Four days after the restrictions on air transport were lifted, stuck passengers go on to get in hold with the Guardian to opening their annoy at the airlines and insist their stability problems perplexing to get flights home from all over the world.
British Airways were indicted of profiteering by charity seats at reward prices from airports where passengers sojourn stuck. It denies the assign and claims it has hiked prices to daunt new customers.
But the process has annoyed annoy in between BA"s stuck customers, that we minute on Friday. Since afterwards some-more have been in hold to protest about the process and insist their difficulty returning. We have additionally perceived updates from a little of the BA commercial operation we have been tracking over the last integrate of days. Some have right afar returned after being told they would be behind for weeks.
Stranded commercial operation from pick airlines have faced identical problems. They protest that their airlines - together with Monarch, Finnair, and Emirates - have additionally been charity tickets to new commercial operation whilst those stuck sojourn unfortunate to lapse home.
Lionel Frewin, who is marooned in Singapore, wrote:
After holding on for scarcely an hour to BA"s less than beneficial call centre, we were charity the event of an evident rebooking for 1 May or a refund. If we didn"t take that engagement we would be put behind to 5 May. We had no event to have enquiries of pick airlines and thus had no pick than to take the 1 May booking.
Having checked the BA website daily, as they suggested, we have found that they are charity seats in commercial operation category on majority flights but that the prices of these have been severely increased. If you see at accessibility for flights after 5 May, seats right afar labelled at in between 7,000 to 11,000 Singapore dollars (�3,320 to �5,217) are behind to S$2,000. This seems to give the distortion to BA"s insist that they are you do all to get stuck travellers behind to the UK."
Keith Oram writes:
"My children, (aged twelve and 14) were due to fly home on Emirates from Johannesburg to Manchester around Dubai on eighteen April. After the flights were cancelled we were since an beginning lapse date of 9 May, until I threw my toys out of the pram, forked out that tickets were on sale for flights on twenty-three April. They are right afar (we hope) drifting tonight (25 April), but it"s a classic case of he who shouts loudest (or has the greatest cheque-book) gets sorted first."
Lynda Clough emails from Borneo:
"My family and I have been stuck in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, for eights days and are accessible a moody with Royal Brunei Airlines. Sadly Royal Brunei (and I think each pick airline worldwide) are usually permitting stuck passengers to take up unbooked seats on each moody out.
This should not be authorised to happen. There are in the segment of 300 stuck British travellers in Kota Kinabalu all of whom have paid a lapse fare, and since of the process of the airline, they are being denied their lapse flight, formulating this unsustainable and illogical incident we are in.
People stuck in Europe have the choice of pick equates to of removing home (albeit costly) but those serve afield have no pick and are being left at the forgiveness of the airlines, most of whom are being unpleasant and unethical and usually meditative of themselves."
Michele Morgan says she is stuck in Faro and carrying a "nightmare" with Monarch.
"I am here with my 11-year-old daughter and was due to lapse to the UK last Sunday when Monarch rebooked me for a moody on twenty-nine Apr from a opposite airport.
When I asked to move this forward, or move to the airfield where my car is, after flights resumed they pronounced they would usually suggest me a moody for currently (25 April) if I paid �522, but reliable that the moody had space. I declined.
When I eventually got by yesterday, after hundreds of calls, they concluded to move the moody brazen to Tuesday for free. They have not replied to any of my emails.
During those hundreds of calls I got by twice - they refused to take my series and managed to cut me off once transferring me and the pick time eliminated me to an responding machine."
If you can"t get out, try removing kicked out, advises Fung Pee.
"I simply contacted immigration of a large nation in the far east, explained I was overtime on my visa, forsaken a small volume of income in to the officials palm and less than a day after I was home.
The pretence is to get in to the airfield where officialdom leans on airlines directly."
On Friday we listened from Erica Wald (12.30pm) an educational at LSE, perplexing to get a BA moody from Mumbai. News of her predicament was picked by today"s Sunday Express who steady her concerns that ill passengers are being stranded.
In her ultimate email Erica writes:
"I"ve usually returned from an additional outing to the airport, where there is still disharmony all around.
Happily I was told me that the gentlemen with cancer was put on a BA flight. However, they don"t appear to be giving any priority to those with healing concerns or small children. I met a family (he"s a diabetic, she fractured her feet the day prior to they were due to fly and is in measureless suffering and they"ve got dual small children) who have still had no headlines from BA.
I asked a BA central about those with healing needs and the probability of additional flights, but he refused to answer any of my questions.
BA still appear to charity seats at high prices and claiming this is meant to action as a deterrent. I still find this insist amazing. When I was waiting, I found an additional newcomer who has essentially stumped up the income for a new ticket. He paid �2,800 for a moody on Monday, but he was at the airfield on Saturday in the goal he could get on an progressing flight. He doesn"t think that BA would repay him the large disproportion or give him any compensation.
After being escorted out of the terminal. I met a integrate who were travelling with their 90-year-old father, a wheelchair-bound maestro of the second universe fight who had served in India and Burma, and is right afar stranded. They are meant to be drifting Jet Airways, and it seems they"ve had a identical response.
I"ve been told by colleagues that Air India and Jet have put on additional flights to get stuck passengers behind home, but from what I"ve seen so far of BA"s behaviour, I"m not holding out most goal that they"ll do the same!"
But there has been most improved headlines about a organisation of twenty-four British passengers who were watchful in gloomy Dehli temperatures. They were all flown behind on dual apart flights yesterday after being told they would not be drifting behind any earlier than 8 May.
