| Author |
Message |
Jayne Roberts Guest
| | Posted on Monday, August 16, 2010 - 03:08 pm: |   |
I AM aware that Flybe receives many many complaints with regard to its ridiculous policy of charging ridiculous amounts of money to change tickets with regard to flying times or name changes. I can understand losing your ticket cost if cancelled within certain deadlines etc, but I cannot for the life of me fathom how the airline can justify £120 for four passengers changing their flight time through no fault of their own. My husband, two children and myself were booked on the 16.30 flight from Gatwick to Guernsey on Saturday 7 August. We were flying out of Kos at 11.50 Greek time. Unfortunately, the aircraft was delayed leaving Gatwick and late arriving in Kos and we were then delayed and did not leave Kos airport until around 14.00 hrs and arrived inside Gatwick at 16.15 hrs, thus missing our connecting 16.30 hrs to Guernsey. My sister called the airline from Guernsey when we found out from Kos that we would be delayed in order to give sufficient notice. I am appalled that one is forever incurring these charges for what the airline describe as administration charges, and then to find that the 19.50 flight that we had paid £120 to change to was more than half empty. I realise that many airlines are messed around by passengers who cannot be bothered to put themselves out and are late through fault of their own and yes, this charge certainly deters them from taking advantage, but Flybe should definitely be looking at these charges to each individual circumstance. I have also been on numerous flights where we have been kept waiting due to passengers being delayed from transfers. As we did call ahead and this was not offered to us, I must assume that on those occasions the passengers were obviously more important than ourselves. JAYNE ROBERTS GP Editor’s footnote: Flybe responds: ‘Flybe is a non-refundable airline and its terms and conditions of carriage, including those relating to ticket change charges, are clearly displayed on its website, www.flybe.com.’ |
Flybe Guest
| | Posted on Monday, August 16, 2010 - 03:06 pm: |   |
Flybe customers only pay for the services they use, thus creating transparency in our ticketing sales. This enables us to keep the basic price of our tickets low and allows passengers to choose extra services. One of the reasons Flybe has been able to keep down the basic price of our tickets is because our fair deal on baggage means that our passengers only pay for the discretionary services they use. We were the first airline to introduce charging for baggage and virtually every other airline in the UK has now followed this lead. Fifty-five per cent of Flybe’s passengers do not carry luggage – it is not felt they should subsidise those passengers that do. To address the reader’s comment on seating: unlike many other airlines, all Flybe passengers are automatically allocated a seat at check-in, thus avoiding the uncomfortable scrum that so many other operators put their passengers through. However, should they have a particular seat preference or wish to guarantee they are seated together, there is a charge for this service. Flybe |
Brian Shepherd Guest
| | Posted on Monday, August 16, 2010 - 03:03 pm: |   |
I HAVE to echo the sentiment within the letter in today’s Guernsey Press (9 August) regarding ‘low-cost airlines’. I have, over the summer, investigated several trips away for myself and my three children, the eldest of whom is 11. Going online to find flights to UK or Jersey seemed easy enough. Prices seem reasonable until it comes to taxes and other costs. I understand the taxes, landing charges etc but why, oh why, do Flybe then charge us for bags? Most people are leaving the island for at least an overnight – do Flybe expect us not to take bags? The other big bugbear, which really grinds me, is seats. Why do we pay for seats? What is the initial charge for? The honour of travelling with modern-day Dick Turpin? Are we allowed to stand all the way to Manchester or Aberdeen, or wherever we are going? There was an advert on local radio bemoaning these charges. The tag line was: never mind the extra charges, let a certain mutual company loan you the money to pay them. No, no, no – get the States and travelling public to sort it out. Let Flybe know they are not the favoured or best-value airline. The island’s tourism is being crippled by these underhand and backdoor charges. We, as a group, should be saying ‘sort out or ship out’ because other operators do not make these charges – why should Flybe continue to do so? We use them because we have to, not out of loyalty. This is the company who charged someone nearly £400 to bring excess baggage from Glasgow to Guernsey. Nation’s favourite budget airline. Flybe are neither favoured nor budget. BRIAN SHEPHERD. |
Geoff Dorey Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - 02:40 pm: |   |
