MyTravel

[TG345]

It appears to me that the on-time performance of MyTravel's charter operations is consistantly dreadful. This is based only upon looking at such sources as Ceefax and online airport arrivals information.

Are any industry proffessionals willing to offer an opinion as to whether this is a fair view of the airline, and if so, why this particular operator seems to get it so wrong?

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

This isn't a fair judgement at all. The CAA are about to release Winter figures and MyTravel should be up in the region of 1st, 2nd or 3rd as punctuality during the Winter season was exemplary! The Summer Season has also got off to a good start with most flights arriving some 20-40 minutes EARLY and occasionally, up to an hour EARLY! Most delays for MyTravel occur on the weekends mostly with the 757s. The 2 remaining 757s are due to be phased during the coming NOV-APR period or maybe be kept on for a further year.

The Airbus fleet is extremely reliable for MyTravel.

It seems you may not have noticed Excel's appalling on-time performance which is pretty consistent. Also First Choice have had some 24 hour delays this past weekend and Britannia's has been appalling with huge delays. Both of these carriers has frequent 24 hours + delays throughout the Winter especially First Choice after taking on the new 767s.

Let's not even talk about how poor Thomas Cook's has gone!

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[diesel36]

thomas cook couldnt have said better myself.. the way they have turned the company round is fantastic...

TG345 why the interest in mytravel anyway.. ?

[TightSlot]

One way of checking facts rather than relying on perception would be to visit http://www.flightontime.info/charter/charter.html

They are slightly overdue for an update, but the results should be interesting.

[pamann]

Britannia's has been appalling with huge delays

Bit of an unfair comment considering Britannia/Thomsonfly rarely slip from the number 1 possition for on-time departures!

It's something (infact everything) that they are proud of.

Think you should get your facts straight!

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

Please remember BY only regained number 1 spot last Summer after falling short to TCX and JMC for the last few years!

Lets look at today’s stats:

Current Update: 22:55:13, Mon 27 June 2005 from BAA

09:55 BY378A FUNCHAL LAST CALL South Terminal

At the weekend 10 hour delays where the norm and during the Winter pax had plenty of 24 hour delays to enjoy where on many occasions Hapag-Lloyd needed to be brought in to bail them out!

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[TG345]

The flightontime statistics make interesting reading, and I would say, go some way towards confirming my perceptions. As can be seen, MyTravel/Airtours have consistantly been at or near the bottom of the sampled operators.

To answer diesel36's question, my interest in this airline stems from our sharing a hometown. I haven't lived there for a long time, but have kept an eye on my "local" airline. Perhaps this creates an unfair situation in that I have focused on them to an extent that has excluded reasonable comparison with others.

However, I followed the corporate difficulties and share price collapse in recent years and started to wonder whether the whole problem had been generated by increasing customer un-willingness to put up with poor performance.

[pamann]

Using the example of one flight delay is an unfair comparison, considering all airlines have the odd lenghthy delay, just see who's turn it will be tomorrow on the BAA website (Thomas Cook, Excel, MyTravel & First Choice all have at least one delay showing at the moment into LGW)!

I think you'll also find Hapag-Lloyd were operating for BY/TOM due to aircraft commitments in the Hadj NOT delayed or tech aircraft. These were well planned in advance on the Winter programme.

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

I remember a certain flight being subbed by HLF due to a delay in MAN which left pax very unhappy. It was even in the news!

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[chicken legs]

Thomas Cook what exactly is your problem with Britannia? I notice in numerous of your past postings that you speak less than favourably about them! You have, in this case gone from stating they had numerous 24hour delays to now just quoting of one you know of!
Every airline suffers from delays but the current results speak for themselves.

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

Funnily enough - I don't jot down every BY delay I see - I don‘t have a big enough pad of paper ;)! I remember several 24 hour delays over Winter - I never said the HLF sub one was ;) .

I strongly dislike BY as they have gone extremely poor, tacky and I am sick of dealing with complaints about them from customers! :mad:

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[Captain Capstan]

Interesting point of view Thomas Cook most of which is a load of b******s. Last week I had my first delay over 15 minutes this year at SFB due to weather diversion to MCO. If you had a few more facts rather than your somewhat jaundiced personal point of view your post might be worth reading. :*

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

Captain Capstan

You can stand by that view if you like but you now just how poor its been during the Winter and just how many times those A330s have gone tech! You may remember 3 weeks ago, a 48 hour + delay between MAH and LGW with the 757 as well?

We will soon see anyway once figures are released.

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[Dogs_ears_up]

Echo that, Captain. I've come across this 757 before - a staunch defender of MyT, invariably by making negative comparisons with the competition. Making us smaller makes 757 feel bigger - I guess, whatever blows your skirt up!

Instead of making half-baked analysis of BY operations based on partial information, why not wait until the results are published and then pass intelligent comment? If MyT have done well then more power to them, and congratulations. The only evidence that matters is that published in the on-time performance tables. If BY have developed a problem, then they will need to address it.

