FLYBE review :  26 March 2009 : by R Weist   (UK)

BHX to HAJ. Delays at 8 out of 10 flights. Even more upset when delay was shown up just 5 min before scheduled departure so you become locked in the security area. When you call to find out what caused the delay you'll get harsh answers. Unfortunately this is the only airline I can book (according to scheduled dep and location of the airport).

FLYBE review :  26 March 2009 : by P O'Kane   (UK)

I had booked and paid for one hold bag, but found prior to the flight that I did not require this, so, of course not even daring to assume that a refund would be an option with this pathetic airline, I enquired if a voucher, or credit would be allowed, as I am forced through the monopolising of flights from SOU-BHD, to use FLYBE often. But surprise, once they've got your money there's no way they are going to part with it. So, "It's not our policy", was the usual, helpful approach to looking after their customers. Thanks for nothing FLYBE.

FLYBE review :  25 March 2009 : by James Little   (UK)

Alicante-Southampton. Check in easy, pleasant flight that departed on time, and arrived slightly early. OK flight attendants, but poor selection of drinks and snacks. But the flybe website is a shocker. It's not very well designed, and playing the Ryanair-style cat and mouse game with insurance, seating, and baggage options is just tedious. Even ticking 'no' to all those boxes still results in a much higher fare than first indicated. What's wrong with a bit of honesty and transparency in the booking process?

FLYBE review :  25 March 2009 : by Brian Hill   (UK)

LGW-IOM return. Good value for money, both flights on time even though LGW refuelling was very slow. Dash 8 clean and tidy, about half full going, a quarter full coming back.

FLYBE review :  21 March 2009 : by Paula O'Kane   (UK)

If there was any other airline operating out of Southampton to get to Belfast, I'd be using it instantly, as I'm disgusted to the pit of my stomach, at the attitude of the Flybe toward their customers. My son is studying at Southampton Uni, and I had enrolled online to be able to book his flights home. When my son arrived at Southampton airport for his flight home, he was told that the booking was made under the correct surname, but the online system had entered MY first name, instead of his, as the passenger flying. We both have 5 letters in our first names, and to change these 5 letters over from my name to his, Flybe charged him £50, yes, £10 per letter! I find this appalling treatment, in what was a very obvious error, and the fact that the team at the airport could not be flexible with a minor name change, incredulous.

FLYBE review :  13 March 2009 : by L Harris   (Netherlands)

SOU-AMS every week since they started the route 2 years ago. Aircraft good, staff generally friendly & helpful, mostly on time. Bad points - the 'extras' are a joke. You cannot charge premium ticket prices and extras on top, bags (everything bigger than a toothbrush now has to be paid for), insurance, expensive coffee prices, booking of seats that you end up not sitting in, the list goes on. They recently changed the cabin bag size, so my bag of 2 years is now just a bit too big. The Reward scheme is also laughable. The flight is normally 16 GBP with 80 GBP tax. So using reward points to book a flight saves 16 GBP.

FLYBE review :  27 February 2009 : by Graeme Bond   (UK)

Website often overloaded of late - since the IT support was downsized. Only 30% of flights on time in 2008 (of 54). The defaults to charge for insurance and baggage can catch out the unwary, and the charge for using a credit card is way above what the merchant charge is to Flybe.

FLYBE review :  16 February 2009 : by Colin Pay

SOU-MAN-IOM return. All flights on time. Price OK if you buy far enough in advance, only have hand luggage and do not purchase all the "extras". New Embraer on the return MAN-SOU leg, very nice aircraft.

FLYBE review :  16 February 2009 : by J Potts

Isle of Man - Manchester. Indicated delayed until 1710 - at 1740 told plane delayed due to 'technical reasons' No Flybe staff work at the airport (how very convenient) and nobody else around - 1830 issued 'light refreshment' voucher for £3.50 - at this grossly overpriced airport that doesn't buy you a sandwich and a cup of coffee! What's more they won't give you change, so cafeteria is quids in. At 1820 told flight cancelled and to return to check in to rebook - long queue with one person to deal with it. We were very lucky - lots weren't - rebooked on late running 1840 flight which eventually left at 1800. Flybe just hide behind agency staff who do their best in difficult circumstances. Problem is this airline has a virtual monopoly to places like the IOM and knows it. They could at least have e-mailed an apology to the passengers, but I don't think they care (fares weren't very cheap either). The only bright spot was delightful stewardess on the flight who seemed to have a much better idea about good customer relations than any of the management of Flybe put together.

FLYBE review :  12 February 2009 : by M Warner

I only travel with Flybe because of their takeover of BA CONNECT. As many people have previously sighted it really is flymaybe! Also their flights are so overpriced! With all the typical low cost carrier hidden charges and add-ons, their flights for JER-LGW are almost double the price of BA, and with BA there are no hidden charges and they even serve you a meal on the flight!

FLYBE review :  12 February 2009 : by Andrew Miller

If you're considering Flybe for a ski/snowboard trip - don't. They didn't fit any of the skis on the plane on the way to Salzburg. No one was told this. They had to discover for themselves. On the return flight the same plane. the toilet overfilled and leaked everywhere during flight. The stewardess also lied stating all bags and skis were on board. I saw my luggage being driven off back to the airport with others whilst boarding the plane. When I got to Manchester I was one of many frustrated customers waiting for luggage to arrive off the plane - yet it didnt!! They lied, used inadequate planes both routes and fell short of any actual service I paid for. Luggage was left both routes.

