A while back, I proposed an airline acronym for GSM. How true it is;
FlyGlobespan = Flights Leave You Going Late, Organisation Bad, Ever-Suffering Passengers Annoyed Now
And the thing with GSM is that they hide behind the "small print" whenever they want to change your booking. e.g.
We reserve the right to amend, introduce stops, cancel or consolidate flights as necessary to achieve the high load factors required to maintain profitability whilst offering low fares. Whilst we will try to avoid making changes, we will of course notify you of any material change where it is practical to do so. In this instance we will contact you via your registered email address if the booking was made on the website.
and
If we have to cancel a flight for any reason, and no suitable alternative flight is available, then we will upon application refund all monies paid in respect of the cancelled flight.
So basically, they can cancel your flight or change it in any way they like and at any time and their maximum liability is to refund your fare. If you've already booked your time off work, your accomodation, your hire car and your theme park passes and they change or cancel your flight, it could cost far more than your refund to book an alternative flight at short notice. Personally, I wouldn't touch any supplier that treats their clients in this way, especially one with a track record like GSM. Last year was really bad. This year looks like being the same.
I wouldn't even call them low cost. I looked at booking a flight from GLA to SFB with them in October and it was almost 50% more than the price of CO from EDI to MCO via EWR. EDI is my local airport, SFB is the wrong end of Orlando and GLA is at the wrong side of a traffic jam for me so it's swings and roundabouts which route I fly. With GSM costing 50% more it's a no brainer.
I really wish that GSM could sort themselves out. I'd like to support my local airline, but until they get their organisation sotrted out, their terms and conditions and fares competitive, and until they start flying long haul from EDI I won't be using them any time soon. They're a real disappointment.