One of the group, Elizabeth Atwell, a clergyman in west London, suspects they were helped to overpower their complaints to the Guardian (see 1pm, 4pm and 4.24pm). "It is the ones who are cheering the loudest that are removing out. I would similar to to think we got behind since we kicked up a stink," she said.
"The priority complement is not working. It is not satisfactory - it shouldn"t be the ones who are empowered or who have the nouse to scream the loudest that get on the flight."
Saleem Althaf, an AE alloy in Lincolnshire, complained to us after confronting weeks of being stuck in Chennai. He was put on a moody today. He emailed to say: "Thanks to your broadside and my write calls, BA have requisitioned me on the moody withdrawal Chennai on the twenty-five April. I wait for to see if the others in my incident conduct to get BA to do the right thing."
3pm: A mouthpiece for BA insisted that the process of hiking sheet prices was successfully troublesome new customers. She additionally denied that passengers who have complained to the press are being since priority.
"We are removing people out as fast as we can. We have got additional flights to Heathrow and Gatwick this week, together with from Johannesburg, Dubai and Hong Kong. We are putting on additional genius where we can.
"We have to have the complement open in sequence to rebook people on to it. We have tip prices to daunt people from shopping seats, so we can put people on to flights. And that is operative really well. We have not had that most complaints, people are removing behind in."
On Lionel"s censure about flights from Singapore, she pronounced BA was "looking" to put on an additional repatriation moody there.
Asked about Erica"s point about the healing needs in Mumbai, she said: "We are you do as most as we can. We are giving road house place to live and money. In conditions of healing needs we would suggest that people lift their disinfectant with them."
BA is not divulgence how most people it estimates to be still stuck by Volcano.
The mouthpiece added: "It is an huge logistical operation. It is not the box of who shouts the loudest [gets back]. This is an rare incident and we are you do comprehensive most appropriate to get people home."
We are watchful for responses from the pick airlines referred to above. Finnair responded on Friday (see 2pm).
3.20pm: I should have pronounced this already: If you are carrying difficulty removing a moody home greatfully post a criticism next (thanks InaneChat) or get in touch. My email is matthew.weaver@guardian.co.uk.
3.50pm: Monarch Airlines says it is undetermined by Michele Morgan"s complaint. A mouthpiece said: "If her moody was disrupted by the volcanic ash problems there are no shift fees, so she should be accessible to shift her moody free of charge.
"All emails are responded to inside of twenty-four hours. If she was oral to by someone in the call centres she would have been told she can lapse free of charge."
4.28pm: An EK orator has responded to Keith Oram"s censure about Emirates:
"At the tallness of the disruption, Emirates had 100,000 passengers affected. With European airspace open again, we are operative around the time to get everybody from all corners of the network to where they need to be. As you can imagine, this is a gigantic task. We additionally assimilate that the commercial operation have been studious and wish a fast fortitude to their own personal circumstances. We have not been supposing with the full sum relating to this sold query, but of course, as shortly as we have, we will investigate."
4.45pm: It was Joan Loughrey"s birthday yesterday. She has had to applaud as most appropriate she could whilst stuck afar from her family watchful for a BA moody in Singapore.
She writes:
"I was due to fly home on fifteen April. I right afar am due to fly behind on twenty-seven Apr carrying creatively been told 2 May. Because I was on a BA moody operated by Qantas I could have flown with presumably airline but but the 27th was the beginning date to get me out. I was texted by the British High Commission here and told that BA/Qantas were contacting people on a first-in-first-out basement to put them on flights this weekend. How afterwards is it that it has taken a week to move me when they have flights going out each night? I have been told by the airlines that I was propitious to get 27th Apr and I get the graphic sense that the airlines have taken the perspective that that date is "good enough". I have been phoning and phoning to try to get a improved date and when vocalization to BA and Qantas again got the transparent sense that they are not certain because I keep bothering them as I should be happy with what I have got. I feel I have been fobbed off.
Why has BA not put on an additional moody to get us out? It is not great sufficient to usually container people in to any gangling seats that occur to be available. It was my birthday this weekend. I will have been afar from my young kids (aged 7 and Nine) seventeen days instead of the creatively programmed 4. I don"t think the speed at that BA has dealt with this is great enough."
5.02pm: BA"s arch senior manager Willie Walsh has attempted to insist the process of hiking prices to put off new customers. The YouTube footage went out on Friday, but I"ve usually usually speckled it and it"s still relevant.
He says: "Once the skies did open we had to have all of the seats accessible to the ubiquitous reservations system.. To try to stop pick airlines putting their stuck passengers on British Airways aircraft we usually done those seats accessible at the tip transport levels. And I would greatfully asked the commercial operation to bear with us. I know how stressful it contingency be for to be stuck abroad. I know how critical it is for you to get home. I wish to assure you that we are you do all we presumably can to do so."
(I"ve embedded the video at the tip of the blog).
5.21pm: Monarch Flights has sent out a fuller reply to Michele Morgan"s complaint
"I am contemptible that Mrs Morgan has experienced problems rebooking her Monarch moody from Faro. When airspace over the UK and Europe all Monarch flights were cancelled and commercial operation charity a full reinstate or to rebook their flights free of charge.
As shortly as UK airspace non-stop Monarch launched a repatriation programme to lapse as most of the stuck commercial operation behind to the UK as fast as possible. Between Wednesday twenty-one and Friday twenty-three April, Monarch repatriated in additional of 25,000 passengers on 63 repatriation flights - these operated in further to Monarch"s existent drifting programme.
Monarch apologies that countless calls were done to the Customer Contact Centre to file the flights. Monarch apologises for the lengthened intrusion that Mrs Morgan has experienced, but looks brazen to welcoming her onto a Monarch moody on Tuesday."
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