Problems with EasyJet
You probably all heard about my problems on EasyJet flights last weekend.
Let me sum up quickly my story:
EasyJet Fail
On Friday 18th of September, i had a flight planned at 6pm between Madrid to Paris. Firstly announced on time, then with 2 hours of delay, then finally cancelled. After queuing, i get a seat on the next flight the next morning, and EasyJet pays the hostel + dinner.
On Saturday 19th of September, my new flight is planned for departure at 7am. At 1am, i had already checked online that the flight was cancelled, but anyway, no official notice from EasyJet (email, sms, …) so i go nevertheless to the airport. Flight cancelled (the only flight cancelled for the next 4 hours in Madrid Barajas…), i queue again 2 hours and get a flight for 1.40pm to Lyon.
The same day, around 1pm my flight is declared, again, cancelled. After queuing again, i get a seat on a flight on sunday 20th of September. The lady at the desk assures me that i can get a refund for that flight if i finally decide not to take it. So i go online and buy a Vueling flight for the day after (sunday 20 again).
On Sunday 20th of September, my Vueling flight safely takes me to Paris CDG. I go straight to EasyJet desk, where a girl tells me that for sure i will get a refund, that everything should be done online.
In the following days, i try to find online a way to get a refund, posting problems on the customer care page of EasyJet website, and everytime i get the same answer: since i decided, after my cancellation on my flight to Lyon, to get a seat on an other EasyJet flight, i can not get a refund.
So here is the situation at the moment: i am waiting for other answers from EasyJet customer care service, and eventually i’ll try to contact them directly by phone (its almost impossible at the moment to contact them: plenty of EasyJet flights were cancelled the last week, so everybody is trying to get in touch with the customer care phone line).
Several questions have occurred to me since last Friday
- why EasyJet cancelled many (most?) of their flights, whereas other companies, even « more » low-cost than them, didn’t have any problems to take off and land? I know its about snow and stuff, but seriously, MOST of EasyJEt flights were cancelled, this was not the case with other companies…
- why my EasyJet flight of Saturday 7am to Paris was cancelled, whereas at the same exact time an AirFrance/AirEuropa flight was safely going to Paris? I heard it was something about Paris having a policy to cancel 30% of the incoming flights… since most EasyJet flights were cancelled, should i assume that most airports had the same policy and were all thinking of EasyJet?
- why was the organization so bad? Even though people were queuing 2 hours, some EasyJet attendants were boringly waiting in front of empty lines for check-in on some other lucky flights. Plus, people that already had seen more than one of their flight cancelled didnt have any priority over people with ‘just’ one flight cancellation some people actually screamed at me cause i was trying to skip the line…
- why people at EasyJet’s desk told me that i could get my refund back; whereas online i’m told that it is not possible?
- why is the communication so bad? for the three cancelled flights, i never got warned by email/sms, no one would actually say something on the headspeakers regarding the status of our flights…
I’m seriously pissed off at EasyJet. They completely screwed a great weekend i was supposed to have in Paris with some of my best friends, and they still have my money that they seriously don’t deserve at all for their lack of service and communication. I want at least my refund (cause obviously i wont get anything for the moral prejudice).
I’m not the only one complaining obviously, you can check here in tourmagazine for example.
I’m not really hoping a lot with this post, but i’ll let you guys informed about the result of my calls to EasyJet call centre. And if you are reading this and had the same bad experience, please feel free to write to me or post it here on this article.
Vive Vueling and Ryanair…
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VlaD on 27.12.2009
Nico, too many questions wihout reply … That’s capitalism
Nicolas on 27.12.2009
No…
You can’t do everything just because it’s capitalism… Quality of service is also important, and with better quality of service actually they would get more people, which means more money/profit.
Nicolas on 27.12.2009
EasyJet was apparently fined in Roma for not communicating and refunding passengers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601092&sid=aEItUmb_c3QQ
Grayson on 28.12.2009
I have a similar story to share! I took an EasyJet flight on Sunday, December 20 from Madrid to Edinburgh! First, we had to wait nearly two hours after the originally scheduled boarding time to get on the plane (due to some snow on the ground in the plane’s last stop, Sofia, Bulgaria!).
Then, we had to wait another hour once we got on the plane for it to take off, due to the fact we had fallen out of the queue for take-offs due to the delays and we had to get back in again (which they also rather tastelessly blamed on an air traffic controllers’ strike!)
Finally, we took off and all seemed to be going well, but as we approached Edinburgh, we were told it was too dangerous to land there due to the snow and the plane had to be diverted to Glasgow (about 30-40 miles away). Once there, we had to wait about another half hour or so on the plane while EasyJet headquarters decided what to do with us (they finally decided they would send us some buses to take us from Glasgow to Edinburgh) and then another hour and a half waiting in the baggage claim area and in the main Glasgow airport terminal.
But said buses never came even an hour and a half or so after finding out we would be getting them. And the EasyJet people had no idea when or if they’d be coming, due to a snow-related accident on the main motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. So, some other frustrated passengers and I, at our own expense, took a taxi into the center of Glasgow and from there, a train to Edinburgh. We figured waiting for EasyJet to resolve the situation and/or sleeping in the airport were not valid options.
Certainly, this was a very frustrating experience, not to mention a great waste of time and money. You can be sure that EasyJet is going to get an earful when I go to the Edinburgh Airport tomorrow to check-in for my flight back to Madrid (and they’ll get an even bigger one if the flight is mysteriously delayed somehow…they can’t use snow as an excuse not to go to Madrid, since it generally doesn’t snow very much there and the weather forecast looks good for both Edinburgh and Madrid tomorrow).
Ok, rant over.
JBC on 18.02.2010
Bonjour Nicolas,
Je suis également « victime » de la mauvaise gestion d’easyjet. Mon vol ayant été annulé du fait de la neige. Néanmoins, l’avion devait faire Paris/ Berlin , les deux villes n’avaient aucuns problèmes de neige. Bref sans rentrer dans les détails mon week end de saint valentin a été gâché. J’ai vu que vous aviez eu aussi des difficultés et je souhaiterais savoir si vous avez été indemnisé ? Lors de l’annulation ils m ont précisé que oui, mais semblent sourds à mes demandes depuis..
Merci de votre retour
cdt