DOBBIE

Hi everyone,

My MIL flew home on Wednesday's Zoom flight to Glasgow. I helped her check in and on the desk it quite clearly stated Glasgow/ Gatwick........

About an hour from Glasgow the captain comes on and tells the passengers that another aircraft has taken their landing spot so they will not be arriving in Glasgow but flying straight to Gatwick, some interesting conversations then took place on the aircraft!:curse:

Once at Gatwick the passengers were then put straight on a bus to Heathrow and then on a BA flight to Glasgow (all 80 of them). A Zoom rep on the bus apologised and told them that Zoom has lost it's landing rights to Glasgow airport.....

Meanwhile all the friends and relatives waiting at Glasgow were left stranded with no one from Zoom to inform them what had happened. They were looking at a screen with an arrival time suddenly changing to plane cancelled! They all new it had left Calgary but now it been "Cancelled" - visions of relatives splattered across the ocean came to mind... One relative called Calgary airport and they didn't know where the plane was..!

Anyway everyone arrived home safely, but IF your are planning to travel to Glasgow from Calgary on Zoom this coming week or over the festive period I would suggest an immediate phone call. I would imagine that also applies to flights from Glasgow to Canada...!!!

According to the rep on the bus to Heathrow all the passengers were sent letters, but none of the 80 had actually received them..

Happy Christmas

Cheers

Dobbie

YYZlover

I've asked on a travel forum where the users normally knows more than airlines would want them to.

:-)

Tracie107

Yep we flew with Zoom in November from Gatwick via Manchester to Vancouver with an interconnecting flight with AirCanada. It was a nightmare from the beginning:- No water at Gatwick so the restaurants we not serving any food the only place making money was Macdonalds and Crusts....whatever it's called.

Flight took off no problem stopped at Manchester delayed one hour. Took off landed at Vancouver with an hour to spare to catch our interconnecting flight. Now the easy part, just collect our luggage and off we go...........so we waited and waited by this time I am tired, hungry and dizzy from watching the carousel going round

Then I looked around most people had vanished it was only the Gatwick boarders left then finally one hour later our luggage arrived, we ran like we were in the Olympics just a glimmer of hope that our interconnecting flight had waited for the two english people, got there and nothing on the board, the ticket machine spat my ticket back out and laughed I was dilarious by this time and not amused. No more flights available until the following morning until wonderful Westjet came to our rescue at an extra $400 did I care...............No we just wanted taxi, hotel, food & bed!

Our return flight from Kelowna to Vancouver - lovely nothing to report.

From Vancouver via Glasgow to Gatwick well...........we paid and extra £200 for premium seats due to minimum check-in time and priority boarding. So we waited to board when a sign said delayed 1/2hr................then delayed 1/2hr..................delayed 1/2hr when finally those lovely words "We are now boarding for flight no? "All premium passengers please wait until LAST you will not be boarding until all the other passengers are on the plane first

Well to rub salt in the wounds- finally seated but unable to watch the TV as there was only one at the front of the plane, but going out, there were TV screens throughout and managed to watch 4 films!

We are having to do the trip all over again in the New Year!

YYZlover

It stunns me everytime I hear people complain about low cost airlines. Has no-one ever heard the words "you get what you pay for".

A friend of mine even worked out that using ryan air is more expensive in the end in comparison to using a regular airline.

A lot of people are reporting how unreliable zoom is.

KLM is going down that low cost drain as well.

Air Canada, United Airlines, American Airlines et all, can all be found to have great deals on flights if you know how to look for them.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com is one place to look for flights. Print out the details of the one you want and take that to your local travel agent. Even Thompson travel can book them for you.

DOBBIE

[QUOTE=YYZlover;5672810]It stunns me everytime I hear people complain about low cost airlines. Has no-one ever heard the words "you get what you pay for".


Get off your high horse....this thread was started by me to pass on some information to those who may be affected, not to complain....

If you want to comment on low cost airlines versus the others then start your own thread!

