Bang Goes My Visit To See The Twins

[chrissa1]

Flybe planes 'are impounded' amid fears ailing airline has collapsed

Will I get my money back?

[marval]

I am sorry to hear this Chrissa, I know how much you were looking forward to seeing them. I hope you can get alternate travel arranged, and your money back.

[chrissa1]

Thanks Chris and Marvel. There’s no way I would go by bus. I get car sick in the back of a car. The train looks the best bet with a good book to read.

[pauln90]

Looks like flying may still be a possibility

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51768074

[TheDevil]

Was it ATOL protected?

[TheDevil]

Chrissa i'm surprised no one has said, you need to find out if your flights are ATOL protected. AFAIK this is standard for easyjet flights but i've never flown with FLYBE

[twix123]

Chrissa, it looks as though you will still be able to fly, with double the choice of airlines.

Eastern Airways, who already partnered with Flybe, will be flying the Newcastle to Southampton route (I think it already did, check your tickets to confirm if they were issued as Flybe or Eastern).

Loganair may also be intending to fly the same route - pauln90's link to the BBC news web page doesn't exactly make it clear.

Whether you will get any refund from the administrators of Flybe depends on a lot of factors.

Good luck with your visit to see the twins.

[CrapAtCryptics]

Is driving it out of the question

[Peter Pedant]

if it gone under then you are on the list of unsecured creditors and the short answer is - - unlikely

[Peter Pedant]

// Chrissa i'm surprised no one has said, you need to find out if your flights are ATOL protected.//

tee vee said this was unlikely

( ingternal glights or something)

[Buenchico]

Just to bring together the information above:

Although the main part of Eastern Airway's website hasn't yet been updated to show a service between Newcastle and Southampton, a press release hidden away in their media pages shows that they'll start operating between the two cities next week:
https://www.easternairways.com/news/69/eastern-airways-to-operate-scheduled-flights-independently-and-announces-3-routes
That press release also indicates that tickets are already available for sale but at the moment it seems impossible to book any Eastern Airways flights at all (irrespective of route) because the 'Book flights' link currently doesn't lead to a meaningful page. (Perhaps their web team are still working to get the new routes online?)

Loganair's website indicates that they'll commence flights between Newcastle and Southampton on 23 March:
https://www.loganair.co.uk/flybe-routes-protected-by-loganair

[Buenchico]

Just to tidy up the ATOL information too:

Only companies selling holidays, or some other form of travel 'package', are covered by an Air Tour Operator's Licence. (It's the word 'tour' which is really important there). Airlines simply selling flights aren't covered.

For example, with easyJet (mentioned byTD above), travellers have ATOL protection if they book a holiday through the company or if they book a flight and car hire at the same time. However there's no ATOL protection for travellers who only book flights.

So no Flybe flights were covered by ATOL protection unless, say, they were sold by a travel agent as part of a 'package'. (Flybe didn't hold its own Air Tour Operator's Licence, as it wasn't eligible for one).

[chrissa1]

Thanks for all your answers. Loganair, here I come.

[anneasquith]

Good luck .

[Buenchico]

Eastern Airways have now got their website sorted out, so you can book flights between Newcastle and Southampton with them too:
https://www.easternairways.com/