flyBe review by G McGhee

11 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Truly awful. You'd think I would learn from previous flights, but no. Being a kind considerate individual I decided to give Maybe the benefit of the doubt. Surely I couldn't be unlucky enough to have a fifth flight with them cancelled. You probably see already where this is going. Having spent part of the day commiserating with two people who had flown from mainland europe to Southampton with Flybe (via of course, a 12 hour delay and a 5 hour coach trip from the Midlands to complete their journey), I was quietly confident that the mysterious world of probabilities would be in my favour. Of course not. An internal flight from Southampton was delayed two hours and, as I write is, barring a miracle on the verge of being cancelled. Honest. This really is the last straw. This airline is inept, useless and utterly without remorse for the service it offers. For heaven's sake everyone, let's walk, run, hire cars, use the trains. Anything but use this useless airline.

flyBe review by Ray Mal

6 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BHX-EDI-BHX Nice new planes. Useless airline. First flight up to Edinburgh in the morning. Over 50 minutes late arriving in Edinburgh. Cabin crew said that this was quite normal and happens regularily. Onboard, seats are narrow but legroom is OK. Return was last flight back and left 30mins late firstly because cabin crew were late turning up and secondly because we had to wait for equipment to push plane back. On arriving in Birmingham plane was at remote stand so had to go to terminal by bus adding even further to delay. Given that the whole flight is timed at 1hr 15mins the whole journey was pretty poor.

flyBe review by Z Selman

6 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Inverness to London Gatwick. Flight delayed for three hours, then cancelled due to engine failures. We were booked on another flight the following day which itself was delayed by an hour and a half. Staff were totally disinterested. Appalling service, will never use again.

flyBe review by G Osborne

6 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Birmingham to Stuttgart. As I arrived at the steps onto a twin turbo prop that looked like someone had found in a shed, I knew this was going to be an adventure. We all boarded and then left the plane back to the terminal due to an electrical fault. There are no announcements in Birmingham so watch the displays! Expected departure 0830 instead of 0705. 0905 refreshment voucher for £3.50p issued. Five minutes to boarding note appeared for 15 minutes before expected boarding moved to 0915 this then repeated to 0930 which then repeated until at 0945 we were called to the gate. Same plane, it was the batteries! The pilot was then very proud to announce that they actually had spares available at the airport. Then finally onto the runway to taxi and return to base due to hydraulic failure. Bus arrives to terminal and disappears as pilot wants to run up engine as test first. Bus returns and back we go to the terminal. We are then told that someone will come to explain what will happen next. We are all booked onto the next flight at 1135. This plane is an Embraer that will take all passengers from both flights and still has some seats vacant. An announcement then follows that there will be no catering as the flight is full thus the plane is overloaded and refreshments have been removed to save weight! Same plane that BA connect sold to Flybe and that would fly with all seats occupied and refreshments that included choices far in excess of Flybe and also cheaper. How can tea suddenly increase in price by 35p from BA Connect to Flybe? I could go on but hey this is Flybe, I have yet to find a single member of their staff who shows any interest or even registers there is a person talking to them. You can fly to Stuttgart from Birmingham using Ai rFrance, a bit longer travel but not 4.5 hours longer and my French could do with improving.

flyBe review by Nigel Gorski

2 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LBA-SOU-LBA. Checked in for both flights within 5 minutes, 4 travelling together and allocated an entire row of a Q400 in each direction. Cabin crew friendly and offered paid for refreshment service in both directions although on the outward trip, no sandwiches available. Flights arrived early in each direction, the return trip being some 20 minutes early and bags delivered within 5 minutes. Flybe appear to be resolving their post BA Connect acquisition problems. Overall a positive efficient experience - 1 star lost for full catering offer not being available on outward trip.

flyBe review by David Gartside

30 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

MAN-EDI ERJ 145. Flight itself was fine, on time with good service. Luggage retrieval at EDI seemed slow, as did the so-called 'fast bag drop' at MAN aka 'Q-buster'. It seemed to involve a ponderous transcription of details from photo ID and e-check-in boarding pass and almost completely nullified the benefit of doing the e-check-in. The web-site booking process is OK, but as many people have commented being charged for everything in little bits and pieces all feels very unnecessary.

