Gladys Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 The Flybe number is continually engaged! Don't give up. I got through eventually, after waiting for a good 20 minutes. I had flights booked to see the Foo Fighters on Monday 2nd June, but Flybe have no allocation left for seats out on the 2nd and back on the 3rd. I contacted my bank regarding return of my funds and they said it should be OK, but I'll have to wait about 100 days... Anyone interested in 2 tickets for the Foo Fighters in Manchester? I have been trying throughout the day, I haven't even managed to be put on hold, just an engaged tone. I even tried to phone the number just now, on the off chance that there may either be someone manning the phones or a message that could be quite useful. However, the message about phone line opening times cuts out after saying they open at weekends at 8.00 am. Ah well, I will have another go tomorrow. It isn't so dire as we are months off flying anyway, I just would like to get it sorted now. Hard luck about your Foo Fighters concert though Ade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manshimajin Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 From the BBC Tony Brown: "Government's immediate priority is to assist passengers...and we will be doing all we can to help them find alternative arrangements." Anyone know exactly what they are doing to help us find "alternative arrangements"? My recommendation is for anyone having problems with alternative arrangements to contact Tony Brown via phone or letter and to ask to take him up on his offer to do all he can to find alternative arrangements - otherwise the government will always issue platitides without any accountability. The fear of losing power is the only real grip that the electorate have over governments - Tony's brother-in-arms Gordon is learning this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triskelion Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 The fear of losing power is the only real grip that the electorate have over governments - Tony's brother-in-arms Gordon is learning this. Neither are exactly crazed with power though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Tony Brown made a fundamental error this morning on MR when he said that the directors of Euromanx acted, understandably, in the best interests of the company by removing the aircraft. Wrong, Tony, when a company is insolvent the directors must act in the best interests of the creditors, ie the IOM Government, the suppliers and the passengers!!! Wasn't this considered important enough to get legal advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Yes I heard some buffoon on the radio this morning trying to justify that fact that the so called Gov did f.all when they were owed near on a million. Unbelievable, piss ups and breweries come to mind! I still want my tax back off them for flights I can't use. Howsabout deducting it from the rates bill due next month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Finally got through to Flybe and they say they will only honour bookings up to 25 October, so that is us sunk! Anyone want to join in a class action against IOM Govt for propping up an ailing airline for the past 7 months and allowing it to take fares 9 months in advance (bookings for December 08 made in February 08)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf_uk Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I wondered about the removal of the aircraft and some the act of trading insolvently. The directors must have known on Friday morning that they were going to file for liquidation but they went ahead and fuelled the aircraft and let it leave. Has that fuel been paid for? I'm guessing it was on the EuroManx account so probably not meaning that the Directors allowed the company to continue running up bills that they knew were not going to be paid. The decision to put the company into liquidation wasn't made in two minutes. And the Government should know better by now than to get involved when a company is going bust. If a company can't make itself commercially viable then unless the government has deep pockets to continue it then it's going to fold. How many manx companies have been left out of pocket? Have they lost more or less than what they would have lost if it had folded in October? If the government knew it was in trouble but propped it up for another 9 months and let it run up even more debts then surely the government is complicit in the whole affair? Luckily, i'm not a creditor, but if I was and I had lost more money now than what I would have lost in October, i'd be screaming blue murder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilf_uk Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Finally got through to Flybe and they say they will only honour bookings up to 25 October, so that is us sunk! Anyone want to join in a class action against IOM Govt for propping up an ailing airline for the past 7 months and allowing it to take fares 9 months in advance (bookings for December 08 made in February 08)? Brilliant idea - and i mean it - if i was a creditor i'd be joining you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Finally got through to Flybe and they say they will only honour bookings up to 25 October, so that is us sunk! Anyone want to join in a class action against IOM Govt for propping up an ailing airline for the past 7 months and allowing it to take fares 9 months in advance (bookings for December 08 made in February 08)? Brilliant idea - and i mean it - if i was a creditor i'd be joining you. it would seem the government is one of the BIGGEST creditor's!! should it sue itself?? it looks like they were allowed to trade long enough to get all the TT traffic ripped off without having to fly them anywhere. christmas clubs go bust just before christmas? as to the plane being off the ground 2 mins before they declared bankrupt, was it still in manx airspace at that time? and if so could the tower legally order it back?