Tonight:
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Thousands of Kiss passengers try to rearrange holidays
19 Aug 2010Thousands of disgruntled passengers were trying to rearrange their summer breaks today after their flights abroad were cancelled.
The collapse of Kiss Flights on Monday night left the holidays of around 60,000 people in jeopardy.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) advised passengers travelling after 6pm yesterday not to travel on booked flights but seek alternative arrangements and make a claim for a refund.
But at least one flight was still allowing Kiss passengers to board after the deadline.
At Gatwick last night the check-in desk for the 10pm Saga Airlines flight to Dalaman in Turkey was unusually quiet.
A member of staff said there were only Kiss customers due on board and the small number who had arrived at the airport were allowed on to the flight, but he would not answer any questions as to why.
A confused CAA spokesman said: "The arrangements were that there would be no outbound flying of Kiss customers after 6pm.
"But if anybody does go out, we will not leave them stranded - we will make sure they get back."
Meanwhile, Mike Greenacre, head of Co-operative Travel, said his agency refused to sell Kiss tickets because of worries during its launch under parent company Flight Options almost two years ago.
He told Radio 4's PM programme: "We were sceptical, and that was really based on the fact that we didn't think that the business model ... was sustainable.
"The product, the flights in particular, were just too cheap ... We took a commercial decision not to sell (Kiss) flights."
The CAA denied there were any concerns that the company could collapse before yesterday.
A spokesman said: "There was absolutely no indication before yesterday afternoon that they were in financial trouble.
"They met all the requirements of Atol, which is all we can ask."
Nick Terlouw, from Auldearn outside Nairn in Scotland, had booked a holiday to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt with his fiancee.
The 23-year-old, who works for a welding inspection company, has now rebooked his flights with a different operator.
But with prices rising by the hour he was forced to pay almost £400 extra.
He said: "I'm pretty annoyed, to put it nicely.
"It's not a great start to the holiday. I wasn't expecting this."
Kiss Flights, which operated flights to Greece, Egypt, Turkey and the Canary Islands, folded after its owner Flight Options ceased trading yesterday.
The CAA said it hoped to ensure that when those already abroad fly home they will be able to do so with their planned carrier, without the CAA having to charter aircraft.
Air regulators managed to get more than 1,500 Kiss customers on flights from the UK to the Mediterranean yesterday.
This latest collapse follows those of Goldtrail and - last week - tour operator Sun4U.
