Air passengers frustrated with days of disruption

An airline has apologised to customers after a weekend of disruption to its flights into and out of Guernsey.

Aurigny said "unforeseen technical issues with other aircraft, alongside a higher-than-expected level of crew sickness" had lead to flight cancellations on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Two people who had their flights cancelled told the BBC that Aurigny needed to communicate with their customers better at an earlier stage.

An Aurigny spokesperson said the company was "not satisfied" with its service levels.

Esme Farrell, 21, said she was "at her wits' end with this company".

She had a flight booked from Guernsey to Gatwick on Monday for work but the flight was cancelled.

She said she had received an email on the morning of the flight which told her it had been delayed but the airport's website showed the flight had been cancelled.

After asking a customer advisor why she had not been told about the cancellation, she said she was told Aurigny had been trying to find out more information.

Ms Farrell said: "They didn't tell us - it's been so badly managed.

"It annoys me how little they care and how awful their customer service is.

"The only reason the flights were cancelled was because they don't have enough crew - they should have this under control."

"You're paying £150 one-way with no baggage for a 40 minute flight that then gets cancelled without them telling anyone," she added.

An Aurigny spokesperson said new pilots were due to join the team from 1 July and in the shorter term it had brought in support from Avanti Air which "bolstered our current operational resilience".

They added they were working with the firm which maintains, repairs and overhauls its aircraft to speed up the process.

"Additionally, we are actively engaging with our codeshare partner to improve their communication protocols when their own services are disrupted, which has been a source of some further and unnecessary challenges for our customers," they said.

Joshua Pritchard was told via email that his flight to Guernsey from Manchester on Sunday had been cancelled, leaving him stranded in Manchester until Tuesday.

He said: "I don't think sending an email at eight o'clock at night on a Saturday is giving people enough notice or warning.

"A text or something along those lines would work a lot better.

"There needs to be more communication at an earlier stage and signposting to alternative modes of transport.

"There should be more customer service and care for people who are stranded and don't know what to do."

The Aurigny spokesperson said during May the company had landed 83% of its flights within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival times because it had made changes to the flight programme "to better align with our available crew and aircraft resources".

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