 Poster: A snowHead
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About to head off skiing tomorrow only to be told by Crystal ski less than 24 hours prior to departure that they overbooked the ski carriage and as such cannot take my skis tomorrow. I was already at the airport at the time (it was supposed to be a super early morning flight so going to stay overnight at the airport hotel). They initially offered me free ski rental but we passed as we are a group of telemarkers (and also where are we going to leave our skis if we can't check them in?).
After a bit of hassling they agreed to move us to a later flight with ski carriage - but only if we agreed to have the inbound flight changed too. We have a show booked on the evening of us returning which means we are going to miss that now (yes I know this is my own doing by accepting the new flights).
So essentially Crystal Ski wasted my money on airport hotel and the show. I can understand as a tour operator they can occasionally be overbooked but telling us less than 24 hours in advance is just poor form. I probably will have no recourse for compensation (and they didn't offer it).
Sorry not sure what I want to achieve with this just wanted to air my frustration
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sat 4-01-20 17:01; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@euanovsky, Send your skis home by taxi, rent some in resort and bill/sue Crystal for the costs incurred.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Other options that come to mind are a locker in the airport (and request compensation). Or can the airport hotel keep them for you (assuming you are returning to the same airport).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Where are you off to?? We are Crystal-ing tomorrow and have ski bags booked but haven’t received any communications like yours.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| red 27 wrote: |
| @euanovsky, Send your skis home by taxi, rent some in resort and bill/sue Crystal for the costs incurred. |
+1
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| euanovsky wrote: |
| They initially offered me free ski rental but we passed as we are a group of telemarkers |
I think this is the crux of the matter. I believe it's quite difficult to rent telemark skis. Not a lot of places supply them as telemarkers generally have their own.
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@big_ben,
going to portes du soleil.
thank you all for your input. It's all sorted - they agreed to let us take our skis on the later flight. I was (and still am) just annoyed they gave us less than 24 hours notice!
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Definitely complain to your rep when you get to resort (though please don't shout at them, its not their fault). You should get a 'gesture of goodwill' as a bare minimum.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Defo push as hard as you can with them for a gesture of good will for ultimately their error.
I had a similarish experience with Neilson, flights and 2 changes of airport meaning we lost our hotel booking for the night before. Whilst they say that they won't refund/compensate anything outside of your booking with them, we managed to get some money back as a good will gesture. Did take a couple of phone calls and emails but reasonably straightforward.
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This thread is about to get very, very busy.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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People - you won't get anywhere with compensation from Crystal. Definitely don't incur personal costs and expect them to reimburse. They have a bigger budget for lawyers than you do, and like any large consumer-facing company, a battery of well-trained telephone reps to stonewall you, so it's a lost cause.
I stopped using them after their rep went down the checkin queue demanding a payment for ski carriage or we wouldn't be allowed on the flight. Completely untrue: when we got to the checkin the airline Rep said it was noting to do with them. When I went back up the line to tell other people, the Crystal Rep threated to call airport security and have me ejected.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Sat 4-01-20 17:07; edited 2 times in total
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@LaForet,
That sounds unusual that the rep asked you to pay for ski carriage at check in. Presumably you already paid that at the time of booking?
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| euanovsky wrote: |
@LaForet,
That sounds unusual that the rep asked you to pay for ski carriage at check in. Presumably you already paid that at the time of booking? |
Yes. It was a 'supplementary airline charge'. Except that it wasn't. At least, not according to the people at the airline checkin desk. In these circumstances you can argue as much as you want, but the TO holds all the cards. If we didn't pay, we wouldn't get on the 'plane was the line. Waving the booking form showing the carriage paid got us nowhere. We asked for a receipt. No, no receipt.
Perhaps there really was a supplementary charge being made by the airline, unknown to the check-in staff (who are often subcontractors); or perhaps someone at Crystal got the numbers wrong and realised everyone was undercharged for carriage on the original booking; or perhaps it was an airport Rep misunderstanding what they were being asked to do. It may have been a weird, one-off combination of issues. What really got me, though was being threatened with ejection from the airport, just for telling other people that the Rep's line was misleading, and according to the check-in staff, untrue.
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You know it makes sense.
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Just take a look on Twitter to see the general public face of Crystal. 2 less than good experiences but guess would use again if the deal suited.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Crystal generally charter their own flights though don't they? Ie. The Swissport (or similar) staff at the desk don't really know what the deal is?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Huge problems for Crystal at Chambery today due to weather
Check their Facebook page for 8 hour delays etc etc
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
Huge problems for Crystal at Chambery today due to weather
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It's a complete poo-poo-show. We were one of two Manchester flights to Chambery at 6am today. They boarded us and then it was announced we would be delayed by three hours. After that, the pilot persuaded them to let us off. We were then re-boarded after an hour. Crystal just gave no information, not just to us but to the pilots- I was getting most of my information from Twitter. (you might have seen some of my constant requests to let us off!) The ops team wouldn't let us off, apparently. The bosses had a conference call around 1 (I think, we lost track of time)- which implies they weren't at the office on such a ludicrously busy changeover day. Eventually they relented and agreed to let us off, only to find there was nobody to sort the airbridge, and then Border Control refused to let us off until they were ready, even though we'd never left the country! We were let off at 3pm- as I live locally, my wife and I turned down the chance of a night in a hotel. We were given a phone number to ring later, but there has been zero contact bar a text to tell me the flight isn't leaving, which came as I left the airport. During all this, we got two glasses of water and some shortbread. Can't fault the cabin crew or pilot, who really did their best- mood was hostile to Crystal but positive towards the staff.
Some flights diverted to Lyon and I believe got it worse than us. I hear they've been trapped on the plane for hours with no food and water. And at Chambery itself, it looks like mayhem.
