Fix our pitiful travel system

Letter 1. No name: Travel for elderly and handicapped …

My response to this is as follows: Back in December 2022, my husband had both partial knee replacements in France, after 10 days post-operation he was free to travel. We flew back, Nantes to Gatwick, Gatwick to Guernsey. Seeing he had limitations as he was on crutches, we applied for assisted travelling. Nantes airport were amazing, wheel-chaired him everywhere and scissor lifted us onto the plane. Gatwick again amazing, scissor-lifted off the plane, and again back onto the plane for our onward Aurigny trip to Guernsey. Then we landed, there were three members of staff chatting at the front exit of the plane, my husband on crutches, hobbled up the aisle, was wished ‘have a good day sir’ and left to exit the plane down the steps without one offer of help. Fantastic service not, if visitors or locals experience this sort of customer service. I’m really not surprised, our tourism is declining. It was like landing in a third world country!

Letter 2. Peter Jones, Open up air travel...

My response to this is as follows: I have to agree with Mr Jones, it has become shocking and totally unacceptable. We always travel the day before, making sure we get our connecting flight. Recently we had our flight cancelled with no further available flights that day or the next. Do we really have to start considering two-night stays in London, in order that we do not miss our connecting flight? At a cost of over £250pp, one way, we managed to get to Southampton the next morning then taxied up to Gatwick, again very costly. My mother was a Jersey girl and as a young child, if the weekend looked good, off we’d go for a night or two, to Jersey. Aurigny in those days were like a hop-on, hop-off air bus, no booking required, flights were every 20 or so minutes, 15 minutes and we were there, at a cost that matched the length of the time you were airborne, not this hideous cost of today. I would love to go back to this of yesteryear, we could air bus to Jersey and fill their direct flights up and travel directly to more places than we do at present, saving millions on not needing a longer runway. I honestly thought when I voted for Deputy Simon Vermeulen, he being an ex-hotelier and relied on visitors for trade, would have stepped up the mark on tourism, sea and air travel – obviously I, like so many, was wrong. We have very limited tourist industry now, but without a doubt, if nothing is done to this pitiful travel system we have getting to our island, sadly we will have none. Every island in any part of the world needs tourism, the population cannot sustain the economies, we need visitors. Around 25 years ago, I worked in a parfumerie, cruise visitors used to fill our shops all day, carrying with them a currency converter. They very rarely spent, as duty free was cheaper. So when I hear about needing more cruise ships I ask myself, why? They have paid for all food on-board, they may have coffee on land, but the majority will eat once they are back on board. I really don’t know who thinks they come ashore and spend thousands, because they don’t.

KAREN VAUDIN

Chellady

Route de Cobo

Castel

An Aurigny spokesman responds:

When travelling with Aurigny, customers can request special assistance in advance via the Manage My Booking section on our website or by contacting our customer services team on 01481 267 267 or via WhatsApp on 07436 422214.

Our team is here to make your journey as stress-free as possible and can provide support at every step if notified in advance. While our cabin crew focuses on passenger safety on-board, our trained ground staff in Guernsey are available to assist passengers disembarking and other needs on the ground.