Strategic flights in doubt?

[fenman]

Strategics parent company seems to have collapsed See-

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/michael-has-the-hide-of-the-fleet/story-e6freoof-1226277644145

[Voloudakis]

That is very worrying news. Olympic Holidays are using Strategic Airlines for some flights to Crete. Looks like a mad scramble to find an alternative.
Our Holidays says Strategic, hopefully it will be sorted out by the end of June 2012.

[John R]

At the very least it could mean totally different flight times with a new carrier(s) than those indicated on booking. We are with Olympic this time but from Newcastle they use Jet2. Not feeling 100% complacent as one never knows how far down the line knock on effects may be. Right now the European Strategic company says they are not affected by the Australian collapse but the Australian administrators say they are currently looking into Strategic Luxemburg

[Mike G]

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2012/02/22/39673/olympic-reassures-trade-as-strategic-parent-fails.html

[Colin & Sandra]

Our flight has changed this morning since I last checked on the 22nd, we are now flying with Aegean Airlines, the other details appear the same (This is out of Humberside)

[Arnaki]

Our holiday in July from Manchester is still showing as Strategic, and Strategic is still being offered as an option on the available holidays from Manchester on Olympic's website, so no change there at the moment.  I suppose we will all just have to wait and see.

Arnaki

[Voloudakis]

Had a letter from Olympic Holidays this Morning. Stating our 9.30am flight with Strategic has been moved to 6.30pm the same day. Had arranged a hire car from Heraklion Airport and chose the Airport and flight time as my Wife does not want to drive strange Cretan roads in the dark our first night. If we took the transfer coach it will be about 4am the following day by the time we arrive in Plakias.
Not good Olympic Holidays, we feel that that is a major change in flight time. Hope we can arrange to change Airport at no further cost to us so we can have a morning flight.
I notice Olympic Holidays are now using Jet2 instead of Strategic from Manchester and East Midlands.
Anyone had any experience changing Airport because of a change of flight times? Did you get charged more?

[Mike G]

My "other" holiday is to Kos with Olympic, with an early morning Gatwick flight, returning late afternoon. The airline wasn't Strategic but not a name I had heard of. They have now changed the airline to "Small Planet Airlines" and it now departs late afternoon but the return time is approximately the same.

As the return to the UK flight will take the next holidaymakers back to Kos it presumably means that the airline is based outside the UK.

This isn't too inconvenient for me but means I miss my first evening in resort.

Lampyland, is your Strategic flight Gatwick or Manchester?

Mike

[Voloudakis]

My "other" holiday is to Kos with Olympic, with an early morning Gatwick flight, returning late afternoon. The airline wasn't Strategic but not a name I had heard of. They have now changed the airline to "Small Planet Airlines" and it now departs late afternoon but the return time is approximately the same.

As the return to the UK flight will take the next holidaymakers back to Kos it presumably means that the airline is based outside the UK.

This isn't too inconvenient for me but means I miss my first evening in resort.

Lampyland, is your Strategic flight Gatwick or Manchester?

Mike

Our flight was from Birmingham with Strategic . We have now changed to East Midlands 7.30am flight with Jet2. Olympic have charged us an extra £90 to do this. We are not impressed. They make a major change to flight times so we have to make a decision to change airports so we can arrive in Plakias on our day of arrival and not the following day. Olympic still have not reimbursed me for the stolen images they used in last Years catalogue and on-line for Kefalonia.
I have full copyright of my Images and Olympic lifted them from the Panoramio website.
What a lovely company.
Here is the image on Panoramio, compare it to Olympic Holidays website 2011  http://i.imgur.com/WTJYB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9iPD8.jpg

[fenman]

My "other" holiday is to Kos with Olympic, with an early morning Gatwick flight, returning late afternoon. The airline wasn't Strategic but not a name I had heard of. They have now changed the airline to "Small Planet Airlines" and it now departs late afternoon but the return time is approximately the same.

As the return to the UK flight will take the next holidaymakers back to Kos it presumably means that the airline is based outside the UK.

This isn't too inconvenient for me but means I miss my first evening in resort.

Lampyland, is your Strategic flight Gatwick or Manchester?

Mike

Small Planet Airlines is a Lithuanian charter airline flying 737-300 (think Thomson in Britannia days) from the UK.

