I'd be very surprised if they use a 737-800 trans-atlantic! I don't think they maintain them to ETOPS standards so it might not be technically possible to use a 738? It has to be a 757-200 surely?

EDIT: The first MAN-Toronto flight on Friday 3rd November was opperated by G-SAAW, A Boeing 737-800. I'm amazed this is the case since it was scheduled to be a 767-300ER! Due to range limitations, the flight opperated via Reykjavik. Appently is was due to GSM's second 763 (G-CEFG), which was scheduled to opperate the flight, arriving late due to a blown slide while in Liverpool. I personally wouldn't like to go trans-atlantic on a 738, especially if I'd paid for premium-economy or business class seats. G-CDPT operated the inaugral MAN-CPT flight on Sat 4th Nov and left just after the scheduled 1555 departure time. Things should be ok for the next flights.

Darren

Yeah I know what you mean Darren - but it does seem that once the GLA-BOS flights start - it will be a non stop B737 800. Although I dont know, perhaps pond hopping on a piggy jet might be fun - at least ya should get on and off the aeroplane a bit quicker even though its single aisle.

Nivsy

Returned from Tenerife on Saturday ( should have been Friday ) with Globespan and a plane load of very unhappy passengers. We flew out on 23 October from Glasgow but received an e-mail on the 20th advising us our return flight time had been changed from 15.00 to 23.00 for operational reasons. On arrival at the airport at 20.30 the flight had been delayed further to 01.30. It eventually took off at 03.00 but what angered most people was the lack of information. Nobody from Globespan was available, the girls at the information desk did not have any details, all we could go by were the airport monitors. No refreshments were offered, not even when we boarded the plane. The pilot offered an apology, saying the flight was delayed because this was the inaugural flight of the ABERDEEN to Tenerife service. So Globespan fly to Tenerife from Glasgow on Friday morning, fly back to Aberdeen with an empty plane to pick up and return to Tenerife, while the Glasgow passengers have to have their flight time rearranged and then delayed even further because of these problems. Are we to believe Globespan did not have another aircraft they could have used.
I have e-mailed Globespan about this but don"t really expect much joy. We have used Globespan on many occasions and never had a problem, and won"t say we will never use them again because of this incident, but any more mishaps like this and we would have to reconsider.
Gordon.

Flyglobespan have launched an expansion at Durham Tees Valley (Teeside) for summer 2007. New flights to Pula, Mahon, Ibiza, Jersey and Nice. This is in response to bmibaby pulling out.

i fly with globespan on friday not looking forward to 2hrs on the tarmac at stanstead i work as a taxi controller in liverpool and have had customers ring to amend their booking because of the earlier take off and to say they were p--off is a bit of a understatement everyone of them said that they would'nt have booked with them if they had known 99% said they would'nt use them again. we are party who are 15 strong 11 flying from manchester and 4 of us from liverpool who said we would support are local airport more fool us

The reason for this was that G-CEFG didnt arrive into glasgow

until sat morning at 04.00. was late arriving from new zealand

G-CDPT did have its slide blown in LPL. but was repaired quickly

so unfortunately the fri yyz did go on the 737-800

both 767,s now in full operation, so all yyz flights will go on the 767.

As for the TFS not sold very well so instead of canx it, it now goes via STN until dec 20th

these things happen in aviation.

as for been in stanstead for 2 hours.. you wont be, they only have to load half a plane

im sure if the price is right from there local airport, they will book it..

nivsy

your correct the GLA/BOS will be on the 737-800

re-configured to a 2 class service.

no 757,s coming until next year ready for the summer.

2 brand new 737-700 coming early next year, feb and april i think

dazbo5.

get yourself to Cape Town

i believe the business and premium pax rolled off the aircraft after a very nice flight..

intranet

dazbo5.
get yourself to Cape Town
i believe the business and premium pax rolled off the aircraft after a very nice flight..