I happen to agree with you, if you're willing to hunt around then you can find good prices on the major airlines....

YYZlover

Well, if you agree with me, why tell me to get off a high horse?
(BTW - I know how to ride horses. *wink*)

Sure, I could have started a new thread. However - I wasn't out to upset anyone. I was out to give people here an option. I travel loads and have done the mistakes. If my experiences can help others then that is a good thing, right? I'm sure I'll make mistakes when flying again, booking with the wrong airline and so on.

Zoom sounds like a great airline, on paper. Reports here show loads of problems. Also, their weight limits on luggage is way below a normal airline's limits. That in itself should be a reason to use a normal airline. Low cost lines will sting you on excess.

Written loads about it in the wiki.

:smile:

Edited to add:

My respons wasn't to you in particular. Just one in general.

As for your MIL's experience, I'm really sorry she and everyone else had to go through that. The airline should have given the passangers more information. They should also have told the ones on the ground waiting in Glasgow. Not good at all that they didn't.

Unfortunately airlines are consistently bad at informing passangers. There is a reason I avoid KLM as much as I possibly can. The words "snow storm", "shot down airport" and "armed security" has all to do with it. Don't blame them for the first two but the last one and how they handled the situation at Schiphol was no where near what you'd expect from a company that is in the business of service.

startwin

[QUOTE=DOBBIE;5672818] That's a bit harsh. The whole point of a forum is for anyone to comment. And it was a fair comment.

BTW, I always book with BA during one of their frequent seat sales. Always works out cheaper than the budget airlines, larger seats and more weight allowance.

Grah

Dobbie, thanks for the info, problem is there isn't anyone else flying direct to winnipeg so hunt all I like it aint getting easier.

Startwin what are you on about "a bit harsh". Dobbie wasn't on any high horse

ScottishJim

Hi there,
I'd like to speak up for Zoom, we've flown several times with Zoom and the only thing I don't like is the 20 kg baggage limit but other than that they have been excellent and the staff are the best.

I do hope they haven't lost their landing rights or take off at Glasgow Airport as we will hopefully be flying out of Glasgow on the 23rd of January with one way tickets and Katie the collie in the hold.

We have no problem with flying with them again.

Jim

Life happens!!

YYZlover

Dobbie managed to remove the ending */quote* (replace stars with brackets) my saying "You get what you pay for" and him going off on telling me I was on a high horse.

So it's me who is on a high horse according to Dobbie. Good thing I can ride them things, eh?

:-)

YYZlover

Maybe not direct but, read the wiki on collecting miles and you'll soon understand why it would benefit you flying with someone like Air Canada or United or North West.

A family of 4 each with their own frequent flyer membership on Air Canada (who allows transfering of miles between accounts) would on one return trip to UK accumulate enough miles for almost 2 free return tickets.

Flying direct may not always be the shortest or best route.

Beebop

Going off-thread....apologies.

That said, if you live in Scotland, it is by far the better option to fly Zoom or equivalent, rather than hanging about and adding to the pollution/congestion of connecting through London to one of AC. etc.

BTW, I read in the Wiki about melatonin - it is my understanding that you cannot buy this in the UK...

YYZlover

Ditto.

Yes and no. A lot of low cost airlines, far from all, operate older aircrafts. The regular airlines tend to operate newer aircrafts who, per passenger, emmit less carbon and pollutants per passenger than the older aircrafts, which would make connecting flights better on the environment.

A regular airline upgrading their fleet has to off-load their old planes to partially fund the new planes. Guess who buys the old planes.


Really? I was under the impression you could get them in health food shops. I've never actually taken one myself as I have no problem sleeping on planes but I know british people with melatonin.

johnnyc

We flew toronto -glasgow yesterday for our vacation ,absolutely no problems at all ,flight was comfortable and on time, we even managed to land at glasgow too.
John

jempee

The only reason i would fly Air Canada again would be if they were the cheapest with times that suited. Had a much more enjoyable flight with Air Transat than i did Air Canada thats for sure!