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Anyone know exactly what they are doing to help us find "alternative arrangements"? Get used to the old fashioned manx way of doing politics - sitting for ages with your thumb up your bum, occasionally blathering nice sentiment on the radio, whilst working out who you can blame. Hi, well all we said about flawed business cases and wastes of our money (extension thread) is coming true sooner than I anticipated !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Anyone want to join in a class action against IOM Govt for propping up an ailing airline Yes please Whilst the gov might be one of the biggest creditors it doesn't alter the fact that the tax was for them. If I can't fly 'cos that day's quota is full, that tax was not due anyway so I want a refund from the body who charged it in the first place. I can't remember how long before a flight an IFR flight plan needs to be in, but ATC would have known the destination an hour or so before they let it go. Obviously the pin heads in charge didn't ring ATC on the quiet to say 'get us out of bed if it's suddenly not going to a normal destination like MAN, LPL, BHD etc etc. It would appear they just sat there fat dumb and happy. I suppose we should be used to it by now! Don't forget its your money they've wasted, so if you are a creditor, you've now paid twice.......for nothing. Unbelievable! Don't let them off the hook! Edited to say : they still let Seymour go a few days later. Try getting him back now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triskelion Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Finally got through to Flybe and they say they will only honour bookings up to 25 October, so that is us sunk! Anyone want to join in a class action against IOM Govt for propping up an ailing airline for the past 7 months and allowing it to take fares 9 months in advance (bookings for December 08 made in February 08)? Would a similar situation not have existed had they refused to allow Quest Aviation extra time to pay the APD, Income Tax and NI in October? Okay, they could have limited the time period in which advance bookings could be made, but that surely would have accelarated the companies demise. Its seems that the bottom only actually fell out when, on May 8th, FlyBe said 'No we aren't going to buy it actually.' Reading the Chief Minister's answer in the Keys, it clear that the Government was not just 'propping up' Euromanx, and that is was instead trying to work towards a solution, and, in partnership with the company decided the only option was a merger/partnership, which (at the time of you booking, Gladys) seemed like a viable option. As such: "On 4th March 2008 Quest indicated that they had found a purchaser of the airline, and would be bringing news of that company and the ‘deal’ to a meeting on 13th March. The meeting was subsequently held at 8.00 am on the 14th March and Quest advised that Aer Arann would be buying EuroManx and would be operating it as a separate company from themselves, in exactly the same format – i.e. same EuroManx name/brand/product." "Mr Paul Schuz, Finance Director of Aer Arran and the Chief Executives of Quest and EuroManx met me in my office on the 14th March, and informed me that the sale would be concluded within about 2 to 4 weeks. I can confirm that they were all very confident that the buy out would be concluded and were optimistic for the future." For the next three weeks, Government was told by Quest that Aer Arran was preparing to buy (due diligence etc) A week after that (and at the end of the "2 to 4 weeks" period specified by Schuz), the Government asked EuroManx what was happening, who said they were now talking to FlyBe. Fast-forward to the 8th of May, FlyBe decide they don't want it: "Flybe informed Quest – the owners of EuroManx - that they would not be buying EuroManx at 3.00 pm last Thursday 8th May. At 1.00 am the following day, EuroManx was put into liquidation" The late-night liquidation of the company would perhaps explain how no one was aware of it prior to the taking-off of the plane at 6:23am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah 01 Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Now that the Government'sside of this sorry tale has been put on public record it wold be useful if our investigative media (LOL) would contact Messrs Shuz and Rutter to find out why the purchases didn't go through. It would certainly seem that the Aer Arran concept of running Euromanx on under its (then) well known brand made good sense. However, it would be interesting to know - for the record. As for the car salesmen at Quest, I hope the Government is exploring every legal avenue to drag them into court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Being discussed on MR's 'Talking Heads' this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Come on triskelion its like when 10 people all say that they will buy your house and then you don't sell it to anyone. Words are very cheap indeed. Did anyone in power make any proper enquiries to determine the real likelihood of someone actually buying this dead duck? To just think "oh there's a buyer, our (public's that is) money is safe then" seems a trifle naive. If fact it seems negligent to me. When was the flight plan to Exeter submitted? I want to know. I think I'm right in saying the airport opens at 0615 (well it used to) so that would make the escape flight taking off er 8 minutes later. Didn't anyone tip off the airport director or ATC that this was likely or did they just think "no problem there's a buyer". I despair sometimes. If I owed anyone a tenth of that money, the lender would have first and second charges on everything I owned. Why didn't this happen here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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