This Is Guernsey

By Joel de Woolfson

FLYBE has been accused of making dozens of passengers fly to the wrong airport.

People booked to Southampton last Wednesday morning were switched to the Gatwick service after fog caused the cancellation of their flight. No plane had arrived from either airport at the time and it later emerged that the Southampton one arrived before the Gatwick.

A handful of passengers who had been checked in for Gatwick realised what had happened and demanded to be allowed onto their original flight, which Flybe had planned to send back to Southampton empty. ‘When the flight from Southampton landed, I immediately asked to be put back on the Flybe flight but was told “No, the flight has been cancelled”,’ said Julian Mounter.

‘The aircraft would, however, be returning shortly to Southampton. Only four or five of us had noticed it arrive and we protested vigorously.

‘Then, thanks to a very helpful supervisor, we managed to get our bags extracted from the baggage department and we caught the Southampton flight, arriving an hour or so late.’

Mr Mounter said that Flybe staff had not informed the others that they could catch their original flight.

‘I heard one Flybe employee say, “We are not saying anything as it is difficult now to change them back”,’ he said. ‘So dozens of people were put to enormous inconvenience although the Gatwick plane got in after the Southampton flight and left after it.’

Mr Mounter said: ‘Some staff at Flybe are superb. Others are rude, unable to cope in a difficult situation and make very poor decisions.

‘I believe every passenger who was sent to Gatwick should receive full compensation.’

He thought Flybe needed to be penalised if it was to change.

‘Changing people back might have further delayed both planes for 20 minutes or so and had a knock-on, but this behaviour damages Guernsey business and causes many people unnecessary stress,’ Mr Mounter said.

A Flybe spokesman said that when confronted by such situations, the airline based its decision ‘on the information that is at hand at the time with the primary objective of transporting our passengers to their destination as soon as possible’.

‘Such decisions are based on years of experience of dealing with similar situations and making a judgement based on the speed at which complex rebooking procedures can be accomplished. Flybe regrets any delays and trusts passengers will understand that issues like adverse weather make some delays a fact of life.’