Well we arrived at 9pm as instructed to check in for our midnight flight. We endured the nightmare that is Terminal 2 Manchester Airport [ every where closed apart from Alpha Retail and rather a grubby Burger King which had run out of tea, coffee and ice cream!]
So we waited and waited until 2 am with no apologies for the delay or information up on any board.
Finally a bad tempered and dismissive Duty Manager informed us that the flight had been cancelled owing to insufficient crew.
So here we all are ,back in rainy Stockport waiting to return to airport at 11:45 to check in again!
Total taxi cost to date£55!
Gaye,
You poor thing! How awful for you & how frustrating. I can't believe they let you sit there for hours without saying anything to you?
Hopefully when you go back again there won't be any more delays & you can simply hop on the plane & get going.
I wish you a speedy journey & a fantastic break!
BeckyB x
Sorry to hear that. How annoying.
Hope you get off soon and enjoy your holiday.....
riggers....
omg we fly with airmalta on monday im worried now.
we were delayed 15 hours in may .im praying now even though im not religigous (sp)
Hi Gay - jeez that doesn't sound good at all does it. I'm going to monitor their outgoing flights now until I come out in September so see what's what! I haven't had any responses to taxi share as yet and I flight out with Air Malta - jokingly I said I may be the only one on the plane ... maybe and I will have to fly the darn thing!
Am not happy
We were dalayed coming home in May (Air Malta) same reason given... no crew
hi kes - we have watched the Manchester disasters of flight delays and read about it on here. Every time we looked at it in the airport, the flights from there were in a mess. What the **** is going on?
It isn't so bad on the way back because your holiday is over, but it would p**s me off badly if I had to wait a whole day to get to Arillas when we arrived, like we heard about from a forum member earlier. And at your own expense. And nobody even bothers to tell you.
The Greeks might not be organised but they make the Brit Tour Operators look positively chaotic. We only ever take the package when it is cheaper than the flight only.
No crew?????????
Phil
I would bet Air Malta do not have crew based in the UK and they ran out of legal hours to operate the flight due to the delay, looking at the time you have been told to check-in it seems the crew are taking minimum rest here in the UK and then will be operating your flight tomorrow.
I hope it all goes better for you tomorrow.
Spot on...we have never left Manchester on time..on average 1hr late taking off and thats around 15 flights ..also don`t seem to matter who the carrier is... its the "CORFU - GATE CONSPIRICY"
(http://www.smiliegifs.de/SMILIES/Aliens/1a.gif)
Now we have some light on the subject. We have never set off on time from Manchester on time either, or going back. "Well maybe once"
riggers....
Gaye....what a nightmare. I hope as I write this you are safely tucked up in your beds in Arillas....
Hi everybody
Just back this morning, 16 hours late thanks to the wonderful Air Malta!! Never again!! On the way out we had a 3 and half hr delay (that meant we flew at 3.30 AM!) and coming back, we were supposed to fly out Sat morning 06:20am and ended up flying at 10:30pm Sat night!!! They ended up sending us to a 4 star hotel for a few hours but the waiting around we endured was horrendous. I really pitied the people with small children. I will do a full hol post later as this did nothing to take away my fabulous holiday!!
this is getting worse. its as bad as thomas cook .
sorry joe.
i fly tomorrow at 1.30pm wonder what time we will end up in arillas.
we are taking laptop so will et you all know when we arrive
sue and ian.
Delays have been horrific this year across the board from all carriers, this is one thing that cannot be down to cost cutting as safety is paramount. The mergers may be a large factor as 2 flying programs try and work as one and we all know the airport themselves are getting more restrictive taking longer and longer to pass through each year but it still does not explain the smaller carriers Air Malta were more or less spotless until recently.
Airlines need business, especialy repeat business more than ever at the moment so this could not be happening at a worse time, excuse the corporate lingo but our flying programs should synergize by the start of next summer so there should be a much better on time performance albiet with slighly less frequency.
Joe... I wonder if these delays are happening with flights to other European destinations or is it just the Corfu factor?
In a previous posts there was a comment re Corfu Airport having to upgrade there technology etc.. due to EEC regulations...
Oh for the days of the Stagecoach
(http://www.lafilleduperenoel.net/smilies/cat/transport/transport-lfdpn-038.gif)
i was delayed going to tunisia for 15 hours that was with thomas cook
Delays delays everywhere, all destinations and all carriers :)
Only seems to be in North of England Joe. We took off an nearly an hour EARLY this last time from Bristol. Arrived at Annas at 1.30 instead of 2.30.
And on our way back we watched loads of people at Kapodistrias airport who were suffering long delays on flights to Manchester.
Probably not the airline or the tour operators who are responsible - what is really going on??
Phil
link below gives detailed statistics on Manchester Airport departure delays....
& we can`t blame the Luftwafe........ (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/dirtbox/pics/muttley.gif)
(http://www.abgraphix.com/gifs/images/transports/avions/avions010.gif)
http://www.flightontime.info/charter/charter.html
We have the summer 08 stats so far and believe me they are pretty much constant all over, still putting it all into perspective you have a much higher chance of being on time than being delayed.
It's worth mentioning to that a lot of Corfu flights are slot 3 meaning the aircraft has done two other rotations that day beforehand meaning delays picked up earlier will spill over.
