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FlyBe - 6

Old 21st Jan 2013, 15:58
  #2701 (permalink)  
 
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I was thinking the same about flybe at Manchester. Given that Manchester is a second level hub ie served by spokes by foreign airlines from main hub it really needs a set up where flybe as the domestic feed operator is a member of several alliances and the long haul/short haul scheduling really gets sorted out.
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Old 21st Jan 2013, 21:03
  #2702 (permalink)  
 
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Cloud1 wrote...

Just wanted to say bravo to the BE workers in the skies, on the ground and in the Ops department for their efforts over the last 48 hours. Even this evening as weather grounds aircraft in CDG with a large number of cancellations, Flybe are delaying departures and getting people back home in the UK. It may be later than they wanted, but at least its not a night in the airport - which with so many cancellations and limited hotel space would have the end result.

Too many people complain about this company. They do not always get it right and no doubt passengers will still moan about the delays over the last few days, but when considering what could have happened I think the wider BE team have pulled out all the stops to minimise disruption as much as they can.

"Helping getting PAX back to the UK!"


You're having a laugh, I was, and still am, in Milan Malpensa, I was due to fly back last Friday on the BE7114 to BHX. I was given a heads up 3 hours before the "official" cancellation of the flight that it wouldn't be operating.

I went to the BA/FlyBe desk and asked to change to the MAN flight so I could at least get somewhere near home for the weekend, a phone call to "FlyBe" by the local staff and they refused to change me until the flight was officially cancelled.

By the time that happened the MAN flight had closed leaving me stranded for the weekend, what a shambolic operation they are, and I do have first hand knowledge of them as I used to work for them!

Last edited by ballyctid; 21st Jan 2013 at 21:06.
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Old 21st Jan 2013, 21:15
  #2703 (permalink)  
 
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Cloud1 wrote...

Just wanted to say bravo to the BE workers in the skies, on the ground and in the Ops department for their efforts over the last 48 hours. Even this evening as weather grounds aircraft in CDG with a large number of cancellations, Flybe are delaying departures and getting people back home in the UK. It may be later than they wanted, but at least its not a night in the airport - which with so many cancellations and limited hotel space would have the end result.

Too many people complain about this company. They do not always get it right and no doubt passengers will still moan about the delays over the last few days, but when considering what could have happened I think the wider BE team have pulled out all the stops to minimise disruption as much as they can.

"Helping getting PAX back to the UK!"

You're having a laugh, I was, and still am, in Milan Malpensa, I was due to fly back last Friday on the BE7114 to BHX. I was given a heads up 3 hours before the "official" cancellation of the flight that it wouldn't be operating.

I went to the BA/FlyBe desk and asked to change to the MAN flight so I could at least get somewhere near home for the weekend, a phone call to "FlyBe" by the local staff and they refused to change me until the flight was officially cancelled.

By the time that happened the MAN flight had closed leaving me stranded for the weekend, what a shambolic operation they are, and I do have first hand knowledge of them as I used to work for them!
Why did you not return to the UK on the MXP-MAN flight on Saturday or the MXP-BHX flight on Sunday?
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Old 21st Jan 2013, 21:15
  #2704 (permalink)  
 
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Bally, haven't you heard? Nobody in Flybe has got the big picture, despite everyone claiming to!

Last edited by Lord Spandex Masher; 21st Jan 2013 at 21:15.
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Old 21st Jan 2013, 21:31
  #2705 (permalink)  
 
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All this recent discussion proves that you can't please everyone all of the time. For every bad comment someone has, someone else is likely to have a happy tale to tell.

Unfortunately these days, it's the people with a problem or a complaint who are most likely to talk about it so it was nice to read about someone's positive experience for once.
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Old 21st Jan 2013, 21:37
  #2706 (permalink)  
 
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Cloud1, only that one persons perspective is different to another. No good blowing Flybe's trumpet when there're still people stuck where they shouldn't be, just rubs salt in the wounds doesn't it. Although I'm sure the effort was immense.
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Old 21st Jan 2013, 22:54
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Originally Posted by Cloud1
...for their efforts over the last 48 hours. Even this evening as weather grounds aircraft in CDG
Let's not try to confuse things. Yes you mentioned CDG and the 48 hours prior. Now that covers the time that ballydoodah was supposed to leave MXP. I think you rubbed salt in his wounds, hence his reaction.

