FlyGlobespan Liverpool-New York JFK flight?

[Sloyne]

FlyGlobespan have announced that their Liverpool-New York flight to start this coming May will stop, on three days a week (Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday) at Knock in Ireland. This is a bad omen for the route. It says to me that Liverpool cannot sustain a daily service to New York.

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A stop in Knock, albeit leaving LPL a half hour earlier, will have the flight arriving at JFK at 1800 hours or later and, given the mess at US Immigration at JFK, it will be 2000hrs, at least, by the time one exits the baggage hall. Connections to other parts of NA, especially if one needs to get to LGA or EWR, where most NA flights arrive/depart, would be impossible. The airline is advertising the flight as 'DIRECT' which it is, but most pax equate direct with non-stop and the airline know this. To me that is being a bit disingenuous. Having booked on this flight for later this summer I have now cancelled my booking.

[ChrisGeorge]

Thanks for the information, Sloyne.

Chris

[shytalk]

I wouldn't use it either if it has a stop, I am trying to plan my next trip over in 2008 and have decided to use Manchester.

[Sloyne]

I wouldn't use it either if it has a stop,

And that one stop will turn the journey into a twelve hour ordeal.

FlyGlobespan will also be innaugaurating a Liverpool-Toronto? flight this coming summer. Only one problem, but IMO a major one, the flight departs Liverpool John Lennon Airport but lands at Hamilton John Munro Airport, Ontario. Now anyone who has any familiarity with Ontario knows fulwell that the city of Hamilton is a good hours drive, (on a Sunday night after midnight) from Toronto and, I know Canada is the worlds second largest country and perceptions of space and distance are very different here than in the UK. Manchester is closer to Liverpool than hamilton is to Toronto. However, even here in Canada Hamilton is not considered a Toronto area airport. Also, anyone arriving at Hamilton (Mount Hope) would need to take a cab or hire a car to get to Toronto, a very expensive proposition, believe me. I have looked into connecting times with public transport and, allowing for the flight arriving a 1600hrs, one would get to the Royal York Hotel/Union Station in downtown Toronto at 2125hrs.

[SteH]

FlyGlobespan have announced that their Liverpool-New York flight to start this coming May will stop, on three days a week (Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday) at Knock in Ireland. This is a bad omen for the route. It says to me that Liverpool cannot sustain a daily service to New York.

A stop in Knock, albeit leaving LPL a half hour earlier, will have the flight arriving at JFK at 1800 hours or later and, given the mess at US Immigration at JFK, it will be 2000hrs, at least, by the time one exits the baggage hall. Connections to other parts of NA, especially if one needs to get to LGA or EWR, where most NA flights arrive/depart, would be impossible. The airline is advertising the flight as 'DIRECT' which it is, but most pax equate direct with non-stop and the airline know this. To me that is being a bit disingenuous. Having booked on this flight for later this summer I have now cancelled my booking.

I'm disgusted at the way they've done this, as I've booked the route in June and am likely to cancel even though I'll lose the deposit and look for a cheaper deal from Manchester nearer the time. This isn't unusual of Globespan, the Glasgow-Boston route will stop at Knock some days a week as well. They've also messed passengers around by cancelling Liverpool-Prague before the route even started then operating Tenerfie flights via Stansted, not to mention switching the New York flights from Newark to JFK. Only a few weeks ago they were saying how pleased they were with bookings, now they've added a stop on route,its all very strange. If I was one of the airport route managers or whatever they are called I'd be looking to bring in a proper airline for this route which I believe can be sustained.

[Libertarian]

I dunno I wouldn't mind a day out in Knock?

[Sloyne]

I dunno I wouldn't mind a day out in Knock?

It's not a "day out", it's an enroute stop and will neccessitate the aircraft being on the ground, in Knock, for a minimum of two hours. This stop added to the check-in time at Liverpool and the whole US Homeland Security rigmarole at the JFK end adds stress to the whole journey, and even if it was a "day out" in Knock I still wouldn't subject myself to the hassle.

I only booked the flight for the novelty of arriving/departing Liverpool for New York. The last time I flew this same route I was flying to join rms Britannic and JFK was then known as Idlewild.

[SteH]

Knock-JFK is now fully uploaded and bookable on the Irish page of the flyglobespan website, but the sly b**tards havent yet changed the LPL-JFK timetables on the UK page to reflect the stop. So there is now potential for people to be obliviously booking what they assume to be a nonstop flight when the airline quite clearly know it isnt going to be.

[SteH]

Yesterdays flight from Liverpool to JFK took off nearly nine hours late after Globespan seconded the aircraft to fly a Glasgow to Malaga route. Why Globespan couldnt simply put the Glasgow passengers onto other airlines flights from scotland or Newcastle who knows.

I cant see this route lasting into 2008 which would be a great shame. Maybe Liverpool airport bosses should have held out for a proper airline to fly the route as one week into the new service such a delay for such bizarre reasons doesnt bode well..