Saturday, a Boeing 737-800 of Transavia France in destination to Paris-Orly turned around Sharm el-Sheikh, Egyptbecause of “an alarm concerning the lubrication system of one of the engines”.
Since then, the passengers of the flight, around a hundred according to one of them contacted by theAFP, are stuck on site in Sharm el-Sheikh. Those who booked their plane tickets directly on the Transavia website are supported by the low cost, but those who booked through a travel agency, i.e. between 60 and 70 passengers, had to fend for themselves.
“Passengers who booked their tickets directly were informed directly and regularly by SMS and e-mail. They were offered a new flight either on October 11 or October 14 with costs incurred up to their departure date covered. Passengers who have found a repatriation solution themselves will have their ticket refunded and their costs covered until the date of their departure upon presentation of proof.“, declared to theAFP a spokesperson for Transavia, a low-cost subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group.
Around fifteen passengers returned “by their own means” in France, taking flights from other airlines with a stopover, and “the others stayed at their own expense“, according to a passenger quoted by Le Figaro. Why did Transavia not organize any repatriation flights between October 8 and 11? “Sharm el-Sheikh is operated twice a week from Orly by Transavia on Wednesdays and Saturdays. No plane was available to repatriate the passengers “, replied the low cost to Figaro.
Concerning passengers left to their own devices, Transavia explained that “passengers who have booked via a tour operator or travel agency cannot always be notified directly, as the airline does not systematically have their contact details“. The latter gave its distributors “the same information as customers who have booked directly. It is their responsibility to inform their customers directly“.
