Flyblu let us down

[Sue F UK]

Got a call from Flyblu this evening, we had provisionally booked flights with them in July and were expecting to be able to pay the deposit this week.

Their 'chief executive' no less phoned us to say that they are now not flying until SEPTEMBER!! "Due to business reasons" and the fact that American Airlines have lodged a protest against them.

If anyone is looking to book with them before the end of the year I would be wary... they have pushed back their launch date from
June, to July and now September. Not a good start.

We are now having to look around for alternative flights. Slim pickings in the summer holidays.

 

[edie w]

Sorry to hear you are not having much luck with your flights Sue. Hope you find something.

 

[signtalker]

Oh that doesnt sound good.
I was looking at their website the other day for our flights for May next year, think I'll stick with Virgin!!!!

 

[kazzie]

I'm sorry to hear that
I hope you manage to get something else booked up?
Did they offer any compensation/discount of a future flight etc.??

I did post to say I read in the travel trade papers they were highly unlikely to be up and running for when they'd anticipated.

They were trying to lease some aircraft to use for the start up but as I said how could they then deliver the premium seats they were selling for the flight?

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I agree with Karen that some discount off a future flight with FlyBlu would have been a nice goodwill gesture. By provisionally booking with them you're one of the first customers to show faith in their new business, but they've left you in a position of looking for flights at a busy time of year when there will be few seats available. I hope you manage to find suitable flights.

I hope that FlyBlu do manage to get off the ground (if you excuse the pun) as I'm very keen to see an improvement over standard economy service without paying the inflated prices that Virgin or BA charge for their economy+ cabins. At the very least, it should keep Virgin and BA on their toes when it comes to competition on the bucket & spade routes.

Regards

Rob

 

[Sue F UK]

Originally posted by kazzie
Did they offer any compensation/discount of a future flight etc.??

No apology, no offer of compensation. Obviously their customer service is not up and running yet either!!!! They did offer book us flights with BMI but at a rate £150 more than we have been quoted through Airline Network.

We have a friend who was also due to fly with them and, as he hadn't yet had his phone call from Flyblu it was my job to give him the bad news - he was absolutely livid - apparently he has been speaking to them on a weekly basis and was assured that this would not happen. He has a family of 5 and is now looking at having to fly through Toronto! It will be interesting to hear the results of his phonecall with Flyblu today!

 

[Bexx]

Sorry to hear about all this hassle, Sue. I know I've posted quite a bit about how promising they looked, as I really do want them to "take off". But it's a real shame that they let you down on this one.

I have been checking the website regularly, and noticed that nothing had changed for while. No online booking, no official announcement. It's unavailable at the moment, so maybe they are putting in something about this change in plan.

I'm still provisionally booked with them as I don't fly until January. But if they put back the start date any more, I'll have to seriously think about another airline.

 

[cabmom]

http://airtransat.ca/en/promo.asp?pos=1
SueF, tell your friend to look at this site if he's going to connect in Toronto.
Good luck!
Marilynn

 

[KayleeUK]

Sorry to hear this Sue

 

[daipp]

I've sent them a rather sharp e-mail and then received the obligatory phone call offering flights with BMI.

Things do not bode well!

 

[Van Helsing]

Sorry to hear this Sue - thats sounds awful

 

[Sue F UK]

Originally posted by daipp
I've sent them a rather sharp e-mail and then received the obligatory phone call offering flights with BMI.

Things do not bode well!

I too sent them an email to complain, don't expect anything out of it though

Our friends are still looking for flights but we have now booked with BMI - this was about the only viable option now left open to us as most other flights are already booked. We booked with www.cheapestflights.co.uk and managed to get them for £250 less than the quote Flyblu gave us.

Now we can look forward to our holiday

 

[kazzie]

Glad to hear it Sue

 

[Sue F UK]

Well, well, well........ these boards do have some influence!!

I just got off the phone with the CEO of Flyblu who had read my posts on here and was concerned that I had found their customer service somewhat lacking.

He was phoning from New York!!!

