Flight to ski destination with FLYBE but no guarantee of snowboard carriage!!!!

Sezzler

Hey all,

Just a vent about FLYBE......

Ive flown with flybe before via an agent when going snowboarding and every time they have accepted my snowboard for a charge of £30 with no problems..


So this time I decided to book the flights myself.. Mid way through the booking process it informs me that if I have ski equipment that I need to ring customer services within 24hrs to guarantee my equipment on the flight.

So I complete the booking and ring customer services to book my board on... Just to be told that snowboards arnt guaranteed transit and that I shall need to arrive at the airport and if they can fit my board on they shall at a cost of £30 EACH WAY!!!!

I then get told by customer services that if I had skis they can be guaranteed and if they cannot fit them on the flight I could get a refund...


So that's just brilliant Im flying to the Alps with the risk that I may not be able to take my snowboard with me !!!! and I can't get a refund on my flight.. Cheers Flybe thanks a lot!!!!!

geoffken

May be that they are trying to discourage the "dark siders"!!!
Seriously that sucks and I would e mail and ask for some guarantee as you have booked so early.
Only other option is turn up early so that you are first snowboarder in queue.

Moral.
If it is cheap does not mean always that it is best value.


Good luck from a skiier!!!

Sezzler

geoffken wrote: »

May be that they are trying to discourage the "dark siders"!!!
Seriously that sucks and I would e mail and ask for some guarantee as you have booked so early.
Only other option is turn up early so that you are first snowboarder in queue.

Moral.
If it is cheap does not mean always that it is best value.


Good luck from a skiier!!!

Thanks for the post.. The main thing that bugs is that we have flown with them before via neilson and the snowboards were taken no problems for only £30 not £30 each way.

We asked about getting there super early and Flybe have said that it wont make any different as they need to wait for all the bags from all the passengers before they can let us know if they can take our boards..

Just so annoyed that if I took ski's I would have no problems... "grumble grumble grumble"

Sezzler

oh and they wont guarantee anything and no refunds!!!

its like buying a non refundable car just to be told once you've paid that there may be chance that it only comes with three wheels !!! but you'll only find out on the day you collect it:mad:

housebuyer_abc

Sezzler wrote: »

oh and they wont guarantee anything and no refunds!!!

its like buying a non refundable car just to be told once you've paid that there may be chance that it only comes with three wheels !!! but you'll only find out on the day you collect it:mad:

Well not really its more like ...

buying a non refundable car just to be as you are about to pay for it that there may be chance that it only comes with three wheels. At this point you have the option to go to another garage (airline) instead if you want the guarantee instead of the cheap deal

Sezzler

Im just annoyed that they can guarantee skis with the option of a refund if they ant be taken. yet this does not apply with snowboards.

Having flown with flybe before via neilson/crystal we had no problems with securing the boards onto the flight at only £15 each way.. not £30 each way and then we may not be guaranteed passage for our boards.

Sezzler

having just looked at other low cost airlines, easyjet/ bmi conditions. They both will guarantee carriage of snowboards for £15 each way.

We didnt choose flybe for the low cost we chose them because of the flight times were nice and early on the day we wanted to go , meaning more time to enjoy the slopes. We had flown with flybe before and never had any bad experiences when taking snowboarding equipment.. oh well

richardw

Was the Neilson/Crystal flight a charter flight?

Sezzler

no just a standard flight as far as i can remember

richardw

If it was chartered by Neilson, the charter agreement may have explicitly included snowboards. Charter and scheduled flights can differ even when operated by the same airline. Ryanair operated some flights for BA during the BA strike and BA frills were included.

bagand96

As richard said, with Neilson/Crysal, they wold have an agreeent with flybe on the cost and guarantee of the equipment. This would be the case if it was a whole flight chartered to them, or a regular flight where Neilson charter a handful of seats.

Now you have booked directly you are bound by the flybe terms and conditions. All of this is clearly explained on the Questions page of their website: http://www.flybe.com/en/flightInfo/baggage.htm#ski

Includng "Snowboards are carried on a standby basis only".

The reason for it is that flybe operate smaller aircraft than the likes of easyJet etc so room on board is at a premium. I am not sure on the likelyhood of it being denied - whether it is a frequent occurence, or whether it is a rare one, but they put it in the T&Cs to protect themselves. I guess only flybe or their handling agent know that.