Thank Yoy FlyBe
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Thank You FlyBe
Just a few words about my experience with lowcost flyBE.
Flew them first time this week BHX to GLA and back. Well all I can say if this is low cost service, well you can really be proud of it and I for one wont mind flying you guys again.
Particularly appreciated the pilot on the outbound sector confessing that the one hour delay is due to ATC slot restrictions brought about by he having to be called into operate the flight at short notice after the original captain reported sick. No, I am not being derogatory, such frankness I prefer any time rather than the bland "operational reasons" or "low cost - take it or leave it - DONT ASK". The inflight magazine particulary turned out to be something full of articles which somebody actually wants to read and as for the service, well except for the marvelous ladies at BHX who were more interested in chatting among themselves than rather checking us in (guess they themselves couldnt beleive someone will be idotic enough to try to check in at 0430 I suppose), it was fantastic. Teaches me a lesson that way, first impression may not always be the best impression!
Flew them first time this week BHX to GLA and back. Well all I can say if this is low cost service, well you can really be proud of it and I for one wont mind flying you guys again.
Particularly appreciated the pilot on the outbound sector confessing that the one hour delay is due to ATC slot restrictions brought about by he having to be called into operate the flight at short notice after the original captain reported sick. No, I am not being derogatory, such frankness I prefer any time rather than the bland "operational reasons" or "low cost - take it or leave it - DONT ASK". The inflight magazine particulary turned out to be something full of articles which somebody actually wants to read and as for the service, well except for the marvelous ladies at BHX who were more interested in chatting among themselves than rather checking us in (guess they themselves couldnt beleive someone will be idotic enough to try to check in at 0430 I suppose), it was fantastic. Teaches me a lesson that way, first impression may not always be the best impression!
Last edited by rsoman; 30th Jun 2003 at 21:50.
Too mean to buy a long personal title
And it's really nice when someone actually posts and says that an airline did a job well. So often (partic on the Internet) you read page after page of rants about how this went wrong, that went wrong, the airline is totally incompetent, blah blah blah. When a flight goes brilliantly, those people just shrug and say that's exactly what I paid for so why should I make a fuss.
I love it when people are prepared to give credit where credit's due.
I love it when people are prepared to give credit where credit's due.
Join Date: Apr 2001
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I had a perfectly pleasant round trip to Edinburgh from BHX with FlyBE a couple of weeks ago. Check-in fine (though Aviance BHX are a little grumpy having experienced them with BE and KLM in recent weeks), cabin crew and flight deck announcements just fine. Scottish hosties, Aussie captain. And a good price. Definitely prefer them over BA (something to do with earning CO OnePass miles......). Glad the RJX came to nothing as I'm not a huge 146 fan, now, FlyBE 717's....that would be good.
As an aside does anyone know which flights from BHX are pretty much guaranteed to be a Dash 8-400? Never flown on one and fancy it at BE's fantastic September/October prices.
WT
As an aside does anyone know which flights from BHX are pretty much guaranteed to be a Dash 8-400? Never flown on one and fancy it at BE's fantastic September/October prices.
WT
All very nice - as long as they don't suddenly drop the route you're flying with them on, such as the BHX-BRU-BHX a couple of months ago. Amusingly, only two weeks ago I noticed that they were still advertising it all around the Terminal C at BRU 
!!!
!!!
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Globaliser- I agree it is a very pleasant change to hear of praise.
WT- I think the BHX-JER route is a Q400, good food at the destination too.
Now the downer, I have no problems with the crews of Flybe, they work hard & try to do the best possible, my only problem is with the operational decisions (as reported to the PAX in LGW).
I went to Jersey at the end of MAY, I was booked to fly with BA on the lunchtime flight Weds 21 June, then the CI weather took control. All flights were cancelled due to fog, and no ILS (that is a separate, why? in season? issue).
BA were good enough to transfer me to Flybe as they said they would have a go. Running from the BA lounge, NT, to the gate for JER in South Terminal, proved I was more fit than I thought.
