Flybe Airlines Solvency

[nyfeds]

We are booked with Flybe Airlines to transport us from Southampton to Amsterdam.  We are now learning that Flybe is in trouble and may cease to exist.  Does anyone here have any insight into this British airline?

 

Flybe has warned investors that the airline is finished unless they back a sale to a consortium led by Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Air.

In a statement issued late on Thursday, Flybe says if a sale to the Connect Airways group is not approved the airline would be wound up and shareholders will not receive any money.

The struggling regional operator would be bought by Connect for £2.2m if the proposal is approved at an annual meeting on 4 March.

In the statement, Flybe acknowledged that the offer was "disappointingly low" but emphasised that it was the only rescue plan on the table.

"If the scheme is not approved, the Flybe directors intend to take steps to wind-up the company and shareholders are likely to receive no value for their shares in Flybe," the airline says.

[LHT28]

YIKES  Denise

Will your insurance  cover you if things go pear shaped??

 

Check KLM from SOU  if you can get a refund

 

Saw this  also

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/17438864.flybe-reassures-customers-after-rival-flybmi-goes-into-administration/

[pinkpanther52]

Yes Flybe are in rather a precarious position just now. 

 

I was considering booking them myself as if using a credit card in the UK you can get your money back if the airline goes in to administration  (not sure if that is a thing in the US) but ultimately have not because of their highly restrictive hand luggage policy. 

 

When is your flight nyfeds? Can you wait till afternoon the 4th March to see what happens.

 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, nyfeds said:

We are booked with Flybe Airlines to transport us from Southampton to Amsterdam.  We are now learning that Flybe is in trouble and may cease to exist.  Does anyone here have any insight into this British airline?

 

Things are exactly as it says: There is an offer on the table, and shareholders are basically being told that if they refuse the offer they will probably get nothing back as the airline will probably just go under and shut down. As the latter does not look like an idle threat but is a very real prospect if the current offer is refused (a previous deal with the same buyer fell apart, and Flybe had already consulted insolvency practitioners by the time the new offer was made), personally I think that there's a good chance that the current offer will be accepted. But there is real risk here.

 

If the airline goes bust, will you get a refund from your credit card company? You would from a UK credit card company, but you might want to check whether the same applies to your credit card. Whether or not you get a refund, you'd still have to get yourself to Amsterdam by some other means. As your ship arrives in Southampton on 19 April 2019, this means that KLM from Southampton to Amsterdam will not be an option as the service ends on 30 March 2019. So your options are really to fly from another London airport - but there are flights from both Heathrow and Gatwick (as well as all the other London airports) so this should not be difficult to arrange.

 

In your shoes, what I would personally do is spend some Avios now (British Airways frequent flyer miles) on award tickets from London to Amsterdam that day (assuming I have got the correct day for your planned flight). There are at least two business class seats on BA2762 from Gatwick at 1610, BA8459 from City at 1705 and BA442 from Heathrow at 1800; and at least two business class and two economy class seats on BA2764 from Gatwick at 1810 and BA444 from Heathrow at 1935. If the sale is approved on 4 March, I would then simply cancel those award tickets for the relatively small cancellation fee that BA imposes - it's cheap insurance. If you have frequent flyer miles with some airline, and a strategy like this would work, that is worth thinking about.

 

Otherwise, there's an unenviable choice between buying non-refundable tickets now if you can get some for relatively low prices, or scrambling for the last remaining seats at shorter notice if Flybe does go under.

[LHT28]

No KLM from SOU

well that throws a spanner in the works

[BBWC]

Similar thing happened to us. We had a flight booked with KLM from Amsterdam to Southampton. Then they cancelled their service and put us on Flybe. We used BA avios to book business class AMS-LHR as an alternative (their distance based award chart makes short flights quite cheap). Since we booked with KLM not Flybe, I assume we could get our money refunded if Flybe goes bust.

[JimmyTheSaint]

There are two British airlines with similar names, Flybe and Flybmi. They are two separate, unrelated companies

 

The airline that has gone bust is Flybmi. 

 

Flybe is operating as normal and taking bookings via their website. The website for Flybmi gives a message that they have ceased operations and entered administration.

[Globaliser]

28 minutes ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

There are two British airlines with similar names, Flybe and Flybmi. They are two separate, unrelated companies

 

The airline that has gone bust is Flybmi. 

 

Flybe is operating as normal and taking bookings via their website. The website for Flybmi gives a message that they have ceased operations and entered administration.

 

You are correct, but that doesn't mean that the OP is safe.

 

Flybmi is already bust.

 

Flybe may go bust shortly.

[nyfeds]

Thanks for the replies.  We will await the March 4 meeting and then consider our options.  Unfortunately, we do not have Avios miles to spend.  Will have to check with our credit card if a Flybe refund is in order.  We also take out travel insurance to fall back on, if need be.

 

Denise

Edited February 18, 2019 by nyfeds

[Globaliser]

58 minutes ago, nyfeds said:

We also take out travel insurance to fall back on, if need be.

 

Look at it carefully before you buy it to make sure that it includes cover for such an event.

 

Even if you don't have Avios, you may want to think about whether you have other frequent flyer miles that could help you to set up a backup strategy.

[BBWC]

Denise,

in case you have a credit card that gives you Amex membership points or Chase ultimate rewards, you can transfer these to Avios.