flyBe review by Michael Preston

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Apart from slight delays, about which we were kept informed, my criticism of two short flights SOU- JER-SOU on the Q400 is being bombarded with constant blaring noise from the PA system before departure and on arrival. They call this 'Radio Flybe unplugged' (it should be unplugged!) and it is quite ghastly, with unpleasant 'music', shouted announcements to use the Flybe website and other services, and other publicity. I do not think a captive audience should be, or needs to be, subjected to this treatment. If they feel the need to play music to passengers, then please select something gentle and relaxing and not raucous shouting 'pop' music. On a more positive note, the seating on the BAe 146 which I took on another flight is very comfortable.

flyBe review by W Warnock

18 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Recently flew FlyBE for the first time from MAN to BRU return. Outward journey not great. Flight was meant to depart at 6:35am but by 6:30 nothing had happened. I went to speak to a guy (difficult to tel if he worked for the airline) who was standing by the gate and told him the flight information screen was showing 'last call' and yet the gate was still not open. He said that they had no control over the information put out and boarding would start in 5 to 10 minutes! He gave the same story to another passenger who asked 5 minutes later. Eventually a FlyBE lady came along and announced boarding was about to commence - no apology or reason for the delay was given. I had pre-booked my seat but this was a waste of time as I was diverted to a different seat as I boarded the plane! Truly awful service. Flight eventually took off at 7:45am. Return was a better experience. Booking in was easy, flight took off 10 minutes early and arrived 35 minutes earlier than scheduled! Flight crew were efficient and friendly. Don't know what happened but they need to do more of the return stuff and less of the outward stuff! 1 star on the way out - 5 stars on the way back. 3 for the combined trip.

flyBe review by Karl Parish

15 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LGW-INV-LGW Check in was easy with friendly helpful staff. Flight was delayed both ways but made up time en-route and arrived as scheduled. I am a corporate flyer so do not have much of a choice of who I travel with but based on this performance would not be too upset if told I am flying with them again.

flyBe review by Martin Brown

10 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

MA -BRU Economy. Flight was on a new Q400. What an awful aircraft. Narrow seats (pitch okay) with no recline and no window blinds so if the sun shines through the windows, tough. If FlyBe are replacing their aircraft with these, I will definitely fly with someone else. They have gone from a budget airline with expensive tickets to a cheap and nasty airline with expensive tickets.

flyBe review by J Santos

10 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I always used BA Connect on my regular trip to Frankfurt - tt was a joy. Now, Flybe is terrible - I have never ever once been on time. It would soften the blow a bit if we were actually kept informed about the delay but not a member of staff was to be seen. My bags have been lost twice. Again the staff were totally disinterested. My tickets cost less with BA and we had better service too. Flybe prices are a joke. Low cost my ****.

flyBe review by G Barraclough

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

6.5 hours late to Nice on 26 July due to faults on three separate planes. Fault on first plane so there was an initial delay of 3 hours waiting for an alternative plane to arrive from Faro which had, itself, been delayed due to a fault. When we did take off, we got over the channel before another fault appeared and we were diverted to Birmingham where a spare plane was waiting. We landed next to the spare plane but it still took 90 mins to move us from one to the other. After we finally got going, we were told that "operations" had given a special dispensation and we could have a free drink. The crisps were still retailing at £1. Flybe charges the same as BA but makes you pay for bags, reservations and food. And it clearly has some unreliable aircraft.

flyBe review by Hugh Lanton

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Glasgow - Birmingham return. Very poor experience. I arrived at the airport for the 0850 flight only to be told the flight was cancelled. There was nobody from the airline available to give me any help or information. One member of staff at the airport voiced the opinion that FlyBe were probably the least reliable airline in the UK at the present time. The girl on the check-in desk was very helpful but then she did not work for FlyBe. She managed to book me on the next available flight two hours later. That meant lots of hassle re-arranging meetings but I had no choice. My return flight at 2035 departed roughly on time but I was one of the lucky ones. There were people in the departure lounge who had been waiting over 6 hours for a delayed flight to Aberdeen with FlyBe. On the departure screens I noticed two more delayed notices for FlyBe flights. I can't afford to take such a risk when flying and won't be using FlyBe again. Luckily for the routes I travel there are other options. As a post-script it's only fair to say that the in-flight service from FlyBe staff was adequate.