I think a lot of the problems are down to the technology being used at Corfu airport. I am pretty sure it does not have a fully automated Instrument Landing System and this would mean that in adverse weather conditions (Fog and Mist) Pilots cannot pick out the runway. We experienced this on our Monarch flight from Luton which was due to land at 5-00am on the 19th July. The plane was on it's final approach and just about to land when the runway was suddenly shrouded in mist and the landing was aborted - I actually found it quite exciting as we went up again like a rocket. The pilot came on the intercom and said he lost sight of the runway. We flew around for a bit but were diverted to Brindisi where we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours to wait for the mist to clear. I think quite a few flights were diverted to various places that morning. This then has a knock on effect as all the slots are missed.
Apologies for being a bit of a Anorak!
I must be in the minority here, we fly from Manchester Airport and have been going to Corfu since 2005, we havent been delayed once, great flights always on time and all with different carriers.
Sharon x
Sharon...let us all know what flights you are on in future then we can book the same ..
:)
air malta was a great flight really enjoyed it
Glad it went well for you Sue....
Quote from: robinm on August 04, 2008, 04:58:47 PM
I think a lot of the problems are down to the technology being used at Corfu airport. I am pretty sure it does not have a fully automated Instrument Landing System and this would mean that in adverse weather conditions (Fog and Mist) Pilots cannot pick out the runway. We experienced this on our Monarch flight from Luton which was due to land at 5-00am on the 19th July. The plane was on it's final approach and just about to land when the runway was suddenly shrouded in mist and the landing was aborted - I actually found it quite exciting as we went up again like a rocket. The pilot came on the intercom and said he lost sight of the runway. We flew around for a bit but were diverted to Brindisi where we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours to wait for the mist to clear. I think quite a few flights were diverted to various places that morning. This then has a knock on effect as all the slots are missed.
Apologies for being a bit of a Anorak!
From one anorak to another Corfu was upgraded last year, while not full ILS it is much better and our planes can get in when previously they could not.
However, even with the most modern airfield in the world, if the pilot cannot see it or the view distance is down then the aircraft will abort. Corfu Town often suffers from low cloud and mist especially in the airport basin, but to be honest we have not had many delays this summer due to that, as I mentioned most of the delays are either tech or follow-ons, Corfu istself creates very little delays.
SOOOOOOOOOO we checked in as instructed again at 12 noon for a 2pm departure. We boarded and then were left sitting on the plane until 4.30 as the luggage went missing and then the pilot couldn't get clearance to take off. We had paid for an inflight mealbut there was no hot food on board so had to purchase extortionately priced sandwiches!
We finally arrived in Arillas at 11 pm instead of 6.30 a.m tired,hungry and angry!
That said, we returned this morning with no delays, having had a FANTASTIC fortnight at our favourite holiday spot.
We ended up landing in Brindisi one year, after circling for ages we had to divert for more fuel there and then back again. 5 hours on the plane that time! Also it was raining in Brindisi which didnt bode well but was fine when we landed in Corfu. Not Air Malta though.
kes, good info thanks.
Can't believe you're back already Gaye!!! Glad you enjoyed....
my brother went to Jamaica last oct, flying from manchester. Sat on runway for 6 hours while engine was fixed were offered one orange juice and shortbread biscuit, then pilots were out of time so had to wait a further 2 hours for crew total of 8 hours sat on runway. Diabolical Jamaica airlines im told
Air Malta! Got to Manchester 3 hours before the flight was due to take off, checked the luggage in, the flight board came up that the flight would take off at 1am......waited in terminal 2.....thought about going for a snack but the tables in the cafe (if you can call it that) were piled high with rubbish...... Obviously all the staff must leave at 10pm and leave the place filthy!!!!! It was so dirty...ugh! Food all over the floor and also all around the terminal were empty glasses from the bar..(they had shut the bar but no one had collected the empties.....what a health hazard!)..what is the matter with people now a days? I don't believe it! Anyway, at 1am they announced our flight was boarding. They lined us all up and then told us there was no crew! Ha! Ha! Ha!.......Two o'clock arrived and we finally boarded the plane. When we were all seated the captain told us that unfortunately our luggage wasn't on board..........Don't you just love 'em? The plane had been at Manchester airport since 10pm........GGGGRRRRRR
Reading that I'm glad we live in Glastonbury. Bristol Airport is no picture, but at least they try and keep it clean. (Try being the operative word.)
They need to take a lesson from our Arillan friends. Everything there is wiped, washed, polished, scrubbed, or dusted. We asked Hannah in the Coconut how they kept the mirrors behind the bar so spotless, and she said "hard work." Perhaps BAA need to go there on a training course........
Phil
If i am being honest i have not seen manchester Airport in such a bad way (Terminal 2) is where we normally fly from.
But i must admit the cleaning standards aren't like Corfu Airport.
riggers....
never seen manchester airport a mess.
we flew from terminal 2 and it was so clean
Glad that everything was o.k. for you Sue re flight and state of T2. I think that it depends on the time. We were there from 10 pm until 2 a.m. and we were completely on our own...not an official or indeed any member of staff there atall. The place was filthy.