EasyJet - they CHANGE the price at the last minute - is this illegal?

pinkbeetle

I chose my flights on easyjet site. The flights were put in my basket.
I went through to payment. I put in all the details and on the final page it showed me the total amount I would pay.
I hit 'confirm' and a window popped up saying one of the flights had changed price! It was now £6 more - did I want to continue?
I hit yes because that was the flight I wanted - it was unlikely to get cheaper if I went back to the selection stage.

BUT how legal is this?
From my point of view, I had seen a product listed at a given price, I had agreed to purchase it at that price.
the 'offer' was 'accepted'.
Next thing I know the price is changed at the last minute.

Has anyone else experienced this?
What is the legal position???

gik

pinkbeetle wrote: »

I chose my flights on easyjet site. The flights were put in my basket.
I went through to payment. I put in all the details and on the final page it showed me the total amount I would pay.
I hit 'confirm' and a window popped up saying one of the flights had changed price! It was now £6 more - did I want to continue?
I hit yes because that was the flight I wanted - it was unlikely to get cheaper if I went back to the selection stage.

BUT how legal is this?
From my point of view, I had seen a product listed at a given price, I had agreed to purchase it at that price.
the 'offer' was 'accepted'.
Next thing I know the price is changed at the last minute.

Has anyone else experienced this?
What is the legal position???

Perfectly legal...flight prices are dynamic and can change by the minute...the/your offer wasn't accepted by easyjet and they told you that.

tomtontom

As per your other thread - your offer had not yet been accepted, no contract had been formed at that point.

daytona0

You can try and argue "bait and switch" but that would almost certainly require you to take it to small claims, and you are quite unlikely to win the claim so it may cost you more than the price difference (6 quid?!)

Bait and switch, I believe it is called, is when a company advertises price X to get you onto the website. They then change it disproportionately. 6 quid difference is hardly a wallet breaker, so will almost certainly not be seen as bait and switch and more likely the fact that you had a seat in your basket for too long (and either expired on the grace period some sites have - your seat may have been reserved for 10 minutes or just been bought by someone else). You snooze, you lose.

Laz123

The contract, I believe, isn't sealed on both sides until payment is made and received. So they can get away with it.

peachyprice

Somebody else got the last seat at the cheaper price before you, it happens.

You had the opportunity to cancel the purchase after the price increase, you chose not to. Nothing illegal in that.

It would have been a different story if they'd increased the price after you had proceeded beyond the point at which you could cancel. But they didn't.

cookie365

How long did it take you to go through the process?

Sites usually freeze the seats for a short period to give you a chance to check out at the selected price.

pinkbeetle

Thank you everyone - i obviously need to be really quick on the draw!

And I know £6 doesnt sound much, but it was really the principle - i was outraged!!