My personal thinking is that you will have to wait 8 weeks until the official changeover as anything could happen between now and then, eg it could fall through.

luci

What is the reason for you not wanting to fly with Easyjet?

No problem with Easyjet, you get what you pay for. The flight we booked to Cyprus had available movies, food included, reserved seating, and extra luggage allowance, this is what we were expecting, so to be moved to less is not acceptable.

Kaz.

I was under the impression that the sale to Easyjet included 15 of the GB Airways aeroplanes according to the official announcement.

I can't see that they're going to buy the planes as part of the sale when they say "livery will be changed to Easyjet" and then not use them, moreover they're not going to rip out TV's surely ! ? So you may be panicking for no reason as the planes used IMO will more than likely be the ex GB planes and therefore have the inflight entertainment in tact.

Just a thought before you do anything hasty. I have to say as a regular flyer to Cyprus of at least 5 times a year I rarely watch the movie as I've either already seen it or the position of the TV makes it impossible to enjoy the picture. If I'd paid a decent price for the flight and it was only the entertainment that was being withdrawn it certainly wouldn't stop me taking the flight. In fact before Ajet (Helios) went into liquidation I used them an awful lot and couldn't honestly say they were better than worse than a no frills flyer, the same could be said for Monarch Scheduled which took these Ajet slots over.

Two "problems" -

1. Does GB actually own the planes or lease them? If it's the latter then it could be bad news! The easyjet press release specifically mentions integrating the company within the easyjet business model - and that does not include frills! The planes could be returned or swapped for more basic models.

2. The press release makes a big point of them aquiring Gatwick take off slots not routes. They could just scrap the route to use the slot for something that fits their needs better - bear in mind their long running battle with the management at Luton. When Flybe bought British Regional some of the routes were simply scrapped.

As for the refund, I've no doubt it will be every penny of what you paid but easyjet are a bit gentler than certain rivals so there may be sweeteners as well.

Thanks Steve for your reply.

Under any other circumstances, I would wait and see, but this is a Christmas gift, and would prefer to sort this out before the 25th December. If not sorted then I will have to explain and wait until Easyjet decide what they are doing. I have no problem with Easyjet, but if you book there flights then you can expect the basic, but this was booked as I stated earlier with extras to make there trip more special.

After all these years of DIY, this is my first problem and have no doubt that I will gain a full refund if required. I do now understand why they are waiting the 8 weeks and will just have to be patient.

Kaz.

Kaz45

hi i was in the same predicament well kind of

i go to MAllorca every August and alwasy book my tickets when i get bcakc the year before, so i had already booked my tickets for Aug 08,got the email from BA to say that they had sodl to Easyjet adn that Easyjey would release there dates for the summer in MArch i am nto willign to travel to BA so called up there customer servcies explained and was toild my refund would be wiht me in a few weeks imagine my surprise this morngiun when i received an email from BA to gove me my refund trasnaction number and to say that it had been authorised and would appear on my card in afew days

wLondon,

Did you receive your refund from GB Airways?

Yes I did

it went stright back onto my card last week

r u stil having trouble with them

Thanks for letting me know wLondon. I spoke to GB Airways this morning and they told me that the takeover is anticipated to go ahead on 1st December and that they could not give a refund before then. I pointed out that members on here had received refunds but they said I must be confused as no one was being allowed to cancel As it is only another two weeks to wait, I will wait and see what happens. I would prefer, however, to cancel now and buy alternative seats with Monarch while they are still a similar price to GB .... and while they still have seats! I am not confident that Easyjet will take over the longer routes from GB i.e. Egypt and Turkey.

That is very weird

but i have defo got my refund it went straight back into my card

the reason why i might of got my refund is there is talk of Easyjest just suign the runway slots for the Palma flights as they already have flights scheduled to Palma - but i checked again and yes i have my refund

I dont doubt you wLondon, indeed other HT members have confirmed they have received refunds. Did you have a flexible ticket? Ours are just the standard non-refundable ones but I had hoped in the circumstances they would have refunded but am wondering if others who received refunds had flexible tickets?

I am rather puzzled about this.

I have read the information on the websites and it is stated that flights will be run as a BA franchise until March 2008.

