Review: Transavia A320neo (AMS-ORY)

THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT I loved flying this modern A320neo with power ports, though this isn't one of the better intra-European experiences, with no WiFi and a mediocre buy-on-board food selection (and the price point isn't cheap either)	3.5

In June 2025, I flew Transavia’s A320neo from Amsterdam to Paris Orly Airport. Transavia is KLM’s fully-owned low-cost subsidiary, and has bases in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Eindhoven. Transavia also has a French division based in Paris Orly. I flew a Transavia France flight connecting the airline’s two main hubs, though the onboard experience is more or less identical.

Transavia used to have an all-Boeing fleet consisting solely of 737s. However, they started delivering A320neos (Transavia France) and A321neos (Transavia Netherlands) in 2023, and I had the opportunity to try one of their A320neos out.

So how was Transavia? Fine, and I really liked the brand-new cabins, including the 60W USB-C charging at all seats (that’s enough to charge a MacBook). However, Transavia pricing isn’t cheap, and there are many cases where I wonder whether it’s worth shelling out extra for Air France/KLM’s mainline product (this is a thought I have about flying low-cost airlines within Europe in general, particularly outside of the Ryanair/easyJet/Wizz Air trifecta). Here’s my review of this flight on Transavia.

Booking Transavia’s A320neo

My Transavia flight had a whopping base fare of €194 (£168/HK$1,772), which is very steep for a one-way, one-hour flight. However, given that I had changed plans and was booking fairly last minute, this was the only option that really worked for me at the time. I’ve chosen an arbitrary flight in the screenshots below (I believe this one was between Paris Orly and Prague), which will be more indicative of the typical pricing you’d expect on Transavia.

As you can see, there are four fare bundles with varying additions. Smart comes with a cabin bag, seat selection, and priority boarding, though is significantly more expensive than the Basic fare. You can then get further bundles with more extras above that.

Afterwards I was led to a page where I could choose whether I wanted to bring on a cabin bag. Transavia doesn’t sell priority boarding separately – you have to purchase it with a cabin bag. I got this package on my flight as I wanted to be able to take good cabin photos, which set me back €32 (£27.59/HK$292) on my flight.

On the following screen, I could choose between different sizes of hold luggage, all the way up to 50 kg (which would’ve cost €119/£102.57/HK$1,088).

Lastly, I could choose my seat. Seat prices ranged from €7 (£6.03/HK$64) on my flight, though seats further forward and exit row seats are more expensive. I picked a window seat near the back of the plane for €7.

While I am not generally impressed with Air France/KLM’s IT, I had no issues booking this flight on Transavia.

While my flight was on the steep end even compared to normal Transavia flights, I find Transavia pricing to be on the high end for a low-cost carrier. That’s not entirely Transavia’s fault, as the Netherlands has some of the highest air passenger taxes in the industry (€29.40/£25.39/HK$268 per direction regardless of destination). I’ve never seen a Transavia one-way flight under £60, even out of Paris-Orly.

Transavia’s Ground Experience at Schiphol Airport

After coming in on my easyJet flight from London Southend, I made my way to the airport’s Schengen region – specifically, to the C gates where my flight would be departing. Immigration was painless, and I even told the immigration officer I liked planes (he was asking why I was going to Paris), and we had a fun brief discussion before he sent me on my way.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport’s non-Schengen area

The Schengen area features less in the way of food and beverages (and much like Heathrow Airport, food at Schiphol isn’t cheap at all), so I simply bought a hot dog at a stand as I waited for my Transavia flight. I did end up having a Heineken as well, before making it to gate C15, where my flight was departing.

Transavia gate area at Schiphol Airport

Transavia owns 142 planes, though only 35 of them are Airbus planes (30 of which are in the A320neo family) – the rest are 737s. Our five-month-old A320neo was waiting at gate C15, and I was quite excited to fly it!

Transavia A320neo at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

The boarding area was arranged into two lanes, and Group 1 was invited to board at 8:55 PM, around 30 minutes before our scheduled departure time. I had purchased an extra carry-on bag (which I didn’t end up using, though it was good to have priority boarding for this review), so was able to board with Group 1.

