‘I paid easyJet £363 extra to avoid a five-hour delay and it horribly backfired'

Telegraph

3 days ago

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Dear Katie,
Back in March I was flying back from Geneva with a couple of friends. We had been scheduled to fly at 6.50pm, but about 1.30pm that day I received a text from easyJet saying that the flight was significantly delayed. Instead it was expected to depart at approximately 11.20pm.
My heart sank as 11.20pm is very late and I have been caught at Geneva airport twice before and had to stay overnight because of delayed easyJet flights and crews running out of roster time.
This delay seemed unlikely to change as a follow up communication from easyJet made it clear that the bag drop would remain open for the delayed 6.50pm flight to 8pm. It was not the usual instruction given of 'despite the delay, please check in bags by the original check in time'.
Based on this information and previous experience of travelling with easyJet, I made what felt like a reasonable decision to move all three passengers to another easyJet flight departing at 8.35pm. To do this, I was required to pay a total of £363 in flight change fees.
Upon arriving at the airport, and sitting in the bar for a short while, the departure boards changed to show that the 8.35pm we were now booked on was now also rescheduled to 11.20pm, while the 6.50pm flight we were originally booked on was reassigned to the departure time of 8.35pm. Gallingly, this meant we had paid £363 to arrive home later than we would have done had we done nothing.
We rushed to the assigned gate only to find several other passengers equally irate at the situation. Many had made the same switch and, on talking to them, I found they had managed to switch for free.
As I was travelling with no luggage fortunately I was able to switch back to the 6.50pm flight, now departing at 8.35pm. However my friends could not, and had to wait until 11.20pm to fly as they had checked in bags.
I claimed compensation, but easyJet refused. It said that it was my choice to re-book and pay. It is my belief that the flights were switched so that no passengers originally booked flight would be delayed for more than three hours, after which compensation is due.
Either way, I am very unhappy that I had to pay £363, especially as my friends were delayed for more than three hours as they were denied boarding and departed at 11.20pm instead of 6.50pm.
EasyJet did offer a £100 voucher for use on one of its flights, however I have not redeemed it as I do not find this acceptable.
– AG, via email
Dear AG,
No wonder you were enraged, having made what you thought was a good decision to pay to escape this intolerable delay, only to find that you would have been better off if you had done nothing.
When I asked easyJet it said that your original flight was scheduled to depart at 6.50pm and was initially delayed until 11.20pm, because of a technical issue. This meant a replacement aircraft needed to be flown from the UK to operate the flight.
When flights are delayed by more than five hours, EasyJet said, it advises customers that it provides the option to transfer to an alternative flight for free by contacting its customer services team. However since your flight was delayed by just less than five hours, this didn't apply in your case.
You changed your booking to an earlier flight scheduled to depart at 8.35pm. However, as you made this change yourself online, this meant you incurred a change fee and a fare difference that amounted to £363.
Then, because of the knock-on impact to the schedule of flying an aircraft from the UK, the decision was made to bring forward the delay for the 6.50pm flight, so that it could depart at 8.35pm. Meanwhile the 8.35pm departure was then delayed to fly at 11.20pm, but with a different aircraft.
EasyJet subsequently transferred you back to your original flight for free, to ensure you could depart as early as possible, however, of course, this ignored the fact that your poor friends, who you had also paid to fly at 8.35pm, were still stuck on the later flight.
The airline said it did not deny boarding to your friends as they did not reach the gate or expect to board the aircraft.
In line with security requirements, it said, they would have needed to re-check in their bags and go back through security and passport control. Unfortunately it would not have been possible to do this in time for the earlier flight, it said.
EasyJet said it fully understands the frustration this will have caused in the circumstances, however it 'always endeavours to bring forward delays where we can and this meant that both flights were able to operate with as reduced delays as possible for all customers on these flights'.
In line with regulations it is unable to provide compensation as the flight you travelled on was delayed for less than three hours, however following my involvement, as a gesture of goodwill, it will now be reimbursing the fees incurred from the flight changes that you made yourself.
A spokesman said: 'We are sorry for the delay to Mr G's journey from Geneva to London Gatwick, due to a technical issue with the aircraft scheduled to operate his original flight.
'We always work to reduce delays where we can and as it was possible to bring his original flight delay forward, our team in the airport transferred Mr G back to his original flight for free.
'Due to security requirements, this was unfortunately not possible for his friends, who were travelling with hold luggage as there was not enough time to re-check their bags and pass through airport security before the scheduled departure time.'