It does state that anyone who flies after March 30th may cancel and obtain a refund. That would also explain why some people may have received a refund already.

My understanding of what I have read is that any bookings and services booked on flights before then will be honoured. The effective date for change to cheap and cheerful is March 2008 not October 31st 2007

If that is the case I cannot see what the problem is.

fwh

FWH,
You are quite right in that there isn't a problem. As you say, it is a full GB service provision up to the end of March and then it becomes Easy Jet after that. They have stated that they will operate all the flights for the season and then review. They have not stated explicitly that they will reduce the service offered on these flights, but it should be expected that they will. If an individual does not like whatever service the new owners offer once they take over, they can obtain a full refund, even if it is a non-refundable ticket.
Obviously this then presents a challenge to find another flight (assuming they still wish to travel), but if it is so important to get there the they need not cancel. It will be interesting to see what easy Jet are going to charge for these flights once they assume responsibility for them compared to what people booked on post-March flights have already paid to GB.
I have just last week booked 4 return flights to Gran Canaria with GB for the beginning of March (pre-take over) for thr princely sum of £90.00 each - I think that Easy would be hard pushed to beat that, even if they reduce the level of service. Of course, for the price I paid I get an allocated seat and a meal and I confess that I do not like the scrum of Easyjet boarding (the food I don't mind either way), but if allocated seats are important I will simply book with another scheduled carrier such as Iberia in the future (did that to Tenerife a couple of years ago and it was great, even with a couple of hours stop-over in Madrid airport!).

The only thing that I wish GB/Easy were doing different is I would like to see more info from Easy as regards what service is going to be offered on the former GB flights come April - just to put people's minds at rest.

Cheers,
Jet

CAzzholly

my ticket was just a normal ticket from BA not flexi it was economy

well good luck anyway

As I explained in a different section. It is not because it is easyjet that I wanted to change my next August flights to Tenerife. It is because they could not guarantee the same day flight. I have now purchased more seats on Monarch because BA said I could have a refund. Only to change their mind the next morning. I have now put out £ 2000 on flights.
We are travelling with two other families and wanted to make sure that we would arrive on same day as we had villas booked. Also, if the day changed and we had to cancel easyjet the flights on Monarch etc., would have been too much. We paid £ 100 per person more on Monarch, My sister in law paid more than that, and once she had booked it went up £ 100 again.

Can anyone tell me the phone number that they got a refund on.

I spoke to phone person, supervisor, email message - reply was wait 8 weeks plus.

I could do with this refund.

Min,sorry to read about your situation - it is awful that BA told you a refund would be available and then changed their minds after you had booked alternative flights.

I was tempted to purchase alternative tickets with Monarch (Gatwick-Dalaman) although these are £300 more expensive than GB but they are adamant I can't have a refund in case the takeover does not complete.

Luton Airport is a 10-minute drive for me and I frequently make use of Easyjet for city breaks with my husband as they offer some competitively priced routes and I have booked with them to go to Budapest for the New Year ..... but I wouldn't choose to fly as a family on a 4 hour flight with them. I used them this July to fly to Tuscany (only a two hour flight) yet they ran out of soft drinks and all food within the exception of pizza within 20 minutes! We had requested pre-boarding (my daughter is autistic) and yet were boarded last and the crew had to move people, as there were no seats together, in order that I could sit with my daughter. Hubby and son sat rows apart somewhere at the back and I spent the two hour flight enduring nasty snide remarks from the people who were moved to the rows behind. The whole experience was very distressing.

I purposely chose an airline who offered guaranteed seating for next year only for this not to happen. I have spoken to Easyjet and they have said to contact them when the flight is on their system but all they could offer was priority boarding which didn't work for us last year!

Our only option is to cancel when Easyjet take over and lose a minimum of £300 booking alternative flights

Min

If you received a email from BA stating you can have a refund they will have to honour it. Go up the chain of command tell you were offered a refund and then went and booked flights with monarch. Stick to your guns, you will get a refund in the end.

So is it possible to get a refund? Just looking at the BA website now they have better flights avilable and cheaper, we want to book on these ones and get a refund, will this be possible before the takeover?