easyJet

[TheLocalYokel]

Does anyone know if easyjet are planning any new routes after the latest ones: Dalaman, Bodrum, Heraklion start in July?

Very pleased to see someone else posting from this part of the world. I would say welcome but I note you have been a member for some time though not a regular poster, but you certainly are very welcome to join in.

Vague conjecture on the Dried Plum message board recently that Egypt might be a possibility in winter if the 320 is to become a year-round fixture.

Not really expecting too much for the coming winter as easyJet has been reducing its routes and frequencies from many of its bases over the past two winters, especially last winter when Bristol saw eight 319s parked up for a good part of at least one day each week - Tuesday from memory but I could be wrong.

There is speculation though that easyJet may set up a base at the new Copenhagen Airport low cost terminal that opens (I believe) later this year. When easyJet operated BRS-CPH about six years ago it built up into a very useful addition and loads became very good - I used it myself.

Then the Danish government went in for a £7 per passenger tax grab and easyJet responded by reducing its presence there considerably including axing its BRS and NCL routes to the Danish capital.

There must be a good chance that BRS would be in with a strong shout for a route to the new lost cost terminal at CPH, unless Ryanair gets in first.

Scandinavia is a blank space on the BRS route map, though when SAS did summer routes to Stockholm and Oslo a few years ago loads were good and SAS said to be pleased with the yields.

Then came SAS's financial difficulties with much cost cutting involved including the axing of routes such as Bristol to Stockholm and Oslo.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

New Route

easyJet have announced a new route from Bristol for the ski season this winter.

Commencing on 18 December 2010 the service will operate on Saturdays and Sundays betwen Bristol and Lyon.

Although Bristol has an exceptionally busy ski programme for an airport of its size (in excess of forty weekly departures to ski destinations both charter and scheduled) Lyon hasn't been featured for three of four years when it was a ski charter route.

 

[Aviador]

Most airlines prefer Chambery these days. Lyon seemed to lose it's popularity with the advent of low cost airlines. Before then the likes of Thomson Holidays and their in-house airline Britannia Airways used to use Lyon on a regularly from many UK airports.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Another A320

Next week's Mayfly shows the new Turkish and Crete routes operated by a 320 from Friday week which will mean that for the peak summer season there will be nine 319s and two 320s based.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Cancellations

Five easyJet cancellations yesterday from BRS - Rome, Geneva, Ibiza, Faro and one of the Alicante rotations.

Already the Krakow is cancelled today and the last Newcastle rotation on Friday evening was also cancelled.

There has been much written on aviation websites of late about the airline's lack of flight and cabin staff with the reduction in staff numbers at several bases last year (including BRS) highlighted by many. easyJet has had to lease three aircraft and crews from other airlines to make good the shortfall in staff.

There are suggestions that the Bristol cancellations yesterday were down to a combination of technical problems with aircraft and crewing issues. I don't suppose the airline will come clean and will doubtless fall back on the tried and trusted chestnut beloved of all airlines when asked about delays - 'technical reasons'. I believe this can range from a defective engine to a cabin crew member oversleeping.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

More Cancellations

Three more easyJet cancellations from BRS today - Pisa, Krakow and Berlin.

That's eight in two days!

 

[Aviador]

That's not good at all and those lost passengers are starting to add up.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

And more cancellations

Three more today according to the BRS web departure board:

Faro, the early evening Glasgow and the evening Alicante.

It's getting beyond a joke. Someone on the DP who is I believe an easyJet (Menzies) check-in staff member said the problem on Sunday was a bird strike with the Pisa in Italy on Sunday morning that left the aircraft tech.

There was no spare so the lack of an aircraft led to the Krakow then the Berlin being cancelled later in the day.

The snag with this explanation is that the Pisa and Krakow are scheduled to leave and return to BRS at roughly the same time so it could not have been the bird strike that affected the Krakow.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

easyJet cancellations

3 more tonight (Alicante, Palma and Faro) and 7 easyJet inbounds have had or are showing delays between 90 minutes and three hours this evening.

Might be connected with the cancellations but whatever the reason it's not good and poses serious questions about the airline's reliability.