flyBe review by Matthew McGrath

29 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SOU-AMS return. Had very satisfactory flights to and from Amsterdam. Small jets were half empty (in fact just 11 of us on the way out). For a low cost airline flying from our local airport, our experience this time was very good for the price. It is a bore having to pay for check in luggage but a lot of low cost airlines are similar. The crew were very pleasant. I have experienced up to 2.5 hour delays with flyBe in the past but generally, for the price, I find their service acceptable.

flyBe review by S Jones

27 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

MAN-JER-MAN - flight 4 hours late inbound. Return journey worse! 3 hours delayed then cancelled and rebooked best available the following day which turned out to be 18:45 then that was 3 hours late!!!! Flybe is such a mess - no crew, planes that dont work, no infrastructure to deal with their many daily issues. Bring back BA! Interestingly in JER the locals name this airline "Fly-maybe" - how right they are. I dread my next trip with them - unfortunately it will be with them as choice is absent for business travellers.

flyBe review by Richard Buckley

27 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Birmingham-Paris, mid-morning. A punctual flight from a low-stress airport (BHX T2) which had no queues at check-in or security. Early arrival at CDG in an EMB145 (still in BA Connect colours). I didn't bother with the food - if Air Berlin can offer free refreshments at an LCC fare then why not the rest?

flyBe review by Steven Haining

19 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Like many people on this forum, I too have had more bad experiences than good with Flybe. Similarly I had contacted "customer services", yet never received the courtesy of a reply, so decided to travel further up their tree of command. I wrote and e-mailed the CEO, listing out all of the problems I have had with them and within forty minutes of the e-mail being sent had received a very interesting reply. My one e-mail alone isn't going to change the way they operate, but I get the feeling more and more people are now going to the top and quite possibly they realise they are going to have to change their ways or fail. It doesn't change the fact that on my last round trip this week both flights were delayed two hours with the usual "technical problems" excuse being wheeled out. As a former aviation engineer I asked what the problem was, pointed out that I have quite a bit of experience, yet was told I wouldn't understand! I feel for those on here who have to use Flybe - using BHX as my main departure point from the UK I am at least blessed with a choice to most of my destinations.

flyBe review by S Clague

17 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BHX-IOM. Planned departure was 1540 - initial delay 20 minutes followed by a further announcement that more information would be available at 16:30 and then 17:00. Then an announcement to call 14 people from this flight to customer services where we were told that we were being removed from the flight for safely reasons due to surface water in the Isle of Man! We were not given any alternative initially and told that we would need to go to Gatwick - then they changed to Manchester and then said that you may not even get a flight when you get there! A flybe rep mentioned the possibility of flying with Eastern Airways. After a lot of waiting and not knowing what was going on, 6 people got on this flight. I would recommend flying Eastern - if it can be avoided I will never fly flybe again.

flyBe review by Simon Rickman

13 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SOU-DUBL return. Both flights left on time, arrived at destination early. Boarding smooth and quick, cabin crew friendly, and updates from the flight deck informative. New aircraft Dash8 Q400 on the Dublin - Southampton leg. Nice idea with carbon footprint rating on the side of the aircraft. I seem to be the odd one out, but I always enjoy the Flybe product, and rate them as a carrier, maybe the BA / BE situation has caused a problem, but this will iron itself out. In the meantime I have to say, I have not had any major problems on my regular trips with them, and the minor ones I have had were well handled.

flyBe review by Lorna Stimpson

11 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

After queuing for 45 mins in long queues at Edinburgh airport on the 1st July and being told by servisair that all planes were delayed, arrived at check in desk only to be told we had missed flight, it was our fault and could only rebook us for the following night. 3 desks open but not for individual flights, was a free for all. Not the first time have had problems with flybe. Their customer service is awful and only compensation received in past was a travel voucher that couldn't be used on their cheaper tickets. If I had a choice of airline from Exeter I would never use them again!

