Left, yet again, alone and uncared for in an airport

I really feel I have to speak up, on behalf of others, on the appalling handling of a scheduled flight from Bristol on 7 January. As a regular traveller (with no other competitive options) with Aurigny I have become accustomed to emails notifying me of but not exclusively:

n change of routes

n change of times

n options to cancel as no other option

n change of original departure or arrival airport

My children and I awoke early in the Cotswolds to catch a taxi transfer to the Cheltenham Spa train station for our onward journey to Bristol airport. Checking the news, snowfall the day before had caused disruption at the airport but I could see flights were moving on the airport website in Bristol and in Guernsey. No notification by email had been sent to advise of any possible delays, disruptions or bad weather.

On arrival in good time at Bristol airport we were greeted by a friendly Aurigny handling desk agent who excitedly checked us in and when asked did say that the flight had not left Guernsey yet but was hopeful that a delay, if any, would not be long.

At this point I continued to check my emails and noted that I had not received email notifications from Aurigny.

Once through security the monitors advised us to wait for gate notification to board.

At 11.33am I received an important email notification from Aurigny with no information attached.

Then at 11.56am and 12.33pm I received important email notifications advising me that the flight was delayed. The airport monitors however giving information that boarding gates would be coming shortly.

At 13.15pm we received another email saying that the flight was cancelled and that we could get a refund via email

At 13.24pm – this is the best bit – my email notification stated that we had been booked on a flight from Birmingham the next day at 12.45pm. Interesting as we are sat in Bristol airport.

An announcement was then made in the airport terminal to go to gate 1 and collect our luggage. We were security checked by the police and then sent to the baggage carousel where our luggage had been dumped by a nearby random carousel.

Travelling, luckily, with a thirteen and fourteen-year-old we quickly made a plan and booked the last three seats – at my additional expense – at full price one way from Southampton to Guernsey, with Blue Islands, on their last flight.

At no point had any Aurigny handler representative made any contact with us to check our safety and planning having been effectively thrown out of Bristol airport.

Transferring to Southampton from Bristol we quickly realised that the train was not an option for us as it would take three hours – having sat at Bristol airport now for nearly three hours. We considered a hire car but I had no driving licence with me. So, again, at my expense, we booked an Uber taxi that took two hours to get us down to Southampton in time.

Since returning to Guernsey I have received several more emails confirming cancellation of the Birmingham flight, rebooking the next day and various hotel confirmations. I had cancelled all bookings on the Sunday and requested a refund.

In conclusion, this story and many others need to be highlighted for all to read as this service is no longer acceptable. We had a flight one week prior to this be cancelled in London and had to make alternative arrangements for the night in Gatwick. One week later I was left, yet again, alone and uncared for in an airport with my children. How would this work for elderly or those with really young children? We need a more supportive airline in Guernsey, now. This can’t go on, surely?

VANESSA WILLIS

An Aurigny spokesperson responds

We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation of this flight and we thank all our customers for their feedback as it helps us to improve our service. We also encourage customers to send feedback via email to customerservices@aurigny.com and via our post-flight survey – this data is recorded and analysed to identify recurring themes and specific areas for improvement.

Our team work hard to keep our customers updated on their options on the day of travel, and we do appreciate that sometimes this can lead to multiple communications as events unfold, however, it’s important to us we keep everyone informed. In the case where customers are asked to travel from an alternative airport, we will cover reasonable subsistence and transport costs, as appropriate.