UPDATED - Easyjet denies boarding to 4 limited mobility passengers

richardw

The passengers didn't fly,
it was not the passengers' fault,
compensation is due from the operating air carrier,
if easyJet wish to pursue a claim against a third party that they are dependant on, that is their problem.

zzzLazyDaisy

With regard to the lack of assistance at the arrival airport - it is the responsibility of the cabin crew to radio ahead at least one hour before landing with the number of assistance passengers on board.

When travelling, I always remind the cabin crew of this around an hour before landing, because my experience is that this can be very hit and miss.

aerostar

I have had a reply from Easyjet

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"Thank you for your e-mail to Carolyn McCall, our Chief Executive Officer. Ms McCall has requested that I reply on her behalf.

I would like to offer my most sincere apologies for your poor experience at London Luton Airport on the 30 October 2011.

I am in the process of investigating the sequence of events you have mentioned and hope to be able to send you a comprehensive reply upon your return from Palma."

***********************************************

Signed by Executive Support I have withheld the name for the moment.


There was more in the mail, but not needed here, at least she (the CEO) now knows there was a problem, so it cannot be brushed under the carpet by other managers.

I have not heard as yet from Luton Airport disabledfacilities at ltn.aero email address, which is listed on the airport website, there is an airport steering committee e-mail address, but that bounced !

aerostar

New readers Please read post 1 first.

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Easyjet reply

As I have discovered they were only operating three of their four ambulifts due to mechanical failure of one and at the time of the Palma departure they had several departing and arriving aircraft.

They collected the passengers for your flight and took you all to the Special Assistance gate but had to wait for the next available ambulift before they could depart to the aircraft. At this time the dispatcher coordinating the flight for our Ground Handler, Menzies Aviation, was calling for you all but you were loaded on to the ambulift after gate closure and therefore could not be accepted for travel.

Unfortunately the reason you were unable to board this flight was a fault of the Special Assistance Service Provider in London Luton Airport. You were not denied boarding but refused travel as you were late to the aircraft.

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Reminder "late" not due to passengers fault !

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CAA Reply


I would like to explain that EC the Regulation 261/2004 does make provision of compensation for passengers that were denied boarding. The Regulation says that you will be entitled to compensation provided you can satisfy three conditions. These are: you must have a valid ticket; you must have a confirmed reservation and you must have checked-in by the deadline given to you by the airline.
According to your correspondence, it would appear that you met these three conditions, however because you were not at the gate on time for boarding. Whilst I do understand that you were late to gate through no fault of your own, it would appear that denied boarding does not apply.
Therefore, it seems that the core of your complaint falls within the scope of Regulation EC 1107/2006. This legislation aims to ensure that all people, regardless of their abilities, travelling to from or through, a member state of the EU, by air, can enjoy the same level of service. Responsibility has been placed on the shoulder of the airport when passengers are at the airport and on the airline during the flight. The Regulation sets out also all the rights to assistance, responsibilities of various bodies and quality standards that should be provided.
In the UK, the designated body to deal with complaints under EC 1107/2006 is the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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EC 1107/2006 is the Equality and Human Rights Commission

Covers the passing of information to the relevant airlines, etc, I read through this and does not appear to cover this scenario.

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MITIE (Special assistance provider ) reply


Your email was forwarded on to me by (name editited out) London Luton Airport as MITIE Transport were the service provider for the PRM service that you experienced problems with. I have tried to investigate and establish the cause of the delay in assisting you to the aircraft on the ambulift, All three of the MITIE ambulifts were serviceable and were already covering two other departures and one arrival flight and as soon as one became available it was despatched to your flight, this unfortunately lead to you being late and easyJet not accepting you, I am unable to comment on why easyJet did not accept you especially as you say they still had to off-load your luggage which would have taken quite some time, (an irrelevant sentance edited out here).

I must apologise for the time it has taken to respond to you but it has been difficult to obtain all of the facts as MITIE's contract at Luton Airport finished on 31st October and all of the staff transferred over to the new company OCS Limited, including the service delivery manager and duty managers. MITIE are very proud of their customer service ethos and always take feedback like this very seriously, I would like to offer you a gesture of £xxx.xx for the disruption and problems that we caused to the start of your holiday.

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Well thats it, so it seems that this problem appears to be not specifically covered by regulations, I think it should be.

It took a little bit of kicking to get Luton Airport to pass my e-mails to MITIE.

So, if you have to have special assistance, and you get caught in this type of scenario, complain, complain, and keep at it until you get satisfaction.

Where it fails is when, the airport contract out a company to do the special assistance, the airline contracts out ground handling, all have their targets etc., and there seems to be little liaision between them if there is a problem.


One final request, (long shot !), if any one happens to know any of the other passengers who experienced this problem on 30th October, could you PM me with their e-mail address if they agree, If they have not had any luck with "a goodwill gesture" from MITIE, I will be happy to pass the e-mail address of their general manager.

I am looking for the couple who I think live not far from Heathrow, have an appartment in Illetas, the single UK male living in Palma, and the spanish male living in Mallorca. The last 2, I very much doubt I will find.

richardw

BTW http://www.flightmole.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1446

MiraculousM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16552904

this might help?