FLYBE review :  9 February 2009 : by Matt Smith

Manchester to Frankfurt. The ticket cost 65 GBP including baggage and insurance one way, booked 2 weeks in advance. This is a fair price but the plane wasn't even a jet, this wasn't made clear either. The flight was delayed by half an hour because of an electrical fault in one of the engines which was a bit scary so spent the whole flight worrying. Propeller planes are noisy and uncomfortable. The onboard service was attentive and polite. I won't be rushing to fly with Flybe again though.

FLYBE review :  1 February 2009 : by C Thomas

Day trip SOU-BRU, booked with 3 days notice. £315 v £550 on BA from LHR. Checked in/printed boarding card online. No security delay at 0630, timely boarding - only 17pax on a Q400. Smiling crew, 10 mins early at BRU and straight to the taxi rank. Return right on time - hard to find B9x bus gates due to building work. 37pax - prebooked 2B denied due CofG calculation constraints - this aircraft is trim sensitive. BRU ground handling staff could at least note whether original seat is an aisle or not as it usually reflects pax preferences. Struck me that they were more interested in getting it boarded and going home - always a problem when you have to subcontract ground handling agents. No delays - in the car and on the M27 in 10 minutes. I must be leading a charmed life at SOU - I read the horror stories, but to date it's been a good experience for me and whilst not cheap, not as expensive as BA. Add SOU short term car park at £18.50 rather than £44 at T5, and SOU wins every time.

FLYBE review :  28 January 2009 : by A Harding

I have been using Flybe over the last year to travel from London to Aberdeen for work, on the rare occasions I have tried to change my flight the money I have been asked to pay is ridiculous. Flybe seem to have no interest in customer relations - all they provide is a rigid service. I would much rather fly with British airways if they still flew this route.

FLYBE review :  28 January 2009 : by Calum Curtis

Edinburgh to Birmingham. No problems only cost £25 and Embraer Jet much quicker than the turboprops they sometimes use. Legroom acceptable for a 45min flight. Had my usual eccles cake and coffee for £3 (not that bad). Still not as good as when it was BA but thats history now !! The petrol from Edinburgh to Birmingham (300 miles) would be far more than I paid. As long as BMI Baby are in competition on this route the fares will remain competitive. If you can plan ahead there is no reason why you should pay more than £50 return - sometimes it's even cheaper on BMI Baby - booked one next month for £28. Sometimes you get delays but if you've only paid £25 its bearable.

FLYBE review :  17 January 2009 : by Dean Yorwerth

Amazingly I must be one of the lucky ones! I have flown to / from Stornoway four times and Norwich once, and apart from one flight, the remaining flights have been on time. Friendly onboard staff. Main complaint, onboard catering too expensive.

FLYBE review :  16 January 2009 : by R Southworth

Amazingly poor service from Flybe. Gatwick to Grenoble return. We paid a £20 surcharge in advance (in September) to have our snowboard bag carried on the flight. This is the first time in 8 years of snowboarding we've ever had to pay such a charge, for a bag which is no heavier than a standard suitcase, just longer and thinner, and smacked of a quick excuse to make a few extra quid out of us. When we arrived at Gatwick we were informed that there was not enough room on the plane for our baggage (even though we were one of the first at the check in desk well ahead of the 2 hour pre-flight time), and that our bags would have to be put on standby. We were obviously less than happy, but what could we do? We sat near the check in desk, and saw several other snowboarders with bags being told the same thing. The plane that Flybe was using that day, on a flight to a ski destination, chartered by 3 ski companies, was a turboprop with a tiny hold - completely inadequate for the task, and outrageous since the airline had had several months notice of how many snowboard bags they were likely to be carrying, and had actually charged us to do so. We got on the plane, and watched the 15 or so snowboard bags being carefully left on the tarmac. When we got to Grenoble, we fought with the other 15 or so irate boarders/skiiers to register our delayed baggage - no one had thought to give them a heads up on Flybe's screw-up, and they had one member of staff working behind the desk. The bags were eventually transferred on a later flight - several of our group didn't get their bags for another 4 days and had to hire gear at the resort. The return flight was equally chaotic, again, my bag was left in Grenoble by Flybe, I was informed that someone would be in touch to let me know when my bag would be delivered 48 hours after our landing. It is now 72 hours later, I've heard nothing, and have started to try to track it down. At the time of writing, no one seems to know where it is, and I'm starting to get concerned. If you're considering Flybe for a ski/snowboard trip - don't.

FLYBE review :  6 January 2009 : by Ian Morley

Flew many times on the MAN-EDI route during 2008. On the whole the flights were fine - usually on time, relatively quiet (how they make any money I don't know), and hassle free. They are much cheaper than BMI. The problem I have with this airline is that when things go wrong they simply don't give a damn. Once they cancelled the flight and put me on the later flight. There was no apology, no refund, no offer of using the lounge, and no support with onward travel. Another time the flight was delayed for 3 hours and they just left us sitting there in the lounge wondering what was happening. You would not have had this service from BA. They operate as a no-frills airline and when everything goes to plan you have a good experience; when it doesn't go to plan their customer service goes out of the window and the competence of their staff is truly lacking.

FLYBE review :  6 January 2009 : by T Murphy

Manchester to Chambery - despite it being the first flight of the day, they managed to miss the slot resulting in a 2 hour delay. No meaningful explanation given. Now sat in Chambery airport a week later waiting for the return which is currently again expected to be 2 hours late. Not a travel experience I will be repeating with Flymaybe.