Monarch Airlines going bust

  

   The UK budget airline Monarch has denied rumours it is going bust, amid growing concerns among passengers that their bookings may be at risk.

Speculation began to circulate on Sunday afternoon that the airline, a 48-year-old British aviation icon, was set to close.

The airline continued to advertise holiday deals and take bookings for flights late into Sunday evening.

And while nothing was sent out to the 113,000 followers of Monarch's verified Twitter account, the airline has begun replying directly to customers asking if the rumours are true.

 

"Hi there, the rumours are not true. Please ignore them," the airline tweeted at a user Ashy Williams, who had said the speculation was "coming out of Manchester airport" and asked "what do we do about our flights?"

Another user, Steven Bowie, asked why "are there aircraft coming to the UK for repatriation flights". Monarch said: "Hi Steven, this is nothing to do with Monarch Airlines, please ignore the rumours."
That tweet was among a number which suggested the rumours stem from eagle-eyed flight spotters. Another asked: "Why are United Airlines covering the exact same flights and times as your routes."
Asked directly by Adam Farmiloe - "Are you going bust tonight? Hope not, we have flights booked" - Monarch replied: "Absolutely not Adam. We hope you have a great flight, where are you off to?"

American Airlines downgraded my seat, won't give refund

   I had round-trip tickets to fly from Cleveland to Bangor, Maine, via Philadelphia on American Airlines recently. Three of the four flights were in first class. I paid a total of $957.

American made unrequested changes to my flights several times, resulting in a downgrade to economy class for all but one leg. There was no offer of a refund for the difference between the cost of the three first-class flights that I paid for and the one first-class flight that I received.

I contacted customer service, and they directed me to the refunds department. An airline representative told me to submit the request again after I completed the flights, which is not the response that I expected.

I submitted a request after my last flight, but after waiting several weeks and then resubmitting it, I've received no response. I'd like an apology and a refund of the fare difference.
— John Rodda, Rocky River, Ohio

A: This one's simple. American Airlines sold you three flights in first class; it should have delivered them. If it didn't, it should have refunded the difference between economy class and first class on the day you purchased the tickets.

But that's not how airline math works. Airlines calculate the fare difference on an involuntary downgrade based on the price the day of the flight, not the day you booked the flight. As you probably know, the price of an airline ticket changes right until the moment of departure. The numbers work to the airline's advantage in a big way because an economy-class ticket is much more expensive on the day of travel.

So the difference between first- and economy-class may be only a few dollars or, strangely, it may have a negative value. That's right, unbelievably, the economy-class fare to which you were "downgraded" could cost more than your advance-purchase first-class ticket.

When we spoke, your estimate of the fare difference was about $200. By American's estimate, it was $112. That's airline math!

I have no idea why American ignored your repeated efforts to obtain a refund. You could have contacted a customer-service executive at the airline. I list their names, email addresses and phone numbers on my consumer-advocacy site: http://elliott.org/company-contacts/american-airlines/.

I think this kind of airline math is morally wrong and opportunistic. But American is hardly alone. This is how virtually all airlines do it.

I contacted American on your behalf. It refunded the $112 fare difference. It's not quite the $200 you were hoping for, but it's better than nothing.
 

Airline bars kids from `elite' seats, draws DGCA ire

NEW DELHI:If you are flying IndiGo with children under 12 years of age, then the extra leg room seats are out of bounds for you. The low cost carrier has termed seats in rows 1-4 and 11-14 as "quiet zones" and passengers travelling with young children, or unaccompanied minors, cannot pre-book them by paying extra for these premium seats.'

  The quiet zone move -adopted by a handful of airlines globally to save their premium flyers from crying children -has left passengers seething as leg space, armrests and seat cushioning are shrinking at an alarming pace across all airlines globally. The concept of premium seating, was introduced so that people can pay more to get access to a slightly better seat in terms of less cramped seats.

  A senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said: "Won't premium row passengers be distributed by children crying in rear rows? We will examine this policy of IndiGo."  
   In a statement, IndiGo said it "endeavors to extend courteous and hassle free experience to all passengers (that includes both leisure and corporate travellers) who wish to fly with the airline. Keeping in mind the comfort of all passengers row number 1to 4 and 11to 14 are allocated as `quiet zone' on IndiGo flights. Creating `quiet zone' for passengers on board is an international practice, in both full service and low cost airlines and IndiGo's said policy is in-line with the global practice."

The `quiet zone' policy is transparently laid on the company website under `conditions of carriage' section, IndiGo added. But many flyers are upset at this move. Aman Varma, a Karol Bagh-based frequent flyer, who lives in a joint family said: "Now there is no escaping the cattle class when I travel with young children." This is the first time than an Indian carrier has introduced the concept of quiet zones. 

Norwegian launches long-haul base in Barcelona and routes between Spain and the U.S.

The global expansion continues as Norwegian launches new long-haul routes and a new long-haul base in Barcelona.

From June 2017, Norwegian will fly between Barcelona and four cities in the U.S.: Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York City/Newark and San Francisco. A new long-haul base will be established in Barcelona. From March 2017, we will also operate a new route between Copenhagen and San Francisco.

Norwegian already has a huge presence in Spain with seven bases, over 1000 employees and a large route network in Europe, including domestic routes.

 “The launch of direct flights between Barcelona and the U.S. is a new milestone for Norwegian. Spain is an important market for us, and many Spanish passengers choose to fly Norwegian, both domestic and to other destinations in Europe. An increasing number of Americans also choose to fly with us to Europe, and we look forward to welcoming even more travellers from both sides of the Atlantic on board our brand new Dreamliners next summer,” says CEO Bjorn Kjos.

The route between Barcelona and New York will be Norwegian’s first service to Newark; other flights to and from New York City operate from John F. Kennedy International Airport, where Norwegian has year-round service to Copenhagen, London, Oslo and Stockholm, as well as season service to Guadeloupe and Martinique in the French Caribbean.

Norwegian also launched a new route between Copenhagen and San Francisco (OAK). With today's launches, Norwegian offers long-haul routes between the United States and Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Paris and Barcelona.

“New routes between U.S. and Europe is good news for tourism and the local economies, and we are pleased to contribute to creating more jobs on both continents. This is still just the beginning, with an order of more than 260 aircraft, we will launch many new routes in the future,” said Kjos.

From local to globalNorwegian launched its first long-haul route in 2013 between Oslo and New York, and as more Dreamliners have been delivered, the number of transcontinental routes has increased and our international strategy is about to be realized. In 2014, Norwegian opened routes between London and the U.S., and in August this year, the company opened routes between Paris and the U.S.. Norwegian now has 42 routes between Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Barcelona and the U.S., and between Scandinavia and Thailand. In total Norwegian now offers more routes between the U.S. and Europe than any other European airline.

Today, Norwegian have long-haul bases in New York, Fort Lauderdale, London and Bangkok, with nearly 500 employees in the United States. No other non-U.S. airline has more employees in the U.S. than Norwegian. The company is now flying to nine American destinations: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Orlando, Boston, Puerto Rico and St. Croix, and during the winter season between the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and Boston, New York and Baltimore/Washington. In addition, we offer a route from Guadeloupe to Fort Lauderdale.