BTW, since 757-300 is dealing with complaints from customers about BY flights, that means that at least a small part of his/her wages are paid by the airline - in which case, I think they deserve a rather better level of support than this kind of lazy logic.

Also BTW - BY don't operate A330's?

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

My above comment was about TCX. :D

I don't work for BY however but I have to spend a lot of time clearing up complaints which means I'm earning less money and wasting time. :(

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[Big Tudor]

Just to drag the thread kicking and screaming back on track!

Very few airlines use arrival times as the benchmark for punctuality, although it has become more popular recently. The industry standard is based on departure time. In this case MYT (Airtours) has been behind the other big charter operators over recent years. That being said, there has been a major improvement over the 52 minute average of a few years ago.
The major drive in the past was for aircraft utilisation, get em in the air as much as possible. 18 hours per day (in the summer) was not unheard of for MYT/AIHs babybuses in the old days. Unfortunately this gave little or no margin for error with delays being carried for a number of rotations, frequently getting worse with each subsequent rotation. Build in the added struggle of operating older airframes which need more TLC to keep them going and you don't really have a good starting point for punctuality.
Over the last few years, MYT have got to grips with a lot of things, not least of which is OTP. I understand that punctuality for this summer has been excellent so far with reports of 96% on-time on some days.

I'm not claiming that MYT will be top of the punctuality leagues for this, or even next, year. However, the information I have is that they are making big improvements in this particular area at a time when making an on time departure is getting tougher.

[pamann]

Funny how I can't remember when the last time I got home late from work and can honestly say it has been years since I remember any serious delay I have been on (not to say that they haven’t occurred on flights I haven’t been on, like any airline IT HAPPENS). If it’s down to technical I’d rather a delay to get it sorted than not getting home at all and know the majority of passengers would see it this way!

Also having Hapag-Lloyd jump in to cover any technical hitch would be a bonus not a bad thing (it's a benefit that comes from the airlines all being owned by the parent TUI) that allows them (if needed) to source a spare aircraft from a neighbouring fleet, thus reducing any delay to the passenger. So why should that be viewed as bad?

I think you are biased in your points (if you are actually making any), you will only see that Britannia/Tfly has had a very successful Winter 04/05 season, so watch this space!

Charter is charter so don't think anyone's better than the other (ok maybe First Choice on longhaul) but otherwise everyone has gone down the same route in terms of cost cutting with on board service due to the lo-co market.

In terms of shorthaul fleet, Britannia/Tfly’s Boeing 757 now have an extra inch of legroom throughout (compared to any other 235 config charter operator) with new style leather seating so I wouldn’t call that tacky?!?! All charter airlines sell the same old tat on board and serve the same old meals so I don’t know how you can say they’re any worse than the rest.

If you “757” are infact a travel agent or tour operator, I would remind you that passengers will NOT get a meal if they have not paid for one (even if there are spare). Neither will they get extra leg room if they’re on death’s door or haven’t pre-booked it. Seats are also not allocated at check-in anymore but at Luton the night before, and like all other charter outfits if you haven’t paid for seats together you may just not be sat together. Look back at the complaints, maybe your clients went on a 2T allocation on arrival holiday for £79 each and didn’t get the 5* Gran Melia Don Pepe in Marbella you promised! Just some food for thought, but bare this in mind and your complaints will diminish, and your time selling lovely holidays will increase (including your commission).

So when it comes to facts lets just wait and see rather then having a selective memory or biased judgement (which you obviously do).

Good luck to all airlines concerned and hope they all improve!

[Thomas_Cook_757-300]

Hi,

Majority of Thomson complaints are from LH. Never come across a long haul for £79!

Regards
Thomas_Cook_757-300

[diesel36]

like most people have said everyone has delays. myt have there fair share. they are working on sorting those problems out . that is there main objective at the moment.. i work for them and i see the hard work they are doing. people that like us dont like other charters .. people that like others dont like us.. thats life.. were all stilll here. and lets hope for a long time.. hopefully plenty of pax to keep us all going..

[Localiser Green]

Didn't work out too well for them for the Winter 2004 / 2005 season did it?

MyTravel charter flights were delayed on average by 38 minutes over the winter 2004 / 2005 season, with 63% on-time performance and 1 in 7 services delayed over an hour. This represents the worst punctuality record for the carrier in 3 years, with the average flight held up at least 10 minutes longer than during any of the previous 3 winter seasons.

The worst performance was at London Gatwick where the average flight operated nearly 55 minutes behind schedule, followed by Manchester where the figure was over 40 minutes. Good punctuality was seen however at Birmingham airport, where the average delay was only 13 minutes and over 71% of services operated on time.

Source: www.flightontime.info (http://www.flightontime.info/charter/airlines/myt.html)

Overall position 6th out of 8, only Excel and Flyjet worse, as seen here (http://www.flightontime.info/charter/charter.html).

[TFlyguy]

But a good result for Britannia ..............

............. despite the comments made by Thomas_Cook_757 - did you apply for a job with us and not get it?

[pamann]

I think one of us must have spilt coffee on his lap cos he hates us with a passion lol! :p :p :p

[TFlyguy]

I havent .................. yet!