Air Berlin seems to have the public relations skills of a bad-tempered three-year-old. After cancelling five flights into and out of Alicante Airport this week, a spokesperson for Air Berlin blamed falling passenger numbers on the British. Yes, you read that correctly.
Apparently, in the brain of this addled Air Berlin spokesperson, it’s all the fault of the British Air Berlin can’t fill its planes because…….. “Germans don’t like the British and Benidorm is full of them”.
Not only is that rude, it’s also not remotely true. We were in Benidorm several times just a few months ago and saw as many Brits as we saw Germans, Dutch and Norwegians. And yes, the Germans were just as loud and obnoxious as the Brits, if not more so in some circumstances, so to intimate the Brits are somehow lacking and the Germans look down on them is sheer stupidity indeed.
Spanish hoteliers in Benidorm also agree saying there’s a huge mix of nationalities and the idea that the British are there in numbers larger than any other is nothing more than an ‘urban legend’.
But, learning about Air Berlin’s idiocy has taught us one thing. Being British, we’ll make sure we don’t set foot on an Air Berlin plane the next time we fly into Alicante. After all, if they dislike us so much, why on earth would be be giving them our money?