Hi Helicraig,

There are always 2 sides to every story, I know the very incident in which you are talking about. An explanation was given by the captain on his welcome pa once everyone had boarded and an apology was also given for the delay on landing into Birmingham.

Bmibaby always charge for extra leg room front row seats, Even on low loads people are not permitted to sit there without charge. Obviously I can understand why this would be frustrating to passengers, especially to passengers who have already encountered a delay but it is important to be consistent. If this pax had been permitted to sit there on this occasion, on another occasion they may encounter different staff who would refuse and then we get into the whole, "Well I've been allowed before".

Also you have the problem with the passengers who have paid the extra leg room fee if you then move other passengers who ask to sit there for free.

This was the only Q400 flying in and out of NWI today and probably one of the newest in the fleet.....

Still waiting 4 months for a refund after BE cancelled my flight. Its in the hands of my solicitors now.:=

Ext 15/09
 

I presume that the groundings are the reason behind the Titan 142 that has been going in and out of EXT today?
Normal service will be resumed:ugh:?

Yes Flyer its new, but not the newist.
CX is the newist a/c flybe have q400 wise.

Seems to me that the checks are only being carried out on the Delta A/c
All the Charlie a/c seem to be ok.

A pat on the back for BE.......
 

My first post here, and a story of some excellent service from FlyBe.

On Friday, I flew EDI-MAN, MAN-IOM due to pick up the last flight of the day ex MAN, at 19.55, travelling with 11 colleagues.

When we arrived at MAN, a few minutes early, at 17.40, it became apparent that the previous MAN-IOM flight, due out at 17.15 hadn't gone and was running approx 90mins late. This would inevitable mean that our flight would be at least 90 mins late, meaning we'd get home at 22.00, if at all.

I approached the Flight Support desk, to see if they would put me on the earlier flight, (I was the only one without checked bags in our party), when it eventually left, and after checking with BE it was agreed, and I was switched without any fuss or money changing hands.

Once the precedent was established my rermaining 11 colleagues all asked to be changed and this was done too, on the understanding that the bags might still be on the later flight.

In the event, we all got back to IOM an hour earlier than scheduled and all the bags made it on the same flight, so well done to FlyBe and Flight Support.

actually CY is the latest aircraft that I am aware of!!

GW76 - and? Contact the refunds department and tell them, I am sure they will sort it out......
You really must be naive if you really think ive not already done that....:ugh:
Sort it out...yeah right. Here are a few of the clangers 4 months on- "its being dealt with", " we have just taken over BA Connect" (wasnt that in January???), " we have been inundated with complaints" , " its now being dealt with as a priority ( that was Aug)"
Would you repeatedly hang-on on a premium rate phone line on multiple occasions to get the above feeble excuses and be charged for something that wasnt my fault....I think not.
"hardly productive"
If contacting them again is your best suggestion...ill stick with my solicitor thank you.:rolleyes: (its great having a friend whos a legal eagle :cool:)
A BE employee by any chance.....?

do a google for hmcs money claim :)

Tonyq nice post or should I say ADC2604! You are obviously in management, If the staff dont believe BS dont see why the pax will.:ugh:

One thing people hate is being lied to! Truth could be ugly but generally accepted, Lies make things ugly, pax top comments why can you never contact anyone at BE! Havent the heart to say employees have same problem. However I believe customer service reps are being taken on so hopefully things are about to get better!

hey, i was wondering if any body can tell me this, i was wondering how many people the Q400 needs to have on it to be "breakingeven", i have searched the internet and it all comes up with 1/3 full, is this about the same with Flybe, or does this vary on distance of route?

just a note on Flybe out of NWI today both aircraft are running late, one over 4 hours and the other nearly 2 hours:ouch:, presume both aircraft gone tech after this morning. im sure the passengers caught up in these delays will fly on you again:rolleyes::hmm:

very true, thanks for explaining it to me!!, altough it's never great to have delays, i agree they have done well to get another plane down there. but still im sure the Passengers still won't be to happy but then again would anyone

altough they did have to cancel the Amsterdam one, but then again KLM do 4 flights a day from NWI, hopefully Flybe put them on KLM flights:ok:

thanks again

NickBarnes said:

do you really think they would?