Boards such as the DP suggest this is not confined to Bristol and is mainly down to the crewing problems.

 

[Aviador]

I understand the French are up to their usual tricks. I could be wrong but many flights throughout Northern Europe are delayed this evening.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Could be because Ryanair also had a couple of lengthy delays into Bristol from Spain yesterday evening but no cancellations.

In fact, easyJet had four cancelled rotations from BRS yesterday, not the three I mentioned above, because I had forgotten that the morning Edinburgh was also cancelled.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

More cancellations

Four cancellations today - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Faro.

That's the third Saturday in a row that an easyJet Faro rotation has been cancelled - from memory the evening one each time.

Last Saturday we had four cancellations and the previous Saturday five - in addition there has been at least one cancellation on most days of the past two weeks with some days having more than one. There have been well over 20 easyJet cancellations (that's rotations not individual sectors) from BRS in the past two weeks.

During the past week the French air traffic control industrial action was the cause of several cancellations and there was said to be a damaged aircraft caused by a bird strike a couple of weeks ago.

However, there seems little doubt the majority of cancellations are down to crew shortages - and not just BRS in the UK is affected, most if not all easyJet bases are - something that has come into the public domain in a big way this week with Stelios giving the new CEO and chairman of the company 90 days to sort out all the delays and cancellations, on pain of losing the airline name of which he says he is the owner.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Cancellation

So far as I'm aware Monday to Friday have been trouble-free, although I can't be certain as I've not been able to monitor the board closely this week. Maybe the publicity brought about by Stelios's severe criticism of the airline and the airline's acceptance of major shortcomings have exercised some minds.

Not all perfect though because this evening's rotation to Ibiza has been cancelled. This is by far the best Saturday for lack of cancellations for a month but it's no consolation to the would-be passengers to and from Ibiza who had this flight cancelled three weeks ago.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Air passenger threatened staff

BRISTOL AIRPORT: A passenger angry at his flight being cancelled, threw a glass in the departure lounge, and threatened a member of staff.

The male passenger was among those due to fly from the West airport to Ibiza at 5.10pm on Saturday.

But the easyJet flight was cancelled at 8.05pm, Bristol Airport spokesman James Gore told the Evening Post.

Mr Gore said: "The flight was cancelled due to ongoing slot delays. Disruptive and threatening behaviour by one passenger resulted in a glass being broken in the departure lounge. I cannot confirm if it was thrown. Police were called because of a comment made to a member of staff."[/textarea]

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Air ... ticle.html

As reported in my previous post the evening Ibiza was the only easyJet flight cancelled at the airport last Saturday, a big improvement on the previous three or four Saturdays.

Sunday too only saw one cancellation - the Palma.

So far today no cancellations have been indicated on the departure/arrivals boards.

 

[Aviador]

Clearly steps have been taken to reduce the number of delays at the airport. The airline will be keen to thwart any bad press before it gets out of hand.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I spoke too soon.

This evening's inbound from Funchal due at 2310 is showing as cancelled on the BRS arrivals board.

The outbound departed at 1552 (22 mins late) according to the BRS departures board.

I suppose aircraft may have gone tech in Madeira or possibly crew out of hours if return flight delayed.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Tourism fears as airline pulls city flights

BUDGET airline easyJet has cancelled weekend flights on the popular Inverness/Bristol route during the peak summer period, prompting fears it could hit the area's tourist industry.

The airline cancelled its daily return service between the Highland Capital and Bristol on Saturday and Sunday and there will be no flights available for at least the next two weekends.

Although the company has blamed industrial action by air traffic controllers in Europe, Inverness tourism leaders remain unconvinced.

They fear that faced with having to make last-minute alternative arrangements, would-be holidaymakers will stay away.

Richard Paxton, chairman of the Inverness and District Bed and Breakfast Association, said August was one of the busiest months for tourism in the Highlands.

"This is a beautiful part of the world," he said. "We have to capitalise on everything in August. I would be concerned about flights not coming. If this starts now, when is it going to stop?"

He described the excuse of industrial action as a "lame duck" reason for the cancellation of the Inverness/Bristol flights.

