ZOOM Airlines in Financial Difficulty

[Banksy]

From BBC News Website

Zoom Airlines has admitted being in financial difficulty after two planes used by the company were grounded over alleged non-payment of fees.

The company said it had been affected by "acutely difficult" trading conditions.

More than 200 passengers were left stranded at Glasgow Airport when their Zoom flight bound for Halifax and Ottawa was refused permission to leave.

A flight from Calgary to Glasgow was also said to have been grounded.

Eurocontrol and the National Air Traffic Service said charges had not been paid by the Canadian company.

It is understood to have been grounded over a payment dispute.

Zoom Airlines later announced it had sought creditor protection.

Hugh Boyle, executive chairman of Zoom, said: "Our trading position is a direct consequence of the horrendous increase in the price of aviation fuel and the economic climate."

A Glasgow Airport spokesman said discussions were under way to try to resolve the payment dispute.

'Alternative carrier'

He said a Zoom flight to Vancouver was due to go out on Thursday evening but there was a 12-hour delay in place because of technical problems.

Passengers will be diverted via Gatwick to Vancouver.

A spokesman for Zoom said: "A plane flying from Glasgow to Vancouver last night, via Calgary, stopped off as scheduled.

"Sixty-nine passengers due to travel to Vancouver were then transported in an alternative carrier, completing their journey that way."

He said the "resultant knock-on effect" of that had affected services but that they hoped they would return to normal later on Thursday.

Zoom has been operating flights between Scotland and Canada for seven years.

[Catlady]

Oh no no no no NO!!!!
We fly with them in 23 days......don't know what to do? Can anyone give me advice?

[Banksy]

I have a feeling they are in serious trouble. The website seems to loop round the home page. Usually a sign they are getting people in to run the company.

If you have paid on your CC then you have nothing to worry about you will get the money back.

The same thing happend to my parents when they were going to NY with only a couple of weeks to spare.

I would start to be looking at alternative flights Virgin have some good deals on as do BA. Technically the credit card company would be responsible for providing the goods or service (ie your flights) so you could as they to see what they can do. 9 times out of 10 they just saying they cannt do anything and just refund your money.

If you have Travel Insurance you should be fully covered with regards to cancelling IF you need to, though this time of year there should be plenty of spare seats

[Catlady]

Virgin don't fly to Canada (unfortunately) and BA are too expensive for Premium Economy which is what we were booked on Zoom. (plus they fly from heathrow and we have car parking arranged with a friend nearby at Gatwick plus a the Gatwick Hilton)
Looking at Thomas Cook Premium, anyone flown premium with them?

[Susan Veness]

Catlady, I'm just sending out all the very best energy for a comfortable resolution for you. Really keeping you in my thoughts, my friend.

[marksarahL]

This is on their home page,

CUSTOMER ANNOUCEMENT


Zoom Airlines sincerely regrets to advise its customers that it has ceased operations with effect from 18:00 UTC on Thursday 28 August.

All flights scheduled to depart from have been cancelled and Zoom's aircraft have been grounded.

Both Zoom Airlines Inc and Zoom Airlines Ltd, the Canadian and UK airlines, will be filing for insolvency proceedings in their home countries today.

For customers who have future travel plans involving a Zoom flight for which reservations and payment have been made, you should refer to your credit or debit card company to apply for a refund. We have set out details of other airlines who operate the same or similar routes to those flown with Zoom in the hope that this may assist you in making alternative travel plans to replace the flights that you had booked with Zoom.

If your travel arrangements have been made as part of a holiday package originating in the UK and booked through a holiday company, you may be able to make a claim under the CAA's Air Travel Organiser's Licence scheme. For information on this, please consult the CAA ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk.

Hugh and John Boyle, the founders of Zoom, said today: "We deeply regret the fact that we have been forced to cease all Zoom operations. It is a tragic day for our passengers and more than 600 staff.

"We are desperately sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause passengers and those who have booked flights.

"We have done everything we can to support the airline and left no stone unturned to secure a re-financing package that would have kept our aircraft flying. Even as late as yesterday we had secured a new investment package but the actions of creditors meant we could not continue flying.

"The collapse of Zoom is a result of matter beyond our control. Only last year Zoom Airlines made profit, but that turned into a loss in the last year due to the unprecedented increase in the price of aviation fuel and the economic climate. The price of oil resulted in our fuel bill jumping by nearly $50 million in one year and we could not recover that from passengers who had already booked their flights.

"We would like to thank the many thousands of passengers who chose to travel with Zoom during the last seven years and efforts of the airline's staff."

We have been advised that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are graciously offering special fares to assist Zoom customers that have been displaced by the suspension of our services.

[Banksy]

Take a look at expedia, quick look shows some decent prices (worth booking soon maybe before everyone else starts).

Some are with KLM via amsterdam.

[Tiggers Friend]

Sorry to hear of your situation catlady, hope you can get it resolved.