flyBe review by G Williams

6 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I have to agree with most of the comments already made. I used to be a regular (weekly) passenger on the routes to Glasgow and Edinburgh from Belfast and the norm was very much delays with on-time departures being more of an exception. However, since the acquisition of BA Connect things got lamentably worse: flights regularly cancelledand combined with later flights or alternative routes - always due to "technical problems". Of course, there is never anyone who is actually employed by Flybe available to speak to at the airports - it is always contract staff from the likes of Servisair etc. They invariably do not have any information available, and often simply couldn't give a toss. Complaining directly to Flybe is little better - in fact a complete waste of time. I am reliably informed that part of the problem (incompetence aside) is that they have insufficient pilots: they had been relying on pilots moving across to Flybe from BA Connect, which of course did not happen. So when you are told that they do not have a crew this is probably the reason. Cannot see that situation improving overnight, and I do not blame the BA pilots either! I've now given up and will only fly with them where absolutely essential. Unfortunately given the now even more limited choice available to Belfast passengers, there aren't too many options available.

flyBe review by Rich Carvell

6 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Sitting in Dusseldorf airport, delayed 2 hours and going to Manchester when I should be going to Birmingham... These guys are a joke. Since they bought BaConnect (bit off more than they could chew?) travelling has been awful. I have not had one flight that has not suffered delays or cancellation or both. They don't have enough aircraft and if they don't have the numbers they don't run the flight. Avoid at all costs.

flyBe review by C Jones

6 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Further to Neil McCallum's problems, I regularly fly the round trip from Manchester to Norwich (out Sunday return Friday). I have learned to treat the Sunday flight as being one that leaves at 8:00 pm (scheduled 6:30) and requires check-in 3 hours prior to departure. Since the takeover of BA Connect, this Sunday evening flight operates ex-BA equipment. The inbound flight is consistently late but there is no information available from FlyBe as to how late it will be. I may be a little naive perhaps but I would think that, when the departure board is saying "gate opens in 5 minutes" (30 minutes prior to scheduled departure), the aircraft is at worst on final approach. In reality, the 5 minutes stretches to 20 minutes (though still showing 5 minutes of course) and then "magically" changes to 55 minutes and the departure time advances an hour. Surely somebody at FlyBe knows what time the aircraft has departed it's previous destination en-route to Manchester (and thus, with a little simple arithmetic - or by asking the pilot, can compute the arrival time). Armed with this knowledge, FlyBe could then give a reasonably accurate assessment of the departure time to its waiting customers. I use the term departure time loosely here, as do FlyBe! Boarding time is usually pretty close to 20 mins. after the aircraft reaches the gate but, alas, once boarded it seems that FlyBe have no control over the ground support people and so there is a further 30 minute delay. Excuses have included "we seem to have been left off the schedule for re-fuelling" and "we're waiting for the ground crew to push us back, but they are off doing something else at the moment". My biggest issue is not the delays, it's the total absence of information. At least at Norwich, I know that my aircraft is coming in from Dublin so I can find out from my laptop if it is on its way (and there have been occasions when I can see out of the departure lounge window that it hasn't yet left Norwich to go to Dublin!), but still the FlyBe line is "it's on time". I have total admiration for the flight crews who must fly in a constant state of embarassment and always manage to be courteous. It's the "hiders of bad news" on the ground who are the problem. Does anyone know where BE444 originates - can't get that kind of information from FlyBe? Armed with that knowledge I could then look at the arrivals board to see when my flight is likely to depart!

