Review of Air Madagascar flight from Antananarivo to Nosy Be in Economy

Intro

After a truly lovely time exploring the lemurs in Andasibe and one of the most enlightening experiences visiting a slum in Antananarivo, it was finally time to head up to relax for the remainder of the trip.

I won't write much about it: but this is what I have to say:

The thing about places like this is that on paper you think these people live everyday in poverty, making about 60 USD per month. While this might be considered poverty, I can tell you that their hearts are filled with the opposite of poverty, they are rich inside.

I’ll put this way, my guide, who only makes about 15$ per month, invited me into his home and used his own money to go buy us a couple of beers which are about 1$ each. The same happened in Senegal, and that is why I consider Africa to have the kindest hearts in the world.

Might as well add this to the French FR with where the car is from

Electricity is scarce here and expensive, yet my guide headed over to the back of his house to turn it on so we could watch some TV while enjoying a beer. His family welcomed me with open arms, offering me anything that I needed, and people even wanted to take pictures with me. Man, even looking back at this experience brings goosebumps as this is life, this is real, no phones in sight, and no judgement. Just real-life stuff. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 1-bedroom house with 6 people living in it; they make it work, and that is a mindset that I admire about a lot of African countries.

I have visited my fair share of slums across Africa, including the likes of Nigeria (Makoko), and one in Juba, South Sudan. It's always heart-wrenching walking through places filled with trash, seeing children play in tires, and the pain you can see in many of the local's eyes. Antananarivo was no different, although it was slightly better than Makoko as an example.

You can buy anything and everything here, I truly mean that. If you want an iPhone for 15$ that barely works, not an issue. You want parts for your car? Not an issue. If you want to collect recycling for money? Not an issue. It's spectacular to see these places in real life, and see how a lot of Africans live. We forget about this continent in the West, when it is well and truly the most beautiful continent in the world.

As someone who likes to see the real side to a country, call me a poverty tourist (I am not going to judge) if you want, I immediately said yes. I just really want people to see the real side to a country, oftentimes a certain side gets displayed which doesn't resemble…

Powerful…

My guide is the best…

Back to it: 

In order to get up to Nossi Be, you realistically have two options. The first is driving for about 21 hours, and the second is flying Madagascar Airlines, or as the locals like to call it, "Air Maybe". This airline isn't bad, but the management sums up exactly what it means to be a normal carrier in Africa. "Will the plane fly today"? "50-50".

Routing

How I Booked

Being able to book a ticket on Madagascar Airlines can be a hassle on its own. I mean, honestly, the website is like the airline, "50-50". Thankfully for our outbound, we were able to book 2 tickets the day before online for a total of 208$ per person. Not bad, except it wasn't confirmed until the next day, the morning of the flight…

However, on the way back, I attempted to ticket my mum but to no avail did any of our credit cards work. To make matters worse, they are still trying to charge the card lol. Remember "50-50". 

Around TNR

On the late morning of the 27th, we were just getting ready to head to the airport for the scheduled 1:30 pm departure, when we received an email from Madagascar Airlines stating that our flight had been rescheduled to 4:30 pm. Lovely…

But that did mean I got another steak at the Radisson Blu, so that was a plus.

By 3 pm, we headed off to the airport, which is about an hour away during traffic, since my mum had a conference call she had to do at 4:00 pm. Arriving just in the nick of time, we parked and left my mum to do her conference call while my guide and I walked over to the international terminal to grab some beers. Hajar was honestly one of the coolest people I have ever met.

For the next hour or so, since the flight had been delayed further, Hajar and I chatted a little bit while I attempted to use my broken French. He told me that he wishes I had come during the weekend, as he would have taken me for a local night out on the town. Oh, how fun that would have been. 

By 5:00 pm, we headed back over to the domestic terminal and checked in on what was going on with this flight. We were supposed to take Air Mauritius lol…

Enter text here…

The answer: there is now a maintenance problem with the plane.

So I asked, "Are we going to fly today?"

Maybe yes, maybe no: Air Maybe huh

With my mum finished up with her conference hall, we headed into the domestic terminal to check in, bidding farewell to Hajar and hoping to see him again very soon.

You can have my picture today: this is a cool review (in my opinion, maybe not someone elses) so yeah…

Check-In

There's a common theme to this review: maybe

Once inside the petite domestic terminal, there are no more than 5 check-in desks, all packed around peak departure hours. It can take a little bit of time, so better to bring your patience (maybe).

However, we were quickly ushered through to a premium line (why, I have no idea, maybe…) to process check-in. However, there lay one issue: Madagascar Airlines is quite strict about how much weight you can bring onboard, and as someone who NEVER checks luggage, we began the African bargaining process. 

Oh, I love bargaining in Africa; no other continent is like it.

MD: "you cannot bring the luggage on the plane it is too big"

Us: "we fly on an ATR all the time and it fits overhead"

MD: "okay, but you have to pay"

Us: "How much"?

MD: "80,000" (17 USD)

Us: Okay!

Only one issue, I had to go over to the ticketing counter to process the payment. LOL. Heading over, I was quickly able to process the luggage payment and a couple of lounge passes. 

Madagadcar Airlines Lounge

Heading through the very brief security checkpoint, there was a small waiting room with the Flagship Madagascar Airlines Lounge right in the back corner. While we can classify this as a lounge due to the exclusivity, it's more or less just a private waiting room with maybe (sorry I am having fun with this 😅) a couple of complementary food and drink items. 

I mean yeah…but no…

I mean, the seats have seen better days, there is only water, beer, and soft drinks, but it was still much more comfortable than the packed waiting room, which had somehow sold out of food 😅. Gosh, I literally love traveling in Africa, you just never know what to expect…

However, my favorite part of the lounge was that there was an outdoor area, and theoretically, you could just walk out onto the airstrip. I've seen ATC looking for planes visually from outside the tower in South Sudan, but being able to walk on the tarmac without anyone stopping you is kind of wild. It gave for some fantastic views of our plane dealing with the maintenance problem from earlier???

Boarding

With our newly scheduled departure time of 6:30 pm, I headed off to the gate about the status of our flight. The agent mentioned that there was another maintenance problem with the aircraft, and she did not know when or if we would be boarding: Air Maybe.

Without any announcement, boarding commenced at 6:55 pm, a whopping 6 hours behind schedule. LOL. 

At this point, I was ready to get some rest. 

The Seat/Cabin

cabins on these planes. There are two rows of business class in a 2-2 configuration in the very back of the plane, separated by a curtain (the adjacent seat is not blocked), and the rest of the plane in the forward part is classed as economy.

This is honestly quite clever from the airline, as they can offer more efficiency at a premium price, not that the airline actually has any efficiency lol. 

The Flight

Giving my mum the window seat (there is a reason I don't travel with anyone, I am joking 🙃), no IFE onboard, and no wifi, I decided to get some rest before the meal service came around.

For reference: the flight took off at 7:45 pm local time, a whopping 6 hours and 15 minutes late. Hey, at least we changed it from Air Maybe to Air Late Departure.

Around 8:15 pm, the cabin crew came around to offer passengers a choice of drinks and a ham and cheese sandwich. While I appreciate the thought here, the flight is almost 2 hours, so I think a larger meal would be more sufficient.

Womp, womp: it didn't matter since I went to bed and woke up once we had landed in Nossi Be. If you thought TNR was a small airport, think again, Nossi Be airport is a small building lol. 

From there, we had a long drive up North to the villa, but not before stopping up to engage in some local dancing at a late-night bar. Ohhhh Djadja…

More on Nossi Be soon, in the next report: stay tuned (almost done with series).