Flyglobespan rant!

[Claire L]

I do appreciate the disruption to those Globespan travellers who are flying from Glasgow and stopping in Belfast, but please have some thought for those of who live in Northern Ireland and up to now have always had to travel, at great extra expense and time, to the mainland in order to pick up a flight to Orlando. This will be the first year we have been able to fly direct from Belfast, and we do accept that in order to do so, some of our Scottish cousins will have to put up with a little delay. I can assure you, if we have any say in the matter, the stop-over in Belfast will be a quick as possible. I, for one, will be trying to get boarded as soon as I can in order to enjoy the start of my holiday.
Of course, we know we wll get the better part of the deal, as our flight this year will be much shorter than previous years, thanks to no longer having to travel to the mainland before connecting to the trans-atlantic flight.
You may have a short stop-over in Belfast, but every year we have gone to florida, we have had to get up in the early hours to travel to Belfast airport at least 1-hour before taking a 1.5 hour flight to London which arrives in time for us to pick up our bags and rush to the check in desk to arrive 2-3 hours before the flight to Orlando. By the time most of you 'mainlanders' arrive at the airport, we have already been travelling for many hours. Also, on the return journey, in order to cater for any potential delays on the trans-atlantic flight, we have always had to book our return flight from London to Belfast quite a few hours after the scheduled landing time. This has meant hanging around Gatwick for 4-5 hours with very tired kids who just want to get home - instead they have to endure another queue for check-in, another wait in another departure lounge, another flight, another wait to pick up bags in Belfast and a long drive home.
We all look forward to our holidays, please don't make the Northern Ireland travellers feel in any way guilty about the small disruption to the Glasgow flight. I would hate to think there will be any bad feeling between ourselves and our fellow travellers when we board in Belfast.

I think the reason alot of people are upset is that originally they booked what they thought was a non stop direct flight and as such booked with this in mind. Once it was discovered it was not a direct non stop flight alot of people felt cheated.

Claire

 

[Laurafoster]

I agree - if it were me i would have had no issue stopping in Ireland IF i had known about it! To book a direct flight and then have stops introduced i would not be happy.

 

[Cyrano]

I agree - if it were me i would have had no issue stopping in Ireland IF i had known about it! To book a direct flight and then have stops introduced i would not be happy.

I agree Laura

 

[sammyteach]

Trev I think you are missing the point a little, all anyone wants is what they have paid for. Would you not be miffed if your direct flight made unadvertised stops? Its a long journey anyway without stops especially if you have children. All people want, who are cross with Globespan, is truth and openess, its not about Irish passengers personally but about business ethics or the lack of them. Whilst I sympathise with your past experiences this does not excuse Globe span or mean that conned customers here have just to accept the situation as it makes it easier for irish customers. I am £300 + down so far because of Globespan lies and shoddy customer services.

 

[Trev]

Trev I think you are missing the point a little, all anyone wants is what they have paid for. Would you not be miffed if your direct flight made unadvertised stops? Its a long journey anyway without stops especially if you have children. All people want, who are cross with Globespan, is truth and openess, its not about Irish passengers personally but about business ethics or the lack of them. Whilst I sympathise with your past experiences this does not excuse Globe span or mean that conned customers here have just to accept the situation as it makes it easier for irish customers. I am £300 + down so far because of Globespan lies and shoddy customer services.

