Should I write off my Flybe compensation of £220?
Q I was waiting on £220 flight compensation from Flybe, which was approved in early January, but I hadn’t received it. I presume I am not getting it now?
Julie A
A At 4am yesterday morning, the Civil Aviation Authority announced that the second incarnation of the UK regional airline Flybe had gone out of business. Almost three years after
the first version went bust, the near-identical successor (same planes, same brand, similar network) also failed.
The airline’s collapse hits several cohorts. Most of concern are the staff, some of whom were working for Flybe Mk 1 and have therefore seen their employer close down twice. Fortunately, demand for aviation professionals is high, and within a few hours both easyJet and British Airways had appealed for Flybe staff to contact them with a view to a job.
Passengers are next on my list: present and future. Those with immediate travel plans will need to rely upon the good nature of other airlines (and even the LNER train operator, which offered free transportation) to help out. British Airways and easyJet are offering “rescue fares” for around £50 one way including baggage on routes that paralleled Flybe. Longer term, fares are likely to rise a little and options reduce as a result of the collapse, but in the overall scheme of things the new Flybe was a minor player.
I am not sure if the next group, investors, deserve much sympathy: had they sought friendly and impartial advice from observers of aviation, they would have been warned off the whole project of reviving a tarnished brand.
But the final segment of interested parties – unsecured creditors like you – have definitely been let down. I am afraid that anyone who had a legitimate claim under European air passengers’ rights rules for a delayed or cancelled flight with Flybe is likely to end up penniless. The carrier earned the nickname “FlyMaybe” because of its frequent cancellations, and possibly owes hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation. You can register a claim with the administrators by emailing flybecustomers@interpathadvisory.com and explaining your situation. It may be that they can recover a few pence in every pound owed to you. But in your position, I am afraid I would write off the debt.
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