To ask if you've heard of Fly4? (flight change)

[PassingStranger]

Tui emailed to say one or more of our flights would be operated by Fly 4 with tui staff?
Anyone had this?
Is it all OK.
Normally use jet2 so never known this before? X

Fly 4 just lease out their aircraft. They're headquartered in Ireland so will be subject to the super tough aircraft regulations in the EU.

I believe they're in partnership with a couple of more well known European airlines.

I hope that helps! They have Boeing 737-800s, which is a good aircraft. Plus they all used to be operated exclusively by TUI, so they will have been well maintained.

Will the seats you booked still stand then?

Oh yeah, they will. It's a bit like booking a ticket with American Airlines but it's operated by BA. They just have a partnership.

The only thing that'll be different is the exterior of the plane.

Hi did you fly with fly4? If so was it ok just had the same email and a bit wiery

We’ve just had the same email. Hope they’re ok 👍

not yet, pm me if you want, if your going after me and i will tell you?

Messaged you 😀

I'm seriously considering canceling my booking, I bought a Tui Airlines flight, not Fly4

No idea why TUI have done this but FWIW there's a whole section of industry known as ACMI ( Aircraft Crew Maintenance and Insurance) that hire aircraft and crew out and it's a sector that's booming ATM because amongst other things both Airbus and Boeing for various reasons are struggling to deliver new airframes to the airlines, so it's possible there's going to a lot of this sort of change going on this summer.

The OP mentioned that the flight was crewed (presumably that's the cabin crew side of things only) by TUI so it looks they are attempting to provide the TUI product.

That seems like a huge over reaction!

A lot of airlines use ACMI to supplement summer capacity due to higher demand. Fly4 is a new company created to fulfil this demand. Fly4 is actually part owned by TUI.

We spoke with them today on the phone. We received the money back for picking our seats both ways. £87 is better than nothing.

It's not an exaggeration, I bought it from a reputable company, TUI, not in loveholidays

Ridiculous over reaction. Lots of airlines do this and I have seen this particular email stating your baggage allowance etc will be exactly the same

Tui explain about their partner airlines here.

https://www.tui.co.uk/flight/airline-partners

It happens with flights alone as well as holidays. A lot of airlines use "code sharing" where you buy a British Airways ticket but actually fly on an American Airlines plane, say.

Then there's leasing - Simon Calder explains the types like this
"What exactly is ‘wet leasing’, ‘damp leasing’ and ‘dry leasing’?

When an airline rents the plane, the pilots and the cabin crew to cover one or more of its flights.

“Damp leasing” means you hire the plane and the pilots, and supply your own cabin crew.

With a “dry lease” you charter only the plane, and supply your own pilots and cabin crew."

Edit: splung

Agreed…the suggested change is to an operator that has been mentioned is EU regulated and had very close links to TUI…it’s not as if the replacement operator is based half way across the globe, somewhere lightly regulated and with a very old fleet.

The use of ACMI operators is on the up at the moment so there’s going to be a bit of this going on this summer.

Lots of reasons..airlines still coping with recovering from their Covid cuts plus a spike in demand, then we have Boeing with their well known problems and on top of that also both Airbus and Boeing have supply chain problems (including supply of engines).

As long as the change is above board and is to an operator working to an equivalent standard to the original airline I don’t see the problem.

I see the problem, I repeat, I bought airlines at TUI, if I didn't care about it, I would buy the same thing for about 30% cheaper

But it is a TUI flight. The email says crew will be TUI. It's just that the physical plane isn't owned by TUI and instead of having TUI written own the side it will have Fly 4 (or quite possibly not have anything)

Exactly. The hotel, reps, transfers, overall responsibility, everything is still all Tui. The livery and seat colour is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Tui often use Easyjet planes and once my flight was Freebird despite everything else being Tui. It didn't matter a jot.

Maybe I don't understand something, here's the content of the email

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?
When you arrive at the airport, please head to the TUI check-in/bag drop area. Your flight will be operated by FLY4 Airlines flight crew, and our on-board café service will be delivered by our TUI cabin crew, ensuring the same high service standards as a TUI Airways flight.

I understand, you bought it, you knew what you were flying, I bought TUI airlines

So it looks like the pilot and first officer will be Fly4 plus the plane but everything else is Tui

For me this is unacceptable, I would buy the same thing for 30% cheaper and fly with low-cost airlines, TUI must have problems doing something like this, I and my friends will definitely not be TUI customers again

Tui seem to do this a lot, some of the airlines are fine, others not so good, agree with you not really what you want to happen when you think you've booked with a specific airline!

@sandrapinchedmysandwich

So it looks like the pilot and first officer will be Fly4 plus the plane but everything else is Tui

Change “the pilot” to “captain” (‘cos they are both pilots up front) and yes, that’s pretty much it.

There seems to be a promise of the TUI product in the cabin so this is not in any way, shape or form equivalent to TUI farming the whole operation out to some mythical 30% cheaper LoCo.