Scramble in St Helier for the last boat to Guernsey
Monday 29th March 2010, 2:30PM BST.
ANGRY scenes developed at Jersey’s harbour last night after diverted Guernsey-bound passengers taken there from the airport claimed they had been abandoned by Aurigny.
Thick fog in Guernsey cloaked the airport for most of the afternoon.
Many people were transferred by Aurigny and Blue Islands to St Helier to catch the 8pm Condor to Guernsey.
While arrangements were made by Blue Islands, Aurigny apparently failed to provide passenger lists to the ferry company and chaos developed.
Aurigny passengers claimed they were left with no information and no indication of whether they would be able to board.
However, Aurigny commercial director Malcolm Coupar claimed passengers had been kept informed and looked after by staff.
‘Everybody was taken to where they wanted to be,’ he said. ‘We are happy that on a foggy day when we were unable to fly, we got everyone to their destinations.’
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Is this the same Aurigny that cancelled the gatwick flights whilst Flybe were flying??
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Great headline……. In fact its the best headline Iv seen in ages :-)
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Haha front page news. Unbelievable. People making a fuss over what is part of island life I’m afraid. Yes, it’s annoying, yes it’s an inconvenience but it happens. They all got home in the end didn’t they? So what’s the problem?
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I knew I should have read the article rather than just the headline…… I was just assumin it was Jersey folk tryin to avoid the GST…
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Bad form, esecially if you are coming over to Guernsey for just a couple of days……. Nearly one spent in Jersey isn’t on!
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Lynne
I totally agree, ” Fog happens”
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haha – what load of nonsense – i was there – bit of a non-event really – certainly not front page news!!!
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@ Lynnie
Have to agree with Lynnie.
What is all the fuss about and why is it front page news? Flybe are always cancelling flights and failing to communicate with their passengers.
This is part of island life. we live on a rock that is prone to fog. Also planes do get technical problems. Aurigny were trying to get those passengers home as best they could and actually did get them home.
I have been stuck at Gatwick and Southampton too many times to remember due to fog and Flybe have just cancelled flights and done nothing for the passengers.
Typical of the Guernsey Press to try and criticise rather than congratulate Aurigny on actually making considerable effort to get islanders home.
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mrs b
So there wasnt a 100 person fist fight, with fixtures and fittings torn out by an angry mob with flaming torches??
Well seeing as it was front page news I’d have thought there might be at leat some substance to it…. oh well, slow news day!
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I was stranded on Jersey from noon and lucky enough to get boat tickets for the evening trip back.
I must say, although I (naturally) felt frustrated by the fog, Aurigny were excellent! They gave me a voucher to spend on food and drink, arranged for a bus to take me to the harbour, and gave me a boat ticket to get back home!
Thank you very much Aurigny, it was great service! One of the main reasons why I always choose Aurigny over Flybe :-)
The management at the Condor Ferries service desk was non existant. They didn’t have a clue what they were doing. Can’t blame them too much though as there were no senior members of staff do deal with managment of allocating tickets. The poor young soles being left to deal with the difficult situation did their best and will learn from this.
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Rossco
Its a very good job that you choose Aurigny over Flybe for those trips to Jersey ;)
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I was in Jersey too. I would say Aurigny handled things better at the airport. Blue island handled things better at the harbour. It was all inconvenient but this stuff happens. Fly maybe would not have handled the situation any better.
Worthy of the front page? Nah.
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Years ago I worked for a conference firm meeting and greeting people at the airport, well the amount of flack we took from these people because they had been delayed by fog was unbelievable, we tried very hard to make their trip go as smoothly as possible but they still complained because the coach was not at the airport at the said time (although their flight was 2 hours late) or they had to wait 5 mins for a taxi, some people just do not like disruption to their lives and if their travel plans go wrong well wo betide anyone the otherside of the desk.
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