Report: Flyglobespan Is The Worst Airline I Have Ever Travelled With!!

SineadCHAN

I have just come back from Toronto, which I travelled with flyglobespan, first of all we on departure from dublin airport, we had to sit and wait in the airplane for 2hours because they did not have any meals on board and we were waiting for the caterers to arrive, even though they arrived, not all passengers got fed!!

On our departure from Hamilton Airport, Toronto, when we took off there was three loud bangs - the pilot told us that there was a problem - yeah the left wing of the plane was on fire. Thankfully we had to turn around and do an emergency landing.

I can understand these things happening, but globespan stranded us in Canada for 2 days before we could come home. We were supposed to be home Friday morning in Dublin, but it was three o'clock on the Sunday when we got back to Dublin.

When we finally got our plane on Saturday night we were suppose to fly out at 8.30p.m. but it was 10p.m. before the plane departed, we had to make a five hour trip to Iceland to refuel the plane and on arrival there, the pilot came on and said that the power had shut down on the plane. So when we eventually got to Shannon we were stuck there for a following hour and a half so that they could fix the problem!!!

I would not advise anyone to travel with this airline, globespan had no representatives in Canada, Air Canada Jazz employees had to deal with us, in the hotel we were relying on faxes as to when we got home, they were constantly changing every couple of hours. They never had the decency to send a representative to our hotel to explain anything to us or even ring us at the hotel.

I will never fly with globespan in my life again, and every passenger on the airplane are under the same opinion as myself. We lost 2 days being stuck in a hotel in Hamilton, Canada, a lot of people missed weddings and parts of their holidays in Ireland.

This airline treated us like dogs, they are an absolute disgrace.

Globespan might be cheap, but you cannot depend on them to get home safe and on time.

Victor

Split and moved from Commuting & Transport.

BuffyBot

You get what you pay for...all seems to pretty par for the course

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/flygspan.htm

Newcarneeded

I think you are being unreasonable to Flyglobespan. I have no connection with the company but these things happen to aircraft and airlines and it seems to me that it would make no difference as to whether you were on their aircraft or any other airlines.

Granted it must have been an unpleasant experience for the aircraft to suffer an in flight emergency, which presumably was an engine failure of some sort and have to return. But this can happen to any airline. As aircraft cost tens of millions of dollars no one can afford to have a couple sitting on the tarmac waiting around in case one of the fleet goes tech.

These serious events are thankfully, rare, in the aviation industry. A 40 year career airline pilot may never see a real in flight engine failure, such is the reliability, although they do get one every six months in the sim.

You might recall a few years ago, there was a mini tornado at Dublin airport and two of the Aer Lingus long haul fleet were out of service for a couple of days. The exact same thing happen to Aer Lingus, in that passengers were left in New York or Shannon or wherever, until a replacement aircraft could be found.

For the airline, they have to make a judgement call as to whether the problem can be fixed reasonably quickly, in which case they will accomodate you in a hotel, or if it's going to be a protracted repair they will source an alternative aircraft. However, particularly at busy times of the year such as Christmas and now the holiday season, most operators have their aircraft fully utilized so it's not easy to find a spare transatlantic jet to bring you home.

The bigger the operator, the more scope to reallocate aircraft across the fleet to get as many of you home as possible, but for someone like Flyglobespan this isn't possible.

As regards not being sufficient meals on board, that sounds like the caterers or ground handling agents messed up.

I sympathize with you on your inconvenience, but I'd question precisely what the airline could have done differently? More information perhaps, but beyond that, not a lot really.

I'm sure they did their best to keep you informed.

BuffyBot

I think you are being unreasonable to Flyglobespan

Unfortunately, if that's the case..so are a hell of a lot of other people. I personally don't believe in co-incidence though.

As for information provided by Flyglobespan, judging from reports, that seems to be a little thin on the ground. Pretty much every other story I hear about them is a bad experience, so one does wonder if the no smoke without fire rule does apply.

lushballs

Family member flew over from TO in May using Globespan. Were not told the flight was stopping in Shannon before Dublin. Were not told you had to order food before hand, so no meals. Some of the Flight atttendants not very experienced or professional: flight attendant took a large bottle of water from the ones they serve to passengers, took a swig, put cap back on and put the bottle back with the others! Only removed it when family member eyeballed her ie letting her know how incredulous she felt about what she had done.
Flight delayed going back to TO with no communication given.

