Question I would like to ask is when were they sent the email? Had the decision to sub charter been made by the time of booking and if so were the passengers made aware then?
If I have booked a flight and then get an email a couple of days before the flight and I am not happy with the new travel arrangements it may be difficult to arrange travel with another company. Also if a passenger elects not to travel for this reason, will they get a full refund of the fare including taxes and charges etc?
First time posting.
I booked a Monarch flight (ZB7448) to Malaga from EMA on the 23rd of May – the date of departure the 17th September 2012.
I received an email on the 10th September entitled ‘Important, not long before you fly’ which gave me all the spiel about hand luggage dimensions.
The next email I received was during the afternoon on the 14th September, 2 days before I departed, informing me of the change of aircraft, but failing to mention the carrier and up until that point I had no reason believe flight ZB7448 wasn’t going to be a Monarch plane.
I did my own investigation that evening and discovered that the flight was going to be operated by Small Planet Airways and this aircraft had been operating this route since the beginning of September, but Monarch waited until 2 days before I flew to inform me of the change of aircraft and still omitted to name the carrier in the email.
During the next day I contacted Monarch via their Facebookpage to enquire about departing from Manchester on an aircraft that was going to be a Monarch plane, and I was told they don't do refunds and there would be charges and any difference in flight prices – when I had calculated these charges together, it was a ridiculous amount of money to pay out.
Would I have booked the flight in the first place if I had been told I was going to end up on a wet-lease Lithuanian old crate, with a dilapidated interior, a reduction of on-board services and a cabin crew who nobody could understand? No, I wouldn’t and Monarch knew that too, so I believe this is why they withheld this information.
I’m so incensed by this that I’m about to write to the CAA, EU, EASA and anyone else who will listen, because I believe that Monarch breached the EU directive, article 11, by not informing me earlier of the carrier.
I would also appreciate any comments regarding the legal and safety aspects of having a cabin crew giving a safety briefing in poor English that could not be understood by the passengers, and according to my video, it lasted 96 seconds from start to finish.
Finally, I’d just like to say, that the flight home was like sitting in an overcrowded oven for three hours. It was unbearably hot, cramped and at one point I could smell aviation fuel tainting the air in the cabin.
It's not an experience I would wish to repeat in a hurry.
Thank you for reading and any advice.