Blue Islands flights booked through Flybe for travel from 10 March onwards are no longer valid and will require rebooking.
Funds from these bookings are held by Flybe’s merchant card acquirers – controls put in place to safeguard consumer funds in the event of Flybe’s collapse. This means that original bookings for Blue Islands flights made via the failed airline will require rebooking with Blue Islands.
Customers should refer to the Civil Aviation Authority website for information on refunds, or contact the credit card company that was used for payment. In some instances, banks are proactively contacting customers who they know booked with Flybe or have information on their websites offering more information about refunds.
Blue Islands is engaging with the administrators of Flybe regarding bookings and if this situation changes, the airline will update passengers.
‘We apologise to our customers for asking them to make and pay for a new booking. This was something we have been working very hard to avoid, but to ensure business continuity and because we do not have full visibility of previous bookings, we have no alternative but to ask passengers to rebook,’ says Rob Veron, CEO Blue Islands.
‘We also acknowledge that some customers will face paying more to rebook than their original ticket price. Despite our best efforts, this has been unavoidable, and we apologise to those passengers.’
Blue Islands has now restored its website allowing customers to make bookings for all Blue Islands flights at www.blueislands.com. As a temporary measure, each route will have its own flat fare and include 23kg hold baggage until the airline introduces dynamic pricing and fare options.
While payments systems are implemented, customers will be able to hold seats using the website and its new call centre partner, Flight Directors, will contact customers to take payment, which will confirm the booking.
‘Many customers will pay less, and many customers will benefit more from this fixed price versus the usual dynamic pricing model,’ said Mr Veron.
‘We are in an unprecedented situation and have worked tirelessly since Wednesday last week to find solutions that benefit the maximum number of people affected.’
