Freebird airlines

Brettina · 1 July 2017 at 8:57PM

I recently booked a holiday to turkey with Thompson from MAN airport. We was surprised when we got to the airport and we was checking in with airline called freebird.

The flight was due to leave Manchester airport at 9pm. When checking in we was informed the flight had been delayed for 2 hours that soon went up to 3 hours. They gave us a £3.00 coupon to get a drink at departures.

I was informed by one of the staff at MAN airport that our plane was delayed because the airline freebird give our plane to another flight journey, because the plane was broke. :mad:

After a long wait at the airport and money spent that wouldn't have been spent if we wasn't delayed. We finally boarded the plane at midnight. To add to the stress of it all I have a 21 month old baby with me who was very over tired by this point and extremely distressed. The flight was very stressful and it wasn't explained at one point before the flight that the flight was cash only, no card payments and we couldn't eat or drink anything the whole flight.

When we landed In turkey 3.14am(English time) 5.14 turkey time.

As soon as we got back to England after the holiday we put a compensation claim in with freebird airline. Apparently we needed to be delayed 3 hours or more for entitlement to compensation, and this was the reply from freebird ..

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further your mail below, I already check the flight details. The following information was collected for you;

First of all, we are sorry for the inconvenience that you have experienced with Freebird Airlines at flight FHY618 dated 17/06/2017.

Freebird is operating her fleet in the highest standards, stipulated by strict aviation rules and regulations and safety is major concern at all our operations.

You can find the schedule referring to delay below;

Planned Schedule:
17th of June 2017 _ FHY618 MAN AYT 20:00 00:15

Performed Schedule:
17th of June 2017 _ FHY618 MAN AYT 23:05 03:14_Delayed 2Hours59M!

Times are UTC.
PS: Performed flight hours are referred from Flight Logs filled by Commander Pilot of Flight

Delay is caused with the reasons beyond us and as Freebird Airlines, we provided to our customers necessary services according to applicable regulation, to prevent passenger inconvenience for every guest at every level, we regret to inform you that we are not in a position to compensate.

We are deeply sorry about the inconvenience, hopefully you can use this report as a full explanation for insurance purposes.

As you can see the airline are are trying to claim that
The flight was delayed only 2hrs 59 mins. That is one minute from the allowed time to claim compensation.

I don't really know how to go about this. I would NEVER use this airline again. Terrible customer services, tiny planes and very low budget.

Please can anyone help me on what I can do about this??? Thanks :A:money:

Tyzap · 1 July 2017 at 10:00PM

Hi Brettina,

The 3 hour delay rule is timed from the scheduled time of arrival, (on your itinerary), to the actual arrival time when the first door is opened.

If it's over 3 hours you are due compensation.

Why the airline is quoting you the actual departure time is beyond me, that counts for nothing, except to perhaps confuse you.

Good luck.

Caz3121 · 2 July 2017 at 5:53AM

Tyzap wrote: »

The 3 hour delay rule is timed from the scheduled time of arrival, (on your itinerary) to the arrival, time when the first door is opened.
.

just to fix a typo

KDREWERY · 12 September 2017 at 3:38PM

We have just recently flown to Turkey from Manchester with Freebird Flight FHY618 on the 19th August and had exactly the same problem. Flight delayed form 9pm until midnight. Dirty plane extremely hot airconditioning not working properly. I have just put a claim in so I will see what they say. Seems to be a bit of a trend!!

Tyzap · 12 September 2017 at 3:49PM

KDREWERY wrote: »

We have just recently flown to Turkey from Manchester with Freebird Flight FHY618 on the 19th August and had exactly the same problem. Flight delayed form 9pm until midnight. Dirty plane extremely hot airconditioning not working properly. I have just put a claim in so I will see what they say. Seems to be a bit of a trend!!

Hi KDREWERY,

To qualify for delay compensation your flight must arrive 3 or more hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Arrival time is when the first door is opened, not when the aircraft landed, so in your case it sounds like it could be close.

Good luck.

Caz3121 · 12 September 2017 at 3:50PM

KDREWERY wrote: »

We have just recently flown to Turkey from Manchester with Freebird Flight FHY618 on the 19th August and had exactly the same problem. Flight delayed form 9pm until midnight. Dirty plane extremely hot airconditioning not working properly. I have just put a claim in so I will see what they say. Seems to be a bit of a trend!!

Although your flight departed 3 hours and 4 minutes late, the arrival time (which is used for delay compensation) was 2 hours and 45 mins - arrived 06:00 instead of scheduled time of 03:15 so no compensation is due...expect a rejection due to not being delayed over 3 hours

JPears · 12 September 2017 at 5:24PM

So today's lessons are:
1. When booking package holiday, find out who your actual airline is.
2. Get photo/video evidence with accurate time of door opening if you are near the 3/4 hour point.
If you spent additional on refreshments whilst waiting for your delayed flight, and have results, you can claim this back (except alcohol) £3 is totally inadequate.

DrA_Harrogate · 13 September 2017 at 10:51AM

JPears wrote: »

...
1. When booking package holiday, find out who your actual airline is.
2. Get photo/video evidence with accurate time of door opening if you are near the 3/4 hour point.
If you spent additional on refreshments whilst waiting for your delayed flight, and have results, you can claim this back (except alcohol) £3 is totally inadequate.

3. Make sure you have stuff with you in case of delay e.g. child equipage and so forth.
4. Take cash and cards

Ktlj1 · 20 September 2017 at 10:20AM

Hi did you get any further with this??? I have just had the same reply but the delay was over 3 hours but know they say they aren't bound by EU rules as they are a non EU airline. But they are working for thompson as that's who I booked with so surely they must have the same T&Cs????
Here's the reply:
Further your mail below, I already check the flight details. The following information was collected for you;

First of all, we are sorry for the inconvenience that you have experienced with Freebird Airlines at flight FHY625 dated 14/09/2017.

Freebird is operating her fleet in the highest standards, stipulated by strict aviation rules and regulations and safety is major concern at all our operations.

You can find the schedule referring to delay below;

Planned Schedule:!
14th of September 2017 _ FHY625 BJV MAN 13:10 17:30

Performed Schedule:!
14th of September 2017 _ FHY625 BJV MAN 17:00 21:20_Delayed 03H.50M!

Times are UTC.!
PS: Performed flight hours are referred from Flight Logs filled by Commander Pilot of Flight

EU Regulation EU261/2004, is not applicable to Non-EU registered Airlines Companies’ flight into to EU. Therefore, EU regulation does not explicitly to impose an obligation to pay compensation in such a case.

Delay is caused with the reasons beyond us and as Freebird Airlines, we provided to our customers necessary services according to applicable regulation, to prevent passenger inconvenience for every guest at every level, we regret to inform you that we are not in a position to compensate.

Any help appreciated

Caz3121 · 20 September 2017 at 10:59AM

If you put the flight details into EUClaim it shows
"Your flight departed from a non-European country and was operated by a non-European airline. Therefore your flight does not fall under the EC Regulation 261/2004 and you are, unfortunately, not entitled to compensation."

SallySunshine · 20 September 2017 at 1:28PM

Same reply we got after a 5.5hr delay in Antalya, Freebird has a dire reputation for not being on time.
Thanks First Choice

Freebird airlines

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