EASY JET - EU carrier yes or no ?

[The Phantom]

Easy Jet has failed to respond to either of my letters

The deadline has come and gone, I have now sent them an LBA giving them another 7 days to pay

If no settlement by 13.09. through EasyJet I will take the matter to court

Maybe they manage to file a defence faster than replying to customers letters ?

Who knows.

[biglumpyspud]

Dear Nicole99,

 

I too am a victim of EasyJet! So, I am wondering how you got on with your claim against them. My partner & I were denied boarding on a flight from Budapest to Luton because the flight was full, even though we turned up at the check-in counter well over an hour prior to departure. We were promptly told that the flight was full, handed a piece of paper with our Air Passenger Rights on it and told to go to the ticketing office. At no time did we talk to an EasyJet rep and ended up forking out of $2000 Australian to book another flight as we need to get our connecting flight home to Sydney. It is a bit difficult trying to fight this from Australia, and have noticed from searches online that there is an incredible number of people in our situation, still seeking compensation from an airline that appears to be reaping in the profits! And no wonder, they get to keep the money of the little people without facing the consequences! So, any help would be greatfully appreciated in how to go about seeking legal action against EasyJet.

Cheers

[The Phantom]

Yes, Easy Jet is a great airline if you don't put any emphasis on customer care or staff helpfulness and don't mind being treated like a nuisance once you have handed over your money

They make their own rules as they go along and hope you won't fight back

I advised them at the time I would take them to court about it and that's what I did

I filed a claim against them through my local County Court for compensation as per EU passenger rights and all the family's costs and expenses, the total was just under £1000.-

Easy Jet did not defend the case so I got judgement in default against them and the judge ordered that they pay the whole amount immediately

Well, again Easy Jet made up their own rules and ignored the judgement so I had to get the Court to issue a warrant of execution against them and ordered the local bailiffs in Luton to collect the amount for me

which is what they did. Easy Jet in the end paid the bailiffs including all the resulting extra costs and that is the end of the story

So I would always recommend to work out how much they owe you and then file a claim and take them to court

As you are in Australia I don't know how that would work as the case would be dealt with here by a County Court as Easy Jet has got its head office in Luton

You may need to phone a County Court in the Uk and ask them

or try and find out online. That side of it I really do not know

[androobe]

Well done - and I bet the original reason for cancelling was just due to low loadings. Easyjet have now pulled the Bristol-Hamburg route (along with endless other routes, their prices are so uncompetitive compared with some others now, I'm not surprised they struggle to fill their planes!)

 

Unfortunately they will still win in the long run - I bet for everyone like you who goes all the way, there's another hundred or more people that give up.

[The Phantom]

Well done - and I bet the original reason for cancelling was just due to low loadings. Easyjet have now pulled the Bristol-Hamburg route (along with endless other routes, their prices are so uncompetitive compared with some others now, I'm not surprised they struggle to fill their planes!)

 

Unfortunately they will still win in the long run - I bet for everyone like you who goes all the way, there's another hundred or more people that give up.

 

Well, they cancelled the flight due to operational reasons but failed to inform us beforehand, we only found out at the check-in with two very young children and trolleys of luggage. They simply forgot to tell us. All the other passengers were re-booked on the next days flight but that was by then full and we could only travel days later. In my claim I pointed out that for us it was the same as if the flight had been cancelled on the day of departure and I claimed compensation for the whole family accordingly plus all our expenses. Well, they didn't defend so it was easy.

When I told them I would take them to court on the day at check-in they just smiled and said "of course" indicating I wouldn't dare anyway which only wound me up more and made me even more determined.

Everyone should just file claims against them for each and every of their breaches. But as you said, most people just can't be bothered....

[TUTTSI]

I have been reading these threads with great interest. Last year we were flying to Palma with BMI, they changed their flight schedules and they failed to advise the passengers of the change and we turned up at the airport along with 40+ more passengers only to be advised that our flight had just taken off.

I must admit they were a lot more helpful than Easyjet as you have described, but the long and short of it was we were only going for 5 days, they did not have any other flights going that day or availability for the next couple of days, they did however try and get people on other routes which they were paying for. In our case we took an alternative flight to Alicante which was departing within the hour and we managed to cancel our hotel in Palma and re-book in Alicante. The scenario was not ideal because it was Palma we wanted to go to and we are still agreived by this the only compensation we have received is a £50 voucher which is only redeemable against a full price fare. We feel we should have received better compensation but having read your threads I think BMI acted a lot more reasonably than Easy Jet. I think you should take it all the way and get whatever compensation you can in real money not vouchers.

DS

[tinytot]

Hi,

just my two pence worth.

In September our flight from Shannon to Gatwick was cancelled at 11pm. Easyjet offered a replacement flight from Cork, departing at 6.30am, but refused to provide any transfers to Cork. When I said they were asking the impossible, they informed me that it wasn't their problem I was stranded in Ireland - it was mine. And so sums up their attitude towards me.

