Flybe collapse: Blue Islands passengers angry at rebooking price increase

Flybe collapse: Blue Islands passengers angry at rebooking price increase

The Channel Islands-based airline previously had a franchise agreement with Flybe – allowing it to use Flybe’s branding and booking system.

And when Flybe went into administration last week, Blue Islands initially said that it would honour all future bookings. However, it has since emerged that all fares paid for future Blue Islands bookings are being held by Flybe’s former ‘card acquirers’ – a measure put in place to allow customers to claim their money back in the event of the UK company’s failure.

As a result, Blue Islands’ has not been paid for future flights and the company is now asking passengers to rebook.

However, despite the company reinstating its old booking website, it is still working to implement a dynamic pricing structure which changes according to supply and demand.

Instead, flights to Blue Islands’ nine scheduled Jersey destinations are being sold according to a flat-fare structure.

Paul Davies (56), a parish warden from St Helier, was one of those affected.

In a letter to the airline, he said: ‘I booked with you at the end of January 2020 for four people to Bristol return in October and three people to Southampton return in September at a total cost of £752. I just tried to rebook, as requested, on Blue Islands website, and the price is now £700 for the Bristol flight and £450 for the Southampton flight – almost double the combined fare.

‘You are now exploiting people that have already booked with Blue Islands. You should have at least honoured the original price paid for the original tickets.’

However, Rob Veron, chief executive of Blue Islands, said in a statement that his company was facing an ‘unprecedented situation’ and thanked Islanders for their understanding.

‘This was something we have been working very hard to avoid but, to ensure business continuity and because we do not have full visibility of previous bookings, we have no alternative but to ask passengers to rebook,’ he said.

‘We also acknowledge that some customers will face paying more to rebook than their original ticket price. Despite our best efforts, this has been unavoidable, and we apologise to those passengers.

‘Many customers will pay less, and many customers will benefit more from this fixed price versus the usual dynamic pricing model. We are in an unprecedented situation and have worked tirelessly since Wednesday last week to find solutions that benefit the maximum number of people affected.’

Blue Islands, which ran free-of-charge rescue flights for passengers stranded in Birmingham and Exeter in the days following Flybe’s collapse, have been approached for further comment.

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