IOM to PLM

[PAXboy]

OK boys and girls, I need you to help my dear old mum! She has found that her plan for this trip gives a five hour lay over in MAN. She had hoped for BACX IOM-MAN and Air South West (Don't know it's code) onward to PLM.

Here is the conversation with the agent in the Isle of Man this morning, after looking to go IOM-BRS and take a coach from there, as she did a few years ago.The FlyBe web site said there were tickets and the price returned would be - £320.20!! I thought there must be a mistake, it cost me £60 in May 2002, so I rang the local agent. The girl sighed deeply and said nothing had been announced but they had heard that Flybe were giving up the route. There is no timetable for April yet. I said the website had accepted the request and what it had quoted. That, she said, was the 1st class fare which is what they quote when they don't know. I pointed out they were only small planes with no 1st class cabin. Her answer was that they simply take the mileage and put what that would cost if there were a 1st class. Unbelievable.

She said there was a chance someone else would take over the route which is a very popular one. I was the 4th person to ring for a booking to Bristol this morning. Meanwhile they were recommending all customers to fly to Luton for £70 and take the airport bus to Plymouth, which would be very much cheaper. Talk about going to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier. Apparently it's the same everywhere with no one issuing timetables before the end of Feb.
Any ideas? Whilst I live near Luton, I may not be able to do both round trips to ferry her to my brother.

Is the LGW/PLM route still on with the DASH 8?

Is FlyBe dropping IOM-BRS? It would be strange, given the expansion of international LCC ops from there. But then, this is the airline biz ... :confused:

[Dash-7 lover]

The route is still operated by Dash-8 300's ex Brymon aircraft that have been laying over in Germany for over a year. They're ex G-BRYS and G-BRYT now G-WOWA and G-WOWB. CALLSIGN IS 'SWALLOW'. Have a look at AIRSOUTHWEST.COM. I've flown with them already and what a FAB! experience that was. Nice Navy Blue Uniforms not dissimilar to the ex-Brymon (before BA franchise) uniforms.

PS. PLYMOUTH IS PLH NOT PLM


try IOM-LGW with BA (3 flights a day www.ba.com) then AIRSOUTHWEST to PLH (4 flights daily) The connections from IOM-LGW-PLH are quite good although the return means a few hours wait at LGW

[PAXboy]

D-7, many thanks, on all points and corrections. EXE is also a 2nd option but not a very good one it seems.

The problem is the conenction time in MAN. The flights from the IOM arrive either 55 mins before scheduled departure or some four hours. As my mother is 78 and somewhat arthritic, she is not suited to either a dash between flights or sitting around for long periods of time. The junction via LGW does not do very well either with only an extra five mins between scheduled arrival and departure.

She would go straight to Bristol and then take the coach or a train but FlyBe won't announce if they are going to be operating the route in ten weeks from now!

Cheers.

[MerchantVenturer]

Intrigued by PAXboy's post about the exorbitant quote for IOM-BRS with Flybe I did a couple of test bookings on the airline's website for BRS-BHD in June.

The flights leaving BRS at 0850 1610 and 1950 and their corresponding BHD returns showed a return fare of £0.00 plus about £37 in tax and charges. These flights are all direct, non-stop flights.

However if you want to fly on the 1310 departure from BRS to BHD which routes via IOM and on its corresponding return from BHD also via IOM you have to lay out the princely sum of £144 each way, plus taxes and charges, a total of £328.50.

So, fly non-stop from BRS-BHD on 15 June and back non stop on 17 June and you pay £37. However, if you go on the flight via IOM you pay £328.50.

If the intention is to scrap the route, as has been suggested, why don't they just announce that and be done with it? What other explanation can there be for this anomalous pricing?

[stalling attitude]

i reckon its something to do with the fact that they are competing with Easyjet to Belfast and so they have to stay low and they have no competition on the IOM route so the islanders are offered no choice.

[PAXboy]

stalling: Yep, that's what the islanders reckon!! There is not a large enough population for the LCCs to climb in and so it all lands up as individual routes with no competition.

I can understand the economics of it but it is very irritating. Also, the islanders are thought to be able to afford it. When the pax is a pensioner on fixed income, visiting her children and grandchildren - No!

When mother had to come down in a rush when her mother died, she had to book a fully open ticket. That was in the days of Manx and flights to LHR. She was charged about £350 and that was 1997. :mad:

I have looked at alternative routings but they mean stops on the way and, at 78, I think that's too much for mother. If FlyBe would just decide, we could make plans. Of course, if they drop the route at the last minute, the flights to alternative destinations will then be that much higher in price. Fantastic. :hmm: