Monarch airlines collapse

AMGeed

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. But during the restructuring, it was hit by a series of flight cancellations and severe delays, leading to a flood of complaints.

The last bit sounds horrible familiar!

I wouldn't shed a tear if RyanAir went under. A dreadful company with a worse chairman.
The staff, especially pilots are reportedly leaving in droves anyway. They have had a gutful of O'Leary
Another low cost airline would pick up their routes.
 

Naraic

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Michael's not a bad guy to be fair.
 

Naraic

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At least Ryanair might get a few pilots to cover their foul up....

Ryanair fly mostly (if not all) 737s...the Monarch guys would have to have flown the same.
 

keefysher

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Michael's not a bad guy to be fair.

His public persona doesn't reflect those sentiments. Greedy dinosaur from a bygone era is how he comes across. Not met hm so only his image as seen.

But not the first where greed has tainted them. Another airline boss who says 'our people are our most valuable asset', until a currency exchange rate drops and the first to go are 'our people' cos we lost a few quid on the share price on that day. Met that one a couple of decades ago, when he wasn't greedy.
 

Lord_Lucan

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At the risk of stating the obvious the short haul model is sustainable if you have enough market share and the better routes. It helps even more if you have a wealthy founder who injects cash in the beginning too.

I worked for a low cost airline (won't say which) and the routes you have (as well as other factors of course) directly correlate to whether or not you'll be profitable.

Monarch from what I gather mismanaged their hedging and a few other areas of their business and surprise surprise they came a cropper.
 

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Operating scheduled flights as they had moved on from the just charter business.
Landing/handling costs in Europe up.
Lower load factors due to low cost competition.

Alitalia will be the next.
 

Craiglxviii

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Michael's not a bad guy to be fair.

No, he’s an AWFUL guy.

Spend a pound to spend a penny?
Standing room only?
Steal pencils from IKEA?

Those are sane policies from a reasonable CEO?
 

Naraic

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No, he’s an AWFUL guy.

Spend a pound to spend a penny?
Standing room only?
Steal pencils from IKEA?

Those are sane policies from a reasonable CEO?

It costs nothing to spend a penny and everyone has a seat.
Who hasn't taken a pencil from Ikea?

In company he'll also pay for his round like everyone else.
 

d215yq

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I wouldn't shed a tear if RyanAir went under. A dreadful company with a worse chairman.

Most punctual, cheapest airline with fewest cancellations (even including the ones they are doing now). I can't say I've ever enjoyed any flight ever (tall, can't sleep easily, boredom, etc) so if I need to go somewhere then I'd rather save the cash on the flight, have the greatest chance of punctuality and spend on other areas of my life/the holiday.

Actually I see their attitude and that of their chairman as refreshing. Amongst all this "customer is always right, we are selling you a dream and an experience" BS I'm quite happy for someone to just tell it as it is and give me a low cost efficient bare bones service. The problem with Ryanair is actually now they're so big (worth more than BA and unlike other airlines they actually own and not lease their planes so will probably be the last to go under) they're trying to compete on customer service too, giving everyone an extra hand luggage means most people's hand luggage now has to be checked in as not enough space on the flight and then you have to wait for it at the carousel! I expect they will start other such initiatives which all push the price up in the long run.

And as for all this greed nonsense all companies are here to make a profit and couldn't care a less about staff (unless it helps sales with a caring image). It's called capitalism. You might not agree with all aspects of it (as I don't) and want to debate that elsewhere but to blame it on one honest CEO when they're all at it doesn't seem that fair to me.
 

Craiglxviii

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It costs nothing to spend a penny and everyone has a seat.
Who hasn't taken a pencil from Ikea?

In company he'll also pay for his round like everyone else.

Who made it company policy for their head office to sustain their stationery budget for free from IKEA?
 

Alfie

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Alitalia wont crumble because the Italian government are keeping them afloat. they should have gone out of business ages ago and would have were it not for cash injections.

Personally I despise Ryanair with a passion. Have no comment on their CEO as I dont know him but their service was dire. Ive only ever heard good things about Monarch and its a shame they have gone. I expect sleazyJet will pick some routes.

I always fly BA for a few simple reasons. They fly to just about everywhere. when they fly to a city its very near that city or in it unlike Ryanair. They have a premium cabin and I get a booked/selected seat. I can earn Avios with my Amex card. Yes they have had their problems but id rather pay for a good service than suffer the anxiety and stress of travelling with a low cost low service airline that doesnt guarantee your seat until you are actully sitting in it!
 

Craiglxviii

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Alitalia wont crumble because the Italian government are keeping them afloat. they should have gone out of business ages ago and would have were it not for cash injections.

Personally I despise Ryanair with a passion. Have no comment on their CEO as I dont know him but their service was dire. Ive only ever heard good things about Monarch and its a shame they have gone. I expect sleazyJet will pick some routes.

I always fly BA for a few simple reasons. They fly to just about everywhere. when they fly to a city its very near that city or in it unlike Ryanair. They have a premium cabin and I get a booked/selected seat. I can earn Avios with my Amex card. Yes they have had their problems but id rather pay for a good service than suffer the anxiety and stress of travelling with a low cost low service airline that doesnt guarantee your seat until you are actully sitting in it!

Airport Operations do too, they are a nightmare to work with. Ryanair's main KPI is from leaving gate to reaching gate; their pilots are (or were until very recently) penalized for any fuel use over the nominal fuel burn calculated for that route. So quite often their aircraft would be booked for speeding after landing and moving off the runway to the gate; they would shut engines down to save on fuel while rolling to the gate and then get stuck requiring an emergency tow. In addition their steward/stewardess staff all have a KPI of making £1 per customer per flight of sales so they run the trolley up and down the aisle ten thousand times.

In case you can't tell I have to use them for business with unappetizing frequency.
 

keefysher

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Have only flown Ryanair once. On a holiday to Italy, Bergamo airport for a last minute allocation on arrival ski holiday. We paid a surcharge for ski carriage that was equivalent to 1/3 of the holiday cost :shock:. Prior to that used to drive out where ski carriage wasn't even a consideration.

Went from Stanstead, left late, arrived late.

On return left the resort early for a very long transfer due to bad weather, talking 2 metres of fresh snow up in the valley of the sun. Got to Bergamo airport to check in as advised by Ryanair, closed, no one from Ryanair anywhere to be seen for another 8 hours. When they finally opened the check in, with no communication that the flight inward from Stanstead was grounded due to 1/4" of snow at Standstead, until they opened the check in. Then got charged a fee of equivalent to the remaining 2/3 of the holiday cost for ski carriage. Despite protestations and producing the receipt for ski carriage return, we had no choice than to pay.

Needless to say have and never will fly them again.

Still tend to drive for ski holidays as it's probably quicker door to door and you don't have to get up before you go to bed to get to and fro the airport.

Also won't fly Bl00dy Awful (BA) ever again after they lost our baggage when we took our daughter to Chicago when she was 3 months old.

Many years ago when I used to fly long haul on average every 10 days I did get the only flight out of Perth, Western Australia to London due to a conference in Singapore where my alternate choices were booked and BA had space. I paid £4800 for a Business Class ticket, expecting a decent seat on the inaugural 747-400 (the long upper deck) BA flight. Arrived to all sorts of bands and entertainment, I didn't know it was the inaugural flight, boarded expecting to go upstairs as the other 747-400 carriers, but was sent into Club World downstairs, aisle seat next to window seat just behind an engine. I got the cabin questionnaire, duly completed it. After take off Colin Marshall, who was in 1st came back to discuss my responses on the questionnaire. Simply told him that until BA re-configured their Club cabins so they were above and ahead of the engines, they would not get our business, and check the locator to see who was paying the fare:)

I relented and flew to Chicago when they lost the baggage, but never again.

It's not difficult to get passengers and baggage from one place to another, is it??

I do like Emirates though. The A380 upper deck in Business with the bar is a great way to fly long haul. The lounges are super, everywhere Ive been.

My all time fave was Ward Air, then CPair who became Canadian. All gone now.

Happy days
 

davemercedes

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When I worked on a project in Canada our budget was tight and we had to travel cattle class. I did a web search exercise to find any alternative in Business/Club that I could book and found Air Canada ran something called a "Comfort" flight. It went from Manchester up to Glasgow where a few passengers got on and off and then flew straight to Toronto. The entire front of the plane was fitted out with Business class reclining seats with pop-up foot rest etc but the food and service was "ordinary" I had no problem when I jokingly ordered a large gin and a small tonic and when the lovely hostess queried it I explained that I wanted a "sleeping draught". She carried on down the plane and stopped on the way back up to give me another one! The food was bearable and the reclining seat was terrific - all at bucket shop price!

Thankfully on my other trips to North America we flew Business - but our respective companies always got their pound of flesh in return - we started work as soon as the taxi got us to our client's premises or at least first thing in the morning. I used to fly with Continental (also gone now) and even the food was excellent.
 

keefysher

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When I worked on a project in Canada our budget was tight and we had to travel cattle class. I did a web search exercise to find any alternative in Business/Club that I could book and found Air Canada ran something called a "Comfort" flight. It went from Manchester up to Glasgow where a few passengers got on and off and then flew straight to Toronto. The entire front of the plane was fitted out with Business class reclining seats with pop-up foot rest etc but the food and service was "ordinary" I had no problem when I jokingly ordered a large gin and a small tonic and when the lovely hostess queried it I explained that I wanted a "sleeping draught". She carried on down the plane and stopped on the way back up to give me another one! The food was bearable and the reclining seat was terrific - all at bucket shop price!

Thankfully on my other trips to North America we flew Business - but our respective companies always got their pound of flesh in return - we started work as soon as the taxi got us to our client's premises or at least first thing in the morning. I used to fly with Continental (also gone now) and even the food was excellent.

The reason I flew Business Class was to go straight to work, even if as often, it was from a connecting internal pond hopper or pencil plane flight.

I did 37 hours International flight from Toronto (Canada) to Sydney (Australia) then a pond hopper to Newcastle (NSW) into a car and drive 300kms to a site.

Another time a Business Class Gatwick to Toronto, and due to bad weather no internal flights, so a 7 hour drive up north in snow to then go underground for a long night.

Were once asked to fly economy due to budget constraints. Negotiated that if flew earlier i.e. Friday instead of Sunday and a day off on return to UK. That was welcomed by the accountants as each cell in their spreadsheet showed a reduced figure. However by the time 2 nights accommodation, meals, car hire and bar bill (where the client was taken out), overseas allowances and the bar bill in the airports were added up it was far more than the Business Class flights. But the accountants were seen to save a cell figure somewhere. Have you noticed walls are built bonded so they stay up, but spreadsheets are built unbonded?

There was a period when due to my specific role, I had fully flexible First Class tickets in order I could get home overnight from anywhere in the world. That was due to 5 years after my father died, my twin brother contracted cancer, so my boss Group MD authorised those tickets. Fortunately my brother survived, earlier this year marking 24 years survival. Oddly that company was extremely profitable, had nil staff turnover, full allegiance and delivered some advances in all sorts of technologies and Engineering excellence. Then the CE was replaced by a bean counter, the share price plummeted, due to removing the R&D spend as it was too risky to do R&D.
 

davemercedes

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The reason I flew Business Class was to go straight to work, even if as often, it was from a connecting internal pond hopper or pencil plane flight.

I did 37 hours International flight from Toronto (Canada) to Sydney (Australia) then a pond hopper to Newcastle (NSW) into a car and drive 300kms to a site.

Another time a Business Class Gatwick to Toronto, and due to bad weather no internal flights, so a 7 hour drive up north in snow to then go underground for a long night.

Were once asked to fly economy due to budget constraints. Negotiated that if flew earlier i.e. Friday instead of Sunday and a day off on return to UK. That was welcomed by the accountants as each cell in their spreadsheet showed a reduced figure. However by the time 2 nights accommodation, meals, car hire and bar bill (where the client was taken out), overseas allowances and the bar bill in the airports were added up it was far more than the Business Class flights. But the accountants were seen to save a cell figure somewhere. Have you noticed walls are built bonded so they stay up, but spreadsheets are built unbonded?

There was a period when due to my specific role, I had fully flexible First Class tickets in order I could get home overnight from anywhere in the world. That was due to 5 years after my father died, my twin brother contracted cancer, so my boss Group MD authorised those tickets. Fortunately my brother survived, earlier this year marking 24 years survival. Oddly that company was extremely profitable, had nil staff turnover, full allegiance and delivered some advances in all sorts of technologies and Engineering excellence. Then the CE was replaced by a bean counter, the share price plummeted, due to removing the R&D spend as it was too risky to do R&D.

Had that proverbial shiver reading your post - been there, done most of that including the budget trimming and the end was virtually the same. The only thing was that on the basis of who I knew/who knew my work etc I walked into some contract work and then a job with another company where four or five of my colleagues also ended up. But the company just survived and eventually got sold on - after the heart had been ripped out of it which was incredibly sad.
 

LostKiwi

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Flown RyanAir once and it was awful. Admittedly it was some time back and it was effectively a mad scramble for the seats. It ended up I had to sit in a different row to my girlfriend (who was scared of flying) which was not great.
I wouldn't choose to fly with them again...
The other airline I wouldn't choose to fly with is Malaysian Airways - just dreadful... Never again.

On the other hand Singapore Airlines are fantastic, as are Qantas and Air NZ. On one particularly boring Air NZ flight from LA -> Auckland (possibly the most boring longhaul route in the world) the cabin crew gave away bottles of champagne to the passengers by way of anniversaries, birthdays, quizzes etc. Superb.

On Singapore we were flying to NZ with a young child. The stewardess seeing we were struggling to keep him entertained took him from us, then proceeded to carry out her duties on the plane whilst carrying him on one hip. He was enthralled and kept quiet for over an hour while we got some much needed rest. He certainly knew how to pick them too - she was absolutely gorgeous!
On another flight with Singapore we were travelling with two young children - one was 4 the other 1 year old. In business class there was an empty seat so the stewardess offered it to us to share so we could get a break from the kids. It was a lovely touch and much appreciated. Definitely on top of my list of preferred airlines.
 

AMGeed

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My favourite airlines in no particular order are

Cathay Pacific
Singapore
Eva Air
Qatar Airways
Etihad (I hear they have slipped lately though)
Emirates


Airlines I won't use again if possible

RyanAir
BA
Air France
Kenya Airways
China Air
Thai Air

Now most airlines are codesharing, you sometimes get a different carrier when booking with another.
eg Qantas /BA
 

Craiglxviii

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Ha! Kenya! I used to support their operations in Deepest Darket Africa when they still flew Tristars. I’ve seen their... maintenance standards... up close. I never got so much as a deadhead flight with them for that reason.
 
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Frosty149

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We spent a few weeks in Kenya flew in via Mombasa stayed in a Dutch owned complex - fabulous value, interesting place, people and contrasts.
Ironically flew with Monarch and half our luggage was stolen on the homeward journey...
 


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