Apparently they had contacted BMI to arrange alternatives for the customers they had to disappoint and had been assured that the prices were the lowest available. This was obviously not the case and he is now taking the matter back to BMI to see what they have to say.

We had quite a conversation, the upshot being that Flyblu are still not in a position to give a firm date for their service to start, although they are confident that it will go ahead and have the full support of their investors.

I still think that, when it starts, the service will be a bonus to all us 'Disneyholics' (especially those of us who travel regularly and don't want to be slaves to Virgin) and I would still book with them in the future, just not until I can get a guarantee of the service starting.

He has promised to let me know as soon as they have a concrete date so I guess it's just a matter of 'watch this space'.....

 

[aden]

Hi.

As CEO of flyblu I feel it falls to me to respond to the recent posts regarding our delayed start and to attempt to set the record straight regarding our attitude to customers!

The simple fact is that we have let a lot of people down recently. We have tried as hard as we know how to get this business into the air for this summer but we have a HUGE task in hand and it has proved impossible in the time frame.

This venture is actually the first brand new British transatlantic scheduled airline to be established since Virgin launched 20 years ago, and one of the reasons for this is that is isn’t easy. With all the CAA and FAA and department of transport stuff to wade through it can take forever to get there!

If it were easy there would be a mountain of airlines flying to Florida, just as there is on the low fare routes within Europe, which takes far less work to start.

That said, we did make a declaration that we would be ready by July and we are not!

We called every single person affected by this and offered alternate flights with BMI from Manchester which we are able to arrange for those who said yes, but NOT any cheaper than you could get them via a few websites or agents.

Obviously we appreciate that there is no reason to pay more than you have to, but we were offering to take the work out of it for people and wanted everyone to know that we are NOT just cutting people adrift at a difficult time in the market.

There is no question whatsoever that we are going to be offering compensatory discounts in the future for those affected by this. We are currently in the middle of mailing all people affected by this news with a letter detailing this very fact. Indeed it is my plan to ensure that those who have reserved for this period will feel that they have been let down in the nicest way possible!

As CEO I am the guy who takes the flack whatever goes wrong and I am willing to field any phone calls from anyone who wants to call me personally to tell me what they think. The only request I have is that the deal is you tell me before you tell the rest of the world because you might have misjudged us!

Flyblu IS going to happen, and I hope that many of you will yet come to discover that anything worth having is not easily secured. Huge companies both sides of the Atlantic want to see us fail and many cynics in the industry make loud noises that they don’t believe it will work because their jobs with other carriers depend on us failing.

This plan is uniquely nice, uniquely fair to customers and uniquely suited to the destinations we intend to fly.

Please be patient with us, allow us the luxury of making a few mistakes while we do something that is very tough, and call us later in the year when you plan your next flight.

Our office number is +44 (121) 708 4585. If I can, I will take your calls in person.

Aden Murcutt
CEO
flyblu

 

[kazzie]

Hi Aden,

I am impressed that you have taken the time to explain the situation at FluBlu.

If I had booked or was thinking of booking with you I would feel reassured.

 

[Rain]

I am impressed that you took the time to re-assure the board. I have already booked my November flight with Virgin from Manchester. I will certainly now consider Flyblu for our April trip.

( Can you Fly out of Manchester please)


Lynda

 

[Van Helsing]

Well i have to say i'm very impressed by you coming on here and explaining the situation.

Hope your airline takes off soon

 

[Bexx]

Welcome to the DIS Aden!

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain the situation and please try to keep in touch with us on these boards. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm able to use flyblu next January - as far as I'm concerned it sounds like the perfect flight to Florida.

All the best.

 

[daipp]

I e-mailed Aden on the 21-04-04 to tell him that I had found out from the Disboards that the July flights had been cancelled so I am more than happy he has had the bottle to explain what is happening.

I have since had several phonecalls and e-mails from Flyblu so they are definately trying their best.

Good luck to you Aden and everyone at Flyblu (and thanks to Markus for his help).

David