Flight Only / Airline and Airports

Discussions relating to flight only, airlines and airports.
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Just looked at the prices for next year and they are not cheap £444 per person Manchester to Dalaman during the school holidays, they won't be getting my business at those prices.

Dave
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This company seems to just be xl under new management and as such I personally wouldnt touch them ,if you take a look at what airline staff are saying on xxxxxxx

EDIT: Sorry, but as airline staff often tend to refer to their employers or their rivals in a derogatory and potentially libelous manner on such sites, it is not appropriate for us to link to that one.
David HT Mod
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hi all,just been searching for flights to crete for the 1st of september,found a good deal on alpha rooms site,confirmed price 398 for 2 adults,the flights were with kiss airlines,well ive never heard of this company so went on their website.the flights i found there were totally different times and 40 quid dearer,im confused as to how alpha rooms can confirm a price and on the actual airline website the same flight is not there and the ones that are,are more expensiveim confused i dont want to book with alpha rooms ad then get stung at a later date,can anyone explain,thanks
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wagg12,

Kiss Flight is an agent for Viking Airlines and Pegasus rather than an actual airline. You'll find more details on the Viking airlines topic. Alpha Rooms probably have a negotiated discount with the airline, hence offer a discounted fare.

Darren
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I have found some reasonably priced seats flying with Kiss this month to Kos, anyone had any dealings? If so, what were they like?

Many thanks
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moved to flights forum

yasus
wizard
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Ninkynonk,

Kiss Flights Is An Agent For Viking Airlines So As Such You Will Find More Information In Our Viking Airlines Thread About Peoples Experience With Them

Gower
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As an agent i can't recall any problems with them. All the staff are very efficient and quick with dealing with us and we have a good relationship with them. They are very flexible to us agents regards silly mistakes on names etc and personally have no hesitation in using them.
If only all the operators were efficient and nice as these guys.

Kiss Flights team - if you read these forums, keep up the good work and don't become like some of the other big operators whereby everything is a no, no,no.
Your work ethics set you apart from the other operators and i believe this will pay good returns in the years to come.

Thanks
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Thanks for the replies, we have found a flight to Kos for 10 days which is much cheaper than anyone else is quoting but I was worried as I have never heard of them. I did check the website and it looked ok, and I was pleased about the 15kg of luggage each included in the price (we got stung by Thomson last year as the agent didn't tell us and we didn't realise there was no luggage included till the tickets arrived). Will let you know what the flight was like when we get back.
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As promised, here is my report on the return flight to Kos: We flew from Gatwick with Viking, which I thought was a very good flight. No frills, but they did keep coming up and down with the refreshments trolley and had a good selection of stuff. It was handy as we were travelling with 2 kids who were not hungry at the same times. Friendly staff, clean but basic plane. Seats had a decent amount of leg room too. No oversell on gifts etc.

We flew back with Jet2, which seemed a bit less friendly, no sandwiches etc. available to buy, just drinks and sweets, which wasn't great for the midnight munchies! Seats were ok but not very padded and a bit utilitarian. All in all it was fine for the price which was £110 less than the next cheapest. We were delayed on boarding but they landed at Gatwick on time so not too bad.
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Ninkynonk,

Hope You Had A Good Holiday, It Is Nice To Hear Of Positive Experiences With Airline.

Gower
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It was great thanks Gower, and I was pleasantly surprised by Viking.
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Booked to go to crete in september the flight was from Newcastle booked through Kiss flying with Viking due to the collapse of Goldtrail who had half the seats on the flight it was then half empty so they decided to just cancell the flight to go with another airline at short notice it is going to cost another £300 plus i can have a fefund of the whole cost hotel etc but prices now a lot more than when i booked this holiday so still not sure what ill be doing.
Em
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I thought anyone planning to book flights with Kiss should know that the English Office is not privy to what is happening in Turkey. My son and family are currently stuck in Turkey because the flight they were booked on last night was overbooked. They had asked me to reconfirm their flight this end because they were unable to do it from Turkey, I phoned at 9am yesterday and was told that all was as it should be and that there was no need to reconfirm. My son was supposed to be on a flight booked `with Goldtrail and we managed to get him and family booked onto this airline. I don't think Turkey will be their destination of choice any time soon!
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I was just thinking this morning they would be next to go.

Viking airlines have a statement at http://www.flyviking.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=pubDsp.dspNews which indicates they will be getting rid of the aircraft and crews used on Kiss charters. Which may make life difficult for the CAA if they still have to get people home!
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Statement from Kiss Flights parent

The parent of Kiss Flights has ceased trading today, leaving the travel industry once again having to deal with the consequences of a peak-season failure.

London-based Flight Options, a sports tour operator and dynamic packager, issued the following statement:

"In 2010, the companies suffered major setbacks due to very difficult and challenging conditions in the UK travel market resulting in poor yields and poor demand.

"The poor yields were mainly contributed to over capacity in the marketplace. Poor demand was attributed to volcanic ash, which not only closed the skies for seven days, but affected people's confidence for well over six weeks, good weather in the UK, industrial actions and financial issues in Greece, bad ATC problems across Europe. The demise of Goldtrail Holidays was devastating.

"All of the above have resulted in poor yields, very late booking trends (resulting in slow forward sales in September and October) which have resulted in severe cash flow issues."

Flight OPtions CEO Gary Ash added: "I am absolutely devastated by this unfortunate turn of events. Over the past 9 months we have been fighting in a very difficult travel market. However, recent developments have made it impossible to continue the operation of the companies.

"The effect of the volcanic ash was devastating. When the banks were in trouble the government bailed them out but when the tour operators had to cope with the enforced closure of the skies and the expensive cost of repatriation the government did not help.

"The demise of Goldtrail has cost us dearly as we have had to assume responsibility for a large number of unsold seats. On top of poor yields and very late booking trends, our fate was sealed by very poor forward sales."

The statement said for the year ended October 31 2009, Kiss Flights reported an operating profit of £500,000.

Seat-only operator Kiss Flights, run by former directors of collapsed XL Leisure Group-owned Freedom Flights, was purchased by Flight Options in January 2009.

Kiss held an ATOL, but it is not known how many clients are covered by the licence or how many are abroad.

The failure comes after the collapse of Goldtrail and Sun4U this summer.

Swedish charter airline operator Viking Airlines AB immediately issued a statement assuring customers of its financial situation.

"While one of Viking's tour operating customers, Flight Options, has unfortunately gone into administration, Viking is financially healthy and is set to continue its normal UK operations," it said.

"The company has already put into motion plans to downsize its fleet, immediately reducing the number of aircraft by three.

"Regrettably, this will result in some job losses, mainly in the UK. It should be noted that the majority of Viking's operations are based in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Middle East."

With permission from Travelmole
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I am due to fly to Corfu end September, booked with Travelzoo end of May who acted as agents for Kiss flights who used Viking airlines. My question is who has my money of the 3 above? and as I had also booked a Hotel through Travelzoo acting as agents for You Travel can I cancel the Hotel if my flight is cancelled?

All very confusing hope someone has more experience of these situations.

Ed
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