Transavia gate area at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

We were very briefly held at the doorway, where you could see “welcome” written in 24 different languages by the doorway, which was really cool!

Transavia A320neo warm welcome at door

I was welcomed onboard by a friendly flight attendant, and made my way onto Transavia’s A320neo.

Transavia France Flight TO4659
Friday, June 20, 2025
Origin: Amsterdam (AMS) Gate: C15 Dep: 21:25 (21:35)
Destination: Paris Orly (ORY) Gate: F4 Arr: 22:50 (22:55)
Duration: 1 h 25 min (1 h 20 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo Reg: F-HXSM
Seat: 28F (Standard Class)

Transavia’s A320neo Cabin and Seat

The Transavia fleet is incredibly green, and their brand-new A320neos are no exception. No, I don’t mean that they’re eco-friendly (though these A320neos are a nice step in that direction), I mean that they’re literally straight out of Elphaba’s skincare routine.

This is the Recaro SL3710 seat, very similar to what airlines such as Wizz Air use, though Transavia kept the built-in cupholder and added a USB-C power port. I believe KLM also uses this seat on some of their newer mainline planes. This is one of the better low-cost airline seats out there, and I far prefer them to the SL3510 (found on easyJet, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Vueling, etc.) due to the less flimsy seat design and better tray tables.

Transavia A320neo Cabin

I’ve always known Transavia for their slightly trypophobia-inducing upholstery, though the stitching on the faux leather is slightly different on the A320neos, featuring an obround pattern instead.

Transavia A320neo Cabin 

I assigned myself seat 28F, hoping the flight would be on the empty side. While the aisle seat ended up going out occupied, we did get a free middle seat, which was nice to have on this short flight.

Transavia A320neo Seats 28D, 28E and 28F

Pitch is around 29″. While not spacious, I don’t remember feeling super confined in my seat, though this could’ve partially just been because of a lack of a person next to me.

Transavia A320neo Legroom

Every seat on this Transavia A320neo featured a 60W power port. Come on British Airways, even a low-cost airline has managed to install 60W USB-C power ports onboard their newest planes. You won’t find an AC power port here, however.

Transavia A320neo Power Port

In terms of other seatback features, there’s a cupholder. I also really like these tray tables – they were sturdy, and far preferred over the SL3510 variant (where the tray tables are tiny).

Transavia A320neo Cupholder and Tray Table

This was one of Airbus’ newer-style A320s, which featured larger overhead bins, as well as updated overhead panels. There was also an air nozzle at each seat.

Transavia A320neo Overhead Panel and Air Nozzle

I also appreciated the boarding music, which played some top hits, including Africa (Toto) and APT (ROSÉ/Bruno Mars).

The cabin itself is quite no-frills, though I appreciated power ports. Do note that Transavia’s 737s don’t feature power ports, so this can only be found onboard their newest aircraft.

Transavia’s A320neo Lavatory

After takeoff I took the liberty of checking out the lavatory featured at the back of the plane. Transavia’s A320neos have three lavatories shared between 186 passengers. The lavatories were modern and felt clean for the most part.

 
Transavia A320neo Lavatory

Taking off from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

The flight was boarded quite promptly, and I’d say it had a load factor of around 85% (there were quite a few empty seats nearer the back). There was a passenger who hadn’t made the flight, so we had to unload their baggage before we were ready to depart.

A flight attendant came around with an analog clicker counter to count passengers, which I haven’t seen before. This was followed by a safety demonstration.

At this point a sunset was just beginning at Schiphol Airport. While our easyJet flight took us on a 20-minute tour round Schiphol Airport, the Transavia/KLM terminals were much closer to runway 36C where we were departing, so taxiing didn’t take as long.

KLM terminal area at Schiphol Airport

As per aviation regulations, the cabin lights were dimmed for takeoff – in this case the crew chose some nice purple-green mood lighting, as if the cabin wasn’t green enough (though it did look cool).

Transavia A320neo Cabin Lighting

Just prior to takeoff, I spotted PH-BXG, an airframe I had flown from Stockholm to Amsterdam just a year ago (I reviewed it here). The aircraft was headed off to Marseille just after us!

KLM 737 at Schiphol Airport

We were wheels-up at 9:45 PM, and did an right 180° to head southwest towards Paris-Orly.