[martin1]

catlady im so sorry to hear of your situation hopefully a refund will be quickly forthcoming from your credit card company. defo try expedia or what about an indirect flight might be cheaper for you. keeping our fingers crossed for you catlady

[martin1]

i flew tc premium to cuba before , found it quite good comfortable seats. catlady have you tried air transat?? they seem quite good with upgrades to thgeir clubclass avaliable and where you flying to btw? best wishes , keep us informed if you can as to whats happening its not nice for something like this to happen to one of our atd family

[Catlady]

First let me say thank you to everyone on here for their kind thoughts it is very much appreciated. As you can imagine when I saw this news this afternoon on the BBC website I was nearly in tears as we had this holiday with our best friends booked
for 8 months and it is something we have planned to to do for many years when their kids and ours were off hand.
We have spent the last 4 hours on the internet (thank God for the internet) and phone first to our Tescos credit card company although we have to ring them back tomorrow. Then we have managed to book flights through Canadian Affair with Thomas Cook upgrading to their Premium which is a 34" seat pitch as opposed to Zooms 36" but beggars can't be choosers. Would you believe that from the time we priced it up, contacted our friends then went back to book it the price had increased by £100 a seat:eek: talk about taking advantage!
We were going to fly out to Calgary and back from Vancouver but now are flying back from Calgary, planning to drive from Vancouver to Calgary over 2 days. One advantage....we get an extra two days holiday!:)

[martin1]

thats terrific news catlady but i imagine all the airlines that fly the same routes as zoom did will all take the mickey out of suffering customers and hike their prices which if they do its disgusting. one bad thing its a shame coz zoom flew direct to fort lauderdale which i imagine was popular. at least yur holiday is back on track. well done and wipe those tears away catlady you are going away soon!!!!:happy-thumb

[Tiggers Friend]

Glad you've got thing sorted catlady and your holiday is back on track. It's possible that the seat prices jumped as an autonmatic reaction to the number of seat sales. It's still profiteering at people's expense though.:thumbsdow

[ELAINE]

So pleased that you are sorted; i suppose anything that increases the length of a holiday is (kind of) a plus????

[Catlady]

So pleased that you are sorted; i suppose anything that increases the length of a holiday is (kind of) a plus????

That's the way we have looked at it.:D
I had phoned my friends as soon as I knew about Zoom going bust, my friend was at the gym so told her hubby and told him to break it to her gently as (like me) she gets stressed.
She phoned me later to say that as she walked through the door he had a stiff drink in hand for her and told her to sit down as he had some bad news. When he told her she said "Is that it!" She said she thought someone had died the way he looked!

Thanks again everyone for your good wishes.:D

[Banksy]

Glad you got it sorted, and sorry if seeing the original post stressed you out.

Just think it news only appeared on the BBC site of the collapse a couple of hours ago, so think what people are going to have to pay now!!

[Catlady]

That's Ok Banksy I had seen the BBC website just a few minutes before I looked on the ATD site, just feeling a bit shellshocked at the moment. Hubby is going to phone credit card company in the morning, just hope we don't get any hassle from them.

[spencem]

CatLady, I've just got money back from Tesco CC for some stuff we ordered July that never turned up. Although it has taken them nearly 8 weeks to refund us they did the credit as if it had happened the same day as the debit, so in effect they have also refunded the interest. Stick with it, understandably they have checks they need to make and they will refund it once they are done.

[Catlady]

Hope it goes okay Spencem as its not only our money but our friends too.

[Susan Veness]

So happy to hear it all worked out for you, Catlady, and that you got a couple of extra days holiday out of it. I'm sure you could have done without the stress though!

Sighing a big sigh of relief for you! Been thinking of you all day. :)

[scottygal]

Try this site Cat www.opodo.co.uk . Hope you get everything resolved.....fingers crossed for you and your family.

[Catlady]

Thank you scottygal, we have now got our flights with Canadian Affair...Thomas Cook flights. Fingers crossed all is okay with them!!!

[scottygal]

Hi Cat

I have booked with Canadian Affair twice to fly from Glasgow to Toronto....the service we received was excellent so I do hope you receive the same. Hope you enjoy Canada. I visit family over there and love it.

[Catlady]

Although we are going to the west coast...Calgary-Banff-Jasper-Vancouver-Calgary I fancy going to Toronto some time and also seeing Niagara Falls.

[scottygal]

I can honestly say that Niagra Falls was out of this wolrd. I used to think "what is all the fuss about" I now know first hand what it is like. An experience I never forget and keep going back everytime I go over. Let me know what it is like...always wanted try Vancover.

Have a fantastic time :)

[Catlady]

Just to let everyone know that we have been in contact with credit card company (Tescos Mastercard) and have to post them copies of e-ticket from Zoom and e-mail we got from them basically saying we aren't flying anymore...see your credit card company, along with a covering letter. I will be posting that off on Monday sending it special delivery so they can't deny receiving it.
Scottygal will let you know what I thought of Vancouver.

[Tiggers Friend]

Hopefully you'll get a full refund and that the CC company will action it swiftly.

[Catlady]

Hopefully you'll get a full refund and that the CC company will action it swiftly.

I really hope so TF, we have paid just over £2700 for the four of us so can ill afford to loose that kind of money. Just had to use the card again to pay £2800 for these flights although have paid the first lot off.

[Catlady]

Just to say that we have had the money we paid for our Zoom flights refunded today on our credit card account, that arrived a lot quicker than I expected.:happy-thumb
Also my friend came down today and brought me some Thomas Cook Canadian dollar travellers cheques, she got a rate of 1.822 so happy with that.:happy-thumb

[sex kitten]

I'm glad you have got your money back so quickly.:happy-thumb
You are all set for your holiday, now you have your travellers cheques.
Have a fantastic time:loads-bou

[Tiggers Friend]

Wow, that's very good news catlady. You'll be well set now. :happy-thumb

[ELAINE]

Excellent, i'm glad they sorted things out so quickly. :happy-thumb you can start looking forward to it again now :)

[Susan Veness]

That's great news, Catlady! So glad it worked out for you. :)

[Catlady]

Thanks everyone, I guess I had better start sorting out my clothes tomorrow.:D