*!*** Globespan Airlines !!

[nivrip]

A crowd of us arranged a golfing holiday in Majorca for early April. We booked a flight with Globespan Airlines and then the hotel, golf courses and car hire.

Today we had a message from Globespan telling us that they were bringing forward the flight time. Not by a couple of hours but by 2 DAYS !! And, of course, the return flight is also 2 days earlier.

So, now, the hotel, golf and car hire dates are all out of line.

Can they do this? It seems they can, the b******. I checked their Terms and Conditions and, sure enough, in the small print, they have the right to "alter, postpone or cancel any flight" in order to maximise their ability to make profits.
To hell with the customers !! It's only profits that count.

I think we have the chance of claiming a partial refund from Globespan but the whole holiday is now in tatters.

I don't think I'll be using them again.

 

[Taffycat]

That sounds pretty unfair (to say the least ) Would there be any point in having a word with ABTA or maybe Trading Standards with a view to seeing whether these "Terms" and small-print get-outs come under the "unfair Terms in Contracts" blanket? After all, you and your party are expected to alter your leave-dates, etc., so there is potentially quite a knock-on effect, I would have thought.

Edit: I have just been looking around, and it seems that The Office of Fair Trading did indeed bring in a few new rules regarding flight re-scheduling - not sure if this link will help.

 

[Ian]

That is terrible! Can you cancel without penalty and go with someone else (although I guess it will cost more ). Seems grossly unfair to change dates by 2 days, surely they can't get away with that?

 

[Adywebb]

Its not ideal, but you can ask for a full refund and book elsewhere:

Passengers also have the right to a refund if there is a significant change in the flight time and the airline is not able to book an acceptable alternative flight

 

[Jason.369]

Get your money back and fly with Easyjet
I do feel for you, that has got to be highly frustrating.

 

[Anon_F]

If their a member of ABTA then you may have redress to ask for a full refund.

 

[nivrip]

Thanks for all the comments and sympathy. The advantage for us was that we could fly from a nearby airport which we could all reach within 30 minutes. It appears that we could have claimed a refund and gone with another airline but not from our local airport, a great disadvantage.

Fortunately everyone in the group is able to make the change to the flight 2 days earlier ( how lucky can we get?) and, amazingly, we have managed to get hotel, golf and car hire changed to the new dates - this was done by an agent in Majorca who will find himself the recipient of a very large drink.

TC, thanks for the link. It applied to only six specific airlines and Globespan is not one of them .

It's just easier all round to do it the way we have. We couln't face having to tramp off to some other airport before the holiday starts. Let's hope they don't change the schedule again.

We still won't be using them in the future.

 

[floppybootstomp]

PLeased to see you had a good outcome there nivrip, have a nice holiday

I think Globespan Airlines are now on my 'avoid' list.