Star 1 Airline

edindie

Hi,

I’m flying out to Vilnius in Lithuania on Thursday morning with Baltic Air and back on Sunday 3rd October with Star1 airlines (due to Baltic air cancelling the return flight twice).

I have just read this:
http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/2010/09/23/star1-airlines-in-financial-nightmare/


And been to the star1 home page:
http://www.star1.lt/en/

"Due to the aircraft detention in Dublin “Star1 Airlines” does not operate regular and charter flights on 25 September through 1 October. Passengers who have tickets to the cancelled flights are requested to turn directly to “Star1 Airlines“ by email [EMAIL="claims@star1.aer"]claims@star1.aero[/EMAIL] concerning the refunds."

I am assuming that this means that Star1 airlines is going bust, and if I go ahead with my long weekend I will be stuck in Vilnius. Am I reading things rightly? Airlines don’t often cancel all new bookings and come out of it fine do they?

Secondly, I have travel insurance which I purchased way before booking the holiday; are they likely to give me back money for costs I’ve already incurred if I want to avoid the risk? I’m obviously going to ring them to find out, but given the second link (star1 homepage) suggests the flights will be going again when I want to return, will they likely just cover me if I do get stuck over there?

Thanks in advance for any chat!

edindie

Hmm, a bit more digging reveals that Star1 only have one plane and therefore my flight is unlikely to go ahead whether they’re up and running on the 2nd or not. The plane has been impounded in Dublin due to the company not paying its debts.

Also my insurance does not cover being stranded due to the financial failure of an airline so I would have to pay myself for any extra hotel bills and flight home. This is looking like a very bad day’s work.

mad_rich

It doesn't sound promising. Bad luck with the insurance.

Just a thought, but did Baltic Air rebook you onto Star 1, or did you do this of your own accord? If the former, you could argue that they still have an obligation to find you an alternative flight.

You could have a look at alternative flights home. Ryanair fly from Kaunas, which isn't far away. For that matter, consider making a trip of it and flying back from somewhere in Poland.

Also consider buying a fully refundable (ie v expensive) ticket on one of the big airlines. Eg Brussels Airlines. You can always cancel for free, but worth having in your back pocket while you explore other options.