Holiday Complaint

chajun

Thanks but they appear not to employ reps if you self cater holiday.

WiseInvestor_2

chajun wrote: »

an official moan

Which is exactly how your eMail reads so I wouldn't expect a reply if I were you.

what really annoyed me was the absolute total lack of communication and lies

Information is key so a lack of it is indeed frustrating, but suggesting you were lied to is somewhat bold. In almost every airline I know of, the ground and flying departments are completely separate entities with staff knowing or understanding very little about each other's procedures, regulations and industrial agreements. It's quite possible you were told what the ground staff considered to be the truth, even though the flying staff later confirmed a different story.

Without any verbal announcement we were moved from what was supposed to be gate 33 to 27A

Passengers are expected to check the display monitors for uptodate information, which can and does change. If the airline/airport staff were to make an announcement every time something changed in such a busy environment they'd barely have time to take a breath - and it would be almost unbearable to have to listen to constant chatter, further increasing the likelihood of you missing something important. Gate allocation/changes are the responsibility of the airport - not the airline.

company policy was that no announcements could be made until one hour after the scheduled departure time!!!!!!!!!!

As above, the ground staff almost certainly don't know the reason for the delay so they'd end up making an announcement telling you nothing. Hardly productive.

we were told that it was due to one of the crew not turning up for work!

Ditto.

we had to be bussed to the plane on a remote part of Glasgow airport. Why, nobody knew

Perhaps because you booked Low Cost? British Airways and bmi never use remote stands at GLA.

the crew infomed us that no one was late and the Captain would inform us why

Without having been there it's difficult to suggest why you weren't told anything, but perhaps the Captain felt you'd rather he focussed on getting you on your way rather than waste even more of your time telling you why you're late?

When the plane took off we were deluged with water from the aircon system

This isn't uncommon and usually has more to do with the ambient weather conditions rather than a faulty system. Unfortunately, switching off the air-conditioning isn't an option because it also pressurises the aircraft. I don't doubt that it would've been unsightly and possibly unpleasant (for whoever was sat underneath it) but I doubt you'll get much sympathy from the airline.

why in heavens name was a Spanish girl doing the Air Safety Commentary

A fair point and something I've never really understood myself. I can't remember the last time I heard an English speaker make the announcements on British Airways shorthaul. I guess the 'foreign' crew view it as an opportunity to practice their English? As far as the legislation is concerned, the airline is required to DELIVER the safety information whilst it's up to the passenger whether or not to pay attention. You could loosely argue that your safety was jeopardised by not being able to understand what you were being told, but then the same stewardess would've been screaming instructions at you had there been an emergency. To suggest that foreign workers shouldn't be allowed to work on UK aircraft at all would open all sorts of issues that I very much doubt our government officials or the CAA would want to deal with!

At NO Time during our Two and a Half hour delay were we offered (In accordance to EU regs re travel) refreshments or vouchers. Nor anything complimentary onboard.

A fair point, but I wouldn't ever expect freebies onboard because the regulations are in place to protect you DURING the delay, not after it.

I thought that a certain other airline was the LOW Frills airline. You might say yours is the LOW Thrills airline

When all's said and done you opted for a LOW COST airline where things don't always go according to plan and there'll be very little backup or support when things go wrong. I'm not suggesting that FULL SERVICE airlines get it right all the time either, but at least you could argue you weren't getting value for money.

chajun

I think they will get the message. Buses not because of NO thrills just they were not stating what the problem was. All othe Globespan flights used air bridge "which we did on return". Thanks for the reply but not really helpful. You sound as though you may work for them!

chajun

ref Gates. Airline through ground ATC at Airport tell pilot where to "park" Thus gate is known. Being this aircraft was at Glasgow Airline for sometime at least a verbal announcement should have been made. I am afraid just too many excuses in your reply not for you to work or have worked in the industry.
Please remember customers have rights !

Sam_Bee

chajun wrote: »

ref Gates. Airline through ground ATC at Airport tell pilot where to "park" Thus gate is known. Being this aircraft was at Glasgow Airline for sometime at least a verbal announcement should have been made. I am afraid just too many excuses in your reply not for you to work or have worked in the industry.
Please remember customers have rights !

My understanding is the WI does work for another airline. That's why her words are particularly valid, as they offer an understanding and a viewpoint you might not otherwise get as everyone rushes to tell you how terrible Fly Globespan are. Certain issues are beyond them. You might not agree with the points but it's good to see a lengthy and detailed response to the issues you have raised.

My initial response was also that your letter sounded like a moan. The best complaints are clear, concise, and limited in emotional baggage. I see an issue points 6 & 7, but believe these are not necessarily grounds for compensation.

I hope you get a frank response & apology, and you are happy with that. But i've had much, much worse treatment on many, many better airlines.

WiseInvestor_2

You're right, customers do have rights - I'm just not sure yours were infringed quite as much as you think. I agree that being told why you're delayed is appreciated but if the ground staff don't know the reason what would you suggest they told you? I daresay you'll counter that perhaps they should find out the reason - which is fair comment from an outside perspective - but from the 'inside' it's honestly not that simple (and no, I don't work for FlyGlobeSpan).

With regards to parking gates, you're right that Air Traffic Control GUIDE pilots to the terminal but the airlines don't choose the stands - the airport does. Pier stands are at a premium at any airport so having one occupied with a delayed flight for over 2 hours longer than planned is disastrous. I would hazard a guess that your aircraft was originally planned to be parked at (or towed onto) a pier but as soon as the airline notified the airport that the flight was running late (for an indeterminable time) a decision was taken to relocate the aircraft onto a remote stand requiring buses. Most airports have more than one 'busing gate' to serve the numerous remote stands they have so it's quite possible that your planned gate would've changed several times before ending up at 27A. It is for this reason that passengers are expected to keep an eye on the display monitors because verbal announcements can quickly become counter-productive.


I'm honestly not trying to be unhelpful, merely point out that your eMail won't have too great an impression on the management. FlyGlobeSpan is a family run airline who're trying to compete with the big boys (BA, Ryanair, easyJet etc) - controlling costs is vital for their survival (and the family income!) so don't expect much more than the basic A to B flight you've paid for.

deva

i can undertand some of the annoyances about the flights but that is all they really are but did the OP actually book a passage as surely globespan is only the flights so the hotel booking was made seperatly- i may be wrong but if this is the case the compaint should be with the accomm provider.

ultimaelty these highlight some of the 'risks' associated with nt going on a package holiday as it should have been dealt with in resort.

WiseInvestor_2

FlyGlobeSpan do offer flights and accommodation packages.

To the OP, I would DEFINITELY lodge a complaint about the way you were treated. However, I suspect you'd be offered vouchers for your next booking rather than a cash refund. Would that be acceptable?

cpu

Good luck with your complaint. I have emailed Globespan twice with my flight complaint and still haven't had any kind of response at all. I clearly requested a reply in each of my emails and pointed out in the second one that no-one had responded to my first email.
I'm now deciding whether to pursue it again or drop it and mark them down as poor service in all departments.

chajun

Thanks to all who replied. My letter was a moan. At the end of the day just because it's a low cost airline does not give them or any other industry the right to not to supply service which the customer has paid for. As for "baggage" someone mentioned baggage it may be, but a truthful account no less. Having worked in advertising all my working life it was paramount that the ASA/BACC standards were enforced when creating advertisements. LEGAL DESCENT HONEST TRUTHFUL. In other words in advertising information has to be correct but when it's he other way round they seem to think they can get away with whatever they can. My holiday both flight and accommodation were the responsibility of Globespan. They do not have reps where their self catering accommodation is booked.