Flybe tickets help

Westin

MSE staff have now published an article on the Flights forum -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6111117/flybe-collapses-into-administration-and-cancels-all-flights-mse-news#latest

parkrunner

I booked Southampton to Paris return for the end of May. My booking is with Air France but they use the Flybe planes. I'm leaving it a couple of days for things to settle before phoning them but in the meantime what do you think happens in this case?

Aylesbury_Duck

parkrunner said:

I booked Southampton to Paris return for the end of May. My booking is with Air France but they use the Flybe planes. I'm leaving it a couple of days for things to settle before phoning them but in the meantime what do you think happens in this case?

Air France will either arrange alternative flights or refund you.

Dr_Crypto

I’m in a similar position. We have a flight BOD-CDG-MAN with CDG-MAN by FlyBe. Booked through Air France who are operating the BOD-CDG leg. Plan to leave it a few weeks and see what AF offer. They may take over the CDG-MAN sector or offer us an alternative connection on their own metal. The flight isn’t for a while so no great rush. 

maman

Westin said:

MSE staff have now published an article on the Flights forum -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6111117/flybe-collapses-into-administration-and-cancels-all-flights-mse-news#latest

That's useful BUT...
I'm booked on a Flybe flight next Tuesday. Fortunately I booked a lastminute.com package so I am covered. The advice is to contact them except that's impossible. Online booking is all very well but it does allow companies to hide behind their websites. Phoning (on their premium line) gives a long message that goes all through Coronavirus first then briefly mentions Flybe then cuts you off!
I've had a holding email that says they're trying to rebook but I'd be very surprised if any alternative would be suitable as  it's a short break only and travelling to a distant airport wouldn't be practical and would add to the expense. 

ted24

Booked a flight for 2 people via Paypal.  Opened a dispute earlier to see if they'll do anything. £140 a lot of money 
Managed to book the same route for a similar fee with another airline.
One worth that is worth looking at is Loganair have bought or stepped in to run a lot of these routes.  There's a couple of the bigger ones notably missing from the list so I'm wondering if maybe one of the budget airlines may have taken some more to be announced later.

Westin

@maman As you have discovered, many of these cheap online agents have little in the way of post-sale back office support.  They simply cannot afford to cost this non-revenue generating activity into the selling price. Many consumers search and book on price and all the niceties of having a team of highly motivated and qualified to make decisions staff available 24/7 sitting in a UK support centre are not part of the costed sale. At the best of times LM seems to struggle and let people down on post sale problems.  Add issues with Covid19 and the collapse of an airline and I expect they are swamped and struggling to deal with customer contact.  
The positive is you have a package and it appears you have at least had some contact from them to say they are looking at solutions.  Hope you get things sorted.
@ted24  Thankfully it does indeed seem that some routes might get alternative air cover.  LoganAir already indicating their intentions. For clarity however, please don't think your old BE reservation will continue and carry over to the new carrier.  You will need to rebook and pay again.

acrichards

parkrunner said:

I booked Southampton to Paris return for the end of May. My booking is with Air France but they use the Flybe planes. I'm leaving it a couple of days for things to settle before phoning them but in the meantime what do you think happens in this case?

You and I are in the reverse position; I have booked through Flybe but operated by Air France. Not had any reply from them yet. Presumably they used to give an allocation to Flybe. I wonder whether Air France will now resell this allocation themselves. I feel frustrated that the plane is still going to fly but my only way to get on it is to pay again 😕

deejaybee

I booked Exeter Dublin returns for September recently, via Virgin Atlantic credit card.

I was going to call VA yesterday to claim Section 75, but have already had following text from them:

"From your account, it looks like you have made a booking with Flybe in the past 12 months. If you havnt yet travelled and are impacted by their announcement today about going into Administration, we may be able to help you reclaim those costs. We will be in touch early next week to give you more details on what to do "

I did read on HeadforPoints, someone reckoned that credit card companies had not been passing the booking money over to Flybe recently, anticipating this scenario...

Westin

@deejaybee Very possible regarding the credit card funds being held back until post travel. I think this has been the case with another airline for some time who has been rumoured to have stability issues.  This of course adds to the woes of struggling businesses as interrupts cash flows.   All credit for VAA Credit Card for being proactive and contacting you very quickly. I am sure such actions will help many who might of otherwise been wondering what to do next.