Taking off from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Since we were flying southbound and I was on the right side, we had a great view of the sunset on our right.

Sunset flying out of Schiphol Airport

The cabin crew also adjusted the mood lighting to reflect the sunset.

Transavia A320neo Mood Lighting

Transavia’s A320neo Buy-On-Board Meal Service

Transavia features a buy-on-board menu, which you can find here. Here are a couple of pictures of what the menu looked like on my flight:

 
Transavia A320neo Buy-On-Board Menu

I’d just been on an easyJet flight and had a hot dog at Schiphol Airport (as I was hungry), though I did want to sample something from the selection. So I went for the “Japanese noodles with veggies and soja sauce [sic]”. Water was included with the meal, and the total set me back €6.50 (£5.61/HK$60).

That’s a lot, considering that what I got was some (very good) curry instant noodles. These didn’t have veggies or soy (or soja) sauce, though they did taste good. I do think that there are airlines offering buy-on-board food selections (e.g. Swiss, Norwegian) that are slightly more expensive but exponentially higher quality, and I actually found their onboard offerings to be worth it when I flew them. Outside of this selection of airlines, I generally would try and avoid buying food on most low-cost carriers, as they’re much more overpriced for their relative quality.

Transavia A320neo Meal

I won’t dedicate a section to the crew on this flight, though they were generally very friendly.

Transavia A320neo WiFi and Inflight Entertainment

Transavia’s A320neo has neither WiFi nor inflight entertainment. I believe the airline is trialling WiFi on some of their jets, though this wasn’t available on my flight. This will be both a great revenue opportunity as well as a material upgrade to the passenger experience, in my opinion.

A beautiful sunset over Belgium

As we flew over Belgium at around 10 PM local time during the summer solstice, we encountered a gorgeous sunset, with nice cabin mood lighting to match.

Sunset on approach into Orly Airport

Landing into Paris-Orly Airport

We began our descent into Orly Airport by dusk, and circled north of Paris, before circling the city and landing into Orly (in the south). As it was dark and I couldn’t see central Paris from the right side of the plane, we only had views of some Parisian suburbs. This was still quite exciting, as it was my first time in Paris since 2015!

Landing into Paris-Orly Airport

We were wheels-down into Orly Airport just after 10:45 PM, and made our way to gate F6, where we would be parked for the night.

Taxiing at Paris-Orly Airport

While we did get a jetbridge (where we all deplaned through the forward door), unfortunately we were parked at the non-Schengen area of the airport, so we had to be bussed back to the correct part of the terminal. This took around 20 minutes.

Transavia A320neo at Orly Airport

Orly Airport was surprisingly packed at this time of night, though I still managed to weave my way through the crowds and catch an OrlyVal train that I thought was ambitious. I surprisingly found Paris to be much more crowded at midnight than during the day, given that I’d returned for a trip not long after.

I had planned to head to the Moxy Paris Charles de Gaulle where I’d be spending the night (not an ideal commute from Orly at 11 PM, though I was going to the Paris Air Show the following day, which was closer to Charles de Gaulle). However, I decided on a whim that you only live once, and took a detour to Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower at midnight.

I manage to function on low sleep if I’m on my feet, so I wouldn’t call my 12 AM Eiffel Tower visit too poorly thought out. If anything, both Paris-Orly and Trocadero were packed at this time of night – I was more surprised about the former, and found it to be more packed than Charles de Gaulle is at a “normal” hour.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower at 12 AM

Conclusion: Transavia’s A320neo

Transavia’s A320neo was modern and comfortable, and I liked the addition of power ports. However, this flight didn’t feature WiFi of any sort, the buy-on-board meal service couldn’t compare to the best low-cost carriers out there, and basic bag allowances were more comparable to ultra low-cost carriers than towards leisure carriers (i.e. paying extra was required to bring a small cabin bag, etc.). That’s a bit of a shame, since the airline tends to price on the high side for low-cost carriers.

This is more than pleasant enough, though I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m getting an easyJet-style experience for mainline carrier prices. That’s not worth it to me, unless Transavia was my only option.

What’s your favourite European low-cost airline?