FlyBe problems

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Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 2,495

Hey everybody

First of all Im sure most of already know that I work for Servisair/Globeground in Dublin airport, now one airline we handle is FlyBe who operate 4 daily flights into DUB-3 from SOU and 1 from EXT and soon 1 from NWI.

However FlyBe are now the first airline Ive said Id never fly.
I dont know if its just on the SOU/EXT-DUB routes or if they have the same problems all over their network.

It seems the Dash 8s do nothing except go tech which puts a huge delay onto their flights. I wouldnt mind if this happened every once in a while as it does with most airlines but this happens with FlyBe at least twice a week.

To add to their problems SOU airport closes about 10 pm and if the evening flight is anyway delayed then the passengers are really P off when they find out they are going to EXT or BHX and then being bussed to SOU.

However it seems they cant even do that right and on a number of occassion they have failed to provide the transport from the alternative airport to the passengers final destination.

Last night for the first time since I started working ion the airport they issued LRVs but still the passengers werent to happy they were going to EXT.

Another situation which I found beyond belief was waiting to board the EXT flight when 2 cabin crew arrive in the terminal building and tell us they are going for breaffast and wont be long. Fair enough alot of crews gets off planes to do a sot of shopping but they didnt come back until 5 minutes AFTETR departure time and we couldnt start boarding without them.

Now that Ive gotten that off my chest can some others tell me what they think about BE and their serious problems.

Original post

Member for

21 years 1 month

Posts: 1,029

Shamrock321 - having flown on Flybe from SOU to DUB (Tuesday this week) I was pleased to find no delays but was aware that if things do go wrong then with SOU closing sometime between 10/11pm then a long bus ride would be likely. NB SOU closing times are not Flybe's decision and they have to fit their schedule around it and sometimes things do go wrong. The Q400's have been poor reliability wise but this is getting better as more experience is gained on the type. As the last DUB-SOU is quite late then any delays accumulated during the day by the aircraft can cause a problem for this flight. The plane operating our return flight had come from SOU having done (at least) 4 other sectors that day (cabin crew were on a 6 sector day).

Having said that I have had several flights with Flybe from SOU none of which has had any significant delay. btw the AF CRJ to Paris was 3+ hours late on Tuesday from SOU - it pushed back as we boarded and was towed back on stand after a few minutes so is that a reason not to fly AF :)

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 206

I have only flown with flybe for a short time ever since they had the major expansion in March 2003/04 and I use there EXT-GLA route often and I have never experenced any problems with them but I have heard that they do frequent techs on the dash-8's

:) :p :cool: :eek:

Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 433

You just need to look at BHD arrivals every other night and that will tell you a story. So bad some of the delays, there diverting to BFS. And its not just the dash8s, 146s aswell.

Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

Cant say I agree with you based on my experience Shamrock. I've flown FlyBe extensively in the last 6 months, and in that time I have had one "serious" delay, which was for about an hour due to fog, and the resultant slot restrictions.

I've had far more delays on BA at LHR, where it is rare to find any service running to schedule these days.

The two main problems you highlight are Q400 reliability. I am under the impression that this is greatly improved, and over my last 5 Q400 flights this year, they have all run to schedule.

The second is an airport/local council imposed curfew, which is out of the control of the airline.

I certainly will still continue to FlyBe for three reasons, 1: They operate from central airports. 2: Even on the 146, the legroom is far superior to the competiton. Very important for me as I'm 6'3. 3: You can get some damn good fares with them!

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 3,808

Flybe nearly always seem to be on-time in and out of MAN :)

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 598

I can't say I have had any problems with them on all (two!) of my flights with them,apart from an aborted take off. I haven't seen enough that would discourage me from flying with them, other than a friend's bad experience and in the end he had to fork out £150 to get home with another airline in time for his work, my only reason for not choosing them more often is simply that BFS and Easy are 30minutes closer to me and usually cheaper.

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 3,124

They certainly seem more prone to delays of a few hours, more often, than other airlines at EDI.

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Indeed they do seem to suffer more than some others, they seem to have a fair few delays on the SOU,EXT and BHD services into LBA.

When I flew LBA-BHD last month, they were early arriving by 13 minutes, and I found them an excellent airline with friendly crews, and the Q400 was just superb.

Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 2,495

Perhaps its because I deal with BE flights or at least hear about them every day.

The ifrst FlyBe I was ever rostered on was cancelled and all other except one has been delayed. perhaps its just my bad look. But I think wanting to do a day return from DUB is a no no becasue you will either be delayed in the morning or in the evening.

Just before I finish BE385 DUB-SOU today was again 1 hour and 30 mins late. Cant say it came as a surprise.

Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 2,495

LMAO the fun and games contnue. Last night SOU flight was cancelled due to crewing issues and didnt leave until 1230 today. To make things worse this mornings SOU flight was 5 hours late and has only just left.

Im just convinced that FlyBe at DUB is haunted.

Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

Lots of problems at SOU yesterday were caused by the ATC Crash, I think everything was delayed, which got exacerbated by the airport curfew.