Skyeurope airlines

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.

Actually while booking there was the 'insurance' part to choose it (with an additional extra cost) but I removed it since a colleague told me it's not necessary to have it (like as well the selection of the seats in the plane with extra cost) since all these it's a way for them to gain money.
I can add though now that insurance retrieving my reservation online. Do u think that if that insurance part is not paid then I'm completely 'uncovered'?
But why then to give them more money if anyway when my flight is cancelled they will not refund anything.
It's their responsibility though according to the rules to arrange you to the next possible flight by them.

#10 is new to me. Any source? They are a prosperous airline, introducing new destinations and expanding their fleet. As I know them for 5 years.

#11 I wonder if that insurance is for case of bankruptcy. Read through their 'Terms & Conditions'. Under normal circumstances they did rebook automatically or gave you some kind of refund (eg. voucher), so you are 'covered'. Your question is about an other case what I'm not really familiar with (luckily).

Packa re #12. I have no direct source but i've read about it on a reputed Belgian aviation site:
http://www.luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=39943&p=219500#p219500

#14
An entry by one person in a board is certainly not much of a proof about the economical situation of a company. Is the user "secondlife" more trustworthy than the other ones who doubt this?

The poor economical situation of SkyEurope was addressed some time ago in the economy news sections of established newspapers/magazines.

#14 OK, thanks. I don't see if it was serious then. For now it seems to be nothing more than a gossip. But these whispers can corrode the reputation and trust and finally lead to the situation what they are about (see the the financial crisis). As always, there are a loads of competitors awaiting for this to happen. Or not just waiting, but doing.

I don't think the link I gave in #4 could be counted as "nothing more than gossip", do you? SkyEurope has gone into administration. That isn't gossip, it's fact.

I've been away for a few days.

Tony, #15 and 16 both were reactions on my #10 and 14, not on your #4.

I should apologise for having posted a statement which was not based on a more trustworthy source.
Even though i know that the forum i've referred to is known as a very serious and reliable one, abalada and packa are right to interpret my statement in #10 as a gossip.

That's why i have asked the mods to remove my reply.

Sorry again, i have reported myself :)

Oh, ok. Sorry everyone.

Okay folks, here it is straight from the horse's mouth. Just had my wonderful experience with Sky Europe on August 15th. We flew from Paris to Prague on August 12th and had no problems whatsoever, but for our return trip on the 15th, we were forced to spend 7 lovely hours in the Prague airport because, apparently, the Paris airport had seized one of SE's planes for non payment of fees. SE then decided to try and do a four plane route with 3 airplanes. This caused major backups throughout the entire system. According to the Czech girl I was sitting next to, this kind of thing has been happening rather frequently these days as she said the same thing happened to her for her flight from Paris to Prague. Word the other day was that Vienna had also seized a SE plane for non payment of fees. For our troubles, SE gave us each two $10 food coupons to use in the airport.

I would say anyone with a current ticket to fly on SE right now is basically playing Russian Roulette with their travel plans. You may get to where you're going or you may endure a 7 hour delay like we did.

Good luck, but I'll never book with them again. Give me Ryan Air or Easy Jet any day.

That's a very useful post, discostu1. How on earth did you find this moribund thread?

The End.
According to this article by the Austrian newspaper "Der Standard" SkyEurope is ceasing all flights from Bratislava from tomorrow (Tuesday, 1st September 2009) on.

In the meantime the booking engine on www.sykeurope.com is also already switched off.

Thanks, abalada. I wonder what will happen to the OP's money.

The money is burnt. Probably in the real sense of the word by paying for kerosene. Before they grounded as they can now not even pay for this anymore.

I just came back from Larnaca. I planned my holiday on my own, since my country doesnot offer travelling on Cyprus. Airline was the last think I was worried about. Fortunately I got to Larnaca, but then I still had no idea about problems Skyeurope had. When going back, I was informed at the airport that all the flights has been cancelled. Had to pay for new tickets (only:)) 145 euros because hungarian airlines offered all who travelled by Skyeurope much cheaper tickets. And then all across Hungary to get to Graz, Austria where my family picked me up. Not to mention all the problems in Hungary, trains delayed, nobody speaks any other language than Hungarian-I mean it!Not a single word! I was travelling with my boyfriend and this bancrupcy costed us another 500 euros!!what can we do now? I have no idea. Who to turn to? Nobody knows anything and just tells us to wait. And we are living in a modern world, European union and so many institutions that are supposed to protect customers rights!! If anyone has any suggestion or idea I would be very thankful. Špela from Slovenia

#23 Or transfered to a private bank account, according to the latest news. That constitutes a crime so this is not the end of the story.

Anyway, apart from the huge loss for the shareholders, nothing remained from SkyEurope, so any kind of refund or compensation seems very unlikely.

Špela,
My apologisies for you bad experiences in Hungary.

The official response from the EC:

Dear Ms / Mr.,

We acknowledge receipt of your message and, in response to your enquiry would like to inform that the European Commission shares your concern about the problem you faced in your attempt to seek compensation and/or to be refunded of the money you have lost.

On 9 September 2009 the “District Court of Bratislava 1” decided to start the bankruptcy procedure of Sky Europe. Following this decision claimers (customers of SkyEurope) have 45 days to claim their dues to SkyEurope.

Moreover, we would like to inform that same District Court of Bratislava nominated the bankruptcy administrator of Sky Europe on the person of:

Ing. Emil Čerevka

Address: Zámocká 20, 811 01 Bratislava, Slovakia

Reference number of the administrator: S 1344

A form to lodge a claim in case of bankruptcy can be found in the portal of Slovak Ministry of Justice at the following link:

http://www.justice.gov.sk/skp/dwn/konk/03b_prihpohl.pdf (In Slovak only)

Alternatively, you may also use the form – in English- sent to you in attachment.

The claim has to be sent to the competent tribunal (in 1 copy) and 2 copies to the administrator:

• The Contact details of the District Court of Bratislava 1 are:

Okresný súd Bratislava I
Záhradnícka 10
812 44 Bratislava, Slovakia

The E-mail address of the competent service to lodge a case is the following: podatelnaOSBA1@justice.sk

Finally, we would like to inform you that indeed the European Commission has carried on a study on these issues and is assessing the possible scenarios to protect consumer’s interest in case of bankruptcy.

We sincerely hope that the information provided will be of use to you.

Also check with your credit card company. Most cards (like VISA) offer you automatic travel insurance when purchasing transportation tickets and you may make a claim.