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No Refund for Scots Who Quit Flights With Disaster Airline

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

SCARED Scots holidaymakers who refuse to board disaster- hit Helios jets have been warned they will get NO refund.

On Sunday 121 people suffered a hideous death when a catastrophic loss of air pressure saw a Helios flight crash north of Athens.

But, despite the tragedy, hundreds of people are due to board TWO Helios flights to Cyprus from Glasgow Airport this Sunday.

And the planes will be Boeing 737s - the same type that became a flying tomb last Sunday after the loss of air pressure starved crew and passengers of oxygen and sent temperatures plummeting to -50C.

F16 fighter pilots, scrambled after ground control lost contact with the plane, saw the co-pilot, named yesterday as Pambos Haralambous, slumped over the controls and oxygen masks hanging down in the passenger cabin.

Initial reports claimed victims on the stricken plane were frozen to death before it smashed into a mountain and burst into flames.

But yesterday autopsies revealed that the co-pilot and 20 passengers were still alive when the jet crashed.

And last night Helios admitted the crashed plane had suffered a decompression problem last year during a flight from Poland to Larnaca.

This Sunday, Scots will make the four-and-a-half hour journey to Larnaca, the destination the fated jet left last Sunday.

BAA Glasgow confirmed that Helios Airways operated two charter flights out of Glasgow, but refused to say how many Scots have cancelled their flights.

Scottish tour operators say there have been no cancellations so far.

But they added that there would be no refunds for people who did quit the flights.

A spokesman for the Association of British Tour Operators said: "There isn't anything in place for people who don't want to fly.

"And if they were booked seats-only, it is generally non- refundable.

"The airline has put out statements about the fact that they are following all the regulations.

"So if people don't want to go on the plane they can either not board or book another flight."

The Association of Greek- Cypriot Travel agents said they HAD received cancellations, but refused to say if they were on Glasgow- Larnaca flights.

But in a statement, they stressed "cancellations have been minimal".

Source: Daily Mirror

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