Last week, Carl Walker, chairman of Jersey’s Consumer Council, criticised the airline for failing to be consistent with its hand-baggage policy after a number of passengers were forced to pay £50 at boarding gates, just minutes before they were due to fly.
At the time, Mr Walker also complained that the airline needed to enforce its rules much earlier, possibly in the baggage hall, to allow people to make alternative arrangements, if necessary, and avoid the charge.
Since then, Mr Walker, a former JEP deputy editor, says that the council has been inundated with complaints, including from a number of parents whose children were allegedly forced to pay £50 or told that they would be denied boarding.
‘A number of parents have contacted me about how their children have been affected by this. One told me that her daughter was told she had to pay £50 or would not be able to fly. She used a pre-loaded debit card and lost most of her money for that weekend,’ said Mr Walker.
‘Another said that her child tried to pay in cash but the handling agents said that it had to be done on a card. They tried phoning the parent but they were driving back home from the Airport and were not answering their phone so the child was not allowed to board.
‘A 15-year-old girl was also fined £50 and all the money she was given for her holiday was gone. She was met, in tears, by her grandparents in Southampton Airport who took her bag to check in and it was deemed to be within the limits.’
Mr Walker added that his organisation would now be contacting Flybe about the issue. The matter was also discussed in the States Chamber on Tuesday.
‘Because the Consumer Council has received an overwhelming number of complaints, we will be contacting the airline, the handling agents and possibly even Ports of Jersey about this,’ he said.
‘This goes beyond having discretion. No one should be able to take money from a child.’
In response to Mr Walker’s comments, a spokeswoman for Flybe said that it was very concerned by the allegations and had investigated them as a matter of urgency.
However, it only mentioned two cases.
‘Having done so, we are now fully confident that our agents did everything possible to resolve the two matters raised by contacting the parents, one of which was successful and payment was taken over the phone,’ she said.
‘In the case of the 12-year-old passenger, our agents were advised her parents had also left the airport confines and they failed to respond to any of the phone calls made.
‘Flybe is advised by its agents that during this time, they did not immediately board the minor. However, having failed to contact the parents, were not prepared to offload or cause hurt so they took the decision to nevertheless board her onto the flight together with her hand baggage, which was carried in the hold free of charge.’
The airline apologised for the distress caused but said its handling agents did everything possible to resolve the situation in a satisfactory and sympathetic way. It added that parents or guardians of unaccompanied minors should remain within the confines of the airport until the flight had departed.
In a subsequent Twitter post, Mr Walker said: ‘Contrary to @flybe statement, parent of girl made to pay for oversized bag has NOT been contacted by airline today.
‘And her 12 yr old daughter WAS made to pay £50 without parental contact. Not sure whose parents @flybe have spoken to today, but there’s obviously more out there.’
