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Post by andyh on Jul 18, 2023 8:43:36 GMT 1
I really don’t see the issue? They’ve presumably worked on the basis of potential customers wanting to get from point A to point B on a particular date as opposed to having more flexibility and traveling on the cheapest date possible?
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Post by LPL on Jul 18, 2023 10:15:58 GMT 1
The reason for LCC is that they are low cost, if you cant see the fares there is no point in going any further.
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Post by viscount on Jul 18, 2023 14:13:12 GMT 1
Is I see it, it could be a move against the 'fare finder' booking sites: edreams, skyscanner, expedia, booking.com etc, etc. If FlyPlay don't publish the fares, then middle-men can't add their charges to the customer's bill and in the process change the booking terms and conditions, inserting another level between customer and airline.
I maybe wrong.
It certainly seems a strange policy to make the customer hunt down the price by going part way into the booking process (if I have understood the issue properly) for each flight/day they want to price-check. If so an excellent way to drive potential customers to a much more customer interactive web-site of a competitor, even if they are actually having to pay more.
I've just been booking several trips around two months ahead. My notes for 8 sectors (as I cannot get to/from one destination direct) cover some 60+ date/times/price/airline options. By no means are the flights I actually booked the cheapest, but they linked to give me the time I required at each destination. So just as well I am not planning on going anywhere near Reykjavik! I also rely on Skyscanner for all my information as to who operates between any two points.
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Post by lpltcx on Jul 18, 2023 15:30:41 GMT 1
Ryanair don’t do this and are successful so why should Play do it Maybe it’s just a glitch or they believe it’s the right move
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Post by ametyst on Jul 18, 2023 16:03:05 GMT 1
Ryanair don't do that. But, book a Ryanair flight with an on-line travel agent then beware. Even if the airline cancels the flight they make it very difficult to get a refund. Ryanair can even cancel your flight if it is done through an OTA.
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Post by ronturner on Nov 17, 2023 10:27:11 GMT 1
PLAY and Icelandair both following the possible volcanic activity with a "don't panic" message which may well be justified. In contingency planning both are suggesting worst case move to another airport. From our experts out there, which airport would you speculate that might be, given that all the Icelandic ones have much shorter runways, extremely small terminals and associated infrastructure? I have a personal interest in this. .... transiting December 12th.
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Post by ametyst on Nov 17, 2023 11:08:49 GMT 1
I would think Akyueri
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Post by viscount on Nov 17, 2023 17:42:35 GMT 1
Iceland has two very different forms of Volcanic eruption - the explosive type that blows off vast amounts of rock and dust high into the atmosphere and fissure type that spews large amounts of molten magma out to flow away downhill from multiple vents along the fissure, and only relatively little dust into the lower atmosphere. My reading of the newsfeeds is that the expected activity in Iceland is of the fissure type (like La Palma in the Canaries a year or two back) with massive outpouring of molten magma rather than the explosive type like Mt Etna, Sicily or Mt Vesuvius is threatening, Mt St.Helens, USA in 1980 or the eruption in Iceland that so dramatically closed down aviation across parts of Europe for weeks a few years back.
Keflavik is to the west end of the Reykjanes Peninsular, so with a westerly/south westerly airflow Keflavik Airport could be outside any ash zone - but the City of Reykjavik would be right in-line, as indeed would Akureyri, Iceland's second largest City, way off in the North of Iceland. I seem to recall that the major eruption on Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar Islands in 1973, or the creation of Surtsey Island in 1963 had little, if any, effect on the operation of Iceland's airports - although are considerably further away to the SE of Keflavik Airport than Grindavik on the Reykjanes Peninsular, the site of the current geological activity. Ron, I would agree with the Airlines, monitor the developing situation, but "don't panic" over your holiday arrangements. As to Akureyri's runway being shorter (in 1995 was 6500ft), the one at Keflavik is massively long (in 1995 10,000ft), extended in the cold-war by the Americans for strategic purposes.
It is very many years since I flew into Akureyri - a dramatic landing in a Twin Otter, that in very clear weather came over the mountains at right angles to the runway, several thousand feet up. The throttles were eased back, a little flap applied and we dropped like a lift with our tail appearing to slide down the fjord side, then a 90º turn onto very short finals. With no cockpit curtain the view over the pilot's shoulder was dramatic. In those days if Keflavik was closed by weather, Icelandair's Boeing 727s would use Akureyri as the multiple runways at Reykjavik were too short (and the airport is very close to the City, almost in suburbs), although the DC-8s could only depart Akureyri with a very limited load, so would use Newfoundland, Greenland or Prestwick for diversion. With the close proximity of high mountains, Akureyri was very weather sensitive with IFR descents having to be made way out to the north over the open Atlantic and the approach made with compass course and stop-watch VFR along the fjord! I would imagine that the performance of the A.320/321 family is far in excess of the '727s and landing aids considerably improved, although I have no idea how Icelandic airport's runways have changed in the past 45 years. I'm rambling. Must get my Icelandic holidays slide boxes out and see if they are worth scanning. Saw (and flew on) some interesting aeroplanes.