IN MY experience, Blue Islands is the most customer-friendly airline with which I have ever travelled. Everything from the website to the airport and flight service and the friendliness of the staff is done to make the tedious business of travelling as painless as possible. Therefore, I think that Derek Coates should be given the opportunity to acquire Aurigny as there is no sense in having two unprofitable airlines. Our Gatwick slots and air transport links could be protected by the golden share and the States having a pre-emptive option to acquire the combined airline in the event of Derek Coates wishing to dispose of his shareholding. The cost of such a purchase could be based on an agreed formula of asset value and goodwill. An opportunity not be missed. GEOFF DOREY. |
Peter M. Ward Guest
| | Posted on Monday, August 09, 2010 - 03:01 pm: |   |
HAVING just returned from another idyllic stay with our very dear friends John and Jackie Gallienne in your beautiful island (it is now 30 years since we first came to visit), I felt I had to write an observation to your paper as I take the Weekly Press. We booked our tickets on the web with Flybe and paid £241.88 return. On arriving at Southampton Airport, we were informed that we had not pre-booked our luggage and had to pay an extortionate price of £72 for two small cases. Apparently the website we used, so they told us, has it in very small print on how to pre-book, so we missed it. The extra expense (annoying as it was) did not matter to us but a family on a budget might find a large hole in their spending power. And when we arrived on the plane, the captain greeted us with ‘welcome to Flybe, your low cost airline’ – at £313.88 for a 30-minute flight, I do not think so for. Is this a reason why so many people I talk to in Guernsey say tourism is dropping? PETER M. WARD, Didcot. |
Philip Smith Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, April 29, 2010 - 03:13 pm: |   |
MY DAUGHTER was delayed in getting back to school in England due to the volcanic ash disruption. Aurigny changed our ticket twice without any hassle. I got to the check-in to find that my daughter’s bag was 24 kilos, this was not a problem as all she had to do was show her student card. Students are allowed 40 kilos. So how’s that for service. PHILIP SMITH. |
Wendy Brown Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - 02:14 pm: |   |
IRONICALLY, by a twist of fate, the only item of mail to plop through my post box on Saturday was a tourist information leaflet entitled 'You will never find a better time to visit Iceland'. I do have to say that I feel a lot of sympathy for the Icelandic people, but as a person who was due to fly out on Monday to visit my sister in Denmark, who has been recently bereaved, their timing was not too good. My son has taken the brochure into his office so that staff, possibly similarly affected, can have a good laugh. WENDY BROWN. |
J. De Garis Guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 02:48 pm: |   |
A GENTLEMAN from Jersey arrived in the island on Good Friday morning at 11 for a weekend break, only to find he had left some necessary medication at home. With just a couple of phone calls back home, the medication was taken to Blue Islands at Jersey Airport, and arrived safely in Guernsey at 2.30pm. Many thanks Blue Islands for making what could have been very stressful into a minor snag. Your customer service was 100%, your helpfulness and efficiency was much appreciated. J. DE GARIS. |
June & Brian Prout Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - 03:57 pm: |   |
I OFTEN read letters of complaints about the airlines, which has prompted this letter. On Saturday 13 March my husband flew from Jersey to Guernsey with Blue Islands. He had been in Jersey hospital to have a hip replacement and was travelling four days later on crutches. Having been told at very short notice that he could go home, he rang me in Sark to book a flight for him. To cut a long story short, this flight was booked half-an-hour before check-in closed. With a lot of help from hospital staff and a determined taxi driver, he made it to check-in, where the staff could not have been more helpful, who, in good humour went out of their way to wheelchair him to aircraft and on board in record time, even reuniting him with medication that had been left at the hospital in the rush and had been very kindly taken to the airport by the nurse who had been looking after him. At the Guernsey end, further willing help delivered him to the friend who was meeting him and thence to the Sark boat and home to Sark. We are very grateful for such excellent service - we were already Blue Islands customers and they have once more confirmed themselves as an airline that go that bit further when asked. A big bouquet for them. JUNE AND BRIAN PROUT, Sark. |
Bernard Mann Guest
| | Posted on Friday, February 26, 2010 - 02:20 pm: |   |
