Freedom Flights - Beware!!

[MartynE]

Just a word of warning... our friends and their family - total size of party 12 - are due to come to Kalkan and stay in our apartment (and two others in the same block) in two weeks'' time. They booked their flights with Freedom Flights from Gatwick about six months ago, paid in full and had an email receipt in confirmation that 12 flights had been booked.

On checking today with Freedom Flights as to when their tickets would arrive, our friend was informed "oh dear... silly us, we''ve actually only booked five seats for you!"

Worse, there were no more seats available on that flight now. They have now managed to get the other seven onto a flight 12 hours later, but this means extra transfers, and half a day''s holiday lost for the seven.  PLUS, on the day they come back to UK, one of the apartments has guests booked in for that day so they will have to arrange alternative accomodation for four of the party for their last night! Freedom Flights are offering £500 compensation but that''s not going to make up for all the hassle and inconvenience.

So, the moral of this story is... I don''t know, but always check flight bookings as rigorously as you can!


Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=2199.0

[jayne]

That''s interesting Martyn, our experience of Freedom Flights has also been pretty awful. Our daughter''s  friends (aged 17) were due to fly out of Dalaman a few weeks ago, only to be told their flight had been cancelled when they arrived at the airport. They were then informed they would be put up in a hotel until the next day. They had no money between them and the hotel was a hovel in a rather dodgy part of town.  Most managed to get onto flights later that evening (at great extra cost to their parents). I was acutely embarassed as I had booked the flights in the first place.

[Chris18648]

A nightmare Martyn . I had a similar experience with Onur air booked through Goldtrail holidays.
Moral for me....never Onur air again even if they offer half price seats.
Chris.

[Blue Lizard]

We have used Goldtrail once ..and that will be the only time

[turkeyfan]

Oh dear....

On Monday this week I tried to book flights over the phone with Goldtrail, I was on hold for over 2 hours- being told I was in a queue and when I got to first in the queue the message said "All lines are busy, please try again later" and then I was cut off!! Arrrgghh!! How frustrating.  Anyway to cut a very long story short, I have now booked the flights with Freedom Flights.  Reading this thread it seems I''ve picked the two worse companies.  The tickets are for my daughters and my sister, going this Friday night and they have to collect the tickets from the airport - I hope everything is OK for them.

Kay

[kalkan4eva]

Turkeyfan, we booked with Freedom Flights last year (last minute) and had to collect tickets at the Airport. If it''s Manchester they are flying from beware....they told me terminal 2 over the phone and when we arrived it was actually terminal one - bit of a hike with the cases - so allow loads of time or phone up the airport independently and check the terminal with them. Other than that - everything was fine. Similarly with Onur in June this year - no problems whatsoever and we''ve booked with them for next year.

[turkeyfan]

Thanks K4E I''ve been told terminal 2 as well.  They are flying with XL, so I will phone the airport now. The whole thing is turning into a nightmare - my cousin who is also going doesn''t get his passport until Friday and they have to be at Manchester for 4.30!  

[Kalkan regular]

XL were going out of terminal 2 at Manchester this year. Onur and XL were using the same check in area, which was on a different level to the main check in area. There is a lift to go down to it.

[kalkan4eva]

Crikey...they''ll be having their own version of the Wacky Races
If it''s any help when we went last year with Freedom Flights it wasn''t an XL plane and I do think they fly out of terminal 2 with Onur, but it''s worth checking to be on the safe side.
If your cousin is going to collect his passport from the Passport Office in Liverpool, be aware they block book appointments so he won''t be the only one with the time given to him   Tell him to get there as early as he can.
Also if he hasn''t already been once with the paperwork he''ll have an hour or so (sometimes more) wait once he''s completed that section before he can actually collect the passport.
Apologies if this isn''t relevant, but thought I''d give you a heads up on that little adventure, given all your other issues.

[Chris18648]

Hi Turkeyfan. Following my last minute let down with Onur air,we flew with XL. and it was excellent.Just a very last minute large hike in price ....thank you onur air.

[littlelin]

Chris, I believe Goldtrail actually charter the planes from Onur Air, so any problems are probably due to Goldtrail, who don''t have a good reputation at the best of times rather than Onur Air. H4U and their flight subsidiary company, Aegean Flights, are the UK agents for Onur Air. Anyone booking via Aegean/H4U now doesn''t have to reconfirm the return flight.

[Cuddles]

My neighbour in Kalkan said he had been told, by another booking co, to be very careful of using Goldtrail as they may be one of the holiday co''s facing big problems. I have no personal interest in this and you should conduct your own research into any company you use.

[CATSOO58]

Hi, we have just returned from Kalkan using Freedom flights and Onur air from Liverpool with no problems at all. Booked on the web on the Sunday and flew out on time the following Friday, picking tickets up from the airport before the flight. We confirmed the flight home 24 hrs before and took off on time and landed 1/2hr early. Would def. use them again.