Sammyteach, i understand absolutely the problem fellow travellers are having with the lack, or the honesty of the information coming from Globespan. We also have read the threads from those who have been so frustrated with the globspan customer services that they have cancelled their flights and gone to another airline. We have called globespan on a number of occasions to try and get confirmation that (a) our flight has not been cancelled as our departure date has been removed from their timetable, and (b) we will get the business class seats with the aircraft configuration on the aircraft we have booked. So far, after conflicting information, we have been assured our flights our safe, but we all know they can change things up to two weeks before departure. We are hanging on as we don't have to pay our balance until mid May, mainly because it would be very difficult for us to change. As globespan only fly into/out of belfast one day a week, if they did cancel our flight, any offer of a change of date would either have to be a full week or we would have to find a last minute flight to glasgow (probably the day before which would also require an overnight stay in Glasgow) which would add considerable time and expense to our trip. A full weeks change would mean we would have to cancel our holiday completely as we could not get our villa for any other dates. Aslo, it may interest people to know that the belfast 'boarders' are paying heavilly for the priviledge. I had a look recently at the dates we are travelling and on the outbound flight it costs £120 per head MORE to fly from belfast than if we had boarded in Glasgow, and £250 per head MORE (50%!!!) on the inbound flight. Wheras I accept there are additional airport charges involved in dropping into belfast, this additional cost does appear very excessive. Hopefully, all will be well and we will jet off on the right day, in the right aircraft, with the right configuration and enjoy our annual trip to the sun. I remain the eternal optimist.

 

[jockey]

Laura, this must be very frustrating for you but hopefully the stop over won't add on too much extra time. I work at Belfast International and the turn around time on the Globespan flight is usually pretty quick

 

[Minniespal]

I think the reason alot of people are upset is that originally they booked what they thought was a non stop direct flight and as such booked with this in mind. Once it was discovered it was not a direct non stop flight alot of people felt cheated.

Claire

I agree and one of the rasons why we cancelled with Globespan and booked with BA.

 

[Lorimac]

Sorry to hear about your Globespan experience. We've had a similar problem with another airline- we booked an indirect flight, but with reasonable connection times. Our return flight time was changed however, giving us only 70 minutes to land, cross terminals and get our connection (and we've kids and pensioners in our party). They have let us change to an earlier flight (at no cost to ourselves)but this means an 8 hour wait for our connecting flight back and a whole day lost in Orlando. Still, we'd rather have the reasurrance of getting our connection, than the worry (and likelihood) of missing it.

 

[**Laura**]

Trev - I understand what you are saying but the only reason I have an issue is because I booked a direct flight which Flyglobespan then changed. If I had known that they would introduce a stop on certain days and the days it was direct from glasgow it was slightly more expensive I'd have picked the more expensive one for the convenience of flying direct. The direct flight is the only reason I booked with flyglobespan and now they have changed it and I can do absolutely nothing about it.

Anyway, not letting it ruin my holiday, armed with ipod, psp etc to try and pass the time.

29 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Christopher5927]

Did you know that the current flights to Sanford from Glasgow are on different 'planes to those advertised? If you booked 50 inches in Business you now (currently) get 38 inches. If you booked 38 inches in Premium you are now sitting in econonmy. Do a search on the web. The Globespan website has now removed all their seat specification info and all 3 travel classes say something like 'generous pitch'. I called them yesterday. The first man I spoke to said my business class flight in August would be 38 inches. (But no decrease in price) The manager said that I would get 50 inches as the 767 would be reintroduced on 24 MAy. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS. I am cancelling today. I am also contacting ABTA and ATOL

 

[**Laura**]

Did you know that the current flights to Sanford from Glasgow are on different 'planes to those advertised? If you booked 50 inches in Business you now (currently) get 38 inches. If you booked 38 inches in Premium you are now sitting in econonmy. Do a search on the web. The Globespan website has now removed all their seat specification info and all 3 travel classes say something like 'generous pitch'. I called them yesterday. The first man I spoke to said my business class flight in August would be 38 inches. (But no decrease in price) The manager said that I would get 50 inches as the 767 would be reintroduced on 24 MAy. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS. I am cancelling today. I am also contacting ABTA and ATOL

Yep I have now organised bulkhead extra leg room seats in economy in an attempt to make things a little easier. No refund at all though. Im really mad at fly globespan. I will NEVER EVER EVER book with them again. Ive warned as many people as possible on forums not to fly with them and told everyone I know. It was too late for me to cancel but hopefully I've managed to help some people cancel on time. Praying for no more disasters when i get to airport next week!