[Noopsy]

Olympic still have not reimbursed me for the stolen images they used in last Years catalogue and on-line for Kefalonia.
I have full copyright of my Images and Olympic lifted them from the Panoramio website.
What a lovely company.
Here is the image on Panoramio, compare it to Olympic Holidays website 2011  http://i.imgur.com/WTJYB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9iPD8.jpg

If you feel strongly about it you might want to consult a media solicitor about the best course of action.  At the very least he should suggest a cease and desist letter. 

Noopsy

[Voloudakis]

Olympic still have not reimbursed me for the stolen images they used in last Years catalogue and on-line for Kefalonia.
I have full copyright of my Images and Olympic lifted them from the Panoramio website.
What a lovely company.
Here is the image on Panoramio, compare it to Olympic Holidays website 2011  http://i.imgur.com/WTJYB.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9iPD8.jpg

If you feel strongly about it you might want to consult a media solicitor about the best course of action.  At the very least he should suggest a cease and desist letter. 

Noopsy

I wish I had deep pockets because I would need them for a copyright case :-/. Consulted a friend on a legal team for a major publishing house last year.
Damn it! I am just not wealthy enough.
I contacted Olympic Holidays last Year about the nicking of my images. I told them all I wanted was for them to ask and to reference the images to me.
I also pointed out that I was a regular Olympic Holidays customer and was upset about their theft of my property.
They did not answer but did remove my Images.

This Year they changed the flight times by a large margin, so we have had to change airport for an early flight.
It would be nice of them not to charge the large rebooking fee in light of the fact that they changed the flight time. They could have waived the fee as a way of apology for their theft too.
Writing a letter of complaint about the charge and including print outs of their webpage with my images on and the Panoramio page they pinched them off.
I can but hope they will see they have done me wrong and shower me with a refund and kisses.
I will not be holding my breath.

[Mike G]

Hello Lampyland,

I can understand hiring a solicitor might be outside your budget but some of the Saturday papers have problem pages for travel and financial matters and miscreant companies soon spring into action when faced with adverse publicity, so it might be worth a try to see if you can interest them.

I'm afraid Olympic seems to work to such tight margins that they use (in some cases) airlines no one had previously heard of such as Strategic and Small Planet and aren't great on customer service. I would be quite happy with easyjet, though, which they now sometimes use.

Last year in Corfu the flight back (Strategic again) was rescheduled whilst I was away and my return was delayed quite a few hours. The Olympic rep said to make a note of all extra expenses and Olympic would reimburse them in the UK. They refused point blank.

Their T&C say the only changes that will allow a refund or a free change are a change of airport (although not one within the London area so they could change Gatwick to Stansted), a change of UK (but not Greek) departure by more than 12 hours, or  moving you to a lower grade of accommodation. So, even a change of day to night flight might not do it.

Mike

[Mike G]

Olympic rang me yesterday re. my Strategic Gatwick flights and the gist was:

There is an issue with your outbound flight and we need to move you to easyjet. The Strategic flight was due to leave at 9.55 (Tues) and they offered me an even earlier morning flight or mid afternoon. They said I would still fly back on Strategic at the advertised time and that all conditions otherwise will be met (price, baggage allowance). They said it was just an issue with my date of flight and I'm not clear whether the Strategic flight won't now go on that date or if they had overbooked it. I hope there is transport waiting at Heraklion!

I don't know how they knew my phone no. as I am ex. directory and I don't remember being asked what my phone number was when I booked by phone.

All these changes to flights are not doing Olympic's "street cred." any favours. The change that Arnaki reported in another thread where the inbound flight is now a night flight is particularly bad. However, for the many who want the security of ABTA protection and don't want the hassle of an expensive transfer there is no alternative to Olympic.

For my part I would far rather Olympic used well known carriers like easyjet than unknowns such as Strategic or Small Planet.

Mike

[John R]

For my part I would far rather Olympic used well known carriers like easyjet than unknowns such as Strategic or Small Planet.

They do use jet2.com from some regional airports. That is my case re my Newcastle flights. We used those flights last year going independently and liked them a lot. It was cheaper this year to go with Olympic than book the same flights independently. Basically they are struggling after losing their contract with Monarch.