Hope you get it sorted.
Last international flight I was on (only in 2009) was a Tristar
Pretty sure it was well maintained though
For some 20 years we travelling to our holiday destination on flights provided by Thomson Airways or their predecessor airlines First Choice and
Air2000 we have never had a single issue with them in all that time occaisionally they have contracted a reputable well established carrier such as BA
CityFlyer to operated the flight.
Last night they dropped a bomb shell in my email box the Glasgow Verona flights will now be operated for them by "Alba Star" (WTF?!) with
the departure time changed from 6.45am to 3.30pm which in effect robs us of nearly a full day of our holiday.
So I started to investigate Alba Star --- a fairly recent start-up which operates from Spain capital the initial came from Italian investors they
have 4 very old 737-400 aircraft and a younger aircraft wet leased from another operator.
Alarm bells ringing -- I really don't want to fly in a very old 737 that is probably as old as its flight deck crew and has passed through the
hands of several budget airlines. Old aircraft are OK provided it is in the hands of an operator such as Monarch who have an engineering team with a
great reputation and I love flying in 757s all of which are getting on a bit.
A quick web search reveals that for a small airline who have operated only for a few seasons it is easy to find quite a high volume of unhappy bunnies
who have flown with Alba Star the vast majority having booked holidays via Thomson/Crystal/Tui.
In a thread found on the theMoneySavingExpert website I found this reply from Alba Star to complaint over a delayed flight.
"The aircraft was ready to depart with a delay but one that was less than 3 hours delay due to operational reasons - but there was then a further
delay due to the fuel supplier internal situation outside of our control causing a delay which was an extraordinary circumstance outside of
the control of the company"
Ok perhaps I have suspicous mind but a " delay due to the fuel supplier internal situation" rings alarm bells, in my experience
you pay the bills the fuel arrives on time.
Thomson are at the moment very reluctant to refund our deposit but my wifes legal eye has found the T&Cs they are hiding behind don't apply
to holidays of less than 14days.
Rant over ----
[Edited on 12/10/16 by britishtrident]
Good luck getting your money back or dealing with customer services, and i work for the bloody company.
On the flipside alba star seem to be one of the better smaller european airlines, after a mooch around one earlier this summer the aircraft was in a
decent clean and tidy state, which by no means suggests impeccable maintenance but is a good start. Some of the latvian/slovak outfits being used by
other UK holiday companies on the other hand.........
[Edited on 12/10/16 by sdh2903]
Aren't they having some kind of problems at present (Thomson that is) ?
Hope you get it sorted.
Last international flight I was on (only in 2009) was a Tristar
Pretty sure it was well maintained though
No trouble at Thomson. It's our German cousins who are having issues with pilots turning up for work
You might be thinking of monarch who were close to going under last week.
[Edited on 12/10/16 by sdh2903]
Very kind words. I worked for Monarch for 12 years within hangar maintenance. Probably the best apprenticeship at the time. We always had horrible
aircraft arrive for maintenance from odd parts of the world, however they left like new, hence why customers came to Monarch. Shame the airline keeps
messing it up!
I hope your issue is resolved by Thomson, I hate aircraft swaps at the last minute. Unfortunately airlines chase the customers, hence most TUI
aircraft are probably off to America, hence the cheap Spanish airline now flying you there.
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
old aircraft are OK provided it is in the hands of an operator such as Monarch who have an engineering team with a great reputation and I love flying in 757s all of which are getting on a bit.
[Edited on 12/10/16 by britishtrident]
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Last night they dropped a bomb shell in my email box the Glasgow Verona flights will now be operated for them by "Alba Star" (WTF?!) with the departure time changed from 6.45am to 3.30pm which in effect robs us of nearly a full day of our holiday.
[Edited on 12/10/16 by britishtrident]
quote:
Originally posted by SteveWallace
Last week I received an e-mail from Flybe saying that the time of a flight that I have to Amsterdam in a few weeks had been changed by 1 hour. This doesn't cause me any great problems, but the interesting thing about the e-mail is that it said that they did not have to offer a refund because the change was by less than two hours (so my choice was to accept or loose the flight!).
Not sure if this is just their company policy or whether its a mandatory requirement, but it might be worth looking into as yours is a much more significant change.
I'm very much enjoying our caravan and touring the UK especially as it does not involve planes for my holidays. Sod suitcases we take everything with us, including the kitchen sink. Flying just sucks full stop.
The flying I can tolerate, even the 22 - 23 hour flights to Sydney, Australia that we do now and again. What I really hate is all the faffing in and around the airport - parking, check-in, security, super-expensive everything once you're past security, queueing for the departure gate, and so on. That all adds hours to an already long journey, and the whole experience is soul-destroying.
Just be grateful you only have to deal with it occasionally. You should try dealing with the faff and b*****it on a daily basis on several occasions
just trying to do your job. Rules change on a daily basis, one week it's fine to take a small tin of beans in the next it gets taken off you.
Padded down so vigorously by some individuals you'd think they were Donald Trump. Having to go through training and pass applications for airside
access, tool passes, driving permits, fire training, it just goes on and on. It's always been the case that airside vehicles should be left open
for security access and moving in the case of an emergency, last month without instruction or notification it became an offence to leave a vehicle
open. Instead of telling us we all got a bollocking and threatened with having our passes taken.
I'm all for airport security, anything to keep the industry safe but there has been a complete removal of common sense.
quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
Just be grateful you only have to deal with it occasionally. You should try dealing with the faff and b*****it on a daily basis on several occasions just trying to do your job. Rules change on a daily basis, one week it's fine to take a small tin of beans in the next it gets taken off you. Padded down so vigorously by some individuals you'd think they were Donald Trump. Having to go through training and pass applications for airside access, tool passes, driving permits, fire training, it just goes on and on. It's always been the case that airside vehicles should be left open for security access and moving in the case of an emergency, last month without instruction or notification it became an offence to leave a vehicle open. Instead of telling us we all got a bollocking and threatened with having our passes taken.
I'm all for airport security, anything to keep the industry safe but there has been a complete removal of common sense.