And what was the date on your ticket?
From the BE website:
It is confirmed with immediate effect that British European will operate the Belfast to Newcastle service following the sad news that Gill will no longer be operating the route.
British European will honour all Gill Airways paperwork for tickets issued from 1130 today, 20th September, through to and including Sunday 23rd September 2001.
Further information will be communicated as soon as possible.
For any immediate enquiries please contact Reservations on 08705 676 676
So as you can see, I DID check my facts, and they are correct.
As for the rest of your sentiments, they are typically immature. How exactly did BE rip anyone off? They have no obligation to honour ANY of Gills paper, as none of it has any value. They stepped in and got the service going again in record time, which is surely not exploitation, but helping out the Geordie travelling public, and took a massive loss by doing so. I haven't looked closely at the fares and yield structures, but I am sure that BE are no more "extortionate" than Gill were.
Try growing up a bit...