Airline startup AB gets thumbs down from IT execs, spin doctor and hacks

A UK airline startup got the thumbs-down from an IT distributor, a spin doctor and four independent journalists today for tardiness and lack of service. AB Airlines got the thumbs down from all six people. A straw poll The Register conducted elicted negative reactions from European chip company Dane-Elec, its PR company Chaz Brooks Associates, and two journalists from major reseller trade magazines Microscope and PC Dealer. Alan Stanley, managing director of Dane-Elec UK, which used the airline to ferry four journalists to his Galway facility, said: "This is crap service, and that's crap with a capital C." Stanley, who works for a memory company worth many millions of dollars, was trained as an aeronautical engineer. He said that the company, AB Airlines, which floated on the UK stock exchange in April this year, had delayed his plans to ferry the IT journalists to its memory fab in Galway. Stanley said he would never use the airline again. The journalists AB flew out yesterday agreed it was not a pleasant experience. One said: "I will never use this airline. Even if it gave me a free trip I wouldn't use it. I'd give the free trip to my worst enemy, if I had one." Chaz Brookes, of the PR company CBA, agreed with his client's appraisal of the airline. He said he was very disappointed not only with the level of service but also with the late arrival on Tuesday, which did cost his client money. Ian Burley, a freelance journalist who is a specialist in plane technology, agreed the service was not what he expected. AB refused to comment. ®