Several moths ago, we bought 4 tickets Helsinki-Barcelona-Helsinki for Easter 2006 at Sterling.fi webpages.
Due to some unknown reasons, Sterling cancelled all the routes Helsinki-Barcelona sometimes in February, after we payed the flights. Contrary to what they write on their pages (http://www.sterlingticket.com/home/rules/sterlingrules.htm: "If Sterling cancels a departure, Sterling will alert the client without undue delay"), they have never informed us.
We found this information via some press release on web (STT webpages), where I also gave a feedback in March'06 . Nothing was mentioned on Sterling webpages until mid March 2006, when the route Helsinki-Barcelona dissapeared from the list of destinationsand timetables from Helsinki. Still, no press release about route cancellation from Finland was available from Sterling webpages.
We then started to phone them. The contact number given for Finland has never been reachable (line busy or not answering). The contact number from Denmark was the only one reachable and we finally managed to contact by phone some person from Sterling -Denmark, who promised that we will be re-routed in due time and that they will send us an email with more information with at least 2 weeks before our scheduled depart. However, their promise was not kept: on 11th of April 2006, we still did not get any news from them (the flight was supposed to start on 14th of April) and we had to phone them again (in Denmark, of course). They did not have any alternative route to offer, at least not from Finland (they said, they might have something like Stockholm-Barcelona-Copenhague, but it is our business how we move from Finlnad to Sweden or Denmark :).
They refused to pay the compensation advertised in their webpages (where it is written that: "If a departure is cancelled, the passengers affected will be offered the choice between the right to a refund or alternative transport for the journey, as described in EU regulation 261/2004, article 8). We have already sent 2 letters via post and we are still waiting to get the compensation acccording the advertised law (but still no answer). It seems that that are 2500 people in Finland in our situation (according to STT press releases).
At Helsinki airport, Sterling Airlines do not have any information office, and when I contacted Finnair desks with questions about Sterling, I got a very upset answer that they have never heard about Sterling. However, the general airport information desk had some contact information about Sterling, in the form of the same telephone number which is advertised at Sterling webpages, together with a note that the Finnish phone number might not be working.
Due to some unknown reasons, Sterling cancelled all the routes Helsinki-Barcelona sometimes in February, after we payed the flights. Contrary to what they write on their pages (http://www.sterlingticket.com/home/rules/sterlingrules.htm: "If Sterling cancels a departure, Sterling will alert the client without undue delay"), they have never informed us.
We found this information via some press release on web (STT webpages), where I also gave a feedback in March'06 . Nothing was mentioned on Sterling webpages until mid March 2006, when the route Helsinki-Barcelona dissapeared from the list of destinationsand timetables from Helsinki. Still, no press release about route cancellation from Finland was available from Sterling webpages.
We then started to phone them. The contact number given for Finland has never been reachable (line busy or not answering). The contact number from Denmark was the only one reachable and we finally managed to contact by phone some person from Sterling -Denmark, who promised that we will be re-routed in due time and that they will send us an email with more information with at least 2 weeks before our scheduled depart. However, their promise was not kept: on 11th of April 2006, we still did not get any news from them (the flight was supposed to start on 14th of April) and we had to phone them again (in Denmark, of course). They did not have any alternative route to offer, at least not from Finland (they said, they might have something like Stockholm-Barcelona-Copenhague, but it is our business how we move from Finlnad to Sweden or Denmark :).
They refused to pay the compensation advertised in their webpages (where it is written that: "If a departure is cancelled, the passengers affected will be offered the choice between the right to a refund or alternative transport for the journey, as described in EU regulation 261/2004, article 8). We have already sent 2 letters via post and we are still waiting to get the compensation acccording the advertised law (but still no answer). It seems that that are 2500 people in Finland in our situation (according to STT press releases).
At Helsinki airport, Sterling Airlines do not have any information office, and when I contacted Finnair desks with questions about Sterling, I got a very upset answer that they have never heard about Sterling. However, the general airport information desk had some contact information about Sterling, in the form of the same telephone number which is advertised at Sterling webpages, together with a note that the Finnish phone number might not be working.
Vastaukset 11
Vanhimmat
Meidän perhe lentää komiasti elokuussa Haniaan ja tietenkin Sterlingillä...vaikka haluaisitkin ajaa firman konkkaan.
Heti sysksyllä varaamme taas seuraavan kesän halvat lennot ja tietenkin Sterling.
...
Minulla ei ole henkilökohtaisia kokemuksia Sterlingin kanssa, mutta olen juuri tarkistanut sen firman hintatasoa ja totesin, että (esimerkkina Helsinki - Rooma reitti):
- viimeinen kohtuuhintainen lento on elokuun 11:na päivänä
- tämän jälkeen kaikki lennot maksavat väh. 460 euroa per suunta verot, eli menopaluu 956 euroa veroineen. Tämä on siis ns. kieltohinta, joka viittaa reitin lopettamiseen. Kukaan järkevä ei tietenkään lippua osta tähän hintaan. Joten hyvästi, Sterling!
hinta ehkä johtua siitä että vain muutama paikka on myymättä ja näihin muutamaan voi joillekulle ihmisille tulla pakottava tarve saada lippu jolloin "lypsykone" ottaa yhdeltä saman hinnan jonka tätä ennen 6 hlöä on maksanut. Eipä ole suurta paniikkia enää myydä niitä muutamaa jäljelläolevaa lippua.
Niin pakottavaa tarvetta tuskin on kellään kun reilusti alle tuon hinnan pääsee sitten jo oikeallakin lentoyhtiöllä!
Finnairill Helsinki-Bangkok lentojen hinta elokuulle on 1086-1611e päivistä riippuen.
Niin pakottavaa tarvetta tuskin on kellään kun reilusti alle tuon hinnan pääsee sitten jo paremman palvelun lentoyhtiöllä (esim. Thai)!
Tästä voidaankin näppärästi päätellä että Finnair lopettaa Bangkokin lennot...
Samaa olen itse ihmetellyt kun Sterlingin hinnat esim. Faroon nousevat syyskuussa melkein 500 euroon/sivu. Itse lensin pääsiäisenä Faroon ja hintaansa nähden ihan ok, vaikkakin jotkun lentoemot olivat elämäänsä kyllästyneitä.
Olisko niin, että matkatoimistojen kiintiöt täyttävät neet kyseisinä ajankohtina, ja siksi halpoja paikkoja ei enää ole..
Oh my godness! I'm sorry for your problems w/ Sterling Airlines, but I still trust Sterling!
I just can't realize why somebody who speaks english reads this finnish forum???Really a mission impossible for me to understand!
As your email proves, there are (fortunately) quite many Finns who understand English (at least as much as my understanding of Finnish:), so I do not see any problem about posting in English on a Finnish forum.
I agree that the subject of my previous posting was purely personal, so far from me to impose my point of view (of distrusting Sterling) on others; we live in a free country where everybody is free to have his/her own opinion!!!
I only wanted to point out some of Sterling malpractices: when something goes wrong with their organization (e.g., flight cancellation), they do not act in accordance with the EU laws posted at their websites.
This might be very well the same for any low-cost company, but, for me, I travelled many times with Ryanair and never had any problem, while, with Sterling, the first experience was very bad (thus, my opinion about this company).
OK! Everything understood!