Aurigny tells family of four only three can get on flight
AURIGNY passengers were left scrambling and pushing in departures after staff announced the last person in the queue would be ‘bumped’ off a Gatwick flight on Thursday.
Lyndon Evans and Emma Mabey were travelling with their children to Turkey, having booked the flights back in January.
The family of four arrived at the airport to be told by Aurigny check-in staff their 9.35am flight had been overbooked by four spaces and that only three of them could travel to Gatwick, where they were expecting to get a connection to Turkey.
Emma Mabey said that initially staff had said that one of them would not be able to fly that day at all.
‘The staff seemed to find it funny that we were losing our family holiday,’ she said. ‘And they threatened to off-board all of us.
‘Eventually after much arguing and tears they put Lyndon onto the next Gatwick flight.’
The family then went into the departure lounge when they said an announcement went out saying another seat was needed and the last person to the gate would not be allowed on.
‘Cue mass panic and racing for the gate with people scuffling at the back and no thought for the old, or the people with young children,’ said Ms Mabey.
‘It ended with a lady with a six-year-old at the back and they could not split them, so they then offloaded the last single passenger, which was a lady.
'She seemed very upset and it was only then that any form of compensation was mentioned.’
Mr Evans thought he would be able to catch up his family at Gatwick, only for his new Aurigny flight to be delayed.
He then missed the family's flight, and had to book a new flight to Turkey, leaving him several hundred pounds out of pocket. He finally arrived in Turkey in the early hours of the next morning.
An Aurigny spokeswoman apologised for the disruption experienced by four customers on the flight, after they had to use a different aircraft due to extended maintenance issues on the originally scheduled aircraft.
‘The Swiftair ATR is only configured for 68 seats not 72, this meant offloading four passengers,’ she said.
She said the airline had contacted those affected.
Aurigny’s policy is that if a seat was not available for a passenger with a confirmed reservation, volunteers would be sought to move to the next available flight.
‘However, if none come forward, the last person to check in will be moved to the next flight,’ she said.
‘Allowances are also made for customers who need more care.’
Sudeep Ghai, Aurigny's chief commercial officer, said the airline did not overbook flights.
‘When offload circumstances arise, they require sensitive understanding conversations with customers to resolve the situation as early as possible,’ he said.
‘On this occasion we should have done better and can only offer our apologies.’
Mr Evans said they were yet to hear from the airline and what he thought of Aurigny’s service was 'unprintable'.
‘If they had handled it with any professionalism or acknowledgement they were in error I would be ok,’ he said.
‘But you think after the year they have had, they would be trying to avoid more negative headlines.
‘They knew about the problems the night before and did nothing to rectify it, they didn’t offer compensation to people to try and free up seats, but instead seemed happy to split up families.’
