‘Scotland’s airline’ Loganair has been criticised for trying to cram as many passengers as possible onto its Christmas flights home to Dundee.
Loganair moved one passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, onto an evening flight to Dundee on December 23 after cancelling its 9.05am service from London City airport.
An airline worker later contacted the passenger to say the new Dundee flight was fully booked – social distancing would be impossible on the plane – and offered a seat on a flight leaving a day earlier.
That flight had, at most, 10 free seats.
More than disappointing
The passenger said: “They moved me onto a flight which they have acknowledged is neither wise nor safe to travel on.
“My concern is this – has Loganair, for commercial reasons, moved people onto a crowded flight when they initially had two flights leaving that day?”
“A lot of people will have been socially distancing for months before travelling. They are coming up to see their elderly parents for Christmas.
“Then they find out at the last moment, they are going to be sitting for more than an hour in close proximity to people on a fully-booked flight.
“It’s more than disappointing.”
Government guidance says face coverings are mandatory in airports and on flights. Outside of that, airlines base their coronavirus control measures on a number of factors, including destination and aircraft design.
Overcrowding concerns
The airline has now promised the passenger at least one empty seat adjacent to him on his flight home. The concession came after The Courier raised overcrowding concerns with the company.
A Loganair spokewoman said they had cut flights in November before the government announced looser Christmas coronavirus restrictions.
She said: “In line with how other airlines are operating right now, services are being reviewed on a monthly basis given the huge impact of Covid-19 on customer demand.
“The decision to reduce the flying program on the Dundee to London City schedule was taken in November with low forecasted bookings, prior to government announcements regarding the Christmas travel period.
“Subsequently flights between December 23 and 27 have become busier. At this late stage, however, we are unable to now add additional flights.
“As with every other UK airline, social distancing cannot be guaranteed on an aircraft.”
She said the company had introduced auto seat allocation at the start of the pandemic to ensure distancing was in place “where possible”.
“Alternative, stringent measures are in place on every single Loganair flight,” she added.
“This mandates the use of face coverings and enhanced sanitisation measures between every service.”
