The evening before my flight to England Vancouver to Manchester) a few weeks ago, I was told by a friend who had just come via Globespan from England to "supposedly" Vancouver, that it was an airline company from hell and he felt really sorry for me. His flight was delayed nine hours and they were dropped off in Calgary and told to make their own way to Vancouver as the crew had put in their flying hours. So he and others paid for a flight from Calgary to Vancouver costing $300. There were a lot of very upset passengers as some where supposed to be taking cruises and was doubtful they would get there in time. But also the whole flight was disgusting and he said they will never go with them again. Of course that did not make me feel very good, but I hoped that this was an isolated incidence.

I arrived at the airport well before check-in time and absolutely no signs at all at the check-in to say that this was Globespan. When I did finally check in at the "no-name" check-in I was told my flight was delayed by 2 hours. All boarding passes and luggage labels were that of Air Canada, did not think too much of it at the time, but no apology or explanation for the delay.

The gate number that was on the ticket, was the WRONG gate which I found out for myself, fortunately there was lots of time. The plane was delayed another 1.5 hours making it 3 1/2hours total. Already getting tired and fed-up been at the airport for 7 hours.

When we took off, after about an hour, we were told we were landing in Calgary. It was supposed to be direct to Manchester - getting pretty hungry by this time. We refuelled and the plane stunk of petrol, I thought that was a little alarming, they brought on all the food containers and some passengers, so obviously they were scheduled to do this.

A short time after take-off I thought I would go to the washroom as I had a window seat and did not want to disturb the guy next to me again, until the morning, if I could help it. Probably the first to use the washroom - it was full of poopy stools to water level -YUCK - I felt like throwing up. Went to the next one and it had a cover over the bowl, I went to remove it - and the toilet was totally dry - like it was out of service. To me it was obvious that they had not been cleaned from the last flight. I left the area and told a crew member. He was probably the chief attendant as he did speak a bit better English than the others. All spoke Spanish with very poor pigeon English. So not only did they avoid conversation, it was soon evident that it was useless talking to them.

We were starting to hear a lot of dissatisfied comments from the passengers. They came around once with drinks, I asked for a white wine, they only wanted pounds and quoted dollars for pounds four pound fifty instead of four dollars fifty. I decided that when they came back I would just have water anyway. The English people in front, took their drinks and absolutely refused to pay the price and said that it had been half as much on their outward flight. It was scandalous and was cheaper to buy a bottle at home, they said. Anyway someone came to talk to them later which is when it was discovered they were charging pounds instead of dollars.

The plane was very old for sure. I never did get my water, as they were soooooooooo slow getting through everyone that there was not the time . They did not check that the overhead doors were closed, I actually noticed that and one flew open when landing at Calgary - some items were flung out but no one was hurt.

No pillows - no blankets, no wake-up wash cloth. There was no encouragement for sleep. My seat would not go back. Then next time they came around was to serve dinner at 4.30 a.m. I looked at this meat potato and gravy and then closed it all up. Yuck. who wants dinner when it is almost breakfast time. By this time, my back was really hurting as the seat would not go back, so I was going to see if they could move me. The guy next to me tried to do it for me when I had no luck. Finally the Chief came along and we were able to get it back. The worst of it all to me was that the crew never smiled and they were constantly arguing amongst themselves and huffing. That alone made me very nervous. I thought if they are soo unhappy, anything could happen to the darn plane.

My seat neighbour, who was really nice and from Victoria told me he checked the reviews, just before he left, and they were not good, and that what we had gone through summed it all up. The passengers in front said, as we were landing, thank God we are home. we will never fly with this company again. I winced and I said, but I have to fly back with them!!!! (both landings were very poor, too)

My friend Stella, whom I stayed with in England, said, when I was out one day, that someone had put a call in to the radio station complaining bitterly about Globespan.

Anyway, fortunately, Alan said I did not have to fly back with them and I came with Canadian Affair "airbus" carrier Air-transat and the difference was like chalk and cheese. New plane, pleasant and very professional staff who must have been up and down the isles with stuff 20 times compared to Globespan's three. Also it really was a direct flight Manchester/Vancouver. I have no regrets changing.

I returned home a day earlier because of my flight change but the day after when I should have been arriving home, I went on the net and checked arrival times of the flight that I would have been on, and there was no surprise there, it was delayed 4 1/2 hours. The only plane delayed - most on time or even early.

I thought, had if I taken that plane, and if in deed it landed in Vancouver, I would not have finished getting through customs until about

11-30pm so I would never have been able to get over to the island, so I would have had to find a hotel for the night.

Reviews link below. I will write one for sure, but I even want to do more than that if I can to try and stop any other poor buggars travelling with them.

Cheap flights sometimes cost more in the long run. This was my first ever charter, and I booked not just because it was "cheap" but because I was getting a direct flight to Manchester. We have always in the past gone through Heathrow - and I am not fond of that at all.

Since I posted this on my B&B board, I heard that on a flight from Glasgow to Eastern Canada, not sure where exactly, a flight via Globespan turned back because an engine was on fire. Those people were very lucky. I believe ths company is an accident waiting to happen.

Anyway there's my story.

Pauline Vancouver Island.