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Post by northbynorthwest on Nov 17, 2023 20:49:05 GMT 1
Hi Ron, I agree with Brian that Akureyri is the best alternate in Iceland. Egilsstadir on the north east side of the island can handle 737's, 757's and A320's - but has very little parking space. Trouble is if the volcano blows causing several flights to divert to either of these airports, then everything could melt down. Crews would time out / aircraft blocked in by others / very few hotel rooms.... Both Icelandair and Play must have multiple contingencies planned in case of an eruption. I am sure that Glasgow / Prestwick / Belfast would be planned as alternates. Fuel would not be a problem for any A320neo's to get back to Scotland. I seem to remember hearing that Icelandair went as far as planning to temporarily move their operations to Glasgow in the past. Not sure if they ever acted on this, but I would imagine that both airlines are looking at this again. So basically Ron, it is all going to be about timing and the wind direction at the surface as well as upper air, and the movement of high and low pressure systems. Hope it turns out to be a non event and that you get to visit your daughter and grandkids.
The 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in south central Iceland caused major disruptions and cancellations to both Trans Atlantic flights as well as within northern Europe - several million passengers were stranded by ash clouds. Fortunately since then, both forecasting eruptions and the ability to plot ash cloud movement and density has improved considerably, so a lot of the knee-jerking cancellations could now be avoided. I worked through that whole period and was very glad that I worked on Trans Pacific flights versus Trans Atlantic at that time. I certainly had my fair share of volcanic eruptions to deal with in Alaska and Siberia, including some where I had to turn flights around and divert back to Anchorage due to not having enough fuel for a major deviation. This would result in crews running out of duty time, aircraft overnighting in Anchorage, cancellations coming back to the USA due to aircraft and crews stranded in Anchorage, hotel costs, ete, etc. Incredibly huge costs involved. Been retired from Delta Air Lines for more than three years now, and still miss the adrenaline rush when things hit the fan!
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Post by viscount on Nov 18, 2023 18:11:48 GMT 1
While I totally agree with 'northbynorthwest' insights regarding the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption and others, the indications seem to be that the Hagafell area of Reykjanes Peninsular volcanic activity will be an outpouring of magma along a fissure. Two totally different forms of volcanic event, although while both are destructive, it is dust and ash volcanic eruptions that severely effect aviation, a magma outpour through fissures will not have anything like the impact outside the locality. The recent ash eruptions on Mt Etna and the strong possibility of events around Mt Vesuvius, I suspect have and will in the future have a far greater impact on aviation than my interpretation from what I've read regarding the Hagafell area in which Grindavik town and port are located.
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Post by ronturner on Nov 19, 2023 8:30:07 GMT 1
Yep, I was caught up in that 2010 eruption. We took a flight to Atlanta from Paris which arrived at ATL more or less on time only to have to wait at a remote spot for at least an hour before we could get a stand; all occupied by outbound aircraft that had returned to ATL due to the ash cloud. Needless to say we missed our flight to Orlando, getting there eventually at some late hour: already on the road for more than 24 hours having previously taken a flight from Nantes to CDG.
Its impossible to fly from France to Orlando direct so we elected to transit Keflavik which we have done before and quite good it was too. This time we are taking a train direct from our town to CDG, staying the night and flying next day. For the return we do the same, staying the night at CDG and train home. (First class on the TGV, a 3 hour trip cost just 45€ each.) Yes, we have to haul bags but we are travelling very light.
There is an alternative for next time. The Brightline high speed train from Miami to Orlando has just opened. (Something in which Virgin trains have a big stake.) Its been running to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach for a couple of years on the upgraded old Flagler Line. The section to Orlando is all new, and the terminus at Orlando is in the MCO terminal. It runs about every hour. All Miami arrivals are met by a free shuttle to the airport. I knew about this service but there was no starting date at the time I booked
We used the AMTRAK once from Miami to Orlando. Very nice but very slow and only two departures a day, one within about an hour of the other. Its like being on a cruise which starts at Miami and a day or two later it arrives in Boston travelling at a gentle pace, stopping at nice sounding places for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. There is a baggage car and a conductor who shouts "all abord". There are additional stops on the single track route where the Amtrak gets shunted away to allow an opposite direction freight train of enormous dimensions to pass. A nice relaxing adventure. It takes up to 7 1/2 hours to get to Orlando, compared to the Brightline about 3
Interestingly there are only a few fights day that connect Miami and Orlando and not are convenient times, especially when the time in immigration can vary from long to very long. In any case, I like trains.
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Post by railwayboy on Dec 2, 2023 10:15:38 GMT 1
Flights are being loaded for W24, first flight looks to be Monday 30th Sept 2x weekly as now and released so far until start of Dec. Great to see them planning ahead, fingers crossed for a longer season with us and maybe increase in frequency.
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Post by ametyst on Dec 29, 2023 8:33:51 GMT 1
Play has cancelled flights between Liverpool and Keflavik on 29th December 2023, plus 1st, 12th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 29th January. Services will fully resume again from 2nd February 2024.
In January flights will operate on 5th & 8th only.
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Post by jake3 on Dec 29, 2023 10:34:59 GMT 1
Before all the doom mongers start, this almost certainly to do with aircraft avalabity.
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Post by railwayboy on Dec 29, 2023 11:25:26 GMT 1
Before all the doom mongers start, this almost certainly to do with aircraft avalabity. And, flights on sale as normal Feb - middle April and then restarts from end of September 2x weekly. They seem to be adding flights weekly as currently only available until December. Glasgow for example there is nothing on sale after 2nd Jan 24
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