"Why is it not affecting Gatwick flights?" he queried. "You would imagine they would be affected first. Is it they have found a more lucrative flight for that plane?"

Fraser Peterkin, the chairman of the Inverness Hotels Association, was equally concerned about the knock-on impact. "I think any cutting of services to Inverness will have a detrimental effect on the area," he said.

"I was not aware of any of this. We are going to have to look into this."

Inverness passengers travelling south have also been hit by the cancellations.

Grahame Couttie, of Balloch, booked a weekend break in Bristol for his wife and daughter about three months ago. But just 36 hours before they were due to fly down last Friday, he received an e-mail from easyJet to say the return flight on Sunday evening had been cancelled. "We had about 36 hours to decide what they were going to do," he said.

"I telephoned easyJet on three separate occasions and got three people who said it was not cancelled.

"One part of the organisation says it is cancelled and another part says it is not cancelled."

He finally got confirmation from Inverness Airport that the flight was not operating. He then discovered Monday's easyJet flight to Inverness was fully booked while there was just one available seat on the Tuesday flight. Instead, his wife and daughter made a three-hour train journey from Bristol to Gatwick where they took Sunday evening's Flybe flight to Inverness.

"This is a slap in the face for Inverness, or people in the south-west wanting to come to the Highlands for a holiday - they cannot fly up at a weekend," he said.

Pat Hayden, chairman of the Inverness Airport consultative committee, was shocked to hear about the weekend cancellations. "This is a big travelling time," she said.

"My understanding is that this route is very popular. It is an all-year-round route. You have to question why they are stopping a flight which is virtually full.

"I am very disappointed. I think it is dreadful. It is no way to treat people especially when they have done all the right things and booked well in advance."

An easyJet spokeswoman said the reason why the route was chosen for cancellation over the next two weekends was because passengers could travel by other means, including road and rail.

The company was sorry to hear about passengers affected by Sunday's cancellation of the Bristol to Inverness flight.

"EasyJet has looked to relax some of its schedule, in order to minimise the impact and knock on effect of the industrial action by air traffic control in Europe (France, Spain and Greece)," she said.

"We will always send an e-mail and when possible a text, to keep our passengers informed.

"Those affected will be offered a refund or a free transfer to the next available flight."[/textarea]

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news ... ights.html

Crafty move by easyJet because these flights no longer show as cancellations on the arrivals/departure boards.

So in effect last Saturday and Sunday saw the Inverness rotations cancelled on both these days.

The flight is daily in summer and the easyJet booking engine shows it returning at weekends from 14 August.

As someone who was until fairly recently one of easyJet's mainly satisfied customers and who was always willing to recommend the airline if asked, I would be very reluctant to fly with them now and certainly would not recommend them to others.

Their management has become a complete joke. With Ryanair the other main airline at my local airport at Bristol, a carrier I have vowed never to use because of their awful customer non-relations, I am in something of a dilemma.

My wife and I had talked of flying to Inverness in September for a few days, a trip we have made before and thoroughly enjoyed. Obviously, we shall not be pursuing that. I wonder how many other regular and previously loyal easyJet customers are of the same view as me and declining to fly with them for the forseeable future - different if it's for business and there is no other realistic option I suppose.

My next flight is booked from Birmingham but that's because the particular service is not available from Bristol and it is with a legacy carrier.

 

[Aviador]

That's a real shame. Inverness is difficult to get to by by road especially from the South West of the UK. It will be a huge blow to the Scottish Highland tourist trade. It's an easy target for Easyjet given the airlines array of more lucrative destinations to Europe from Bristol airport. Hopefully the route will return once Easyjet has sorted out it's cancellation problems.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The route is still operating daily on weekdays and is due to return at weekends the weekend after next.

It's just the sneaky way it was done that annoys me - no general announcement, just last minute cancellation texts or emails to the unlucky punters booked to travel.

If I booked a flight in September there is no guarantee the airline wouldn't slip it out of their system again for a week or two if it suited them.

Even Ryanair hasn't been cancelling flights wholesale like easyJet.

 

[Aviador]

Sorry LocalYokel. It's been a long day, I should have read it properly. It's still not good news all the same.