Passenger tells of Flyglobespan Durham Tees Valley flight horror story
28.06.07
A regular reader of this website who was booked on a Flyglobespan flight from Faro to Durham Tees Valley Airport contacted us to raise concerns with the airline's customer service after suffering a 'nightmare' journey. Despite contacting the airline by e-mail and letter several times over the last month, she is yet to receive a reply.
The passenger says: 'Our flight from Faro to Durham Tees Valley took off on time at 10:35. However, after 30 minutes it turned back to Faro with a technical problem. Because the pilot needed use up / dump fuel before landing we had to fly around for a hour, meaning we landed back at Faro airport at about 12:00.'
'Engineers carried out tests found nothing wrong with the plane, so it was refueled and we were about to take off around an hour later when the pilot informed us that warning light had come on. He told us that engine checks were needed and we were herded back in to the airport terminal.'
'At 14:30 a member of airport staff met us in the terminal and told us to stay in departure area. When asked about food and drinks he said to show our boarding passes to the cafes and we would be given complementary food and drink. However, no one passed this information to the cafes and we were forced to pay for the food and drinks.'
'At 18:00 - seven and a half hours after our flight had left the airport - an announcement was made over the airport load speaker that we were to go to gate 22 / 23. Airport staff said there were spare seats on Flyglobespan flights to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester and on landing transport would be waiting to take passengers who opted to take these flights to Durham Tees Valley Airport. As they could not tell us what was going to happen to the people who did not take these flights, we took the first flight to leave - to Edinburgh.'
'We landed at Edinburgh Airport at 23:30 - thirteen hours after our plane had originally left Faro - and collected luggage. We went to airport exit expecting transport or flyglobespan staff, but there was no transport, staff or information. Fortunately the pilot and cabin crew came past we asked if they could do anything. The pilot telephoned someone at Flyglobespan and told us a bus was on its way.'
'At 23:50 the airport manager told us he had been informed that the bus that would take us back to Durham Tees Valley was at Glasgow Airport - 50 miles and at least an hour away. He said that the bus would pick us up on route, but this would be "at least a few hours".'
'At 00:10 we tried to find alternative transport home but were only able to get taxi at that time. Because we had been let down so many times by the airline, we felt that we could not be sure a bus would come. We took a taxi - which cost more than the flights - and got back to Durham Tees at 03:00.'
'From being taken off the plane at 14:30 we had no contact with Flyglobespan apart from the flight home. We have had no reply to emails or a letter sent three days after our return.'
The airline has suffered a string of plane problems recently, including two emergency landings within a week in Toronto and a string of problems at Liverpool Airport. We contacted Flyglobespan to raise the readers complaint, but have yet to receive a reply.
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