Of course there's nothing wrong with praise, if you think praise is really necessary for doing what you're supposed to do anyway, but there is a time and a place. I would suggest in public at a time when many people are still stuck where they don't want to be isn't the best time to be blowing smoke up Flybe's arse, or your own. Why don't you try Flyingbe where Ops and flight deck hang out if you want your message to get through to the intended recipients instead of trying to make Flybe look better to the general public.

I find it hard to accept that none of these were offered.
You think maybe they were full?
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 05:39
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Why am I still in Milan? My plan was to come back today (Tuesday) to complete my work, there was no point whatsoever in coming back to MAN on Saturday or BHX on Sunday when I needed to be back here, I brought forward the meetings to Monday and if "FlymayBe" decide to come and get me today all well and good.

The point of my post was why didn't they put me on the MAN flight when I requested this at 1pm on Friday, that way I wouldn't have missed a whole weekend with my family and several commitments I had over that weekend?

And yes I did work for them, not by choice but I was ex BACON and forced to work for them, I pulled the plug as soon as I could though and have never look back.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 08:28
  #2709 (permalink)  

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To re-inforce, I agree, Flybe is far from perfect, but many people have been working damn hard over the last few days to try as best they can to over come the difficulties experienced with the baddish weather. The truth is, you can run perfectly on time and still have the punters coming up the steps and giving the cabin crew hell because some portion of there trip hasn't gone to plan. We (they) get it on a daily basis. On the upside, the huge majority are just fine and have enough common decency to appreciate the effort.

As for Stansted, my own feeling is that not enough people really want to go there just now (give MAG a couple of years to settle in and it might be a different story). If Ryanair couldn't make it work selling seats for a pound then Flybe won't selling seats for a hundred (which is basically what it cost twenty years ago to fly to London before lossleading LoCo came in).

Well, off to do another four sectors in the snow, the woolly hat is most definitely on today.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 11:22
  #2710 (permalink)  
 
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Lets just agree to disagree shall we. Every single thing that is written on here is pulled to shreads its a complete joke. What is 'flyingbe'?
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 12:14
  #2711 (permalink)  
 
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Ballyctid,

I appreciate that you are frustrated, but as I understand it, you had a bit of information from an insider that it was likely that the flight from MXP to BHX would be cancelled? Based on this you asked to transfer to the MAN, am I correct?

I totally understand your thought process, seems quite logical. However, think about it another way.

Firstly, as far as the staff working the desk in MXP were concerned, the flight to BHX was still scheduled and planned to operate, therefore, no free transfer. They spoke to someone at Flybe (most likely someone in ground services department) who also see that the flight was currently still scheduled, so they do not agree to a free transfer. Until the flight is cancelled, nothing can happen - ground services folk play no part in deciding which flights get cancelled, they react to decisions made by flight ops, which I am sure you understand.

Now that could suggest that flight ops could have been more decisive and cancelled the flight earlier to facilitate alternative plans, however, cancelling a flight early when there is even a small chance you can launch it later in the day would be a bit foolish. You were not the only passenger on the flight and quite rightly, flight ops would have been aiming to get everyone where they want to be of at all possible. A balance has to be struck. Also worth noting that a major reason that the flight wasn't cancelled much earlier could have been due to the over optimistic BHX airport predications of when runway would be up and running (BHX has been snow closed a number of times over the last week).

Also worth remembering that on a day with delays and cancellations, the staff will have heard all sorts of rants from passengers. You turning up claiming that you've heard that the BHX flight will or may be cancelled (if indeed you mentioned it to the staff) is unlikely to make any diffence. Ground services and ticket desk staff quite rightly do not make decisions based on the hunches of passengers. They can only work with the information that they have been given.

You could of course have paid for the transfer and then attempted to argue that you were due a refund for the fee later after the BHX was cancelled. Although I suspenct that would have been fruitless given that you'd changed your flight before the cancellation, but that would have been a very different argument.

Basically, as unfortunate as it may have been for you, I don't really see what realistically could have happened differently. You would have been put up in a hotel and offered a the next available flight.

Despite what you might think, Flybe (or rather the people at Flybe) do not set out to ruin peoples plans... they generally work damn hard and do their best to get as many people where they want to be as quickly as possible, all for little or no thanks. But regardless of what I have said, you were inconvenienced and will likely not change your mind. But given that you work or have worked in aviation before, I'm surprised that all this is not really obvious to you.

