The CEO of Fly540 airline Donald Smith Earle A group of frustrated clients have issued a statement of dissatisfaction against a local airline for acting in contravention of agreed terms.
Speaking out via an e-mail forwarded to our newsdesk, one of the passengers that booked a botched Nairobi-bound flight with Fly40 on 21st February 2022 says that the airline is yet to refund their ticket money for the unceremoniously cancelled trip.
The victim adds that despite bombarding the company with calls and messages, none of their customer care agents has been helpful.
Upon the cancellation of the flight on the said date, Fly540 requested their clients who could not wait for another aircraft to Nairobi to write their names and booking number on a piece of paper so their money could be given back later.
But ever since then, the company keeps insisting that the names provided are not available on their list of clients that booked flights on the said date.
This has left them with no option but to seek other ways of finding justice and most importantly, their rightfully deserved refunds.
They find it quite unnecessary for the company to keep playing cat and mouse games instead of just sorting out the quick payout. "Hi, I am writing this email as a frustrated customer. My names are Leonard Vidali. I had booked a flight from Mombasa to Nairobi which was to take place on 21st February 2022 under the booking reference ADV55M. The flight was cancelled 10 minutes before boarding we were left stranded with nobody from Fly540 offering a solution or giving an alternative. We were told nothing can be done so we either wait for another flight the following day or write our names down on a piece of paper for an air ticket refund. I opted to get a refund since I had an emergency issue that required me to get to Nairobi immediately. It's now almost heading to two months with no refunds done. I have made frantic calls to your customer care and all am told is my name is on the list. Which begs the question; how difficult is it for Fly540 to refund the air ticket money that they received after they cancelled the flight? Is the process of refunding rocket science? I just indeed you to just tell me if you guys are going to refund the cash by Friday the 8th and if you guys can don't even bother to do so. Cyprian, there is a long list of passengers for that particular day who have not yet been refunded. Please make this go viral to assist the customers," the message reads. Tough times at Fly540? Five Forty Aviation Ltd, which trades as Fly540, commenced operations in 2006 and operates both passenger and cargo services.
The airline had two subsidiary airlines, Fly540 Ghana and Fly540 Angola, but decided to focus its business expansion plans on East Africa.
But that also does not seem to be going well.
Earlier in the year, CEO of Fly540 Donald Smith Earle and a fellow investor lost a case to stop auctioneers from selling some of their prime properties in Malindi over a Sh678.7 million debt.
The ruling by Environment and Land Court judge James Olola declared that William Auctioneers were at liberty to auction the assets.
The plaintiffs had filed the case in 2020.