I hate easyjet !!!

We have just come back from a wedding in Italy. we were going with another couple but her father became very ill and unfortunately they had to back out of the trip. AS the tickets were already paid for we asked 2 friends if they would like to come instead. We had bought 4 plane tickets in December 05 from easyjet and 2 rooms booked in Italy, so it seemed a good idea to ask them if they wanted to come.
When we tried to change the names on the plane ticket (which we did online) easyjet charged us another £382.50 just to change the two names. It seems that hidden in their terms and conditions their is a clause which means they can charge whatever they say is the current price of the tickets, as the change was made in August 06 they charged us top rates. I don't really see why they feel the need to rip people off in this underhand way.

The Wedding was great, then we flew home from Naples to Stansted, went to get our bags, what a surprise no bags !!!!
150 people on the flight, 78 bags not put on the plane, and the man at the easyjet desk, well how i did not climb over that desk and kill him i still don't know.
What he was saying was rubbish, like it was a weight thing, maybe people had excess baggage, to which i asked so you have taken money for excess baggage and left 78 cases off, which he could not answer.
We think they may have taken freight or something more important than the bags.
If you think not every person would of had a bag, some couples share, that means over half of the passengers did not get their cases.

To make it worse, our car and house keys were in my husbands jacket which was in his case (With all the checks at the airport on the way out most things had to go in our case, so it seemed to make sense to travel light on the plane.)

We were told to get a taxi home and send invoice to easyjet. We had a 100 mile trip home then back to Stansted with a spare set of car keys and then finally home again. Easyjets representatives answer to most of our questions were "not my problem".
Other passengers said their medication was in their cases, Easyjets answer "make a note of it at the bottom of the lost luggage form. Some passengers had missed connecting flights or trains, Easyjets answer "Not my problem". Do they have to go on courses to be so rude and unhelpful?
Don't ever bother trying to ring them, it is a premium rate phone number and I can assure you that you will never get through to them. If you try contacting them online always make a copy of what you have written before you send it, their software comes up with submit a valid form, when you go back to try and send it again your message has mysteriously been deleted.

Five days on and still no case, had enough now, i seem to need all the bits in my case, my glasses would be a start, I'm having to wear and old pair which are rubbish.

Does anybody know where we stand and how long before we can claim for the lost case?


Many thanks for any help
June
«13

Comments

  • sloppychops
    sloppychops Posts: 6,742
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    Car and house keys didnt have to go in the hold even with all these extra checks at airports.
    I must admit i have never once flown with Easyjet after seeing what goes on when it was on TV.
    "Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
  • Whilst it sounds like you've had a bad experience, I think it's a little unfair to take your frustrations out on the ground staff at STN. They obviously weren't in Naples to know exactly what happened but they've got the unenviable task of dealing with inevitable outrage on landing.

    There are a multitude of reasons why baggage may be left behind and weight is one of the more serious ones. I don't think we need even discuss the potential dangers of the aircraft trying to take off overweight. So how could it be overweight? Well there are so many factors involved in this precise calculation. As well as a physical maximum set by the manufacturer, the flight can be weight-limited by the destination, runway length, nearby relief (mountains to climb over), fuel requirements/availability, passenger load, technical defects ....

    The Captain has a difficult balancing act to play in order to operate the flight safely whilst maximising commercial opportunity. For example, low costs make the best use of fuel prices around their network in the same way that you and I don't choose to fill up the car at the most expensive filling station. Buying cheap fuel (which Naples could offer?) helps keep ticket prices down - every little help. However, if the flight is full with fuel there's an obvious trade-off with the remaining weight available for passengers and cargo (eg baggage).

    As for cargo, the B737 and A319 that easyJet use were not designed to carry cargo. easyJet already squeeze more passengers onto their A319s than any other operator in the world, so much so Airbus had to fit extra overwing exits to stay within the 90-second rule to evacuate everyone in an emergency. With more passengers, again there's a trade-off on weight.

    As sloppychops has said, it is vital to keep everything you need on your person such as house/car keys, mobile phone etc. NEVER check these into your hold baggage.

    As for extra help getting taxis etc, I really don't see how easyJet can be expected to cover these costs. You chose to book a standalone flight which is all you can expect. Any unexpected costs should be met by your insurance policy.

    I'm sorry this probably isn't what you want to hear/read, but easyJet et al are trying to run a business on [very] tight margins. The low cost model has been a success purely due to the way they maximise revenue at minimal cost. Sadly that balancing act doesn't always pay off in the way it was intended. But above all, please don't take it out on the staff - particularly those on the ground who aren't in a position to make the decisions. The person you need to speak to if you're not happy is the Captain, but clearly that's not an option once you're in the baggage hall.
  • Hi
    Yes wise investor, but you have got to symapthise with the OP. It is obviously not the ground crews fault and I think that we have all taken flack in our jobs for someone elses decision - I know I have lots.

    I think that may be there is a training need on how to deal with customers as certainly they come across as totally unable to deal with irate and emotional people on the TV.

