Jenny_D
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Hello

I am on the Norway trip on the 18th Feb. I was just wondering if you could tell me how many people are flying from Gatwick? I'm flying from Gatwick instead of Luton and I'm just hoping I'm not the only one!

Thanks

Jenny

Vickie
(Member)
Hi Jenny,

There are 24 people booked on this trip and 3 people are flying from Gatwick, so you will have company! 🙂

Thanks,

Vickie

Jenny_D
  • (Member) (Topic Starter)
(Member) (Topic Starter)
'Vickie' wrote:

Hi Jenny,

There are 24 people booked on this trip and 3 people are flying from Gatwick, so you will have company! 🙂

Thanks,

Vickie

Thank you Vickie! 

I notice that our flight arrives just under an hour after the Luton flight. Will the other travellers be waiting for us or will seperate transport arrangements be made for us 3? 

Thanks

Jenny

mikew
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi Vickie & Jenny,

I think you’ll find that 12 people are flying from Gatwick. With 10 people flying from Luton, 1 from Heathrow and 1 from Glasgow (via Luton) that makes 24 people in total.

Vickie, when you answered this question about a week or so ago, there was a fault on your system which suggested that 3 people were flying from Gatwick. Obviously that fault is still showing on your records. When you re-checked the figures manually, the numbers you gave were those that I’ve quoted above.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Mike

Vickie
(Member)
Hi Jenny,

The rest of the group will wait for you at the airport, and you will then all travel to the hotel together 🙂

Thanks,

Vickie

AbbaDave
(Member)
Hi Vickie

i must state that i am not too happy about this and would like this passed on to whomever, we are on the Luton flight so why should we have to hang around for at least an hour and i say at least as if the Gatwick flight is delayed this means an even longer wait twiddling our thumbs when we could be settled into our rooms or chilling over a nice beer in the bar, the Hotel in Tromso is only 5km from the airport and so there is plenty of time to make a double trip or have two separate mini buses, This policy of yours is a load of nonsense saying when flights arrive within an hour we will wait when i have seen a similar post of a Dubai trip whereas the earlier arrivals, a similar one hour gap to ours, are being transferred on arrival, its a late enough arrival as it is and this makes us even later arriving at our destination, if it was a longer transfer time i would understand but i really don't understand this, if we were on the later Gatwick flight it would not bother me one bit if the Luton passengers had already been transferred to the hotel, common sense should prevail

Dave

Vickie
(Member)
Hi Dave,

I have passed your feedback to the team. I'm just waiting to hear back from them.

Thanks,

Vickie

SarahS
(Member)
This seems to be the norm now for JY.  Hanging around airports waiting for later flights to arrive is not a good way to start a holiday!   On returning from my last European holiday, three flights, Heathrow, Manchester and Bristol with departures spanning in excess of three hours were put on the same transfer.  Those on the earliest flight only just made check in and passengers for the latest had to hang around departures in a very small provincial French airport for over two hours until their check in opened.  It’s all very well offering a wider choice of UK airports, but the downside is hanging around for other flights. I would have expected the premium charged for non London airports to include a separate transfer.
mikew
  • (Member)
(Member)
I have to say that SarahS’s experience sounds absolutely appalling. Am I to believe that it’s beyond JY’s organisational skills to arrange separate airport transfers in circumstances such as these?

A little over 2 years ago I visited Berlin with a competitor and flew out of my local airport (Birmingham). There were also people on a London flight and, to avoid one group having to wait for the later flight, the two groups were transferred to the hotel separately. We then met up that same evening for a welcome meal - no problem. Separate hotel to airport transfers were also arranged for the return flight. Oh, and by the way, I paid £100 less for a 4 night stay (in super hotel) than JY were charging at the time for their 3 night Berlin city break with NO Birmingham flight option!

I’ve long held the belief that JY do not promote regional departures sufficiently, even when they’re available, because it’s more convenient (for them, that is!) to herd everyone together at one airport ie LHR or LGW. Now it would seem that this same ‘herding instinct’ has spread to return transfers as well, judging by SarahS’s experience.