I will be in April (fingers crossed ) I'm booking 2 weeks in March to Mauritius in the next couple of weeks so as soon as thats sorted and I know the dates etc, I'll be booking my business class seats to CPT with GSM for my Great White Shark adventure off Simonstown
Darren

EDIT: Please feel free to re-post, leaving out insensitive remarks which may be offensive to our members living in Northern Ireland.
David HT Mod

Hi - Have just returned from Edinburgh airport - went to pick up relations flying in from Lanzarote on Globespan flight- should have landed at 19.40 but seems to have been a problem with plane and to cut a long story short - after many different departure times passengers boarded around 5 pm only to sit on tarmac until approximately 8.30 and then to be told they would not be flying tonite- pilot announced quote "plane was old and not suitable to fly over mountains in the wind" - so now passengers in hotel overnight and hoping to depart tommorow morning - how bizarre is that. Does Globespan operate an ageing fleet of planes?

samurd,

"plane was old and not suitable to fly over mountains in the wind"

A pilot actually come out an announced this? I find this unbeleivable. In any case, it isn't true! The aircraft you / they (?) would have been flying on, a Boeing 737-800, cruises at M0.785 (ground speeed 500ish mph). I presume he'll have meant the Pyranese on that route so I find that hard to beleive. If that is what he said, then he needs sacking for sensationalising the situation and probably instilling panic in his passengers. If the wind was the cause, then 10's of flights coming in to the UK from the Canaries and Spain would also have been delayed, which wasn't the case. I just find this statement hard to beleive. All aircraft, old or brand new have technical problems from time to time so I doubt very much that statement was the reason why the aircraft was delayed further. It was more likely to be the crews hours (or lack of them).

Does Globespan operate an ageing fleet of planes?

They actually have a relative young feet on their short haul aircraft flying Boeing 737-800's (one of the latest evolutions) along with -300 and -600 series, all of which are relatively new builts. Most aircraft are 1999 - 2005 builds.

Darren (in amazement!)

Relations have eventually arrived at 16:08 one day late! Plane was of the 737 series 150 passengers. But as already stated pilot did state qoute " when i get this pile of rubbish off the gound" the figures were - if it had been 55 tonnes they could have flown but as the weight was 68 tonnes and the wind was more than 10 k per hour the plane was unable to take off and reach a suitable height to clear the mountains in Lanzarote, not the Pyrenees. so begs the question - Why did Globespan use this aircraft on this particular route? Please note all other aircraft took off succesfully with no problems.

samurd wrote:

But as already stated pilot did state qoute "when i get this pile of rubbish off the gound"

What you actually stated earlier was:

pilot announced quote "plane was old and not suitable to fly over mountains in the wind"

It's only now he is being quoted as saying:

when i get this pile of rubbish off the gound

As Darren suggests, it would be quite remarkable and irresponsible for any professional pilot to make statements such as this. I would imagine that his employers would be bombarded with complaints from passengers as a result and if substantiated, appropriate action would be taken.

However, as you were not one of those passengers, it is perhaps inappropriate to attribute such statements to the pilot which cannot be substantiated here in the forum. It might be best left to those directly involved to take such matters up with Flyglobespan.

David

This is crazy there are no high mountains in Lanzarote
From memory planes never take off heading towards the relatively small mountains but head out over the sea

For many aircraft, including older versions of the 737, takeoff from Lanzarote towards the montains does present a problem. This means you have to restrict the takeoff weigt allowed - in practice this means leaving behind passengers or baggage, or making a fuel-stop enroute.

The alternative is to takeoff in the opposite direction (out over the sea) with a tailwind, however if winds are strong they may be above the aircraft's tailwind limits for takeoff.

Worth noting that takeoff perfromance assumes an engine failure just before liftoff, and the plane must still be able to clear all obstacles (terrain, buildings etc) with an engine out.

This photo may explain the specific problems that some aircraft suffer at Lanzarote;
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0854341/L/

Hi Fly FCA - I think you have hit the nail on the head in summing up exactly what the problem was with Thursday's flight. As you point out there are mountains in Lanzarote which have to be cleared. Unfortunately the pilot may have been a little too strong in his comments about the plane but at the end of the day he had the safety of his passengers foremost in his mind and took all into consideration (e.g wind speed, weight of aircraft etc.) before making the desicion not too fly. In our minds it is Globespan as a company that is at fault in this matter as they would be aware of how weather conditions can change in Lanzarote and obviously the aircraft was not suitable for this particular journey.

Have been looking at Globespan site for the next few weeks they have Glasgow / Tenerife at £30 return available most days except Tues & Fri Good times as well

anybody know if globespan will be flying to tenerife from liverpool in the summer not shown in their summer schedules

Not sure about summer L'pool to Tenerife, we have booked Feb 07 L'pool to Tenerfie with them months ago and received an email from them yesterday saying that our flight will now go via Stansted outbound and inbound