    However this is another example of inefficency. If the bags weren't lost in Naples I would say that it is the UK!
  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458
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    easyJet don't squeeze passengers into their A319s. The aircraft was ordered with smaller galleys and one less rear toilet than other operators use. They have 26 rows with 6 seats on a row. The seat pitch is Ok and four over wing exits is better than 2.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • budgetflyer
    budgetflyer Posts: 5,949 Forumite
    There are a multitude of reasons why baggage may be left behind and weight is one of the more serious ones. I don't think we need even discuss the potential dangers of the aircraft trying to take off overweight. So how could it be overweight? Well there are so many factors involved in this precise calculation. As well as a physical maximum set by the manufacturer, the flight can be weight-limited by the destination, runway length, nearby relief (mountains to climb over), fuel requirements/availability, passenger load, technical defects ....

    The Captain has a difficult balancing act to play in order to operate the flight safely whilst maximising commercial opportunity. For example, low costs make the best use of fuel prices around their network in the same way that you and I don't choose to fill up the car at the most expensive filling station. Buying cheap fuel (which Naples could offer?) helps keep ticket prices down - every little help. However, if the flight is full with fuel there's an obvious trade-off with the remaining weight available for passengers and cargo (eg baggage).

    As for cargo, the B737 and A319 that easyJet use were not designed to carry cargo. easyJet already squeeze more passengers onto their A319s than any other operator in the world, so much so Airbus had to fit extra overwing exits to stay within the 90-second rule to evacuate everyone in an emergency. With more passengers, again there's a trade-off on weight.
    WiseInvestor - sorry,but I cant agree with that
    If easyjet book 120 passengers onto a flight then surely it is not unreasonable to expect them to carry all their luggage .If overweight is a problem then that could be advised at check in not just leave them behind and shrug shoulders at other end.
    Obviously a mistake was made.
    Mistakes happen but "not my problem" doesnt help anyone.
    All these budget airlines need to have a "when things go wrong" booklet or something to hand to passengers.
    The person at the desk is powerless in many of these situations and unfortunately is the main focus of everyones frustrations.
    jmp410 Regarding the charges for changing names, this is to stop people buying all the cheap seats en mass and selling them on on ebay etc.
    Admittedly that was a lot you had to pay,but these things are in their t&cs and is one of the many trade offs when using a "budget airline"
    Ryanair for instance charge a flat £70 per person for each name change on a booking.
    Under the present IMO ridiculous restrictions the keys in the suitcase etc could be quite a common occurance.
    Only a problem when things go wrong .Blame the government for that one.
    Tony Blair was that concerned that he immediatly swam ashore from his yaught moored of the Caribbean coast,got the first flight back to Britain to take control as all our airports are shut down-NOT :rolleyes:
  • richardw wrote:
    easyJet don't squeeze passengers into their A319s. The aircraft was ordered with smaller galleys and one less rear toilet than other operators use. They have 26 rows with 6 seats on a row. The seat pitch is Ok and four over wing exits is better than 2.
    The A319 was designed with 21 rows (x6 = 126 passengers). Even with smaller galleys, an extra 5 rows is a significant number (30 passengers) so forgive me if I stick with the word "squeeze".

    The 4 overwing exits was not a preference because they're "better" - they are a legal requirement to suit the higher number of seats onboard.
  • alanrowell
    alanrowell Posts: 5,364
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    Here's a real reason to hate Easyjet.

    I was a victim of Easyjet's COMMERCIAL decision to cancel UK flights on 11th August & as such I'm entitled to a full refund.

    Getting a refund means phoning an 0871 number at 10p per minute where it takes 2 minutes for them to get to a place where you can choose an option to request a refund. This is the point at which you are then told the queue is "at least" 30 minutes long. This is when the reservation system is actually working, otherwise you will get cut off after some (unspecified) period of time

    So basically I have to pay Easyjet for the privilege of getting a refund from them.
  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458
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    I have been on a BA A319 and an easyJet A319 in economy, I know what I am talking about. The BA aircraft is fitted out for business class at the front with a full rear galley. The easyJet aircraft is fitted out for single economy class. The rear is fitted with half a galley, the other space in the galley is taken up with a toilet. This means that the space available that is normally taken up with one toilet is available for seats because it has been relocated in the galley space. I have not been squeezed on either configuration. So an alarmist word as 'squeeze' is not correct.

    Here's a cabin view of an easyJet A319 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0978632/M/ and a BA A319 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0546718/L/ you decide.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • RoCas
    RoCas Posts: 3,929
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    For anyone trying to get in touch with Easyjet, I found this thread on SayNoTo0870.com. I didn't get time to read through the whole thread but it looks like there might be some useful phone numbers there, especially on page 2 of the thread.
    http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1104504432
  • you have got to symapthise with the OP
    Oh I do sympathise, but having a rant at an 18 year old handling agent won't make missing baggage magically materialise. The purpose of my post was to highlight that getting people safely from A to B involves more than most people realise. It simply wouldn't be possible to train every airline employee to be a Captain so what's the point in demanding answers from somebody who doesn't really know what goes on and wasn't even there?
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