Also a friend using Globespan in May had this experience: flight arrives in Shannon from TO. An adult woman who booked separately from her father asked to get off the plane in Shannon with her father instead of Dublin. Flight attendant said yes as the woman stated she did not have any luggage in the hold.
When the crew were doing the number counting they noticed one passenger missing so they asked everyone to get off the plane to check the luggage hold. Delayed one hour and a half!!
Just unlucky?

lowbankslady

My hubby was on the June 12/13 2007 flight out of Hamilton Airport. This flight ended the same way as 2 weeks ago. Coincidence? Or shoddy maintenance to the planes? You be the judge, both times 2 loud bangs were heard, engine burst into flames, then the plane shuttered...felt like a dog shaking off water, and finally a rough landing. The over 180 passengers were kept on the plane till it was decided the plane would not be going anywhere. After waiting for another hour, the passengers were told to go home or ferried to a hotel & told, someone would contact them with further instructions.

After reading this & other opinions...I'd call this a taflon airliner, very dodgy, how long before there is a major incident & lives are lost? Fly with them again, absolutely NOT!

highlydebased

The aircraft concerned is leased from icelandair for this season, I understand its going back to them in September


The Flyglobespan flight from JFK to Knock has been delayed three days as of today. It has been on the news even...

lushballs

Just 'unlucky'?

Victor

Neon-Circles wrote:

The aircraft concerned is leased from icelandair for this season, I understand its going back to them in September

Interestingly an Icelandic airline was linked to Freshaer and Fly Jet Green Airways.

BuffyBot

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0702/globespan.html

Yikers is all I'll say. They are really going all out to p*ss people off..

Tippex

it seems as if globespan are gonna be in severe financial trouble if it continues the way it has been for the last few months.

They really seem to have given themselves no margin for problems and they have had quiet a few.....

yomchi

I think the above and the following is enough evidence never ever to fly with these gangsters..

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhkfqlcwidmh/

Victor

Jon wrote:

I think the above and the following is enough evidence never ever to fly with these gangsters..

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhkfqlcwidmh/

Can anyone smell the brown stuff?

Our man in Havana

However, their plane was grounded due to technical problems and the company says Saturday's attempted car bombing at Glasgow Airport prevented it from bringing in an alternative aircraft.

How convenient for them to blame the terrorists.

The company has begun offering passengers flights home with other carriers, but it is unclear how soon they will be able to complete their journeys.

They should have done that after 12-24 hours.

yomchi

apparently passengers just bought new flights home with other carriers and most are out of pocket by over 1000 euro!
Why arent this crowd closed down?

Our man in Havana

Jon wrote:

apparently passengers just bought new flights home with other carriers and most are out of pocket by over 1000 euro!

And most likely this won't be covered by insurance.

penexpers

Jon wrote:

Why arent this crowd closed down?

Because for some reason people keep on giving them money.

cailinoBAC

Airlinequality.com now has the comment 'Due to the high number of complaints being received for this airline, Skytrax are unable to guarantee that all of them will be published.'

yomchi

Unreal!

Having worked in both the aviation industry and the media, I think I'm qualified to state that if a plane's wing "had burst into flames" you can be 100% guaranteed to have seen it in the headlines.

I don't doubt the nightmare for Globespan's passengers, and I think the airline is a joke.
But I also know that Chinese whispers and good ol' exaggeration can turn an emergency landing into "a plane on fire".

ANY kind of smoke or flames to an engine and you're talking immediate evacuation folks. I do know this!

yomchi

not necessarily - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhZwsYtNDE

Jon

Jon wrote:

not necessarily - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhZwsYtNDE

The engine wasn't "in flames" when the plane landed?

BuffyBot

Your assuming the average punter is in the know as you and are describing it accurately. And I think you might also misreading the following:

You be the judge, both times 2 loud bangs were heard, engine burst into flames, then the plane shuttered...felt like a dog shaking off water, and finally a rough landing.

The engine may have flamed, but I don't read that as either the wing being on fire, or that the engine was on fire when they landed and they were left on the plane.

Now if anyone wants to discuss the finer points of engine flame outs etc, the Aviation & Aircraft forum is probably better (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=905)

Let's keep this thread teh discussion of Flyglobespan and their percieved (and seemingly actual) deficiencies.

BuffyBot

BuffyBot wrote:

Your assuming the average punter is in the know as you and are describing it accurately. And I think you might also misreading the following:



The engine may have flamed, but I don't read that as either the wing being on fire, or that the engine was on fire when they landed and they were left on the plane.