flyBe review by Neil McCallum

4 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Although I have already written about FLybe's increasingly poor service I thought it was worth reporting a further experience. Two weeks ago I was trying to return from Manchester to Norwich on a Flybe flight. When I checked in (early to get a decent seat) I asked if the flight was delayed and was told that it was, but only by 45 minutes and that this would definitely not get longer. We were called from the lounge as the "flight was boarding" - by this stage it was over an hour late. And it most certainly wasn't boarding. We were kept waiting at the gate while the ground staff found that they couldn't get the listed gate to open, so used an alternative, boarded a completely different flight to Ireland through our gate and then waited...and waited...and waited. Periodically a rather harassed member of the airport ground staff apologised for the delay but when asked had no idea of when the flight would actually take off, or indeed if there was a plane on the ground. After a further hour and half wait we finally we allowed to board the aircraft, but as our tickets were checked were told that it was "free seating" as it was a different aircraft to that scheduled. I wonder how those who had paid for better legroom felt about that? It became clear on boarding that the scheduled flight had simply not turned up and that we were instead being taken to Norwich on a plane that had just arrived from Milan. This aircraft still bore BA livery. So we seated ourselves - the aircraft was old, appeared poorly maintained and was really not very clean. Then after we had all chosen a seat as instructed we were then asked to move further back as the aircraft wasn't balanced. When I spoke to the cabin crew about this I was told that "this flight was a bit of a disaster really" and that while they "used to always defend Flybe" but the service was now "so poor" that even they "were embarrassed to do so". Once we were re-seated a member of the crew (the pilot?) came on the intercom to tell us that he knew we had been "messed about" but "not to take it out on the cabin crew" as they had been diverted from their normal schedule, wanted to get home themselves and were "doing us a favour" flying us to Norwich. It really is hard to describe the mood amongst passengers around me - suffice it to say that I have never before been told that aircraft crew were doing me a favour by flying me to the destination for which I had paid. Sadly, I (like a number of others writing reviews on here) have a fairly limited set of options for travelling from Norwich to Manchester - in theory the flight should be both the most cost effective and quickest and this used to be the case before the BA Connect purchase. So we keep using Flybe and they take no notice of complaints and keep providing the same appalling level of service because they don't see it reflected in falling passenger numbers. So, I am trying Flybe one more time on Thursday and may then be forced to drive in future if the lack of reliability is anything like it has been recently. On a final note (supporting the experience of others who have written reviews), Flybe's customer service are simply useless - or more realistically simply don't intend to discuss their company's dreadful track record. Having written to their customer service department at the same time as my last review (11th June) and received an automated reply I have since heard absolutely nothing. As it is now 3 weeks since that email I doubt very much if I am likely to hear anything. Yet another aspect of Flybe's abominable standard of customer service I'm afraid.

flyBe review by C Muir

30 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Southampton - Manchester. Our first and possibly last experience traveling FlyBe. We booked two single tickets from Southampton to Manchester which had a scheduled departure of 9.15am. On arrival at Southampton at 08:00 we checked in our case to the quick drop queue only to be told that the flight would be delayed until around 12:55 - a long delay for what was after all a very short-haul flight. Subsequent enquiries at the FlyBe desk gave us a variety of departure time updates – at one point the worst time given was 15:20 departure which we had to pass on to the people meeting us. We actually boarded at around 14:15 in the end. Prior to this late departure, our flight was combined with the 12:00 flight which supposedly followed ours ie. our flight was effectively cancelled. Through the course of the day, reasons given for our delay varied from 'Operational reasons', 'Weather delays from yesterday', 'Air Crews ran out of hours' and 'Technical Problems with the plane' - take your pick. We were turned back from entering the departure lounge area at one point due to the delay so we had to sit in the entrance area for hours twiddling thumbs. When we finally went through around 13:30 we found that our e-ticket could not be scanned at security and we were sent back to queue for a replacement. The print quality looked absolutely fine to me - at least they didn't try to charge us for the replacements (the web site had warned us they might when we printed them out the day before). When we finally boarded half the passengers seemed to think it was free boarding but we had been directed to sit in our allocated seats - only to find someone already there with the same boarding pass seat allocation number as one of ours! We got to Manchester at 15:10 but problems did not stop there, first the steps did not arrive for 15 mins after the plane door opened, then the bus did not arrive for quite a while and eventually we got into the terminal at around 15:40 - but then had to wait another 25 mins for our luggage. We left the carousel at 16:05 i.e. a full 55 mins after disembarking before we could walk out of the airport. So from entering Southampton airport at 08:00 to leaving Manchester at 16:05 our day was ruined and we were rapidly losing the will to live by the time we ‘escaped’. Throughout this experience we never saw accurate information on any screens in the airport until we were called to board. Likewise the people who were meeting us at Manchester were left in the dark as to our arrival as the online web schedule was no more accurate than the data on our screens. Disturbingly we discovered that this was not an isolated delay - we were told by a member of FlyBe staff who was traveling on the plane that apparently the previous weekend a similar horrendous delay had occurred causing various members of a family to miss a wedding. We could have driven to Manchester and back in the time it took for FlyBe to get us there.