I've always preferred to travel on

http://paulcoulthread.fotopic.net/p42257720.html

rather than

http://paulcoulthread.fotopic.net/p44957557.html

because of the timings, but I've found KLM to be quite well loaded so, presumably, quite a lot of others feel the same way?

i suppose so, but when i was going to Helsinki via Dusseldorf, Air berlin were late leaving Stansted which meant we missed our flight to Helsinki, so they put us free of charge onto a Finnair flight.

so don't Flybe do this even tough there is another airline which does the same service?

In my recent experience, Flybe dont give a stuff about passengers onward connections.

Not getting any better are they? Tonights BEE415 due BHX at 1935 from BHD is now operating to MAN with coach likely to be at BHX at 0030.
If there is an aircraft to operate to MAN, why can it not operate to BHX?

Declaration of interest - Mrs Leofric is on the flight and is not a happy bunny.
And 0030 is passed my bedtime.

I think the answer is that so many of the delays are not caused by adverse weather or even tech faults but by an inability to get the right aircraft in the right place at the right time with a crew who are in hours and their total failure to explain what is going on to passengers or alternatively telling passengers a story which is clearly untrue.

Incidentally the BE415 passengers last night were picked up from BHD by a GLA-MAN flight, so yet more passengers inconvenienced.

This happened on my last flight with FlyBe, which was delayed by an hour "due to an air traffic delay to the first flight of the day" per the flight deck announcement. This aircraft does 4 return trips between the same airports each day. The airport flight arrivals board web page for arrivals at each airport showed the first 3 sectors to have operated on time.

When the announcement was made I groaned and said the the cabin attendant sitting opposite me that that was simply untrue. He readily agreed and said that the flight crew had been told to say that by ops. He explained that the delay had actually been caused by an engineering issue and by the lack of the right engineer to sign off the fault. He said it happens all the time, and he often sees frequent flying pax shaking their heads in disbelief.

It is wrong for any employer to intentionally misinform or tell staff to lie to their customers. It is particularly concerning when those staff obliged to tell tales are professionals and more so when the business is in aviation.

If anyone from FlyBe management reads this could I suggest that they set about changing the culture that allows these tales to be told. Right now it's merely misinforming the pax, but worse might happen if it becomes endemic.

Positive Flybe experience!
 

Chica, re your comment above, most low cost airlines don't; the extra cost involved in accommodating interlining pax is a significant cost and that's why they don't.

I flew from DUB to SOU and JER yesterday; I chose BE because it had a 195 on the DUB-SOU route and I have to say, in all fairness, I haven't been as impressed by a new aircraft type in a long time; very comfortable (something one could never say of the 146!), clean, fine big windows; service was very good; both flights a little on the late side, but I made my connection. The SOU-JER flight was on a Dash 8; comfortable - not as nice as the 195, but can't expect it to be; very nice cabin crew (yet to meet a BE cabin crew that wasn't) and both main gear legs held up on landing; what more can I want.

OK, the last bit was a bit tongue in cheek, but I think BE is doing its best and as someone who has been a critic of them in the past, I think they do their best and they provide a good service. Credit where credit is due.

"why does every delay that BE encounter seem to end up on pprune?

flybe operate nearly 600 flights every day, some will run late. most dont."

Might I suggest that this has something to do with the fact that BE are supposed to operate a reliable service on domestic routes, with a supposed high frequency. Last time I used them, my flight (BHX-GLA) was 3 hours late. That time, I wasn't too bothered - going up for new year, and I had lounge access, so delay = free beers.

As far as passing on to other airlines goes, I don't even think the option of changing to another BE flight was available - but even on high frequency routes, there are sometimes gaps in the timetable, and iirc, the next flight wasn't due for another hour or so after this one eventually departed.

Ultimately, it comes down to passenger expectations. The story above about giving out deliberately misleading information is extremely damning, but I'm afraid it doesn't surprise me. When I travel between the Midlands and Scotland, I have a choice between flying and taking the train. There is nothing more stupid than paying more for a flight, walking through Glasgow Central station to see a train in there which is heading down south, heading out to GLA, having a delayed flight, and then turning up at Birmingham International to board the same train that could have taken me all the way, without the hassles involved with flying.