Claiming compensation for cancelled Easyjet flight EZY5456

[CoochyCoo]

Hi all.

 

I'm just after a bit of advice on my rights after what can only be described as shocking treatment by easyJet.

 

I was due to fly home to London Gatwick on 13 July from Lisbon after a weekend break. The departure time was at 8pm, so we arrived at the check in queue not long after 6pm. Whilst in the check in queue, our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, showing a new departure time of 20:45.

 

We checked in, proceeded through security and were called to Gate 25 in preparation to board our plane. We noted at the time that the plane was in the stand at the gate. Then two representatives from easyJet called the first two boarding groups - Speedy Boarding and Special Assistance.

 

Nothing happened. We all stood in line for the next 10 minutes or so, until a message came over the tannoy to say that our flight would now be departing from Gate 24, swiftly followed by another announcement to say that an easyJet flight to Liverpool would now be departing from Gate 25. All very strange, so both sets of passengers swapped Gates. We could see the Liverpool passengers boarding their plane, and eventually it was pushed back and taxied to the runway. We were still sitting by the Gate.

 

At 9:30pm, an hour and a half after we were meant to take off, an annoucement came over the tannoy stating that the flight to London Gatwick had been cancelled, and another flight would be scheduled for the following afternoon at 2pm. We were told to pick up our luggage from the belt, and make our way to the Portway (easyJet's ground handling crew) desk to sort out a hotel for the night. We queued up for over an hour to be given a slip of paper called a "Declaration of Cancellation" stating that our flight had been cancelled due to "technical reasons".

 

We came back to the airport the following day at 12noon, ready for our flight at 2pm. When we arrived at check in the flight had been brought forward to 13:20pm. We again checked in, went through security and were called to Gate 26. Again, nothing happened. An announcement eventually came over the tannoy at 13:30pm saying that the plane was delayed and more information would be broadcast at 2pm. At 2:45pm, an announcement came that the flight would not be taking off until 6:40pm and that refreshments would be served in a nearby cafe.

 

We eventually departed Lisbon at 19:30pm, 23 and a half hours later than scheduled.

 

The passengers have decided to group together, and during our delay took photographs of the information boards, noted times and content of tannoy announcements, and videoed discussions with Portway representatives (when they turned up).

 

Under EU law, we are due two sets of compensation, 400 Euros for the first cancelled flight; and 250 Euros for a delay of longer than 3 hours the following day, totalling 650 Euros.

 

When we contacted easyJet to try and claim this compensation, they told us that they wouldn't be eligable to pay for anything - they stated that the first flight was not cancelled, just "rescheduled" to the following day - despite us all having Declarations of Cancellation signed and stamped by Portway officials stating the flight had been cancelled. And they weren't eligable for compensation on the second delayed flight, as a plane had to be flown to Lisbon from Milan and that was "outside their control".

 

When we boarded our flight home, the Captain, Mark Whiteleg, informed the passengers that a decision had been made by easyJet, for whatever reason, to bump us off the original Gatwick flight (that had been in perfect working order) to accommodate the Liverpool flight (which had technical difficulties and was grounded). So, in essence, there was nothing wrong with our original plane. So how can they claim that it was rescheduled through technical issues, when it was clear that we were bumped off and the secondary flight was cancelled?

 

Has anyone else had problems like this with easyJet? We envisaged that getting any sort of compensation from them was going to be a hard slog, but this is just ridiculous.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Bump

[Conniff]

Bump

 

Did you all swop address, phone number or email addresses with each other, or are you fighting this alone?

[buzby]

Who paid for the hotel - EJ or yourself?

[geoff1248]

We are proceeding with a very similar problem with Eastjet. Having spoken to the Air Transport Users Council it appears that Easy have just recently started using the phrase "rescheduled" as something of a smokescreen to confuse complainants. According to the relevant EU legislation flights such as these are either delayed or cancelled there is no other option. Rescheduled is not a valid phrase. Similarly there is a good chance that the "technical problems" could cover anything from a serious safety related issue to someone loosing the key to the on board first aid box.

I suggest that you contact the AUC who are really great and will give you the help you need and are able to ask Easy for the exact rerasons for the problems with these flights ie what were the technical problems. By law Easy are required to respond to the AUC.

[Zamzara]

In contrast I have found the AUC quite useless as they are too overworked, but Easyjet did pay up once I took them to court myself.

[geoff1248]

The AUC are indeed overworked but that does not make them rubbish. However, the AUC are the only people who can actually find out just what happened to flights that didn't take off. Easy are not obliged to give you any reasons what so ever. They must though respond to the AUC.

OK so the AUC may take 6 weeks to deal with the matter but they will then have the evidence that you need to take Easy to court. Besides AUC are free and they are actually on your side.

Zamzara please tell us a little more about what happened in your case as this may help the OP. Did they settle before the court case or did you actually get a court ruling?

[Zamzara]

The story is here. They settled without a hearing.

 

Since then I have asked the CAA, via the AUC, to prosecute them for failure to comply with the law (as non-payment to the other passengers is a criminal offence.) The AUC are taking months to reply to my letters and are failing to understand any of the points I am making. The don't seem to understand that Easyjet have already paid me, and declined to defend my claim, and that what I now want is for them to be prosecuted or the other passengers to be paid.

 

The AUC have also said as long as the second flight had the same number then it could not have been a cancellation at all, which is an incredibly airline-friendly interpretation and was debunked in a court case I found against another airline. If airlines could get away with that they could say any flight was merely delayed provided they got you home eventually.

[geoff1248]

Zamzara

Many thanks for the above info. which will certainly be of use to both myself and the OP.

In my particular case my flight was "cancelled" once all the passengers were already on the plane. We were transferred by coach from East Midlands to Luton and put in an hotel overnight and flew from Luton the next day. Easy stated that the original flight had not been cancelled mearly rescheduled.

Different flight number, different airport, different day I really don't think they have a leg to stand on. Rescheduled hah.

Sorry if I appear to have hijacked this thread.