flyBe review by  Sue Barnard

30 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Manchester-La Rochelle return. Outward trip no problems. A comfortable flight on time (this is why I give the trip two stars overall, rather than one). But as for the return trip - I'd give a rating of no stars if I could. We were delayed for 8 hours with no explanation (neither at the airport nor on the flight), and only a perfunctory and very general apology from one of the flight attendants. To be fair they did not charge for refreshments on the flight (I expect they would have had a riot on their hands if they'd tried to!), but there were no sandwiches and only a very limited selection of biscuits and snacks. Not exactly ideal for a planeload of tired & hungry people! I suppose we were slightly luckier than the people booked on the flight to Southampton, which after a seven-hour wait was eventually cancelled altogether. I have emailed FlyBe Customer Services asking for a full explanation. If I get one I'll report back, but don't stay in specially waiting, as so far they have not even had the courtesy to send me an acknowledgement.

flyBe review by  N Aspinall

27 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Man-La Rochelle (18th June) What a disaster this airline is ! My family eventually left Manchester following a 5 hour delay. The reasons are laughable. They had to change the plane due to 'technical issues', once they had changed the plane the pilot could not fly the replacement plane, so they had to replace the flight crew. In the meantime the cabin crew had been reassigned so they had to get a relief cabin crew from - Birmingham which they drove up from! I have to give the staff some credit, begrudgingly, because they did give us the light refreshment vouchers and kept us informed of the situation. However there was worse to come on the return journey. We were delayed for 8 hours at the smallest airport I have flown from. We were told nothing about what was going on because when the only flybe employee left there was no one about who knew what was going on. The refreshment vouchers that were given out were not accepted at the only restaurant at the airport to begin with, only after a long conversation between the 'only flybe employee in the village' and the restaurant owner were they then accepted. Once we were in the air the flights to and from Manchester were fine but the organisation at both airports was shambolic. They are a disgrace to be called an airline and to be British. The guys who we hired a car from at the airport stated to me that out of every five flights they reckoned four were late.It is just not good enough.

flyBe review by  Elizabeth Hart

25 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

This used to be a good airline but is going downhill fast. Just booked 2 pax IOM-LGW and having eventually got into their website booked at a price that looked 'reasonable at £201 which compares with BA connect on this route earlier. Then the fun started. Pre book seats? £5 per person per sector. Luggage sir? that will be another £4 per case per sector. so the reasonable fare was now £237 and they had not finished yet. Credit Card? (How else can you pay On line?) that will be another £5. We may be stuck with FlyBe on this route but there are other ways to reach LHR.

flyBe review by  David Crawt

25 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Gatwick to Jersey & return with my wife and two kids. The first surprise was the charge to put our bags in the hold. I'm not talking excess bags here but just the normal one bag each which no airline has ever charged me for before. Luckily, it turned out that our tour operators contract with the airline allowed one free bag each in the hold so I didn't have to pay. The next shock was having to pay to reserve seats. With kids who had never flown before I had to ensure that we were all together. The airline said I didn't have to pay since they would do their best to seat us together but I couldn't take any chances so I had to pay. The flight LGW to JER was fine with no problems. However, our return flight was cancelled. They offered us a late flight out into Heathrow but my car was at Gatwick. Since I declined that flight they said they could offer me nothing else. I explained that I would have to get from LHR to LGW and then drive home to Lincolnshire making our ETA about 4 a.m. the next day. This was unacceptable, especially with two kids in tow. They then changed their mind and put us up for the night in one of the best hotels on Jersey. The flight home next day was fine. All things considered, we didn't get a very bad deal in the end.

flyBe review by  Bob Croxford

25 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Exeter to Malaga return. The Embraer aircraft had non reclining seats but legroom was very good. The staff were pleasant and efficient both ways. The sandwiches we had on the return trip were excellent and cheaper than inferior looking things on sale at Malaga. There is a current warning about Malaga which is slightly misleading. It suggests that building work will delay check-in. Our check-in was fine but the building work meant that our departure gate was the other side of the airport building, about a 20 minute walk. The is our second trip with Flybe and all I can say about those who complain is that you have never flown with our earlier west country airline, BA owned Brymon.

