cabin having a 2 x 2 x 2 seat configuration. The airline had little information to offer on its first class service, other than saying that the seats are 20" wide and the angle of recline is 150 degrees.

I'd be very interested in hearing any experiences FTers have had with this airline. The seat width and pitch sounds more like business class than first. How is the food? the service? Does the airline participate in any Frequent Flyer programs with US airlines?

Any information would be gratefully received.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SanDiego1K:
I am planning to fly Air Mauritius in first class from HKG to MRU in late June. The flight is 10 hours long, in a 767, with the first class cabin having a 2 x 2 x 2 seat configuration. The airline had little information to offer on its first class service, other than saying that the seats are 20" wide and the angle of recline is 150 degrees.

I'd be very interested in hearing any experiences FTers have had with this airline. The seat width and pitch sounds more like business class than first. How is the food? the service? Does the airline participate in any Frequent Flyer programs with US airlines?

Any information would be gratefully received.</font>

Back in the 90's our family was based in Mauritius and used to fly between there and Australia on a regular basis (about 70 flights in 6 years).

Their F class seating on the B767 is not bad - the 2+2+2 is not as uncomfortable as it may seam.

The leg-rests are unusual in the way that they come out horizontal and then 'pop-up' at the last second to form a leg-rest with a slight incline. They are similar to the leg rests on Emirates First Class, but unfortunately when the leg-rest extends horizontally (before it pops up) it is not flush with the seat pan, but still not bad if you are relaxing and don't want your legs dangling off the end. (You can sort of prop up like you are reading in bed or on a sofa.)

The service is always very friendly, but the wine list did not used to be equivalent to other carriers (non-vintage champagne etc).

Meal presentation back then was from the trolley and always started with caviar - don't know if they still do this.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Cheers

WG

A warning for anyone flying Air Mauritius (MK)... you must reconfirm each segment (including your originating flight) 72 hours prior to departure -- if you do not, they will cancel your reservation even if you have a seat assignment. However, besides this one archaic policy, Air Mauritius is generally pretty good. Flew them JNB-MRU on a new Airbus 319 in Economy -- seats were decent and even had footrests and the food wasn't bad.

Go to Airlinemeals.net and see Y meals. Looks very nice.

Flew with them a few years ago on 762 and 343 in C, CPT-MRU-GVA-FRA. Well, after reading great reviews in airline magazines over the years up to that trip the real world was kind of a dissapointment. Food was bland, IFE old and of boring style (esp. on 762, no seat monitors), service nothing special, FFP is a joke. Even the configurations and names for their premium cabins differing between the 762 and 343 were confusing. Just no real product consistency - and this on such a small airline... On the 762 it's more like C/Y+/Y than 343's F/C/Y. And 343 with 2-3-2 configuration in C. Parents flew in that "First" seat on MK 762 ZRH-MRU and were pleased with the seat comfort though (and a lot of caviar). But as MK already asks for the same discount rates for their premium cabins as competitor BA on flights Europe-MRU they will never book MK again. They very much prefer BA's NCW seat as it easily beats the F seat on any of MK's planes.