Delays in securing reimbursement for a cancelled Wick/Aberdeen flight last summer have been branded “unacceptable”.
Passengers have been told they can expect to wait up to nine months for a refund, according to Joanna Coghill, treasurer of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council (RBWCC).
She criticised the operator, Eastern Airways, at the community council’s January meeting. “They totally ignore us,” she said.
Changes were made to the Wick/Aberdeen schedule in October in an effort to improve reliability after a catalogue of complaints.
The new agreement includes timetable changes and guaranteed refunds or taxi transfers for cancelled flights.
The flights are subsidised by a public service obligation (PSO) funded annually by Highland Council (£300,000) and the Scottish Government (£1 million) over three years from April 2022. Funding for the service beyond March 2025 is yet to be finalised.
Speaking after Monday’s meeting, Mrs Coghill told of the experience of passengers affected by the cancellation of the morning flight on Monday, June 24.
“Eastern rebooked them onto the late afternoon flight, which did fly,” she said. “Passengers were advised to claim for that morning flight, which was duly completed that week.
“In the six months leading up to Christmas phone calls were made and the necessary forms completed, a number of times, followed by chaser emails.
“It was a complete waste of time as an email from Eastern Airways arrived in the second week of December stating that, due to the demand of refund requests, they should expect to wait a further 12 weeks.
“Surely those running Eastern Airways wouldn’t expect to be waiting nine months for a refund.
“I’m aware these passengers are not the only ones waiting – there are many others in the same position, some waiting much longer for refunds, so this experience is not an isolated case.”
Mrs Coghill emphasised that the Wick/Aberdeen service, which was reinstated in April 2022, is valued by Caithness travellers.
“Locals do use the route, and it is a great short flight saving five-hours-plus driving time,” she said. “But the attitude from Eastern Airways regarding refund claims is poor and unacceptable.
“Eastern was contacted by myself on December 17. I stated the situation of these particular passengers, advising that I would be taking this further seeing that this route is PSO-funded and, as such, a copy of my email would be forwarded to Highland Council to highlight Eastern’s poor performance.
“I did receive a speedy reply from the commercial director of Eastern Airways acknowledging my email within the hour, but that’s all – nothing since then.”
In November it emerged that the changes to the schedule had brought “positive results”, with fewer cancellations and an increase in passenger numbers.
Highland Council reported 95 per cent reliability since the revised timetable was introduced in mid-October, raising hopes for the long-term sustainability of the service.
At this week’s RBWCC meeting, vice-chairman Allan Bruce told fellow members: “They were predicting good passenger numbers over the Christmas period.”
Measures introduced in October included reducing flights from twice a day to once a day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays due to very low demand for the morning midweek service, and earlier departure times on afternoon/evening flights.
It was also agreed there would be no price changes until March 2025.
Eastern Airways has been approached for comment.