Now if anyone wants to discuss the finer points of engine flame outs etc, the Aviation & Aircraft forum is probably better (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=905)

Let's keep this thread teh discussion of Flyglobespan and their percieved (and seemingly actual) deficiencies.

Fair enough.
If I had a euro for every punter who told me their plane "dropped 1,000 feet!!" I'd be rich.
It's funny how the average passenger suddenly fine-tunes their distance gauge and becomes a pilot when they're on a plane!

yomchi

Human nature to exaggerate, especially when something happens to ourselves. We're all guilty of it

jonny68

Airline opens inquiry into JFK delay
Paul Anderson

The airline that left 240 Knock-bound passengers stranded in New York for up to a week, today said it was conducting a full internal inquiry into all aspects of how the issue was handled.

The Boeing 757 was grounded at JFK airport on June 28 th after a technical problem blamed on a lightning strike stopped the plane from taking off as scheduled.

After repairs a second attempt to take off was aborted after the warning light which went off on the first occasion lit up again. Repairs were still being made to the plane the following Tuesday.

Let me stress that this airline always puts safety first. We pay 100 per cent attention to safety and any suggestion to the contrary will be scrutinised by our legal team
Flyglobespan chairman Tom Dalrymple The company was unable to source a replacement plane, blaming the terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport two days later for preventing it from mobilising an available plane.

Flyglobespan chairman Tom Dalrymple said the company had put passenger safety first when it grounded the aircraft at JFK.

The 240 passengers were furious at their treatment while stranded and many of them eventually paid for flights on other airlines. Some passengers formed an action group to demand "a basic level of human rights" from ground staff and a US-based lawyer is heading a group legal action against the Scottish company.

The remaining passengers were eventually flown home last Friday. The Irish Times quoted one passenger saying: "It was a nightmare in many ways. It was very difficult to get any answers from Flyglobespan."

Mr Dalrymple accepted that some negative media coverage of the incident was warranted but he said some was undeserved.

"We have taken a bit of pounding - some of it justified, some of it totally undeserved," he said.

"But we are conducting a full internal enquiry into all aspects of our performance - with a view to ensuring that our Ireland West Knock-JFK service performs to the high standard we expect from all our routes."

Mr Dalrymple said the company were in discussion with their New York ground handlers Swissport over the issue.

"It is clear from feedback that this area requires particularly detailed investigation as the performance of our ground handlers fell well below the standards expected by our passengers. Many of the instructions issued by the company to alleviate the situation seem to have simply been ignored," he said.

We know we let our customers down in JFK, and we apologise for that. If they feel they have been let down they have every right to criticise us
Tom Dalrymple He accepted passengers were entitled to be angry and said an internal inquiry was underway.
"We know we let our customers down in JFK, and we apologise for that. If they feel they have been let down they have every right to criticise us.

"But among the media coverage over this there have been some comments that would seem to question Flyglobespan's safety policy. Let me stress that this airline always puts safety first. We pay 100 per cent attention to safety and any suggestion to the contrary will be scrutinised by our legal team," Mr Dalrymple said.

He also promised a refund for those who paid for alternative flights.

The operation of a transatlantic route out of Ireland West Airport Knock is regarded as an important element in developing the region. But airport management went public with their concern about the service as around 250 Flyglobespan passengers were also stranded in Knock and Boston.


http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0712/breaking77.htm

jonny68

An absolute disgrace this, these passengers should be fully compensdated for all the trouble they had to endure,apparenly there was a serious lack of communication between the passengers and the airline, you would think in situations like this the airline involved would have a represtative there to inform people what was going on, and what alternative arrangements were being arranged but i recall hearing some bloke on the news saying no one from the airline told them what was going on for a long time, smacks of Ryanair all over but this time it's Flyglobespan!!

I've not flown with this airline before and after this farce i don't think i ever will!

Tchocky

I remember watching this on the news. Some traveller was on "I've never had an experience like this in my life!"

Of course you haven't, this is why you're on the news, jackass.

BuffyBot

Merging this with the existing Flyglobespan thread.

Sounds like back-peddling and puffery on Flyglobespan's part however

slickmcvic

I flew with globespan in early june from knock 2 boston & found them very good.

Plane was spankin new
Food & service decent
booking was hassle free
prices were very cheap
In flight entertainment was class...individual media players with episodes of CSI,Catherine tate show to watch whenever you chose!!

Downside
Left 1hr late but arrived on time

I only heard the horror stories after I came back