And btw I don't work in ground services or flight ops so I'm not defending my own position here

Last edited by JC25; 22nd Jan 2013 at 12:15.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 15:53
  #2712 (permalink)  
 
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ballyctid

So when you say...

You're having a laugh, I was, and still am, in Milan Malpensa, I was due to fly back last Friday on the BE7114 to BHX.
it is fair to say that instead of taking the next available return to the UK with the rest of the passengers would have done you decided to stay in MXP for your own reasons. So the fact that you are still in MXP on Monday is because you chose to be so. You make it sound like the reason you are STILL in MXP is because the airline haven't repatriated you yet and have left you in MXP, which isn't really the case is it? What airlines do you think would allow you to change your ticket onto another route (presuming non flexi fare) when your flight hadn't at that point been cancelled?

Don't forget the airline will have had passengers in BHX wanting to get OUT to MXP too so they really will have tried to operate the flight and would have only cancelled it when it was 100% certain they could not do so.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 16:46
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Maybe customers could put up with being shafted by Flybe occasionally IF they were paying Ryanair or Easyjet prices. Most customers on Flybe are paying full service prices and receiving LCC service when things go pear shaped. I can imagine very few tears being shed if this shoddy cowboy outfit go the way of several other airlines, most of which were better run than Flymaybe.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 17:19
  #2714 (permalink)  
 
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Hampshire Andy

Bit harsh??

Assuming you live where your name says. Should your wish come true your local airport would be right in the you know what. Seeing as though the vast amount of flights departing SOU are BE. They would be left with very little. Impacting not only local Flybe jobs but also local airport jobs.......not an issue I guess in this booming economy.

There has been a very similar tone on the IOM thread and they too need to be careful what they wish for. Flybe have tried all weekend to get passengers where they need to be but various others haven't even tried. Living on an island like I do really makes you appreciate how important these routes and indeed airlines are.

Last edited by Maverick8701; 22nd Jan 2013 at 17:24.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 17:26
  #2715 (permalink)  
 
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'Living on an island like I do really makes you appreciate how important these routes and indeed airlines are.'.....they are Fella, especially if your working for the monopoly airline, yessir.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 17:31
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Maverick, if Flybe went belly up then im sure BAA would find someone else to fill the slots at SOU. Im sure Easyjet amongst others would be glad of a foothold at Flybe International Airport, oops, sorry i meant SOU.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 17:36
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Ballyctid.....may I add something here. I used to work for Flybe and did so at the time of the bacon takeover. You weren't forced to work for them, you had a choice. You could have left.

Bacon crew especially MAN staff were a joke. Bulk crews purposely calling in sick endless amount of times meaning there was no option but to cancel multiple flights, nearly always the same route time and time again.

Bacon was a no brainer losing money left, right and centre. Flybe were good enough to keep bacon crew employed. Not something that should be slated in this modern day.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 18:26
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Fair point Tinwald! Left wide open for that one.

Would like to think I had a similar opinion before working for my current employer.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 18:33
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Please don't turn this into a Flybe vs Bacon rant... It's all been said before and it's been almost 6 years.

I'm ex-Bacon/citiexpress and am still with Flybe and quite franky it amazes me that a small number of people still feel the need go on about how good or bad it was before the take over. Most of what is said bares little resemblance to what actually happened and is loaded with emotion for some odd reason.

Discussing passengers experience of disruption at Flybe shouldn't descend into a old Flybe vs Bacon whinge.
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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 18:34
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Maverick, if Flybe went belly up then im sure BAA would find someone else to fill the slots at SOU. Im sure Easyjet amongst others would be glad of a foothold at Flybe International Airport, oops, sorry i meant SOU.
I may be wrong (and very happy to be corrected) but I'm pretty sure that there are only 3 or 4 stands at SOU that can house aircraft the size of the A319 at the same time. A large number of stands may be out of use due to the proximity of the stands to the runway. Oh and of course, they'd probably be performance restricted of the short runway, and they'd cut the frequencies drastically due to the increase in capacity.

I'm not sure that SOU would be any better off...ask IOM how reliable EZY are given that they've cancelled their sole LGWIOM rotation each day for the last 3 days running....

Last edited by JobsaGoodun; 22nd Jan 2013 at 18:36.
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