I'm fuming.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
Huge problems for Crystal at Chambery today due to weather
Check their Facebook page for 8 hour delays etc etc |
Yep, same on their Twitter page. Chambery full of passengers who cant get home.
When I booked my January holiday with them back in September, I chose to fly to Geneva, because I hate Chambery. The day after I had made my final payment, flight was changed to ---- Chambery !!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Drive, train, coach, fly - in that order of preference. And coach is pretty dire, so that just tells you how bad flying is...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hardly, 30 flights landed at Grenoble today, most of which were on time/early.
Just don't use Chambery! The fog was forecast, albeit a 40 % chance. BA were on average 3 hours late into Chambery today.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| albob wrote: |
When I booked my January holiday with them back in September, I chose to fly to Geneva, because I hate Chambery. The day after I had made my final payment, flight was changed to ---- Chambery !! |
Ouch! And I was just about to post that Crystal usually have a GVA option as an alternative to Chambery...
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OMG I'm due to fly from Chambery tomorrow.
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@Jehu, getting out is easier than getting in
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Landed and stranded at chambery. There are people trying to fly back to the UK but their flight was cancelled and they were fighting for hotel rooms. Then there are at least 200 of us stranded not knowing which bus to go on. None of the reps know what's happening it's chaos here.
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@red 27, But the aircraft have to get there first!!
Luckily for@Jehu, Chambery is not busy on a Sunday and the forecast for the morning is a 30% chance of fog, even if this appears it will be gone by 6AM as the wind picks up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| chocksaway wrote: |
Hardly, 30 flights landed at Grenoble today, most of which were on time/early.
Just don't use Chambery! The fog was forecast, albeit a 40 % chance. BA were on average 3 hours late into Chambery today. |
Could this be due to Pilot qualifications ? (landing in fog) BA pilots get in, but TUI ones don't..?
(I only ask because of your 'expertise'...)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Most of the public demand the lowest cost ski packages. They end up flying to Chambery. YGWYPF.
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Chambery is about the most expensive ski airport going from Edinburgh, maybe different if booking a package right enough.
Do tour ops have to pay compo for late/cancelled flights? I'm pretty sure in the case of a flight only booking if you can show some flights have landed/taken off it's harder for the airlines to wriggle out of paying up.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Sat 4-01-20 22:46; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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@Pruman, Most of the public (bless 'em) have no idea about these things until it's too late.
they're going skiing... they've booked with Crystal. No worries!
They don't know the difference between Chambery and Chernobyl
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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We were actually due to fly to Geneva but they changed our flight to chambery less than 24 hours before departure
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Poster: A snowHead
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@albob, Nope, its all about geography and the big hill at the end of the runway. I have done this before, but in a nutshell the world of aviation insists that aircraft can overshoot of number of engines fitted -1 (ie one for a 737) until they are committed to land, in this case see the runway visually. So to ensure a safe overshoot the point at which Biggles makes a decision is moved further from the end of the runway so at Chambery they require around 1500m of visibility (cf Geneva and Lyon just about zero and Grenoble 300m). So airfield equipment and pilot quals have nothing to do with it (contrary to many rumours). This distance can be shortened by making a steeper approach which I believe the BA Cityfliers out of City airport may take advantage of in the E190.
If we were going to build an airport it wouldn't be here!
The next chapter may have to be on wind direction but its getting late.
I know it doesn't make it any easier for those stuck there but that's how it is.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@chocksaway, I remember a being on a Crystal flight when the pilot commented that Chambery was in a particularly clever spot for an airport, have sorted my own trips and avoided Chambery since.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@euanovsky, That also probably explains the ski issue. The runway at Chambery is also shorter than the other three (and its higher) so the aircraft may well be weight limited - easiest way to deal with that - reduce no of skis.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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No, that’s not ‘how it is’. This is an easy cop-out for poor service. Of course TOs can’t affect the weather, or French ATC strikes; or mountain topography; or aircrew illness throwing out the schedules or all those things outside their control. But this is their business; they do it all the time; so they know that sooner or later things will go awry.
OK, so you have contingencies: water and food if the transfer runs into serious delays; a system for texting Reps on the latest status; a mechanism for helping customers when the airport closes for the night. The criticism is of those TOS who won’t take the trouble of staff training and expenses in support of contingencies that happen pretty much every season.
Nor is the YGWYPF retort valid: training and contingency provision is a hidden effort - you don’t know they’re skimping on it until you need it. And I can cite TOs I’ve travelled with who coped well and weren’t any more expensive than their competitors.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@LaForet, I was referring to that is how it is at Chambery in relation to aircraft operations- ie you can't change it. I was not referring to Crystals handling of the situation or lack of contingencies, or doing things on the cheap.
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They ran out of hotel accommodation for people whose inbound flights were cancelled. They then started putting people in a nearby gym (ie sleeping on the floor) that has also been filled. So compared to those people on their way back I guess we are relatively lucky. Still no news for the transfer yet though its going to be a long night
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Chambery airport must be twinned with Bristol airport!
Been waiting for fog to clear their a number of times.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@chocksaway, thanks for your expert view..
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| chocksaway wrote: |
| @albob, Nope, its all about geography and the big hill at the end of the runway.. |
There is a lake at one end of the runway and a town at the other. Which gives a bit of leeway. You've got 20k of flat water. There are hills either side though. I will have to check but I think chambery lacks a fog landing system cat3 ILS which they have at Geneva. Maybe this is the issue? If you were choosing places to build airports then GVA and Grenoble both suffer from fog... As does Lyon to s lesser extent. Chambery suffers from a lot of crosswinds.
No fog at Grenoble Domene airport today 30km to the south.
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