Worst Airline Contest ......Cityflyer

[Sir_Fly-a-Lot]

To all Crew,
For those of us who fly a lot, repositioning is sometimes unavoidable. Frequently this is done on another Airline. I was wondering about your adventures repositioning, and the airlines concerned. I recently had to reposition on a Cityflyer Bae 146 to LGW. It was a disaster ! They seem to put about a zillion people on their aircraft ! This means that any person bigger than a midget has no legroom at all. Also, on this flight, the service was very poor, the cabin filthy, and the seats most uncomfortable. To top the list, they lost (or leave behind?) about half the luggage. Nice when you are about to start a 7 day tour..... I'd like to nominate them for the title of worst airline and recommend to avoid them. I know I will !

[CargoRat2]

Try Sabena b4 you complain too much...No flame intended
(edit typo#2 attempt)
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rgds Rat

[This message has been edited by CargoRat2 (edited 30 December 2000).]

[This message has been edited by CargoRat2 (edited 30 December 2000).]

[White Knight]

Sir Fly a Lot; for info, we regard punctuality as our prime directive at Cityflyer.

This means that if the flight is likely to run late then things like cleaning are kept to a minimum, nor do we wait for late bags or pax !!
Bear in mind that baggage being lost is not generally the fault of the carrier but a) the handling agent sending it to the wrong stand or b) the airport baggage belts breaking down etc, etc.

It's important that our aircraft get away on time because - as you may be aware - one late sector can f*** up the rest of the days flying program, esp. as our RJ's do up to 8 sectors a day....They've got to be in the right place at the right time.

I can tell you that I've had some horrendous flights with other UK airlines, including Big Airways, Scaretours, JEA and so on.
I'm sorry to hear that the service was poor because our cabin crew have a reputation for excellent service - esp. to positioning crew.

Did you travel down from NCL by any chance ?

[PrettyBoy]

Flew with Avianca into Bogota. Two C/A still walking in the aisle at touchdown, the fellow beside me was sleeping without safety belt and seatback fully reclined and a bonejaring noise of porslin being crushed as catering carts flew all over the place..... http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif

Hopefully never again...

One fine day I wll learn how to spell!

[This message has been edited by PrettyBoy (edited 01 January 2001).]

[This message has been edited by PrettyBoy (edited 01 January 2001).]

[Sir_Fly-a-Lot]

White Knight,
I'm not here to bash your airline, and I am willing to believe this is not the way Cityflyer operates in general. But answer me one thing, what do you think about the lack of legroom available on your RJ's ?
As far as Sabena are concerned, I flew with them several times, and every time the (Flemish) cabin crew was friendly, the service reasonable, the aircraft clean, legroom sufficient, and the flight punctual. Maybe I just got lucky, but until proven otherwise, I'll keep using them.

[White Knight]

To answer your question about seat room ; from row 11 back ( I think that's correct as I'm usually sat on the skippers seat ) it is very tight indeed, too close together for sure - you got to request something forward of that if you're not an average British midget....
Our aircraft are generally very clean - even after a basic clean on a quick turnaround - helped by the fact that 5 out of 12 of our RJ's are less than a year old ! And 2 of those we've had for less than a month...
Try us again, I'm sure you'll find that your first flight with us was a RARE one off.

[Stephen John]

We have ATR equipment on the Gatwick Guernsey route. My experiences, as a passenger, with City Flyer is that is a good competent airline that provides a good friendly service. Certainly preferable over BEA as a carrier.

One bad experience does not mean the whole organisation is incompetent

[wysiwyg]

When flying Gatwick-Guernsey people in the know generally take the BE flight if the weather is at all marginal as CFE have a tendency to run for home at the drop of a hat. Local knowledge...

[Desk Driver]

I flew down from NCL - LGW yesterday on a Cityflyer Avro RJ.
I found it comfy (Row 7 though)
The inbound acft was late arriving and the turnaround was very quick, but the acft was clean.
The crew were excellent.
I think you just caught them on a bad day.



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You fly em we'll fill em!

