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Flybe Launches New Route, Except It Appears To Be Totally Useless

June 30, 2009 at 1:58 PM | 1 Comment

There’s nothing like a time when we’re all trying to watch our carbon footprints and up our train travel to launch a completely unnecessary flight route. But that’s exactly what Flybe has done this week. Yesterday, it launched its London to Leeds route with "red carpet celebrations" and a special appearance by a soap star (Matthew Bose from Emmerdale – no, we don’t know either, but we’re guessing he’s the fox in the middle of the photo here).

The only thing that we’re wondering is – why the hell have they done this? London to Leeds takes about two hours 20 minutes tops on the train. According to Flybe, the flight takes an hour and 10 minutes (actually it takes about 30 minutes, because we had the misfortune to be diverted to Leeds on a connecting flight to Manchester last year, and we’d barely cracked open the gin before we were landing). And it flies from Gatwick (30 minutes from central London, and that's if you take the expensive fast train) and into Leeds Bradford, 10 miles out of town.

Once you add on check-in time, wouldn’t it have been way better just to take the train? We’re confused. Obviously it’s nice to see one airline that’s doing well enough to launch a new route, but this route is just baffling. And the eco aspect means it’s just not cool.

Related Stories:
· Flybe Coverage [Jaunted]
· New Leeds-Bradford service to London starts [Telegraph & Argus]
· Flybe [Official Site]

Free Refunds For The Laid-Off

January 8, 2009 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments

A paid vacation from your job sounds great... until you get laid off and still have to cough up the funds for the trip. If you work in an unstable industry, try flying Flybe where if you get canned, you can cancel your flight for free!

The British low cost carrier calls its free insurance the "Book With Confidence" guarantee, available to people who have worked at their current employer for at least two years. With some 600,000 people in the UK expected to be affected by layoffs this year, this policy could bite Flybe in a big way, but if all of them fly Flybe, that's under 15 percent of their total passenger load.

We'd rather they hired all those people back as fake passengers, but that didn't work out so well the first time.

Related Stories:
· Flybe Offers Refunds for Redundant Passengers [Telegraph]
· Cheater Travel: Who Paid Your Seatmate to Be Here? [Jaunted]
· Who's Taking A Naycation This Year? [HC]

[Photo of Flybe planes in Edinburgh: Martin Third Av'n]

Fly-Be Or Not To Fly-Be, We Ask Pilots

December 19, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 3 Comments

Long-serving British low cost carrier Flybe seems to be doing OK in these tricky times. They're talking just as positively as Ryanair and have even been bold enough to add a new route from Gatwick to Torquay.

But. There's always a "but." Their pilots are getting a bad rap all because a flight this week from London to Paris was forced to turn around and head home again because the pilot was underqualified to land in foggy conditions.

We accept Flybe's explanation that the experienced pilot had just changed aircraft and hadn't done all the training levels to get the right badges. But he apparently announced to the passengers that he was just a Level 5 pilot and Charles de Gaulle wanted a Level 2.

Is it just us, or is there a huge difference between Level 5 and Level 2? On our next budget flight we might be asking to see the pilot's license before we commit to buckling our seat belt.

Related Stories:
· Flybe Offers Free Return Tickets [Cheap Flights]
· Rules Stopped Pilot's Fog Landing [BBC]
· Flybe coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: mattingham]

LCC News: Name That Plane

July 9, 2008 at 9:45 AM | 0 Comments

Low cost carriers listen up: When you're after a few more pages of publicity, try randomly naming your planes after moderately famous people. It's worked for British regional LCC Flybe several times already and they've just done it again.

This time Flybe has named a Bombardier Q400 plane the "Kevin Keegan" after the manager of the Newcastle United soccer team; its registration number now ends with "KKEV".

If all the airlines get into the plane-naming hysteria, maybe we could start using plane names instead of flight numbers? As in, "Can I check in for the Angelina Jolie to LA?"

Related Stories:
· Regional Airline Launches King Kev [Holiday Extras]
· Coming Soon to Cardiff: Airport Photo Shoots [Jaunted]
· Flybe coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ack Ook]

Cheater Travel: Who Paid Your Seatmate To Be Here?

April 1, 2008 at 2:15 PM | 0 Comments

If the person next to you looks excited to be in the air during a commuter flight, he could be a plant! UK discount carrier Flybe was facing a $550,000 bill from Norwich International Airport for not making passenger quotas, so they hired 172 people to pose as passengers on their Dublin-Norwich runs.

At less than $80 a head, this subterfuge saved the airline about $545,000--but now Norwich officials have found out, and they're angry.

We'd love to interview the evil genius at Flybe who came up with this plan: We'll be suspicious of our fellow passengers forevermore.

Related Stories:
· Airline Hires Temps to Fill Plane [Reuters, via Yahoo]
· Flybe: A Budget Airline with Its Own Credit Card [Jaunted]

[Photo: kpmarek]

Flybe: A Budget Airline With Its Own Credit Card

October 8, 2007 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

British airline Flybe has been around since before the idea of a budget airline was really born, but in recent years it's been trying to remodel itself into what we can best describe as a "low frills" LCC. With its official bases in Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast, Southampton and Exeter, it serves a lot of Western Europe and this year took over old British Airways regional routes as well.

Flybe offers flights at reasonably low prices, for example £20 ($40) from Manchester to Belfast. This year they've had some trouble with flight cancellations due to staff shortages but of course, they claim they're over all that.

Where Flybe really departs from other European LCCs is its announcement this week of the "spend and fly" credit card. To be tied in with Flybe's rewards4All frequent flier program, the credit card will launch in January 2008. Besides making Flybe stand out from other European LCCs, they're undoubtedly hoping to increase customer loyalty in a fickle market. We think they'd do better to focus on some of their previous successes: matchmaking, for one.

Related Stories:
· Flybe Plays Wingman [Jaunted]
· Flybe [Official Site]

[Photo: fraserspeirs]

Airline Report: Flybe Plays Wingman

October 6, 2006 at 9:39 AM | 0 Comments


There's a story making the rounds, no doubt to the delight of Flybe execs, of a couple who met on a Flybe flight from Belfast to Newcastle. Michael, in seat 2C, was smitten with Juliet in seat 2B from the moment they met. The two chatted throughout their flight, but when it came time to part ways, poor Mike couldn't muster the courage to ask Juliet for her phone number.

But our determined suitor didn't give up there. Once the regret became too much, Michael contacted the airline and begged to be put in touch with his seat mate. While Flybe stuck to their guns and declined to give Juliet's info directly to him, they did send a letter to her parents' house on his behalf. Two weeks later, she received it, and the two started dating.

Now they're set to get married in November. Not only will Flybe get you laid, they'll get you a lifetime contract on it! No airline has ever played wingman better. Cheers, guys, for putting Airtroductions to shame.  The only thing left for Michael and Juliet to do is see about that mile high baby.

[Photo: stonefaction]

Related Stories:
· On the wings of love [Belfast Telegraph]
· Please find the girl in seat 2B [The Sun]