FLYBE get quite a lot of stick from unhappy passengers, who, from time to time, write to the Press. But fair dos. My wife and I were booked to travel from Southampton home to Guernsey on 6 January, on the day that both airports first closed because of ice on the runways. Flybe had to transfer our booking to the following day and we had to stay overnight at a comfortable hotel in Eastleigh. We reported the following day back at the airport but there was still no flying. Later in the day Southampton reopened but Flybe could not get any information about Guernsey. However, there was a flight to Jersey, which we decided to take so that at least we would be nearer home, with possibly better information about Guernsey Airport. We also would have a chance of getting home by Condor. In the event, we did get an Aurigny flight to Guernsey from Jersey. Later we applied to Flybe for reimbursement of expenses. There were no problems and Flybe sent us a cheque, which covered taxi fares to and from the airport and hotel in Southampton and bed, breakfast and dinner at the hotel. Flybe also waived the rebooking charge when we changed our return flight to Jersey instead of Guernsey. As I said above, this was all done without any fuss. Lastly, can I say that whenever we have flown by Flybe, we have always found the cabin and other staff as pleasant and helpful as any could be. BERNARD MANN |
Susan Bacon Guest
| | Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 - 03:06 pm: |   |
I WISH to thank the 'merry band of 10' stranded passengers at Manchester Airport on the evening of Monday 18 January. Our flight was cancelled due to fog back home, so was rescheduled for the following morning. The help and assistance offered to myself and one-year-old daughter, Imogen, in luggage handling, plus booking and transferring to a hotel, was most greatly appreciated. I shall not forget the kindness shown. Thank you all once again. SUSAN BACON |
Hugo Van Reijen Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, January 23, 2010 - 10:18 am: |   |
FLYBE has introduced a clever rule for hand baggage: 'When measuring your baggage and where appropriate, please ensure that you include the bag's wheels'. Certainly this rule deserves an award as the best moneymaker of the year, revenue-stream enhancer in airline jargon, because completely normal standard bags do not fit into the mould due to protruding wheels. I left Guernsey on 29 December to Southampton for a round-the-world journey with the same small bag I have carried on hundreds of flights through many different airports all over the world. Half-inch fitted wheels prevented the bag falling into the mould. Flybe told me I would have to pay £121 for the carriage of eight kilos of excess baggage to Southampton, (one-and-a-half times the price of my ticket). Consequently, I was forced to abandon the bag and to purchase a collapsible one in the airport shop. This kind of service, apparently designed to squeeze income out of unsuspecting passengers at the last moment, entirely deviates from international standard practice and does not seem to serve any purpose beyond the enrichment of Flybe. Apparently we are dealing with the worst type of monopolistic abuse. HUGO VAN REIJEN. GP Editor's footnote: Flybe did not respond to a request for comment. |
Anne Greenhow Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, January 09, 2010 - 10:56 am: |   |
I WOULD like to say 'thank you' to Flybe for getting me to Guernsey from Gatwick in time for Christmas, despite the bad weather which caused delays and cancellations. My flight was cancelled and I had to stay the night at the Hilton Hotel, free of charge. All the meals were paid for by Flybe and I was able to get a flight early on Christmas Eve. I received every care and attention from the staff so what could have been a distressing experience was comfortable and quite enjoyable. Well done, Flybe. ANNE GREENHOW |
Brian A. Groves Guest
| | Posted on Friday, January 08, 2010 - 03:46 pm: |   |
MY new year's resolution which, though it is supposed to be bad luck, I would like to share with you is this - I have resolved never to fly with Flybe again. I would like to fly instead with an airline that treats me as a human being with feelings and not as an inanimate profit centre to be squeezed dry, manipulated, abused and cast aside like a piece of old luggage, and then made to pay for the privilege. These feelings of total disenchantment have been growing for quite a long time. There was the time they lost my wife's luggage on the last flight from Guernsey to Southampton and then abandoned her at 7.45pm in Southampton airport, a lady of 76, with no luggage and an instruction to call a phone number in London about her suitcase. Then there was the time my sister, slightly older and an MS sufferer in a wheelchair, was made to climb unaided into the back of the plane where there are eight steps, rather than five at the front, to the point where she was almost in tears. Then, on the Monday before Christmas, Flybe took us all the way to Gatwick, could not land and flew all the way back to Guernsey, where the flight was promptly cancelled. Passengers were told to hand back their duty free, collect their luggage and re-book. Re-book! Christmas week! Passengers with missed connections for Xmas flights. Others with exceedingly high-stress factors. Messed up