[Stephen John]

wysiwyg
Nice point

I have noticed how the rvr usually improves when the last BE flight arrives in the Guernsey area.

Still I would prefer City Flyer

Nothing wrong in going back if the CF crew are worried about landing at GCI especially on 26 with a crosswind.

Remember what happened to a KLMUK F27 a couple of years ago at GCI



[This message has been edited by Stephen John (edited 05 January 2001).]

[Biggles Flies Undone]

I’ve flown a lot with Chippy Fryer and generally find them to be a first class outfit. I put safety over comfort every time and they have never (yet) given me cause for concern.

Sure they have their off days, in fact they’re the only airline to have left my bag behind in the last five years… and my last LGW – JER leg had a senior (male) FA with a seriously bad attitude, and the landing was very 'firm'. BUT, overall they are still my preferred carrier on the short haul routes.

[Secret Squirrel]

Sir moan a lot, I have flown Big Airways, Scaretours, Iberia, Air Nostrum and many others. I too have had the odd bad experience with all of these. It is obvious to me that you are new to this game of positioning. I shall look forward to more boring airline bashing threads like this...NOT. Yawn, I'd love to stay and educate you but I think I'll start a thread on drain fat accumulation instead, to stop my eyelids shutting.

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Very funny, Scotty. Now beam up my clothes!

[Sir_Fly-a-Lot]

Naw, only been repositioning for the past 7 years. Never complained once. Shows you what this flight was like......

[Biggles Flies Undone]

One bad flight in seven years and you start a thread slagging off the carrier!!!!

Stay away from Africa, South America, Central America, everything-Stan, etc etc etc......

[White Knight]

BFU; you're spot on - worst I've ever known was a Royal Swazi airlines F-28, that had been chartered by Air Zim to operate Harare - Kariba. One CA only, bit fat girl who sat right at the back of the cabin while pax were boarding and chain smoked. No safety brief, no safety cards even so I had to go and look at the doors myself before engine start to see how they worked.

I wasn't keen to go, but if I'd refused I'd have been sacked (positioning flight)

On the subject of LGW - Channel Islands, local knowledge makes a big difference. I'm lucky in that I did 2 years flying yellow perils for Aurigny based in Alderney, so am in the know when it comes to GCI and JER. Others who turn around and go back to LGW are being entirely sensible if they are at all unhappy with the wx.At best you'll bend an aeroplane and you're pride and at worst.....
Local knowledge of course doesn't mean you can bust minima though. Which means that CFE and BE operate to exactly the same parameters !!!! Or should be.
As for hard landings at JER, far better to have the aircraft firmly on the ground and stopping, than floating down the runway (which as many of you know isn't the longest in the world) and ending up going off the end- which would be down a hill if you'd stuffed up a landing on 27.

[Biggles Flies Undone]

White Knight – I absolutely agree. My SLF horror stories from flights in the Dark Continent are only surpassed by my ones from South America!

I hear what you say about GCI and JER – my roughest ever flight was LGW-GCI in a Shed. Landed in a storm and it was the first time I ever heard a round of applause for the crew after landing where the FA’s joined in! As regards the hard landing at JER, this was in an ATR not a 146, so didn’t really expect it – I think the pilot took the term ‘hitting the numbers’ at face value :)

[160to4DME]

Have to empathise on this one with Sir_Fly-a-lot.

Not knocking the airline, just the aircraft configuration.

I always thought the 6 abreast arrangement on RJs was for charter carriers or very short hauls like Shamrock.

If there's 2 BAe RJ operators on the route, one with 2x3 seating, CFE with 3x3, CFE lose my custom every time.

If SAB, CLH, CRX et al can do it, why not CFE ? http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/confused.gif

[expedite_climb]

I agree with the seating problems on the RJ, but it's still better than some others.

I'd like to praise Chippy Fryer, just come back from a return trip with them and everything was perfect, on time, no probs with bags, and an all round good service. I dont think that happened once last month at all on the 11 positioning flights I had with Nigel mainline !!

Well done guy's (and gal's) !!