Two weeks after launching its flights between Albury and the Gold Coast, discount airline Bonza has cancelled services scheduled for this week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Albury retiree Phil Sefton and his friend are among those left unable to travel after Bonza texted them late last week with a message revealing their outbound flight set down for December 6 and return service on December 9 had been axed.
Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan, who was in Albury for the debut of the Coolangatta connection on November 20, said delays related to staffing and the use of planes from its Canadian sister airline Flair had forced the scratchings.
"In the short term we will use an aircraft leased from our partner Flair at our Gold Coast base whilst we recruit Aussie crew for this third base," Mr Jordan said.
"This arrangement brings with it a separate regulatory approval process.
"That process is progressing but is not yet complete and, as a result, we've had to make the regrettable decision to cancel flights on the 6th and 9th December to/from Albury to the Gold Coast.
"At this point our priority is to inform our impacted customers as efficiently as possible so that they can make alternative arrangements and customers will be automatically offered a full refund."
Mr Sefton and his mate had booked their trip soon after Bonza announced it would be flying the route and began ticket sales.
"We'll get the money back and move on and deal with it but you feel for others because it's right in the holiday period and people are just getting slammed," Mr Sefton, who spent about $250 on flights, said.
"We had $700 in accommodation booked and it was non-refundable and we said to them 'we're the victims here' and fortunately we got out of that and got our money back.
"We looked at Qantas and the cheapest they were offering to Brisbane was $350 one way."
Despite the sour experience, Mr Sefton did not rule out flying Bonza another time.
"For $100 you'd give it a go again, but you would have to be very cautious," he said.
"I would never now book a Bonza flight without a refund on accommodation.
"The pain of it in my mind is you get no support with something like a 1800 number or a suggestion of an alternative flight.
"There is no solution, it was like 'your flight's cancelled, we're sorry, have a nice life'."
The Albury-Gold Coast route is not the only Bonza service hit by the same problem.
The airline announced last week it was cancelling flights between the Glitter Strip and Darwin across December leaving hundreds of travellers upset.