holidays. Well, who cares? Profit's the thing. Flybe's customer care would be appalling if there was any. Fortunately Aurigny stepped in with flights to save the day. I have no idea why the plane did not join the hold at Gatwick until the airport re-opened, which it apparently did 15 minutes later, or why the plane sitting on the tarmac at Guernsey could not make a return flight to Gatwick. Crew out of hours? Highly unlikely but, of course, if the flight is 'cancelled' it no longer exists and cannot be included in punctuality tables. Today I receive the coup de grace - a letter from Flybe explaining 'the above flights were not utilised as scheduled the total amount is non refundable and broken down as follows...' I assure you it is not 'non refundable'. I have taken them to court once before, successfully, over their failure to refund credit card charges on another flight they cancelled, and I am more than ready to do so again. Anyway, giving up Flybe was a lot easier than giving up smoking, which I did a long time ago and is probably considerably better for my health. You should try it. I feel better already. BRIAN A. GROVES. |
Matt Waterman Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, December 24, 2009 - 12:19 pm: |   |
A RATHER well-spoken woman was asked by BBC Radio what she thought of the British Airways strike when the outcome of the ballot was announced (and before it was subsequently deemed illegal). 'I'm absolutely fuming. I am due to fly to Mauritius for a 50th birthday party at Christmas. Don't these people realise that in this economic climate they are lucky to have jobs at all?' she said. Obviously it's annoying when something you have been looking forward to is cancelled. But I thought the woman's remarks demonstrated clearly the product of a destruction of the middle class and the creation of a two-tier society. The realisation that, if other people are lucky to have jobs at all, she must be exceedingly fortunate to be in a position to travel to Mauritius for a party didn't seem to be in her head. She seemed to think we should feel sorry for her because, due to the selfish behaviour of the BA staff, she wasn't going to be able to sip champagne while flying over the heads of parents who were watching their children starve. I also wondered why, if the woman is so well up on the economic climate in Britain, she took the risk of booking through BA in the first place. And it shouldn't be forgotten either that the airline had acknowledged its legal obligation to refund its would-be passengers in full. A study by the New Economics Foundation think tank, released in December 2009, contained some interesting findings. 'The traditional view of bankers creating wealth which trickles down to others is no longer correct,' it said. The study showed that waste recycling workers, hospital workers and childcare workers create £12, £10 and £7 respectively for every £1 they earn. Conversely, city bankers, advertising executives and tax accounts destroy £7, £11.50 and £47 for every £1 they create. Not only do I hope that any high net worth individuals, which we have licensed to live here, have legitimate sources of wealth, but also that they are doing rather better for the community than those mentioned above. MATT WATERMAN |
Marcus Shaw Guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 04:32 pm: |   |
FIRSTLY, I'd like to say I am not anti Flybe and have no axe to grind against them or their competitors. However, I wholeheartedly agree with bisson@ islandlife.org's letter in the Guernsey Press of 23 September, 'Flybe's charge for excess luggage is not a realistic one'. The current extra charges and costs of taking luggage by air made me decide against flying for my holidays this summer, and indeed for the foreseeable future. This year, as with most years, the wife and I went on holiday abroad. Our destination was in northern Europe and as we were going to visit friends we would have been travelling with a little extra luggage than usual, about 20kg over our air travel allowance. Being the kind of guy I am I did check the small print before I booked the tickets and calculated that with Flybe our extra bag would have cost more than £700 extra return. Adding this to all the other hassles of travelling through airports now and we decided to not bother and simply drove up instead. Did it cost less? Well, obviously we had to buy petrol on our trip, and we did have to pay to take the car on the ferry. However all things considered, cost wise it was fairly competitive. Also, not once were we asked to remove our shoes, or stand in a long line to go through a metal detector. All in all, it was much less stressful than modern air travel has unfortunately become. Incidentally, the wife decided that as we had the car she could bring back 50kg of rugs (from street markets, etc.), which would have cost about £1,000 to put on the plane one way. So, for my next trip? With a bit of luck our next holiday will be skiing next February. However, I have my own skis and boots and with my luggage pared down to the bare minimum it's still going to cost me over £100 extra each way to take my kit across the small pond on a plane, so I guess I'll just drive again, then I can take what I want. Is it just me who has given up on flying? Well, none of my family or friends have flown to their holiday destinations this year, electing rather to take the car on the boat. So, to me at least, it would appear that Flybe's policy of discouraging people from taking luggage has been inflated to such an extent that it's discouraging people from flying at all. I don't know if people are taking fewer holidays, but they are certainly flying less (Guernsey Press, 21 September). MARCUS SHAW. Email: marcus.a.shaw@ cwgsy.net |
