BLUE ISLANDS has claimed a complaint made against it to the Advertising Standards Authority is completely lacking in foundation.
Rival airline Aurigny had said Blue Islands’ advertisements in business magazines and newspapers in July and August boasting the airline offered ‘free ticket changes’ were false.
But in a letter to the ASA, Blue Islands commercial manager Ian Le Moigne hit back at Aurigny’s claim. ‘Firstly, I can confirm that Blue Islands does not apply fees for changing tickets,’ he said.
‘Day of travel, flight and passenger names can be changed and there is no fee for doing so. The only instance where the passenger might have to pay is for a change to a flight for which a fare difference applies, but no charge is made to effect that change.
‘If the passenger chooses to change to a new flight for which the fare is identical, then the change is free.’
Blue Islands conducted its own investigation into Aurigny’s claim it had been charged for changing the date of a booking.
‘After exhaustive testing, we have found a fault on our internet booking engine that displays incorrect information regarding possible charges that could be levied,’ Mr Le Moigne said.
‘However, as the claimant is undoubtedly aware, no charge was made or indeed no charge has ever been made to any Blue Islands customer who may have come across this error.
‘It has now been rectified, but we emphasise that no charge was made to the claimant.
‘We would be grateful if you [the ASA] would contact Aurigny on our behalf formally advising that we believe their complaint is completely lacking in foundation.’
Mr Le Moigne added that Blue Islands was confident its advertising was not misleading.
‘The principle of promoting free ticket changes is sound – it is possible to alter dates of travel, flights and names at no charge,’ he said.
‘We do apply a fare differential where appropriate and have updated our terms and conditions of carriage and booking confirmations, together with the system-development work outlined, in order to provide further clarity for our passengers.’
Article posted on 30th September, 2008 - 2.29pm
2 Article Comments
I don’t think Ian Le Moigne is right.I discovered the additional charges before Aurigny made the complaint public.
When I phoned Blue Islands the girl in the office looked up my booking, and she agreed with me about wanting additional money. She had to find out if this was correct and then rang me back, saying that while she had been away on holiday, Blue Islands had changed the rules, and that there were now additional charges, depending on how soon to the departure date, that the ticket was toeeb changed.
I subsequently cancelled my ticket with her, and had a full refund, as I did not want to pay £60 extra, and may be faced with the same thing in a weeks time if I decided to change it again
Report abuse
I have also been charged at various times for changing Blue Islands tickets on their website.
Don’t blue Islands understand what their own system does?
Or where their takings are coming from?
Could they really not realise this is happening, or do they just choose to keep this revenue stream going whilst advertising that changing bookings are free?
Whatever the reason, Le Moigne doesn’t have his facts right.
Report abuse