Globespan Pax left stranded at Sanford

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Article from WESH2
http://www.wesh.com/news/13605346/detail.html

Again, it looks like very poor service from Globespan, no other airline seems to be mentioned:-


"SANFORD, Fla. -- The terrorist attack in Scotland sent travel shockwaves across the globe over the weekend.

Flights were canceled after terrorists attacked an airport in Glasgow, Scotlan, on Saturday, WESH 2 News reported.

Scottish passenger Robert Kennedy was stranded in Florida after his flight home to Glasgow was canceled.

"We tried to speak to some people, but they didn't offer us any help," Kennedy said.

Officials said his airline, Fly Globespan, is not giving him any answers, and agents were not at the airport to even tell him about the flight.

Kennedy said that until he can catch a flight, he has to pay for his own hotel room.

"The way we have been treated is absolutely disgraceful, and to be told they wouldn't cover any costs is absolutely shocking," Kennedy said.

The 128 passengers on the flight were told to come back Monday morning to catch another flight home. Officials said it could take a few days before all the displaced passengers can catch flights."

 

[wilma-bride]

Whilst I agree it's not good news, this is the second negative thread you've posted about Fly Globespan today Obi. Why can't you just put the bone down and step away

 

[wayneg]

I have never seen anyone slate an airline like you Obi with FGS.
What problems did you have with them? It must have been a bad flight.

 

[CoralCayTownhome]

I'm still not too concerned about my flights for next year (which incidentally have increased in price big time since I booked!!!)

There are flights with FGS every day and we don't hear about half of them and to be honest I'm not surprised they cancelled the flight - Glasgow airport was closed As far as no payment for hotels etc - does your travel insurance not cover that anyway.

It is the risk you take with a budget airline and for the difference in price and to fly from my local airport (remember not much choice in Northern Ireland compared to the mainland) I am prepared to give it a go

Obi - you sure don't like them but each to their own I may or may not change my mind next year - we'll have to wait and see

 

[snookhams]

As I understand it you are not covered on insurance for this type of incident and airlines are not obliged to cover any extra expenses that you incur by flights being cancelled, although some do as a good will gesture. You are however entitled to a full refund or Travel agents/airlines rearranging your travel, this is not something that can be done instantly, if the next few flights are full, as is possible as schools in Scotland have started to break for the summer, then it must be difficult to find the extra seats on planes.

I too am a little concerned by the constant negativity from Obi Wan about flyglobespan, peeople fly with an airline of their choice, either because of financial reasons, location or just who they prefer. Has Obi Wan ever flown with this company, if not why is he so interested in making sure members of the Disboards know of every little problem they encounter. Do you do this with all airlines whose performance does not meet your exacting standards. We have flown to Florida with several different airlines and had good and bad experiences, infact some of the more expensive airlines where the worst for lateness, dirty planes etc, where as our most recent flight with Travelcity direct was the best I have ever had, the service, food and crew were all excellent and I would not hesitate to use them again, this was during the security problems last August and we were kept fully up to date with all changes by their staff, we did however encounter staff of another airline, telling passengers at the Swan/dolphin hotel completely the wrong information about what was allowed and disallowed on the plane (they were telling passengers that NO hand luggage at all was allowed) DH works at LHR in security and was in contact with collegues for the most accurate information, which matched what we were told by travelcity.

 

[edinburghlass]

Reported in the Scotsman that some 35,000 people would be affected by the closure of Glasgow Airport on Saturday and that some 40 airlines fly out of Glasgow so I doubt flyglobespan is the only airline to have a stranded passenger.

Glasgow Airport wasn't just closed to passengers either, it was closed to ALL so I'm not sure how long it took any airline time to set up hot lines as to what passengers and staff were to do.

 

[paulh]

just hope some storms come along then
Paulh

 

[Tartan Tigger]

Before I start my reply to this thread I just want to say I am so glad that the attack on Glasgow airport didn't come off properly and no-one was hurt or killed. I appreciate that attacks like this are outwith the control of the airline. My complaint is with the customer service (or lack off).

I have defended Fly Globespan for months on another website I use, I flew with them last year and they were superb.

However, I was due to fly to Orlando with them yesterday. On Saturday night at 6pm we phoned Flyglobespan and discovered they were closed. Checked their website all night and for the last time at 7.55am on Sunday morning. It had last been updated at 2.30am and gave a list of flights that were cancelled, GSM725 to Sanford was NOT listed.

