unfortunatly if its less than 12 hrs differnce or if they put in a technical stop [pick up at gatwick on way] there is nothing that you can do, Turkey like Bulgaris from the UK always seems to be night flights..

Freedom Flights is simply a seat only booking department of XL so the airline probably hasn't been changed (although they do seem to act as brokers for other airlines). On their own website Freedom Flights don't offer Glasgow-Dalaman to the general public at all . It is possible that the actual flight has been changed (ie it has a different flight number and isn't just retimed) but because they've advised you so far in advance the best you could hope for is a refund.

Thanks for the info but I decided to cancel holiday and look for something elsewhere.

Hi all,

I am just wondering if anyone has any personel experience in travelling with Scottravel, i have been on their website and all looks ok, i also read that they use Free Bird airlines??

Therefore if anyone could clarify this and or have any feedback on their experiences that they could share, i would be grateful.

regards

Craig

was ok when i used them cant remember airline company, but found holidays4u cheaper onur airlines

hiya, we travel with them 14th june, will let you know when we get back

Been with them acouple of times and they were fine. Prices are amongst the cheapest though some of their apartments can be a bit iffy. Check out the apartments before you book on this website. I find that on holiday once we get there we do our own thing and raely need to see the reps

Stewart

Hi Stewart,

thanks for the post...

I have been to my aparts before just need a flight but as all flights were expensive, i found that scottravel went to my aparts and it was cheaper t book a package deal with them.

So i know my aparts will be fine, just did not know what freebird airlines were like( on board details, prone to delays etc...)and what scottrael were like as a whole!

thanks

craig

Hi,yas Scottravel use freebird or at least from edin to dalaman any way we are going on sunday but have been checking flight for a few weeks now and it has been pretty consistent with going out on time.Avril

hi, we booked with scottravel september 08 to go in august 09 to St Nicholas Park Apartments, Hisaronu, Turkey, flying with Freebird. however last week we looked on their nice new website which has a facility to check your bookingso we did and found that our flights had changed to Onur Air and the flight times were now night flights. i looked at reviews on Onur Air and all they seem to say was delays, delays, delays so i phoned scottravel to tell them i was not happy with these changes. They didn't seem to be bothered and stated that they were within their rights. i then decided to email St Nicholas Park Apartments and ask them if they had a booking for my family i then gave them a copy of my booking invoice and reference number, they said there was no booking for me and they have never heard of Scottravel. After phoning scottravel yet again we then cancelled our holiday after some heated discussions and they finally agreed to give my deposit back, i phoned them 10 minutes later after we had all cooled down and realised i could not get this holiday for the same price and asked them to reinstate the holiday, they said ok and everything was all back to normal, no problem, they then phoned me back 4 days later and said oops sorry the apartments are no longer avaliable and that i could have my money back or book another holiday, i will never ever try and go cheap again, and i will never ever reccommend scottravel, i dont think the accommodation was ever there for me and the flights i think you just have to take a chance or pay to go with the big boys.

The holiday would have been there, but Turkey is so popular this year I wouldnt be surprised if it was booked out within minutes of you cancelling the first time. They're not a big company and seeing the same sort of situation regarding a flight change happen to one of my customers last year you are lucky to get your deposit back.. my customer didn't. The customer even threatened court action but backed down when he realised he was tied in by the T&Cs.

Companies such as Scott Travel who offer bargain holidays to places such as Turkey do rely on third-party airlines as they are not big enough to afford their own aircraft, let alone their own airline so they are subject to the airlines cancellations and re-scheduling. They don't do it on purpose, very often the time shift actually costs them money in writing to all passengers and amending all the invoices.

Good luck finding a new package.. Thomas cook have some decent SC packages at the minute or Olympic for Greece.

you are obviously a travel agent this still doesnt aswer the fact as we had been to st nicholas park before we know people there yet they had no reference to my booking with any agent and never even heard of scottravel so what i was really going to get was allocation on arrival went with thomas cook last year and it was fine should have done it again as for sorting out my holiday i did and i done it myself and if you want a job done right as they say do it yourself

Yes, I am an agent. A very good one.

