We're planninga 5-day trip to Vienna from Larnaca Cyprus (and back) in the first days of next October and we booked our tickets via Skyeurope airlines. It was recommended to me by friends who used it some times in the past and they were satisfied plus the major advantage is the low cost fares.
In a search on the net I found out some message boards discussing the possibility of skyeurope going bankrupt and the financial problems they have. There ewere also posts refering to no refunds to their customers when many flights are cancelled. Does anybody travel with this airlines? Any experience of cancelled flights due to financial problems or about returning money back or booking a new flight? Do they always operate their scheduled flights or they must have a full aircraft to flight, otherwise they cancel the flight??
And last but not least, any clue about how safe it is? I read on the net that was awarded second or third best low cost airline in Europe...
Any help would be welcome so we do not book our accommodation now and wait until September if there's a possibility of bankrupcy in the next months.
Thanks!
the possibility of skyeurope going bankrupt and the financial problems they have.
End of June SkyEurope has already filed for the Slovakian type of "chapter 11". Under Slovakian law SkyEurope has now 90 days to restructure.
Due their financial problems they have also only a temporary flight license till 23. October 2009.
Chances that they will fly beyond this date (my guess): no more than 10%
our flight is on the 6th of Oct. and return on the 10th... So, restructure period began when exactly?? I wish it falls within these 90 days... Did they announced a deadline (specific date?)
SkyEurope needs an investor with money. Way before the end of the 90 days period.
There have been already in the past planes of SkyEurope seized temporarily abroad to get bills paid. At the moment SkyEurope cannot pay these bills, thus bailout their planes anymore they are finished. I don't think that a Slovakian "chapter 11" protects the company abroad.
This recent newspaper article about SkyEurope may help you to make up your mind. Frankly, I wouldn't hand over a single euro to them, but that's just me.
If your SkyEurope flight is cancelled, it will take an age to get your money back, if ever you did get some money, and it would cost you a lot more to book an alternative flight closer to you departure date. I imagine that a lot of people are steering clear of SkyEurope right now, thus hastening the end of the airline.
If there's any way of cancelling your tickets and getting at least some of your money back, I'd do that rather than wait.
thinking what the best thing to do...or maybe things will change...
A colleague of mine told me that they contacted him long time a go before the flight to inform him it's cancelled and that they'll refund money. What I'm afraid is the return flight to cancel and having to book an alternative in much higher cost of course with other airlines.
The amount is not yet deducted from my card but is shown as 'hold' amount...
I'll see whether I can do anything or just simply pray:-)
Well, if you have any faith in the power of prayer, maybe it'll work. I'm more sceptical ;-)
Cancelling a flight operated by a functioning airline is one thing. A flight cancelled because an airline is going bust is completely different. If the charge hasn't yet been made against your card, I'd move now and not wait another day. Re-read the article that I gave you the link for and you'll see that you will have no financial protection. If the airline goes bust, you'll be in double-trouble. Trying to get money out of a failed airline will be like trying to get blood out of a stone. Doing nothing is not an option.
SkyEurope is doing the same in the last one or two years. Always making loss and facing with a huge chance of bankrupt. But they still flying! It's hard to find out when will their story come to an end and then what will happen. I had two flights with them this year, and they were OK by the way. One of the best carriers I know. What do you mean by 'safe' is absolutely beyond me. All so called 'unsafe' airlines are banned out of the EU.
Don't know how much you did pay for the tickets, but you will know if the amount is worth to go after. I hardly pay more than 25€ for a single flight, and thats the sum what I don't care if they cancel it or going bankrupt, whatever.
(BTW they are a Slovakian-based company and you are flying to Cyprus, so the EE&Caucasus group would be a better place for this thread IMHO)
I guess nothing can be done. I sent them an e-mail and also called them to cancel it. THey told me, since payment was immediate then cannot be cancelled even the amount hasn't been deducted from VISA card. The only thing I can do is to change dates they told me. Let's say fly earlier. But I'm not gonna change anything yet since September's fares were higher and I will need to pay even more for a 'question mark' flight even if this falls into the 90 days period.
I will keep checking for info as times goes by and hope things get better. It's important that they do not reduce checks on the aircrafts due to the bankrupcy matter andthat they still do the necessary controls without over-operate the remaining flying aircrafts (I heard they have 4 aircrafts in France which are 'trapped' by the airports (maybe because of not paying the taxes).
It's not a huge amount (100 euro p/person) to ask for a refund or to never get it back but why to lose this amount (?). it's weird that they have the October schedule on in their website with the relevant fares even if this falls out from the 90 days period...One can say that they mislead people... They could just keep the calendar of operations up to September...
They have 5 aircrafts so 4 of them being trapped without mayor troubles in service is quite unlikely. There were two cases like this some months ago in Paris and Bucharest but they arranged.
It's also good to know that their alliance member, MyAir had been urged to suspend it's ticket sales as their license seems to be annulled.
Anyway these recent affairs made them untrustworthy.
trusted partner