At 8am we heard on the radio that the incoming Globespan flight from Sanford had just landed at Glasgow. We tried phoning Globespan again but they don't open until 10am on a Sunday (even during terrorist attacks when the advice you are given is contact your airline). It was also announced that the airport were beginning a phased opening. As we couldn't get hold of Globespan and their website wasn't being updated we went to the airport, after all the plane was there and we did see passengers who came off it.

After waiting for 3 1/2 hours in the rain we were told by airport staff that Globespan had cancelled ALL their flights and that they had NO representatives at the airport. After waiting a further 2 1/2 to be collected (traffic was manic) we went home and tried phoning them again, constantly engaged and then at 5pm a recorded message giving their opening hours. They were shut!!!

Checked website again and it said to go to manage your booking for advice, we did this but there was no advice there. Had a look at availability on the website and booked and paid for 2 seats on the flight on the 8th at a cost of £875.16.

Eventually got through to them this morning at 9.30am and asked for the flight we booked last night to be transferred to the original booking, we still had the return flight. The operator said she didn't think they could do that. It was pointed out that we had no other option, we were trying to salvage some of our holiday and could have been left with no alternative date because they closed their phone lines so early. She put us on hold. Eventually came back and said they would transfer the booking and would refund the money but this may take several weeks because they are busy.

So we have now managed to salvage 2 weeks out of the 3 weeks we were originally going for. My opinion of Fly Globespan has now changed considerably. They are a fantastic airline when things are going well but when things go wrong you are abandoned. Customer service is non existant. The majority of other airlines were represented at Glasgow yesterday, I was there 6 hours in total and saw loads.

I feel sorry for the passengers stuck in Sanford. That plane could have gone out yesterday with a delay, it was in Glasgow.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

The reason is quite simple.
NO OTHER AIRLINE has left passengers stranded across the world without any hotels, any food and long delays to get home. If they have, please show to the forum member the link to these also very poor airlines. I have not seen any.

Joh, you seem to want to forgive FGS for ANY treatment they inflict on the passengers. Why? (Edited:- Sorry Joh, that was uncalled for on my part, I apologise for the comment.)

Have I written any of these reports? no
Has ANY OTHER AIRLINE been reported this way? no
Do you think there is a conspiracy of silence with all the other airlines to not report if they treated their passengers this way? do you?
Don't you think the TV stations in Florida would have mentioned other flights?
Don't you think that Irish TV would have reported other airlines?

When people book Flyglobespan over Travel city direct, First choice, Thomsonfly, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic or any other scheduled airline, they need to understand that cheapness does come at a price.

No passenger should be treated this way by any airline and Flyglobespan on so many different travel forums have been critiscised by so many passengers for their poor service and poor backup.

Some of you seem to want to ignore it, that is your perogative, I believe that people who are choosing their main holiday for possibly a couple of years should have all the facts, not have them hidden.

There is a constant thread on MANY forums of the day to day poor service of FGS on Transatlantic routes, this is not just a single incident.

Sure, some flights have been uneventval, but one forum has had more complaints about FGS than all of the other airlines put together.

Scotland and its passengers deserve better than this.

get their act togteher, get people to and from their destinatins when you say you will, give them the class of service they have paid for and I will praise them.

 

[wilma-bride]

.....

 

[Groovee]

Flyglobespan were the only airline/tour operator who didn't have any staff at any of the aipports to explain what was happening to passengers and nor did they update their website. They cancelled EVERY Flight they had flying from any airport in the world on Sunday. Their customer service stinks and I think they will have a lot of work to do to get any sort of reputation which is above what they have anyway. I really feel for the poor people who were stranded and possibly didn't have any means of paying for a hotel etc. I would have to think twice about flying with them.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Joh,
I left the comment in as I feel that it is wrong to remove a comment which could have been seen by some people.
It was the comment beofre the apology.

I would take issue with me defending Virgin all the time, if you look at a lot of my posts I have critcised them for very poor on time figures, tyhe fact they are bottom of punctuality tables, the diminution of services etc.

I have also posted when I have found better prices for alternative flights and services from other airlines as well.

I will criticise any airline forn failing to provide the service as they should.

