Austral Reviews & Complaint Guide

I submitted the refund form after a cancelled San Francisco to Singapore Changi trip and received a case number right away. After that, nothing was simple. Each call felt like starting over, one agent could not see the previous notes, and the email replies never gave a real date for when the money would be returned.

The best part of this trip happened before boarding. A check-in employee at Seattle noticed a document mismatch and corrected it before it became a gate problem. The process took extra minutes, but it saved me from a much bigger issue later in the day.

After a tiring trip, I mostly wanted the bags to show up and the staff to be polite. That is exactly what happened. The baggage belt at FCO started quickly, both checked bags arrived together, and the employee nearby helped an older passenger lift a heavy suitcase without being asked.

The check-in line at Istanbul was long enough that I expected a disaster. A gate agent near F14 noticed the tight connection on AU675, moved the document check along, and explained exactly where to go next. It was the kind of calm help that makes a stressful airport morning feel manageable.

At gate A4, passengers with bags that had already passed the sizer were suddenly told to check them. The staff sounded annoyed when people asked whether the bags would come out planeside or at baggage claim. I would have packed differently if Austral had made the rule clear before boarding started.

The area around seat 18A smelled strongly of the lavatory for most of the flight. A crew member offered a middle seat several rows back, but that was the only option. For a long trip, this was one of those problems that sounds small until you are stuck with it for hours.

We started a vacation with one suitcase missing after Austral AU786. The desk at CDG took the claim and told us to buy basic clothes, then every phone call after that gave a different answer. The bag finally reached the hotel almost two days later with a broken zipper pull, and the reimbursement offer did not come close to what we spent.

After boarding Austral AU823, the screen at my seat froze and the crew tried restarting it twice. Then we were told there was a maintenance warning and everyone just sat there without a clear timeline. I understand safety checks, but the communication on February 9, 2026 made the whole cabin feel stuck and ignored.

The app said Austral AU860 was boarding soon, the airport screen still showed delayed, and the gate desk told us to ignore both until they made an announcement. That kind of mixed information is exhausting when you are trying to decide whether to get food, call a ride, or run to a different gate.

The delay stretched long enough that passengers were given meal vouchers, but the amount barely covered a sandwich at the airport. I appreciate getting something, but it felt more symbolic than useful when families were stuck waiting for hours with children.