flyBe review by  J Barrow

22 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Am experiencing similar delays and cancellations flying MAN to Belfast City with Flybe. Delayed 3 hours last Friday on a 45 minute flight is crazy, and they they don't offer you a refreshment voucher unless you ask (they are required to do if flight delayed by 2 hours or more). Belfast International from Lpool with EasyJet is still cheaper, even with the taxi fare both ways. Cleaner modern plane, attentive Cabin Crew, so Flybe have lost another customer. Understand current delays are due to about 200 BA staff leaving since Flybe take over, plus lack of engineering cover for the Embraer 145 which were not part of the fleet previously. I am told it will get better but this will not be overnight. Until then EasyJet has my business for the next three months.

flyBe review by  J Close

22 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I booked MAN-SOU but ended up going MAN-LPL-SOU without knowing until we were onboard the aircraft. No explanation at all for the unexpected stop. As a result we ended up landing in SOU over 1.5 hours late missing my business meeting. I used to regularly fly with BA Connect but the service offered by FlyBe on the few times I have used them is less than satisfactory. Bring back BA!!

flyBe review by  N Duncalf

22 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Manchester - Belfast three flights cancelled in the last month and not a single flight departure on time. If only there was an alternative.

flyBe review by  Leanne Schneider-Rose

19 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I have been flying BA Connect BHX to FRA for the last two years every Friday coming back on Monday as I work in UK and live in Germany. This life style has been made easier, up until now, with BA Connect. Unfortunately FlyBe are a nightmare and I am beginning to wonder if I can carry on the life/work balance that I currently have. They claim to be a "cheap" airline but they are most certainly not particularly when you have to pay for everything that pre FlyBe was considered normal not an extra. The flight now costs me on average £20-30 per week more. Further I relied on the online booking as a time saving exercise. Sometimes I can book on line when travelling BHX-FRA but from FRA-BHX the online check in is not available. What made me very cross was that up until last week the Flybe staff at the airport and on the telephone helpline (which cost me over 1euro a minute to ring from Germany) were telling me that there was no reason that they could think of as to why I could not check in on line from FRA-BHX (in fact in the end I emailed the complants department who are useless and I told them to ring me on a Sunday night to help me check in - if they thought that I could as per their email- did I get a call - well no of course not) last week when I was again in a queue at FRA trying to check in (no bags may I add) I was told "of course they do not yet have the facility to check in on line from FRA" and "I don't understand why you were not told this" - no nor do I! flyBe are not a cheap airline - the food on board is overpriced and not good. I always now expect a delay and am always told "technical reasons" which I believe is airline speak for we have no idea why are you asking us just go away. The check in on line is ok when it works but when it doesn't work then you have to queue and the staff don't seem to have any motivation to either open up another desk or just work that little bit harder. Don't ring the helpline it costs a fortune. If you complain they just write to you in essence saying that it is all in the name of being a business and trying to make a profit. Basically they have got you - they don't need you as there will always be another customer so they have no customer service. I get the impression that even though I am a customer that has flown with BA Connect for two years every week and spend quite a lot of money with them I am no more valued than someone who flies once a year. It is very disappointing but unfortunately I may have to continue to fly with them if I want to see my husband!

flyBe review by  Ray Laing

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Flew Birmingham to Isle of Man on 7 June, returning 10 June. I had arranged the trip for 4 of us many months before and had booked luggage for 2 of us to take advantage of the lower cost of pre-booking. I checked in on-line the day before the flight without any problems and was allocated good seats. At the airport, I used the Q-Jump facility to drop off the hold baggage. If this is meant to be faster than normal check-in, I would be very worried as it took longer than normal. The other 2 members of the party arrived a bit later and put their suitcases in the hold without being charged for it. The flight left on time, the crew were great, the aircraft - still in BA colours was clean and did not look at all 'tired'. I already knew about the rip-off prices, the 'gourmet' sandwiches, etc so did not take advantage (ha ha) of the in- flight service. When checking in on Sunday to come home, the other two members of the party were again allowed to check in their bags without being charged. By the way, these charges have gone up in the last 6 months from £2/£4 (pre-paid/pay at check-in) to £3/£6 and now £4/£7). Seems FlyBE are taking good advantage of their new monopoly on many routes. The incoming flight was 15 minutes late and we were given plenty of warnig of this fact. No reason was given but I assumed that it was because the smaller ERJ had been replaced by the bigger Dash-8, a turbo- prop for a jet. Once on board, there was a problem with the load sheet with the ground staff being blamed for improper distribution of the luggage in the hold which affected the Centre of Gravity. I was quite happy to wait while this was sorted as I am well aware that this could be a very lethal problem. Once again, the crew were very good and kept everyone fully informed about what was happening. Eventually after a further delay of an 1 which made us an hour and 20 minutes late, we pushed back and left for Birmingham. The air con never got around to cooling the aircraft interior down and it was a very warm flight. You would have thought that with the delay and the heat, we may have been offered free water or fruit squash but the usual prices applied. Needless to say, the delay caused me to miss my connecting train back to South Wales and an additional taxi fare. I have sent an e-mail to FlyBe asking for a refund of the taxi fare but I am not holding my breath about getting a response out of them. I guess, after reading the other comments on this site that my experiences with FlyBe have actually been quite good.