The Captain said we would go because as it stood, it was on his limits but we must go now (doors closed 10-15 minutes early), great I thought my faith in the reputation of Flybe & the Channel Islands was well founded. Then the push back was ridiculously slow and we were then delayed by ATC (may as well upset them too) to let 6 other aircraft ahead, yes there was a gap between heavies & small acs for us to have gone earlier, we took off at least 20 mins later than schedule.
We had a go & returned, no fault of Flybe and I went to the ticket desk to book a later flight. The ticketing staff were very good in trying to accommodate our needs & very helpful. The later flight was cancelled due to Wx but unfortunately this was not conveyed to the Ground staff until almost an hour after scheduled departure, no real problem as this is the Channel Islands.
My area of gripe is what happened on Thursday, I arrived for the lunchtime flight, checked in & waited in the lounge for departure.
I saw our aeroplane arrive at Gatwick & expected to be boarded normally, when the departure time got very close & we were all still waiting for info I asked at the info desk, the poor Servisair assistant had no idea, so I waited by the desk.
The info screens then said ask Servisair.
We did & after 20 minutes of the assistant (well done for your perseverence and cooperation with us punters) trying to get info from Flybe, we were told the flight was cancelled to to bad Wx.
The fact that the Belfast AC had not arrived sounded alarm bells. There were several people waiting for the flight attending the Jersey Rally with contacts on the island. I contacted the island (2 sources) one of my friends said it was strong sun in St Hellier, the other told me the Wx given by the Jersey Met for our time of scheduled arrival, 25,000ft & 10km+ vis.
I then could not get a seat until Saturday 07.00, meant getting up at 02.30.
Why Flybe did you lie to us about the weather? If it was a technical problem tell us the truth, we are old enough to take it.
Also, why didn't you put an extra plane on to absorb the excess?
I heard several people say they would not fly with Flybe because of the lack of contingency planning for when things go wrong.
I trust this saga is the exception rather than the rule but, I will not try to fly with you quickly, you need to win me over again I am afraid.
Many of my friends in Jersey were not surprised at my problems, believing this is a common state of affairs for Flybe.
As you can all see I did have a bit of a problematic time trying to use Flybe.
I see the main areas of weakness as lack of communication between BE, GH agents & passengers. As well as 'Porkies' comming from Ops, believing the punters do not know any better.
FB
Whoops, wrote June, but it was May, sorry.
WT- I think the BHX-JER route is a Q400, good food at the destination too.
Now the downer, I have no problems with the crews of Flybe, they work hard & try to do the best possible, my only problem is with the operational decisions (as reported to the PAX in LGW).
I went to Jersey at the end of MAY, I was booked to fly with BA on the lunchtime flight Weds 21 June, then the CI weather took control. All flights were cancelled due to fog, and no ILS (that is a separate, why? in season? issue).
BA were good enough to transfer me to Flybe as they said they would have a go. Running from the BA lounge, NT, to the gate for JER in South Terminal, proved I was more fit than I thought.
The Captain said we would go because as it stood, it was on his limits but we must go now (doors closed 10-15 minutes early), great I thought my faith in the reputation of Flybe & the Channel Islands was well founded. Then the push back was ridiculously slow and we were then delayed by ATC (may as well upset them too) to let 6 other aircraft ahead, yes there was a gap between heavies & small acs for us to have gone earlier, we took off at least 20 mins later than schedule.
We had a go & returned, no fault of Flybe and I went to the ticket desk to book a later flight. The ticketing staff were very good in trying to accommodate our needs & very helpful. The later flight was cancelled due to Wx but unfortunately this was not conveyed to the Ground staff until almost an hour after scheduled departure, no real problem as this is the Channel Islands.
My area of gripe is what happened on Thursday, I arrived for the lunchtime flight, checked in & waited in the lounge for departure.
I saw our aeroplane arrive at Gatwick & expected to be boarded normally, when the departure time got very close & we were all still waiting for info I asked at the info desk, the poor Servisair assistant had no idea, so I waited by the desk.
The info screens then said ask Servisair.
We did & after 20 minutes of the assistant (well done for your perseverence and cooperation with us punters) trying to get info from Flybe, we were told the flight was cancelled to to bad Wx.
