Small Planet Airlines - 38 hour delay @ Manchester

[Phoenix1969]

Holidaymakers facing 38-hour delay at Manchester Airport - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-36954118)

Think I flew with them once - anyone know of this airline?

[chaps1954]

They seem to be doing their best to catch up this morning with numerous Small Planet
aircraft around

Ian

[Johnny F@rt Pants]

anyone know of this airline?

Well of course we know of this airline, they have been operating in the UK for the last few years on behalf of Tour Operators for package holidays. They were borne of FlyLal after they went down the sea by if my memory serves me correctly, same(ish) owners based in Lithuania operating on shoddy T's and C's, and from what I have seen over the years some dubious practices.

As I've said previously in another thread, I wouldn't travel with them.

[Phoenix1969]

Further BBC article Holidaymakers arrive in Corfu after 39-hour delay - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-36963382)

Hope they get taken to the cleaners by the pax! I certainly wouldn't appreciate losing nearly half of my week's holiday.

[Brigantee]

Quite right , a aircraft having techical problems?..... what sort of half arsed excuse is that for a delay ?

Everyone knows aircraft simply don't go wrong these days and to pretend a deliberate plot to ruin someones holiday was due to technical issues is totally unacceptable

[AerRyan]

Why would an airline ever bother to maintain their aircraft to a high standard! Sure we'll leave it until it breaks down because it's cheaper that way! Not like it will affect anyone! And you know what, there's no point in hiring in another aircraft for our mistakes, not like it's my holiday I'm missing!

[Brigantee]

Oh right, so i assume you are aware of the maintenance history of the aircraft in question and that this defect was doubtless due to their lax and cavalier approach to maintenance ...

[AerRyan]

Oh sorry, I missed the update in which Technical failures of aircraft were no longer the responsibility of Airlines, and where its not expected to reasonably accommodate passengers.

[Brigantee]

Latest news i heard is small planet were unable to rectify the problem which was by all accounts a serious problem with one of the hydraulic systems and requested monarch airlines engineers to assist , The aircraft was worked on overnight in the TCX facility by monarch and is now sorted

[top9un]

Didn't they park a 321 on the grass at BHX recently?

[erick12345]

Yes i was there. Hu hu.

[gilesdavies]

As I've said previously in another thread, I wouldn't travel with them.


Well if you have booked a package holiday, you have little to no choice who you fly with, and T&C's almost always state a change of airline or aircraft type operating the flight, is not an allowable excuse to cancel your holiday, without the customer loosing a major chunk of their money!

I have no experience claiming EU Delay refunds from an airline in another country, but I'd like to wish people luck in claiming money from a low-cost charter airline in Lithuania!

If they choose not to payout, a UK court has little to no jurisdiction on a foreign airline!

[Phoenix1969]

If they choose not to payout, a UK court has little to no jurisdiction on a foreign airline!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_small_claims_procedure

https://www.gov.uk/recover-debt-from-elsewhere-in-european-union

[Mr A Tis]

Well, I wouldn't just single out Small Planet for criticism :
British Airways passengers hit with 36-hour delay on plane back from Cyprus | Daily Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3720181/British-Airways-passengers-hit-36-hour-delay-plane-Cyprus.html)

[farci]

If you delve into this topic long delays occur on many short-haul airlines. The common complaint is lack of information for the passengers. In response to press enquiries for a comment the airlines say 'safety is our top priority/paramount' yadda-yadda but fail to address the issue of keeping passengers adequately informed. If airlines outsource customer services and no longer employ their own staff at airports those poorly-paid passenger services folk have little incentive to help preserve the airline's reputation. On the other hand airlines know that tourist passengers vote with their wallets when it comes to choosing the next flight so have no loyalty to a particular airline

[lederhosen]

On the other hand this is also a disaster for Olympic holidays. They will surely consider this when contracts are signed for next year. Small Planet may find other tour operators take note as well.

[Trav a la]

This from a well known NWNF Wilmslow based Solicitors, they found a way.

“We’d had a build-up of Small Planet claims without a UK address to issue proceedings and enforce judgments, and earlier this year after accruing in excess of £20,000 worth of county court judgments, and having given Small Planet ample opportunity to pay, we discussed matters with a High Court Enforcement Office and put a proposition to them.

“Our suggestion was that if a Small Planet asset was in the jurisdiction of England and Wales – such as an airplane at a UK airport – could a High Court Enforcement Officer seize that aircraft until such time as the debt was paid.

Small Planet Plane Impounded

“After some research it was agreed that it could be, and as such a number of High Court writs were issued and sent to the Enforcement Officer. After serving them and giving the airline the appropriate notice, High Court Enforcement Officers attended an airport in the UK at a time we told them a Small Planet Aircraft landed. After showing airport security the appropriate court order giving them authority to seize the plane, they walked into the runway and impounded the aircraft until such time as the debts were paid.

Flight Delay Claims Against Small Planet

Kevin explains how difficult it is to recover compensation against Small Planet without experienced solicitors on your side.

“Despite having taken those steps we still have to issue a sizeable amount of court proceedings against Small Planet. This means issuing under the European Small Claims Procedure, serving those documents outside of our jurisdiction and then, if necessary, knowing what you can and can’t do when a judgment is entered and you still have not been paid.

[Phoenix1969]

Trav a la - all very wonderful, but doesn't convey whether Small Customer Service Airlines actually coughed up, or how the issue got sorted?

[rog747]

Olympic holidays used SP in 2014 and dropped them mostly last year in 2015 for a superb operation undertaken by Germania - the pax loved them and on time performance was ace

but for 2016 Olympic goes back to SP and the problems start again
the SP name in travel is poor

Germania is way over and above the likes of SP or enter air whom Olympic also use
sunvil holidays stuck with germania and their pax are happy

[SWBKCB]

You get what you pay for?

[MKY661]

Both Germania (until this year) and Small Planet have been used for the Olympic Holidays tours at MAN over the last few years. Though surely Small Planet have gotten better with the 737's now gone? I also Personally think they've seem to have been less issues unlike Tor Air or Viking when they were around.

[lederhosen]

The delays in this thread are this year with the Small Planet airbus operation. What I do not understand is why there are no reports of them using sub charters. Planes are always going to have technical issues, bird strikes etc. The cynic might think that once a delay gets to a certain point there is little incentive to spend money getting someone else in quickly to cover. The damage limitation (if other posts are to be believed) seems to be trying to avoid paying out the statutory compensation, which is hardly unique, however were this to be the case then Olympic's reputation would be further damaged by this.

[Brigantee]

Anyone know if 320 that was AOG in Crete with a T/R snag has been sorted? I know they were trying to get engineers flown down there earlier

[Trav a la]

Some poor reviews here.
Small Planet Airlines Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX (http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/small-planet-airlines-uab/)