27 July 2008: A horrendous experience with a cancelled easyJet 3067 flight from London Stansted to Prague

On Sunday 27 July 2008, I arrived at Stansted Airport only to discover that my flight (EZY3067) to Prague was cancelled. This page is to serve as a public record of the substandard customer service I have received since the incident. For reference, I will often refer to European Union Regulations 261/2004 for airlines in the event of denied boarding, cancellation or delay. In light of these clear regulations, the position of EasyJet, in my view, is illegal and totally unacceptable.

If there is anybody reading this who was booked on the same cancelled flight, please contact me by email.

On the day (27 July 2008)

I arrived by train at Stansted Airport two and a half hours before the scheduled departure of EZY3067. Already, the information screen indicated that the flight had been cancelled. Although there were no easyJet staff to direct customers or to explain the situation, I instinctively joined the long and rapidly-growing queue for the ticket desk, where other displeased would-be passengers were already waiting.

Only one (justifiably disgruntled) employee was devoted to dealing with the well over one hundred unhappy customers. The other employees at the desk dealt with baggage charges. I noticed that at any one time almost half of the staff at the check-in counters were idle (likely because of our cancellation).

After almost two hours, I reached the front of the line and was brusquely told that I could not fly to Prague until Tuesday 29 July 2008. I was offered a rebooking or a refund. Since my travel was for a week-long workshop in Prague, I agreed to be rebooked onto the flight leaving two days later than I intended.

After she rebooked me, she was about to ask the next customer forward. According to Article 5 of the EU regulations as well as Article 16 of easyJet's own regulations (which are just a diluted form of the EU regulations), I should have been notified about compensation. So I asked about travel expenses. Her response was, "Just keep your receipts," and she handed me a small slip with the address of the easyJet headquarters to which I should send my claims. I asked her which forms of travel I could take from Stansted to my residence and then from my residence in order to catch my new flight. "Take anything you like. Just make sure you keep the receipts and send them to that address."

I was slightly dubious about this, so I checked with another employee. I talked to a busy and important-looking woman with a flourescent yellow jacket and a walkie-talkie. "I was booked on the cancelled flight to Prague and wanted to know if I can take a taxi back to my residence in central London." She told me to wait and went up some stairs behind the easyJet check-in counters, presumably to ask the floor manager. In any case, she told me the same thing as the ticket desk lady: just send receipts to easyJet headquarters to claim compensation.

Because it was a (rare) summery day and I wanted to get away from this fiasco as quickly as possible, I decided to take an airport taxi back, especially as I had been reassured that I would be reimbursed after double-checking with their employees. An hour later, I was back in London.

A letter (29 July 2008)

On the day of my rebooked flight, I had prepared a letter (rtf file) to claim the additional expenses incurred due to the cancellation of Sunday's flight. I also claimed the 250 Euros compensation to which I am entitled under Article 7 of the EU regulations. This claim was fully justified because I was not notified of the cancellation before arriving at Stansted, nor was I given any explanation thereafter. I posted the letter from the airport just before leaving, as the ticket woman who I had spoken to two days earlier refused to help me get my claim to easyJet headquarters.

I have received no response to this letter.

Several emails (20-25 August 2008)

Because I had not received any response to my written claim for compensation, on 20 August 2008 I decided to email the Customer Services Department of easyJet, via their website. Through several exchanges, each time with a different "Customer Experience Champion", I was first offered 7 pounds compensation, then I was offered 15 pounds compensation (and 15 pounds does not even cover a return train fare from Stansted to central London). I was also informed that the cancellation of my flight was due to "extraordinary circumstances" of a technical nature, which they were unable to elaborate on; therefore, I would not be entitled to the 250 Euros compensation I had asked for.

Finally, I was instructed to write to the Customer Experience Coordinator at headquarters (Customer Services, easyJet Airline Company Ltd, Hangar 89, London Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 9PF).

A second letter (5 September 2008)

On 5 September 2008, I posted a second letter (rtf file), this time by registered mail to the Customer Experience Coordinator, and am awaiting reply.

At this point, I have had to assess my legal options. A case from Oxford County Council should be noted here. Also, I found a specialized law firm dedicated to EC Regulation 261/2004 claims, especially with regards to "extraordinary circumstances", but am very much hoping that easyJet will come to their senses in their reply to the above letter.

A response to the first letter (18 September 2008)

On 18 September, I received a strange email. It was directed to the address which I used to book the flight (which is different from the email used in the above email correspondence). The email was in response to an unspecified PDF attachment sent in by some Italian customer. In fact, the email was also sent to an Italian email address (which seemed pretty genuine). This particular customer service champion wrote to tell me my "refund" will be granted and asked me to call in to their national rate line to give more details about my credit card (even though I paid by debit card). I replied to tell them that it is a debit card, asked why I have become linked with the random Italian customer, and also asked them to send a check. Only after sending my reply was I issued a password to be able to access my account on the customer services homepage. To my great surprise, I discovered that the unspecified PDF attachment was a scan of the letter I sent on 29 July!

Phoning later that day to a geographic equivalent of one of their national rate numbers (+441582700036, via), I was informed that indeed I would be receiving full compensation. I was told I would have to confirm the expiry date of my renewed debit card to which they would credit 250 Euros, but apparently I'd have to send a separate email requesting the alternative transportation and meals reimbursement.

A second phone call and several more irritating emails (22 September - 6 November 2008)

Shortly after the above-mentioned phone call, I was sent an email which informed me that I would be sent a cheque which appeared to omit not only coverage one of the taxi journeys but also the 250 euros EU compensation! In order to clarify the conflicting information given by various employees, I made a second phone call to easyJet on 22 September 2008. Immediately afterwards, I sent them an email containing the following summary of this agonising telephone discussion:

This is to summarise a 55 minute phone call made to easyJet customer services just now. I spoke to a woman calling herself Maggie (ext xxxxx). We discussed my situation and, although the cheque mentioned below has been issued, she has promised that she will attempt to credit me a further 92 pounds for the return taxi journey. I also verified my card details, including the new expiry date (of xx/xx). I informed her that a previous employee promised me last Thursday over the phone that I would be transferred the 250 euros EU compensation to my card. I expect this compensation to be issued soon, especially in light of the below email from LM approving the request I made in the letter dated 29 July 2008. I also requested the telephone costs to be refunded.

I did not receive the promised cheque. Also, I did not receive a response to this email until 23 October 2008, when I received an email from JD claiming that I only sent the receipt for one of the taxi journeys even though it was clear from the scanned letter of revealed on 18 September that they had received all of the necessary receipts. A series of extremely irritating crossfire of emails ensued and all of their messages were prefaced by the following header: "We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 48 hours. Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you." I admit I became extremely angry and was a little brusque in some of my replies, although in my view justifiedly so. My last email to them, which I did not hear back from, was the following:

You and your colleagues have all failed to appropriately address any of my questions. I have not even received the first cheque which was supposedly issued. For this reason, I have contacted a lawyer who will contact easyJet on my behalf.

Professional assistance (January 2009 - present)

At present (18 January 2009), I have calmed down enough to organise my files and am enlisting the following company to help me with clawing back the compensation I am due. The aim of EU Claim is to help customers combat the oft- and over-used defence of "extraordinary circumstances" by airlines.

Short update (2 July 2009): The abovementioned firm has sent several letters to EasyJet demanding EU compensation, with no reply. They have recently (about two weeks ago) started legal proceedings, on my approval.

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