We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
IRISH AIRLINE AER Lingus has confirmed that is offering special rescue fares to passengers affected by the collapse of Icelandic airline WOW Air.
WOW Air announced in a statement this morning that it had ceased operation, cancelling all flights and disrupting thousands of passenger’s travel plans.
The budget airline advised passengers to check available flights with all other airlines.
“Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances,” WOW Air said.
Aer Lingus confirmed today that it was offering some rescue fares to affected WOW Air customers who were due to fly between now and 11 April.
“Following WOW Air’s cessation of trading, Aer Lingus can confirm that it is offering impacted WOW Air passengers special rescue fares, in accordance with our voluntary agreement with International Air Transport Association (IATA), and subject to availability on the Aer Lingus network,” an airline spokesperson said.
People looking to avail of the rescue fares are told to contact Aer Lingus.
Earlier
The 10.45am flight from Dublin Airport to Keflavik in Iceland was cancelled. The 9.30am inbound flight from Iceland was also cancelled as a result of the collapse.
Following the announcement, the Commission for Aviation Regulation has issued advice to passengers.
WOW Air had been struggling financially for months. Talks of a takeover between the budget airline and Icelandair broke down in recent days, the second time Icelandair had cancelled plans to buy the no-frills airline. The first was in November last year.
Founded in 2011, the airline targeted Iceland’s location in the middle of the North Atlantic to offer a low-cost service between Europe and North America.
However, it began to experience financial trouble in recent years due to heightened competition and rising fuel prices and had been searching for an investor for months.
On Monday, the airline said it was in talks to restructure its debt with its creditors after Icelandair ended brief negotiations.
WOW Air was left needing €37 million to save the company.
The airline had reduced its fleet in recent months from 20 to 11 aircraft, eliminating several destinations – including those to the United States – as well as cutting 111 full-time jobs.
With reporting from © – AFP, 2019
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Wow….whats a surprise
@John Horan: surprise
/səˈprʌɪz/Submit
noun
1.
an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, etc.
“the announcement came as a complete surprise”
synonyms: shock, bolt from/out of the blue, thunderbolt, bombshell, revelation, source of amazement, rude awakening, eye-opener;
@John Horan: also: whats = what’s
@John Horan: Also : …surprise = …surprise?
@Tommy Roche: hahahahaha
Delighted.I had 2 flights with them a few years back where I was delayed for a total of 8 hours between
Both.Was stuck in Reykjavic airport on New Year’s Eve panicking over a separate flight I had booked to New York and none of the staff would help me in anyway at all except hand me this card to make a claim against them.Wouldnt even let me use a phone.Ended up missing that flight and couldn’t afford the $700 for a new flight that day and I was sitting in Toronto stranded with my head in my hands nearly in tears after trying everything when I get a tap on the shoulder from a united airlines employee who handed me a business class ticket to New York the next morning and said ‘’Happy new year’’.Was an incredible gesture from them.But ya anyway good riddance WOW haha
@Choppy Nagle: asking them for a phone isn’t my idea of ‘trying everything’
@Brianto: Did I say it was?All I said was they wouldn’t let me use the phone to contact united to tell them I would miss my flight.I had been told during the delay in Ireland by their staff that if I rang ahead they would put me on the next available flight.And when I got to reykjavic my phone wouldn’t work along with anyone else I asked so I thought they would at least help me out in that respect considering all the delays but they wouldn’t.
@Brianto: all the empathy must be a severe weight around your neck …. he said ‘even’ a phone.
@Choppy Nagle: what a kind gesture of United Airlines; glad it worked out for you in the end
@Choppy Nagle: hope you paid it forward someway after that nice gesture from united. I got the runaround before from Ryanair in similar circumstances. Had to sleep on the flor of stansted. Was champions league night. Plane full of rangers fans slept beside me. No one game me a complaint card or anything & I had to pay full price the next day. Nobody died though. and I didn’t start crying either lol. Nice story though. Can actually hear the orchestra in my mind haha
Apparently Norwegian air are not looking too healthy either. Remains to see what happens there. Aer Lingus & Ryanair need to start flying to Iceland. They would make a killing.
@Shane Walsh: ya need deep pockets when you get there though….
@Shane Walsh: Checked them out and they look fine for now. They are registered in Ireland for some reason. But I agree, AL or Ryanair would make a packet if they flew to Iceland.
@Shane Walsh: Icelandair already do twice daily from Dublin i think. Safer option and better service i am told
@Shane Walsh: yeh in fact most people in airline industry thought Norwegian would be first
@Sean Leonard: Supposedly there’s no real threat to Norwegian for the next six months or so anyway. It’s actually an unusual time of year for an airline to fail because they have the cash for their relatively full summer flights and haven’t incurred the expense of operating them, but maybe the rumours around Wow were such that people weren’t making bookings.
I never really know what to make of rumours though. In 2005 I didn’t book an Alitalia flight because I thought they may go out of business before it. They are still going today
@Shane Walsh: How would Aer Lingus and Ryanair make a killing on the route?
The Ireland Iceland market is already served by Icelandair that has connections at KEF onto the US/Canada where as Aer Lingus and Ryanair would have to rely mainly on O&D traffic between Ireland and Iceland.
@Terry Cahill: not even a MacDonalds
@Terry Cahill: and a good winter overcoat
@Shane Walsh: people aren’t flying WOW or Icelandair to get to Iceland, they are flying them as a cheap way to get across the Atlantic! I’d be surprised if more than 25% of the passenger load was just origin/destination customers.
I flew with them on a half-empty flight from Cork to Reykjavik a couple of years ago. They were grand for a flight that lasted less than two hours, but I don’t think I would have wanted to connect on.
Starting a flight from Cork to Reykjavik though seemed symptomatic of the problems they had though. It suggested an expand at all costs attitude, with no diligence done regarding the expansion. Cork has failed to maintain services to major hubs like Frankfurt and Rome, and cities with which it has had strong family and commercial ties like Leeds and Newcastle, so Reykjavik was really stretching belief in a route.
It was on the cards…. Speculation was going on for weeks and public confidence had diminished… And apparently yet people booked with them up to yesterday
@Sean Leonard: It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy when it gets to that stage
Wow what a bollox.
I’m not surprised. I flew with them to San Francisco a few years ago. Most uncomfortable flights ever. Seats must have been bought in Ikea. Cheap but certainly not cheerful!
@Jess Kelly: I second this. Same flight, same horrors lol
No surprise what so ever. Was sighted early last year that they were being muscled out of the market by Aer Lingus and other close competitors. The like of Aer Lingus were able to sustain lower costs and just wait it out, prices were working out more a less the same when you added checked luggage etc with the Wow air option, not to mention Aer Lingus etc were direct flights.
It’s a shame because their social media marketing campaign was really enticing and engaging…. oh wait, that was Icelandair… ok if they don’t survive, that will be a real shame.
Interesting though that Wow air flew Airbus so wouldn’t have been affected by the 737 MAX problems.
O Leary called this last year said lots of carriers would go to the wall.
“Wow” I’ll buy that for a Dollar. OOOoo wait now just a minute i i i i thats an old saying i did not mean i would buy it no no no Aaaaaaa.
Sad to hear.. but have to say I renamed them Oww Air after I flew with them… not a great experience ! But sad all the same ..
They were hard workers…..
How unpredictable when an airline offers flights for peanuts
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say