The fact that the Belfast AC had not arrived sounded alarm bells. There were several people waiting for the flight attending the Jersey Rally with contacts on the island. I contacted the island (2 sources) one of my friends said it was strong sun in St Hellier, the other told me the Wx given by the Jersey Met for our time of scheduled arrival, 25,000ft & 10km+ vis.
I then could not get a seat until Saturday 07.00, meant getting up at 02.30.
Why Flybe did you lie to us about the weather? If it was a technical problem tell us the truth, we are old enough to take it.
Also, why didn't you put an extra plane on to absorb the excess?
I heard several people say they would not fly with Flybe because of the lack of contingency planning for when things go wrong.
I trust this saga is the exception rather than the rule but, I will not try to fly with you quickly, you need to win me over again I am afraid.
Many of my friends in Jersey were not surprised at my problems, believing this is a common state of affairs for Flybe.
As you can all see I did have a bit of a problematic time trying to use Flybe.
I see the main areas of weakness as lack of communication between BE, GH agents & passengers. As well as 'Porkies' comming from Ops, believing the punters do not know any better.
FB
Whoops, wrote June, but it was May, sorry.
Last edited by Flying Boat; 1st Jul 2003 at 16:40.
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I would agree that when FlyBE are operating to schedule they provide a fine service, however, since they became a "low cost" operator the service to the Channel Islands has deterioated dramatically.
In the past when weather or technical problems occured the flights were just knocked back or alternative aircraft brought in. SLF can accept this, they may not be happy but at least they can see what is happening.
Unfortunately, the policy now appears to be cancel and rebook and over busy periods you may find that the next available flight is two or three days away, make such you are first to the ticket desk, no preference is given to the fare you have paid.
The issues raised by FB are common and if your are flying to the Islands you will more frequently obtain more factual information from the handling agent in the Islands, this certainly applies when flying from LGW, BHX and SOU. I have been stuck in all three locations recently and the delays have been blamed on CI weather, after speaking to Servisair, I find out that the BHX aircraft is still in GLA with a technical fault (Q400), eventually rebooked for the next day and travelled on a 146. In LGW the GCI aircraft had been required to do a LGW-JER-LGW due to a technical problem in JER, arrived three hours late and in SOU a cabin crew member had suffered from the heat in the cabin of the Dash 8-300 and been unable to continue, flight was cancelled. Subsequently reinstated only to find SOU runway was closed for a charity run and we were coached to BOH.
If time is of the essence, then don't travel with FlyBE on the BHX channel Island route, the reliability of the Q400 is a major issue.
In the past when weather or technical problems occured the flights were just knocked back or alternative aircraft brought in. SLF can accept this, they may not be happy but at least they can see what is happening.
Unfortunately, the policy now appears to be cancel and rebook and over busy periods you may find that the next available flight is two or three days away, make such you are first to the ticket desk, no preference is given to the fare you have paid.
The issues raised by FB are common and if your are flying to the Islands you will more frequently obtain more factual information from the handling agent in the Islands, this certainly applies when flying from LGW, BHX and SOU. I have been stuck in all three locations recently and the delays have been blamed on CI weather, after speaking to Servisair, I find out that the BHX aircraft is still in GLA with a technical fault (Q400), eventually rebooked for the next day and travelled on a 146. In LGW the GCI aircraft had been required to do a LGW-JER-LGW due to a technical problem in JER, arrived three hours late and in SOU a cabin crew member had suffered from the heat in the cabin of the Dash 8-300 and been unable to continue, flight was cancelled. Subsequently reinstated only to find SOU runway was closed for a charity run and we were coached to BOH.
If time is of the essence, then don't travel with FlyBE on the BHX channel Island route, the reliability of the Q400 is a major issue.
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Flying boat,
Sounds like you had a rough day, one thing though....
Schedules are in fact push back times. The push back is the departure time. At LGW (or LHR), it is not unusual to get airborne 20-30 minutes after push.
Sounds like you had a rough day, one thing though....
we took off at least 20 mins later than schedule.