Anon Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - 02:31 pm: |   |
I WELCOME the involvement of the utility regulator, the OUR, in airline licensing in future as hopefully they will review the Flybe pricing practices. We flew to Gatwick by Flybe to connect with a BA flight to Dubai. We took an extra suitcase as we needed the clothes for the 18-night cruise and had already paid Flybe £13 for the extra case. You can imagine our horror and disgust at being told by Flybe check-in that the suitcase would incur an additional charge of £395 for the one-way 40-minute flight based on its weight of 22kg. That in itself is extortionate as a person weighing, say, 80kg would have been paying around £90 one way for the flight. The same case then went from Heathrow to Dubai for just £70 by BA. Shocked at the cost and thought of also having to get the case back to Guernsey from Southampton (it would have cost £790 there and back), I got a quote of £95 from DHL for the same case to fly it back from the UK to Guernsey delivered door to door. Okay, they will say I should have read the small print, but the point I am making is that the charge is deliberately prohibitive and is not representative of the cost to the airline. They should be supporting the Guernsey public with realistic not exorbitant pricing as it is expensive enough getting off this rock without additional barriers being put up. In the event we dropped it off at Huelin-Renouf, who charged £34 to deliver it home. Which? magazine is also critical of the cost some airlines now charge for paying by card, bearing in mind that when booking over the internet, there is no other choice. If paying by debit card, Flybe levies a booking fee of £6 for two people (only Electron cards escape the charge) whereas the cost to airline is approximately 50p per transaction. For paying by credit card, the charge is £14 for two people (cost to airline at 1.75%, say £6.50). One also has to question their so-called 'taxes and charges'. I have just tried booking a Guernsey/ Gatwick return flight by Aurigny. Their total taxes and charges are £55.40 for two adults, whereas Flybe charge a whopping £81 for the same flights. When these are supposed to be standard government/airport charges how can these be so much higher for one airline than the other? It is interesting that Flybe's ticket price was almost the same as Aurigny, at £254.96 against Aurigny of £254.60, but all Flybe's 'extras' of £130.96 took the total cost for two to £385.92 against Aurigny's £318. Their extras are now 34% of the total. Name and address withheld. Email: bisson@ islandlife.org. GP Editor's footnote: Flybe's press office did not respond to a request to provide a comment. |
R. S. Mauger Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, July 09, 2009 - 02:22 pm: |   |
I WRITE to express my reasons for agreeing to an open skies policy on our airline routes. In the last three to four weeks I have travelled to the UK six times for various reasons of work, pleasure and bereavement. My main anger is pointed to the airline, which is most unpopular with a considerable amount of people and that is Flybe. My first encounter was on a Birmingham flight, which was delayed by one-and-a-quarter hours - no surprise there. On our return we were flying with Aurigny, which also had a problem from East Midlands but they did put us on a jet and we arrived back home two hours late. The following week I had to travel to Gatwick and, guess what, my morning flight was delayed by one hour. The return flight the following day was, you've guessed it, one hour late. The following week I had to travel to Southampton for a family funeral, which was booked and paid for via the internet by credit card. One transaction was made for three people to travel but each person had an additional £7 to pay, even though one transaction had been done for the booking. Aurigny charge £3 for the transaction, regardless of the amount of people being booked to travel. On the pleasure flight to Gatwick our golf clubs were charged at £22.50 per person each way - Aurigny makes a charge of only £20. On talking to another passenger the day of the Southampton flight, he told me his story of a week or two previously. He had left his glasses at the Flybe desk by mistake, but discovering where they were he was told by a member of Flybe staff that they would hold them until his