 

[Christopher5927]

Yep I have now organised bulkhead extra leg room seats in economy in an attempt to make things a little easier. No refund at all though. Im really mad at fly globespan. I will NEVER EVER EVER book with them again. Ive warned as many people as possible on forums not to fly with them and told everyone I know. It was too late for me to cancel but hopefully I've managed to help some people cancel on time. Praying for no more disasters when i get to airport next week!

I have not been able to get in touch with ABTA yet, but can someone explain how they can still sell Business Class when there is no Business class on the plane?

 

[LEANNE1302]

OMG!!! I am totally panicing now. we have booked to fly with them in October and paid extra to have the premium economy seats - to be honest i cant remember what they were meant to be i think it was 38". if i get on this plane and i cant move i will scream!!! i unfortunately for the people travelling from glasgow, fly out of Belfast!! we thought this would be a good option this year as we have booked our accommodation separately and received a better deal than flying cattle class with airtours - although from the comments it seems that airtours might have been the better option!!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

OMG!!! I am totally panicing now. we have booked to fly with them in October and paid extra to have the premium economy seats - to be honest i cant remember what they were meant to be i think it was 38". if i get on this plane and i cant move i will scream!!! i unfortunately for the people travelling from glasgow, fly out of Belfast!! we thought this would be a good option this year as we have booked our accommodation separately and received a better deal than flying cattle class with airtours - although from the comments it seems that airtours might have been the better option!!

I would check with Globespan as to EXACTLY what you are going to get. the reason I say this is that on other forums, they are stating that Premium economy with some flights is the same pitch and same seats as economy, but with an enhanced food and drinks package

Also rumours that Watchdog are getting involved....

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I have not been able to get in touch with ABTA yet, but can someone explain how they can still sell Business Class when there is no Business class on the plane?

It depends what they have in their T & C's it may say that subject to aircraft availability etc...

 

[LEANNE1302]

i phoned globespan and they have advised me that the seat pitch change is only for those people travelling in May - unfair i know, but i think airlines are a law onto themselves sometimes. for travel any other time of the year seat pitches are to be as follows:

economy: 30"
premium economy: 34"
business class: 50"

so here's hoping globespan dont do any more mucking around- belfast doesnt have a lot of options with travel to florida - its either airtours, thomson or fly to london and then go with virgin or someone like that

 

[Christopher5927]

i phoned globespan and they have advised me that the seat pitch change is only for those people travelling in May - unfair i know, but i think airlines are a law onto themselves sometimes. for travel any other time of the year seat pitches are to be as follows:

economy: 30"
premium economy: 34"
business class: 50"

so here's hoping globespan dont do any more mucking around- belfast doesnt have a lot of options with travel to florida - its either airtours, thomson or fly to london and then go with virgin or someone like that

When I called them yesterday and asked about Aug, the first man I spoke to said that Business Class would be 38inches. End of story. Apart from the fact that he said that buying Business class entitled me to services, not seat pitch. Terms and conditions of booking. I could not believe this! I called back and got a different story: Business would be 50inches. The man I spoke to was wrong "and I apolgise on his behalf". I was put on hold for 5 mins and when she came back she said that her manager had said that it would be 50inches "but terms and conditions apply and they state that the aircraft can be changed at any time." Yes, like when I have paid in full. I am cancelling. ATOL and ABTA will not help as it is a flight only. Air Transport Users Council say I have to get in touch with Trading Standards. They say I should contact Advertising Standards. Looks like Globespan can do what they like. So can I: hence a booking with Virgin. I hope everyone travelling with them gets what they have paid for. I am not risking it.

 

[Christopher5927]

Cancelled yesterday and now flying with Virgin from Manchester. I have lost £150 and there is no way I will get it back. I did not realise that low-cost carriers had so little responsibility. I am just glad that I had time to cancel before I paid the whole amount!