The day before my easyJet flight to Budapest last July, a UK air traffic control outage caused significant disruption at Gatwick.
On my arrival at the airport check-in, easyJet staff refused to issue me with a boarding pass because a smaller aircraft, with fewer seats, had had to be substituted. This left 35 passengers unable to board.
I was advised to book another flight and claim the cost of the new ticket via the easyJet website. The next available flight was with British Airways and cost me £472. EasyJet has since refused to refund me.
Customer service staff first denied that the plane had been downgraded, then said my claim was rejected because I had booked the original easyJet flight through a third party, then said I was a no-show.
IB London
The air traffic control chaos disrupted hundreds of flights, and easyJet’s obduracy is inexcusable.
Your webchats with its agents make nonsensical reading. One told you the rejection was because “the email address on the booking does not match the one on the booking”. They then confirmed you were denied boarding before claiming that you weren’t denied boarding for commercial or operational reasons and therefore had no right to a refund.
It seems the actual problem was that, since you weren’t allowed to check in, and could not therefore proceed to the gate, the system marked you as a no-show.
EasyJet’s system was too inflexible and its staff too indifferent to override this. The airline changed its stance and promised you the money when I intervened, four months after you had lodged your claim, though it never got round to answering my questions.
The refund took a further month to arrive because the company suddenly insisted that you provide proof that you had paid for the ticket, which you had booked through a travel agent.
In future, I suggest you check in online so you have a better chance of boarding next time something goes wrong.
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