flyBe review by  A Millington

11 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Two flybe flights cancelled in 3 days - what on earth is this airline about?? The first resulted in a missed important buisiness meeting, the second in a bus trip from Southampton to Gatwick and then a further delay at Gatwick meant arriving home 8 hours late. I guarantee that this is the last ever flight I will book with this airline.

flyBe review by  Neil McCallum

11 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I have been flying from Norwich to Manchester with Flybe on a regular basis now for nearly a year and the decline in quality of service since the pruchase of BA Connect is startling - bearing in mind that this is a 40 minute flight, my last 2 trips have been delayed by 3.5 hours and 2 hours respectively. I am now sitting in the lounge in Norwich because of a _5 hour_ delay. All have been quoted as 'crewing problems' - I suspect what they actually means is they don't have enough crew to fly the aircraft they now own. In total with taxis either end this journey will have taken the best part of 7 hours and cost upwards of £240. Good god it would be cheaper and quicker to take the _train_. Flybe are by no means a budget airline and to be honest I think they are increasingly an advertisement for bucking the trend and going back to driving or taking the train, rather than paying substantial amounts of money to sit in an airport lounge.

flyBe review by  M Elliott

11 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

This airline is the very worst I have ever experienced! Traveling from Manchester to CDG Paris 5th June 2007 with my wife, two children (4 & 6) and two parent. The flight at 13:00 was cancelled "Technical Issues" we were rebooked on the 17:00 flight this also was cancelled "Technical Issues" probably the same plane. rebooked on an Air France flight but unable to change from terminals 3 to 2 in time, but did find my abandoned luggage in the arrival hall. Then sent back to rebook with Flybe. Constantly being told that there was a replacement plane on its way from Paris by the FlyBe Airport Support Manager. A Plane finally turned up at midnight and we departed on a French Blue Line plane at 1:35 in the morning this was a 12½ hour delay we were given vouchers for food but the terminal closed up at 21:00. All passengers were given firm assurances that taxis would be available upon arrival but as we all suspected at about 3:30 the terminal is empty and deserted. This proved to be just too much when traveling with the kids on a dream holiday to Disney. I will never knowingly travel with Flybe again and would not recomend them to anyone.

flyBe review by  A Mitchell

5 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Absolutely woeful airline- bring back BA Connect. Flew yesterday CDG-MAN-GLA. Flight from CDG was 2 hours late in taking off due to ground handling issues. Arrived in MAN and after some fuss was rebooked on the last flight to GLA as I thought I had missed my connection. In fact I hadn't but the check in agent didn't bother to tell me that and rebooked me on the later flight which again was 2 hours late in taking off due to ground handling problems. From arrival at CDG it took me 9 hours before I touched down in GLA. Would like to say will never fly them again, but they have the monopoly on a number of routes now out of GLA and EDI.

flyBe review by  S Thorne

5 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I flew Economy plus and compared to BA for the same money there was no comparison, bring back BA! The facilities on offer in the lounge were less and the ability to book my seat was not there. The return flight same problem in the lounge with the addition that the lounge closed 1.75 hours before the flight and at check in there was a long Queue and only one service assistant. Onboard there were no sandwiches to exchange for my voucher. Overall very poor value for money.