The answer to your question very likely is that Scott travel have a third party company helping them with their room reservations. This company will give them an allocation of rooms to sell at certain properties and the hotel group (in this case St Nicholas)will deal directly with them. Scott Travel then send over the rooming lists (called a passenger manifest) about 2 weeks before you are due to arrive to the beds company who will then send it on to the hotel(s). When it is done this way it gives Scott Travel a better position to negotiate room rates as there is a job lot done at once. This is also why they didnt know who Scott travel are as rooms are arranged for many companies.

I'm glad you managed to get it sorted. Maybe it's the way I read it but it seems you didnt like my explaination above much.

hi, i appreciate you trying to explain and i am in no way annoyed with what you said and tried to explain, in fact perhaps thats what scottravel should have tried to do. I did miss out the bit where when i phoned them, it was saturday late afternoon about 5 and they said that nothing could happen until monday so when i asked to reinstate they said it was no problem because when i cancelled on the saturday afternoon it was too late to act on that anyway so therefore the holiday could not actually be cancelled. When i phoned monday they said no problem its all ok and i sincerely apologised for the trouble i caused them i even sent them flowers by way of an apology. They then phoned thursday and told me that the agent had already let my room go and that they had to reinstate it within 48 hours, which they say they did on the phone, but their agent denies this and says they hadn't got it in writing hence i dont really believe it was ever avaliable or my holiday only cost £1500 they could easily sell it for far more, as could i. That ,is why i am more than suspicious and i do not have any grievances with any travel agents and infact i found thomas cook and thomson to have been more than helpful in the past and i will definately go with these again next time, always got what i paid for.

SCOT TRAVEL / SCOT TRAVEL HOLIDAYS / SCOTTRAVELHOLIDAYS.CO.UK / GULETCRUISEONLINE.CO.UK

Scot Travel has ceased trading with immediate effect.

For more information from the CAA, please click here.

David

Scottish operator collapses

The collapse of Turkey specialist operator ScotTravel has left around 1,500 holidaymakers abroad.

The Scottish company operated an accommodation-only programme, which is not financially protected under the law

It also ran a package tour programme protected under the Civil Aviation Authority's ATOL protection scheme.

Package holiday claims will be handled by the CAA

But customers with accommodation-only bookings are being advised to contact their travel agent for help or ABTA's claims handling partner on 01243 621500.

Scottravel, based in Main Street, Mossend, Bellshill, near Glasgow, also traded as ScotTravel Holidays.

It failed yesterday (Thursday) after being unable to meet its liabilities.

A statement on the company's website said: "We regret to inform you that as from 4 June 2009 ScotTravel Holidays has ceased trading.

"Any customers with enquiries should refer to the CAA website at http://www.caa.co.uk. For any forward departures passengers should not make their way to the airport."


With permision from Travelmole

Seen this on tv, and thios couple had just booked a holiday to turkey on wed, the following day the mother got a phone call from her daughter telling her Scottravel have gone collapsed

This family seamingly spent just under £4000, and looks like it gone

I booked a holiday to marmaris with Scot Travel in feb 09. We paid all the holiday in March. Was sent a letter on 20th May to be told a change of airlines and flight times which were a lot later. When I phoned scot travel was told there was nothing I could do !!!. Unknown to me the previous airline went burst. Got a call from my cousin late on 4th june to ask if it was scot travel we were going with and was told that they went burst.
Really disapointed as this was 3 days before we were due to go. Cannot afford another holiday and how do you tell a 4 year that he is'nt going on holiday. I think that Scot travel have known that they were in trouble for a long time but kept taking money off honest hard working people like myself who cant afford to get another holiday. Hopefully I'll get my money back but what good is that in 3-4 months time by that time my wee boy will have started school.Could rant on about this all day

Hi, sorry to hear that so many people have been ripped off by Scottravel i hate to say it but all my suspicions were correct they never did have my accommodation and i dont think they ever had the flight as they too changed my flight, i was a lucky one and cancelled before they went bust and got a full refund as for the agent that tried to explain why the accommodation wasnt avaliable nor the flights but many thanks to the agent that did try to explain. I have now rebooked a holiday for July with Buzz Travel and my flights seperately. hope this all goes well and good luck to everyone who's had the misfortune of crossing paths with scottravel and i would reccommend Buzz Travel and if all goes as well as should i will be writing again to let people know, once again good luck.