PEGASUS & BRAVOFLY - AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

[sophia]

Hi all,

Just thought I should share my recent experience with Pegasus with you all. I flew with them for the first time last week and it will certainly be the last time.

We left Stanstead for Dalaman (via Istanbul SG) an hour late on Sunday. Unfortunately I only had an 1.5 hours between my connecting flight to Dalaman so because of this delay, we missed our flight. I think we landed about 15 minutes before the other flight took off but rather than do the sensible thing and hold the flight leaving for Dalaman, they put us all up in a hotel. I must say this was dealt with quite well (expect they wouldn't let us get our luggage, not such a problem for me but there was a woman who had a baby and not enough nappies), they arranged taxis to and from the Crowne Plaza hotel and provided with us with a meal. We had a wake up call at 4:30 the next morning and a taxi took us to the airport.

Anyway, once arriving at Dalaman, I found that the Pegasus had forgotten to load my baggage on to the plane and I would have to wait until the following day for it to arrived. I was really angry about this but there was nothing I could do and Dalaman promised to send to it to me free of charge. When I called the next day, Dalaman staff told me it had arrived but there it wouldn't be sent to me until the next day and if I wanted it today, I would need to come and collect it myself. Not wanting to do another trip to the airport, I requested it was sent in a taxi and asked them to charge pegasus. Pegasus refused to pay but I asked them to send it in a taxi anyway and I'm currently trying to claim this off my travel insurance.

We were due to fly home from Dalaman, via Istanbul on Friday morning. When I arrived at Dalaman, I was told that my flights were cancelled (just mine & my friends, not the actual flight). I was told my pegasus that Bravofly (the website we booked through) had cancelled our flight and had already refunded the money into my bank. I thought this was very strange as we had booked a return flight and had no trouble getting out there. I tried to argue my point but they said if we didn't pay again we not be able to board the flight. With only just over an hour to our flight, we paid another £160 just so we knew we would be able to get home.
When we got through, my friend checked her credit card account and no money had been refunded. The flight leaving Dalman was then delayed 40 minutes and so by the time we got to Istanbul, the other flight was taking off in 20 minutes. Once again, they did not hold our plane and 25 passengers were stranded at Istanbul SG airport from 10:30am to 08:15 at night. This flight was further delayed and we didn't take off till 10:30pm!!

Pegasus provided us with breakfast but after that refused to gives us any drink or food all day. I literally had to beg them to give me a bottle of water for a 7 month pregnant lady who was also due to fly. 50% of the Pegasus staff were extremely unhelpful and rude. There was a sign at the desk which stated something about compensation and that if we were delayed for a long time, we should ask for a piece of paper that would state our rights and help us when claiming compensation. I pointed this out to the lady behind the desk and asked where I could receive this from; instead of being helpful, she took the sign down from the window and went along and took down all 3 of the signs. I demanded she put the sign back up so I could finish reading it, and she screwed it up in front of me and put it in the bin. She then walked away from the window and refused to return to the desk!!!!!! Although I was extremely agitated, I was not being rude to the lady and she had no reason to refuse to serve us.

I found a lady who worked in the airport that could speak good english and explained the situation about paying twice for the flights, she accompanied me to the Pegasus desk and explained the situation. She then assured me that Pegasus said the original £170 paid for our flights would be back in the account in 3 days. SInce being home, we have checked with my friends credit card and there are no pending transactions.

I have spoken with Bravofly who have been no help and keep claiming they did not cancel our flights. When I call Pegasus, they claim they can't speak english and I should e-mail them. I e-mailed them Saturday morning and no reply so far. I have now e-mailed again and warned them that I would post on every holiday forum I could find and write to watchdogs and papers etc. I am praying I get some money back from them but at the moment, it's not looking very likely.

Sorry for the huge moan but I wanted to share my experience and warn people to avoid them at all costs. I've never come across such rude staff and badly managed airline.

Thanks.

[silverbeard21]

Really sorry to hear of your woes. It must have been terrible for you. It seems a bit unusual to me as I have travelled with Pegasus several times in the past and they have been absolutely fine - on time,plenty of leg room and good inflight service. But of course that might have changed since I was travelling with them.
Bad luck.

David

[Chocoholic]

I have flown with Pegasus many time and had no probem, in fact I found them better than many I have flown to Turkey with. Many people I know have had problems when they have had to get connecting flights on other airlines, even with scheduled higher prices so this is not an isolated issue, of course the more you pay the better the service. Your friend should be able to claim on her Credit card.

[dragon]

Yet another reason to only pay by credit card. I wouldn't use any other payment method for anything over £100 ever again to ensure that I had consumer protection.

Sophia, I wonder if Consumer Direct which is a part of the Office of Fair Trading could advise you, their telephone number is 0845 4040506. I've always found them to be helpful.

[sophia]

Thanks Dragon, thats really helpful. I will give them a call today.

I have just got off the phone to Bravofly again and they have said the will now contact Pegasus to try and find out what happened but have assured me that our tickets were not cancelled so they are very confused as to why we had to pay again!! Hopefully they will be able to make bit of progress for me.

I would like to say that this was a one off from Pegasus however I have now e-mailed them 3 times since I have returned home and have had absolutely no response from them, which I think is disgusting. Plus the rudeness and treatment we received on the day was unforgivable. One man at Dalaman even insulted my intelligence by telling me he did not work for Pegasus even though he was sitting behind the Pegasus desk and accessing all there systems. I have never felt so ripped off by a company in all my life. Instead of paying the £170 for the return flight we booked, we have now paid over £330 in total.
We only made one of the payments on our credit card (the original booking payment) so I don't think it's as simple as them giving us our money back. I wish it was!

Luckily I have been to Turkey enough times to know that this is not the normal treatment that turkish people give to the holidaymakers, if it was my first visit, I would not be returning.

[dragon]

Hi Sophia
If your original booking was with a credit card and it was over £100 you should contact your credit card company as your contract for your return flight is with them. They should refund the money to you and then pursue the flight company for the money back as long as you have all the evidence, receipts etc as proof. I hope you contact Consumer Direct though and that they give you advice, as you can do without this type of hassle as it's probably spoilt your holiday.

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

Sorry to hear about your dreadful experience with Pegasus Sophia
I have flown with Pegasus a few times now and not had significant problems so far
hope you manage to get your money back
keep trying
in relation to delays - consult the EU regulations which was passed in 2002
they apply to Pegasus as they are classed as an airline flying within European airspace
Hope this helps
xxxx