FlyBe new year deal disorder

FlyBe’s New Year policy has been accused of attempting to exploit the financially unstable in a bid to increase sales in this year’s credit crunch.

FlyBe’s new “Book With Confidence” policy promises free redundancy cancellation insurance, meaning a full refund will be offered to anyone who has bought a ticket in January travelling before October 24, and been made redundant by an employer of two years or more.

However, action group “Plane Stupid” have criticised the new deal as “exploiting the vulnerable financial situation of those who can least afford it”.

Press Officer of the action group, Leo Murray, went on to say: “This sounds like more cynical profiteering of the kind that got us into this economic mess in the first place. It also smacks of the increasing desperation of the aviation industry as customers flock away from luxury goods and services”.

FlyBe, who are based at Exeter Airport, claim it has designed the policy to give unrivalled reassurance to consumers “looking to start the New Year with a well earned break”.

Mike Rutter, Chief Commercial Officer at FlyBe says “We know that holidays and breaks are important to our passengers, and that’s why we’ve introduced what we believe is a totally unmatched offer in the aviation world.”

Last January, founder of “Plane Stupid” Joss Gorman was named as one of The Observer’s “50 people who could save the planet” for his aviation campaign strategies.

The same month, FlyBe signed a franchise deal with Scottish airline Loganair, which saw Loganair aircraft flying in FlyBe colours on 55 routes from Scotland.