And for those of you interested, no there weren't any signs or leflets containing passengers rights on display or even available on request.

I emailed, I faxed, I posted (by recorded signed for), and I phoned. Almost seventy times. Finally when I said I was going to issue a claim in the County Court, the guy on the phone responded 'Go on - I dare you', and so thats what I did.

Suddenly I got an email (surely not a co-incidence), and I got some money back. Then the legal department sent me a letter saying they'd paid me back more than what I was claiming so I should drop my claim; the paralegal was wrong as she was reading everything in pounds, when the refunds were done in Euros meaning I was still £50-odd pounds short (I've claimed for my postage and numerous call costs to their 10p a minute customer 'help' line). I've helpfully pointed out her mistakes via email, but am still awaiting any reply. If they don't pay up to the penny, I'll continue my claim in the County Court.

Unfortunately the County Court seems to be the only thing they'll listen to.

[tinytot]

As for the Aussies, go to moneyclaim.gov.uk if you're not getting very far and lodge a claim that way. They have to reimburse you for those flights, and I'd recommend causing as much as a fuss as you can via the media etc Do they show 'Airline' in Oz (a reality tv programme on easyJet)? If so, get some newspaper editor to tie in your story with the tv listings or something.

Good luck!

[Goldytap]

Just thought id say hi and i may regret admiting now that i currently work for Servisair at Bristol airport for Easyjet. Just thought i would say to adrobe and everyone else that Easyjet are becoming very successful at bristol airport and the majority of he time our flights are 85/90% full meaning we are very busy. I have to say ive been wrking there for 18 months and have come across only about 20canx flights (not including recent events at brs) and many of those were weather related. Flights canx for operational reasons are becoming less often now - there was a time when, about 10 months ago, when many flights were being canx due to lack of crew - but these were being canx months b4 that date and pax were being informed. However many times, people did not leave their corect contact information in their bookings therefore we were unable to contact them.

 

If any1 has any questions - please ask - if i dont know the answer i will mtry and find out

[The Phantom]

Flights canx for operational reasons are becoming less often now - there was a time when, about 10 months ago, when many flights were being canx due to lack of crew - but these were being canx months b4 that date and pax were being informed. However many times, people did not leave their corect contact information in their bookings therefore we were unable to contact them.

In our case the flight might have been cancelled months before the travel date, but it is no use if Easy jet does not inform all passengers. We checked our booking confirmation and neither our e-mail address nor our telephone number had changed since the booking, just nobody bothered or was interested in informing us (after all we had already handed over our money and that is the point in time when Easy Jet stops caring !)

We only found out at the check-in desk and nobdy was really too concerned about the fact that our annual holiday had just been ruined. We could only travel three days later, meaning we had to return to the Airport three days later and change all holiday arrangements at home. again nobody cared. We wrote to Easy Jet several times and only received a reply to our initial complaint months and months later. By that time we had already taken them to court . (They sent a cookie cutter letter saying they will not refund anything and we should ask our holiday insurance) By that time we had already instructed the bailiffs to collect the money. it only shows what sort of company it is we are talking about here

and I think the Airline TV documentary only highlights how little compassion the staff has for the passengers. When I first watched the series I thought it was funny how the passengers were treated and lost their temper all the time. Ever since we were subjected to the same Easy Jet style customer care I no longer find it funny. But I guess if you buy cheap you get cheap. We won't be using them again:-o

[The Lantana]

Fantastic result Nicole, my congratulations and thank you for sharing this with us. I have two stories, one concerning Iberia and one with BA...

 

With regards to Iberia, I was travelling from Majorca to London via Barcelona 18 months ago (in the days when I had money). Iberia cancelled the Barcelona - London leg effectively leaving me stranded overnight in Barcelona. Passengers had to do a lot of queuing to get bags and stuff back but Iberia put us all up in a 5 star hotel overnight and rebooked us all on suitable flights. In my case they upgraded me to business class. They also gave me details of where to write to to claim EUR250 compensation. I never claimed as I figured they behaved very well in the circumstances.

 

The BA story is different. 3 friends of mine were travelling from Gatwick to Prague. BA cancelled the flights citing weather and basically said no compensation, try your insurers and please clear off. Weather was bad at Gatwick that day but other Airlines were operating. Easyjet were offering flights to Prague so my friends booked with them but lost a full day of a weekend break. Eventually BA refunded the flights (via Lastminute.com, but that's another story) but declined compensation.

 

Having read your thread I'm going to assist my friends (if they agree) get compensation from BA, which by law should be EUR750 or about £500. Watch out for a new thread starting soon!

 

God I love this site.

[The Phantom]

I can only say : go for it.

Remember the carrier must proove that the reasons for cancelling the flight were extraordinary. Hiding behind a raincloud won't do if other carriers were operating the same route that day

Check out the AUC website for relevant information regarding EU passenger rights

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=306