My problem with Flyglobespan is that it is a consistantly very poor service which is continuing to be so and that when people make a decision on what is their main holiday and for some a huge cost saved over many years they need to know what services are like both good and bad as this can be the runination of this once in a lifetime holiday for them.

To not show the continuing very poor service from an airline is to let them walk into what may be a horrible time and totally destroy any good feelings they will have about their holiday.

I have never flown Globespan, nor have I ever flown First choice or Travel City Direct, or any of the charters across the pond, nor will I probably.
For many these airlines provide a good service and a good budget price, but there is a choice of these airlines, but in the case of FGS, they are well past "teething problems" potential passengers need to know that if it goes wrong, the chances are you will be on your own, something that does not seem to happen with First choice or TCD etc.

But people have a choice whom they fly with. The problem I have with FGS is that they are ruining so many peoples holidays without sorting out the mess.

 

[Neoshoegal]

The reason is quite simple.
NO OTHER AIRLINE has left passengers stranded across the world without any hotels, any food and long delays to get home. If they have, please show to the forum member the link to these also very poor airlines. I have not seen any.

Alitalia! I don't have a single good word for them, they left us stranded without any hotels, any food and long delays to get home (6 days!).
OK, did happen nearly 6 years after the September 11 attacks. We were due to fly home from Miami with them a few days after the attacks, by that time there were flights going out again. We were on our honeymoon on a cruise. The night before the flight home we contacted Alitalia to make sure we would be able to catch our flight, we were assured we would. Otherwise we would have stayed onboard the cruise ship for another as they had a special offer due to many people cancelling.
Anyway, we arrive at the airport in Miami at the Alitalia desk. It was a total disaster area, it was a disorderly bunch. We managed to get hold of an Alitalie staff member to ask where we were supposed to go to check in. She asked for the dates on our tickets, when we told her the dates she just told us to go away, we wouldn't be flying today. We said we had specifically checked the day before that we would be flying that day, she couldn't care less and wouldn't allow us to join the check in queue (I say queue but it wasn't really, just a mess). We asked what we were supposed to do, her reply (literally) "sleep on a bench, find a hotel, as if I care, come back tomorrow!"
No lists of hotels from stranded passengers like other airlines were giving out, the Alitalia site manager was standing on one of the desks, shouting in Italian only (not a single English word from him), fights broke out in the line and even the airport police had to be brought in! We were looking at it all from a distance, some passengers for another airline came by and just said "imagine being in that bunch!", we had to reply "we are" to which they felt very sorry!
We couldn't get any flights out with other airlines, anywhere in Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, we didn't care).
So we spend the next few nights in hotels checking in every day at the airport to see if we could get on a flight. Every day they kept telling us no! It wasn't until our parents got involved with Alitalia on the other side of the Atlantic that we managed to get a flight out, even though we'd been told that same day by the Miami desk we wouldn't, as there were no seats available.
Well, we finally got to check in and were amazed that we actually got to go on the plane. We asked if it was possible to get seats together, the reply "no problem! plenty of free seats of the plane anyway!". WHAT!?! We were told earlier that day that there weren't any seats! We were then told that we could take no hand luggage whatsoever. We were quite surprised, we had been checking the news and didn't put any items in our handluggage that were forbidden at that time, but the check in guy kept insisting no handluggage. However, when we got to boarding, there were plenty of people with plenty of handluggage, apparantly, not all the check in desks were saying the same things.
We complained but never got a reply.
Since then there have been many news reports that Alitalia might go bankrupt. Personally, I can't wait until that day. They were the rudest people ever (even the flight out before September 11 wasn't without problems) and I wish them no luck whatsoever!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Neoshoegal
that is truly awful customer service.
I would sue the barstewards for the costs involved.

 

[Neoshoegal]

Neoshoegal
that is truly awful customer service.
I would sue the barstewards for the costs involved.

what can I say,we were young and unexperienced (it was actually my first time flying, I was petrified! Still am petrified but more of the whole airport and boarding experience rather than the actual flying which I kind of even enjoy these days). Now we wouldn't let go of the experience that easily!
btw, thanks again for all the UC details, will be booking this weekend

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Fantastic news Neoshoegal.
I am sure you will have a great time.
Is this for next year?

 

[Neoshoegal]

yup, end of May next year