return at the end of the week. On going to pick up his glasses he was asked to pay £5 per day 'handling charge'. He disputed this and eventually paid £5 to get his glasses back. How can this airline take offence at 'open skies' or even the thought of Aurigny and Blue Islands amalgamating? They, Flybe, are a disgrace to the service of airlines to this island and are not doing our tourism any good with their service. I write at this stage and ask Flybe not reply with stupid excuses as we have heard it all before; the proof of their bad service is what is happening to us now. All I wish to see is how others feel with their views and stories they have encountered with this abysmal airline. R. S. MAUGER. P. S. Maybe a suggestion to Flybe of flight time information should be as follows: Morning flights between 7am-12.30pm. Afternoon flights between 1-5pm. Evening flights between 5-9pm. |
Gavin Le Patourel Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, June 20, 2009 - 02:17 pm: |   |
FELLOW Flybe customers: if you are a financially prudent person such as myself who likes to book their flights online as soon as they become available to obtain the cheaper flights, you should take heed of my plight. I booked and paid for, on 8 December 2008, three flights for me and my children to travel to Gatwick Airport with Flybe and also connecting flights with another airline to Faro. We are due to travel in July for our first family holiday; all sounds very nice so far. It was, until I received an email stating that my flight had been cancelled. I contacted the customer call centre; the only detail that they could give me was that it was an operational issue. They at first offered me a later flight which would have made me risk missing my connecting flight, so the other alternatives were to fly out four hours earlier or receive a refund. This would be no good to me, as I could never get a replacement flight for the same sort of money due to the late booking. Flybe customer services listened to my complaint about the fact that if I had booked back in December on the earlier flight, that I was now being offered, then the original cost to me would have been marginally less. They have received my money for a dearer flight only to transfer me to a cheaper one. So in light of this I feel that I have been hoodwinked into a cheaper flight and they pocket the extra money that I paid. They have made no apology for this and said that they could and would not offer me any type of compensation, not even in goodwill. So now I will have to kick my heels around Gatwick Airport, with two young children, for four hours more than I had planned, which will no doubt cost me even more money. Not a great way for us to start our holiday. GAVIN LE PATOUREL. GP Editor's footnote: The airline released the following statement: 'In line with Flybe's terms and conditions, that are clearly stated and must be accepted by a customer before a booking is finalised, should a flight be cancelled by Flybe for whatever reason, passengers are offered a replacement flight on the next available service or offered a refund.' |
William Audoire Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, May 07, 2009 - 02:05 pm: |   |
AS BRIEF as possible - fogged down at airport. One wonders why these airline companies are in business? It's not what our customers can do for us to improve profit - but what can we do for them in providing more facilities for their comfort. It's time these airlines slapped their brain matter and woke themselves up to the situation and suffering of their passengers. It only takes a cheap pumped up Lilo given out so all passengers could be kept off the floor and given a reasonable night's sleep. Travelling animals are better catered for than their people. It takes little thinking to safeguard people's health. If the cavity and seating of a plane was padded with helium polystyrene, I'm sure the plane would float in an emergency. The real poor in war would tell you, it's not money that counts, it's people. The hostesses who smile and wave at children bring in 1,000 customers. WILLIAM AUDOIRE. |
Julian Mounter Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, April 25, 2009 - 10:11 am: |   |
COULD it be because the, admittedly very clever, boss of Flybe is a former finance director that the company is so lamentably poor at public and customer relations? If you book a return with Flybe from Guernsey to Southampton and on with Flybe to somewhere in Europe, it is a four sector flight that is made with one booking and one credit card payment. Try to change it because you expect fog at Guernsey and you not only pay once again for using your credit card, but you are charged for each sector. The final straw is that if you are travelling with your partner, you are charged for each sector and each passenger. You are, therefore, charged eight times for using the card again. Say that the change is because fog is forecast and the answer is you still have to pay for changes unless you turn up and the plane is cancelled. Outrageous. JULIAN MOUNTER |
|