Surely in this particular instance, factors such as the hotel being a mere 15min drive away from the airport, and the fact that it’s only a short holiday anyway, should be taken into consideration. It might seem like a small detail to JY but I can assure you that it’s NOT a small detail to us customers. In fact, simple touches like arranging prompt transfers in these circumstances can make all the difference to a customer’s opinion of a travel company. It would tell me that the company cares about the comfort of its customers, that they want customers to enjoy their holiday to the maximum, and that they pay attention to detail.

To just say that ‘it’s JY policy......’ really isn’t good enough. This is another ‘own goal’ as far as I’m concerned, to rank alongside the brochure fiasco. JY really should be working MUCH harder to retain loyal customers and attract new ones - low deposits really don’t hack it! - rather than seemingly resting on their laurels; a policy which I fear may come back to bite them.

Having done 14 holidays previously with JY I’d like to consider myself a loyal customer and would hope to use them again in the future, but like many others I’m fully prepared to look elsewhere. The current response to AbbaDave’s complaint would seem wholly unsatisfactory and simply reinforces the point made in my previous paragraph. Hopefully common sense will prevail on this issue and in future, customers will be put at the forefront of

JY’s business model.

Cheers

Mike

Vickie
(Member)
Hi Dave,

I have spoken to our Aviation team and they've explained that because of the logistics and cost of arranging separate transfers for customers on different flights, it's our policy to combine the transfers if flights arrive with an hour or less between them.

We also do this because if we can, we want our Tour Manager to be there at the airport to meet all our customers and travel with them together, rather than them travelling separately. This is both to provide reassurance for people and means all customers will arrive at the hotel together, have the welcome drink and talk together etc. rather than arriving on their own.

On this occasion your Tour Manager is travelling with the group from Luton, the first flight to arrive, so by staying at the airport they can also meet the other customers and travel with everyone.

I hope this offers an explanation.

Many thanks,

Vickie

Travellite
(Member)
hi just you 

Don’t spoil the ship for a ha’pworth of tar, it’s a 15 minute journey  we are talking about here.  It’s a no brainier to have your customers standing about in an Airport for longer than necessary.  Someone in authority needs to use a bit of common sense,  Travellite.

VickieHi Dave,

I have spoken to our Aviation team and they've explained that because of the logistics and cost of arranging separate transfers for customers on different flights, it's our policy to combine the transfers if flights arrive with an hour or less between them.

We also do this because if we can, we want our Tour Manager to be there at the airport to meet all our customers and travel with them together, rather than them travelling separately. This is both to provide reassurance for people  and means all customers will arrive at the hotel together, have the welcome drink and talk together etc. rather than arriving on their own.

On this occasion your Tour Manager is travelling with the group from Luton, the first flight to arrive, so by staying at the airport they can also meet the other customers and travel with everyone.

I hope this offers an explanation.

Many thanks,

Vickie

Vickie
(Member)
Hi all,

We are going to look into this and see if there is anything we can do for this tour regarding the transfers.

I will get back to you ASAP.

Thanks,

Vickie

AbbaDave
(Member)
Hi Vickie

any more news on our transfers

Thanks

Dave

Vickie
(Member)
Hi Dave,

Not yet. I've just asked the team for an update so will let you know ASAP.

Thanks,

Vickie

Vickie
(Member)
Morning Dave,

Great news! We've been able to book an extra transfer, so your group can go to the hotel straight away and the next group will meet you there later.

We're just firming up the new arrangements so will get back to you with full details.

We're also going to make sure this is looked at closely for other tours with short transfers, so that groups don't need to wait if the hotel is close by.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention! 🙂

Thanks,

Vickie

AbbaDave
(Member)
Thank you Vickie that's great news and thank you for pushing this forward it does make sense with such a short transfer

Regards

Dave