What sort of customer service does Aurigny think it’s providing?

I spent one hour, 33 minutes and 12 seconds holding on for Aurigny to answer their telephone. They did not answer. My call began at approximately 4.40 pm when I was told straight away that Aurigny was ‘experiencing high call volume’. I was periodically assured by an encouraging voice that my call was moving up the queue and having started as fourth in the queue, by the time I hung up over an hour and a half later I was apparently second in the queue and had been for about 25 minutes, so I thought I was in with a good chance of speaking to someone. No such luck.

It was not possible for me to book online, as I was trying to book a flight for our dog to accompany us to Alderney. This can’t be done online, although I would have thought it would be possible to design the technology to do so.

When I managed to get through, just after 8am, having immediately had the same old message about high call demand, on enquiring, I was told that the office closes at 5pm. Why on earth was I left hanging on, being assured that I was moving up the queue, when there was no one there to answer my call?

I began calling when the office should have been open, so I would expect that I would be dealt with, or, at worse, be told at 5pm that the office was closed. What sort of customer service does Aurigny think it’s providing? An appalling service in my view.

This episode follows on from another very disappointing experience with Aurigny. We were due to travel to Gatwick on the 9.35am flight. By chance, at about 9pm the night before, I happened to see an email from Aurigny advising that our flight was disrupted and would be delayed until 10.50am The message continued, ‘Please check in on time as normal as check in and bag drop will still close at 8.50. We apologise …’. So, what was the point of the email other than to cause annoyance? Why were we required to check in at the original time just to sit around at the airport? Crazy.

Perhaps Aurigny would like to respond through the Guernsey Press. I’ve given up referring complaints to customer services, as I’m either not answered, or only part of my complaint is addressed.

So many customers have recently experienced such poor service from Aurigny with flight disruptions and cancellations. Surely, answering the phone isn’t too big an ask

Dee Dee Morgan

L’Ancresse

An Aurigny spokesman responds: We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and frustration experienced while trying to contact our customer service team.

The customer service team are currently experiencing higher-than-usual call volumes and are working diligently to address all enquiries. We understand how important your travel plans are, especially when it involves a pet. Our phone customer service operating hours are until 5pm. However, our WhatsApp customer service +44 7436 422214 is open until 8pm and can assist with almost anything that our phone customer service helps with, including flights for pets.

Aurigny is committed to improving our communications and are pleased to note that you received advance notice of the short delay to your Gatwick flight, which was just over one hour.

We kindly advise all customers to check in on time and to monitor their flight status, even if a delay has been announced. Flight times are subject to change, and delays may sometimes be shorter than initially expected.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.