Is it worth complaining to Easyjet?

se999

Had my first experience of Easyjet a couple of weeks ago, outward flight wasn't too bad, but return was more of an experience.

Not sure if it's worth the time & effort to complain, anyone had experience of Easyjet customer services, and do they respond to customer complaints and comments.

pin

Could you expand on what happened?

se999

To be honest lots of little bits & pieces, some comments about free seating not really working, and the gate handling of people for the return flight and generally the system not working especially for the people with young babies/young children and the elderly resulting in them not getting seats when being bused to the plane. Even if people offered to give up seats, the buses were so crushed they couldn't have got near them.

Personnally, there were just a few little points; running out of food on the return flight (you can't exactly go anywhere else), the food trays broken on the return flight (and obviously not recently), water dripping on head from the roof on the outward flight.

If people don't complain when people aren't treated reasonably nothing will happen, but if MSE people know it's pointless, there's no point wasting my time and effort.

So probably mainly points just generic to Easyjet's system, but being new to the Easyjet experience I don't know.

r.mac_2

I recently had a similar experience with easy jet. We used them fro a family holiday, and as someone else was paying I certainly can't complain!

However, the standard of cleanliness was appalling and the service was diabolical. I also agree about your comments regarding the free seating. Some people may argue that 'you get what you pay for', but in my mind, please and thank you and a smile are free to give and make an experience ten times better. When I complained about the the state of the seats we had to sit in, we were told we should have checked in earlier (we were checked in 2 hours before take-off) and we'd 'just have to deal with it'!

Never again!

So, I would complain. All they can do is ingore you - which is not in their best interests.

good luck

mystic_trev

I've used Easyjet and Ryanair dozens of times in the past couple of years - and yes you basically get what you pay for, and I reckon it's good value. If you want "service" pay extra and use a scheduled Airline - What you seem to have forgotten is with Budget Airlines are akin to getting on a "bus" and that's the kind of service you should expect.

AndyMe

Complain! Or at least "bring it to their attention." Just because you use a cheaper service it does not mean that the service should not be good.

From my limited experience of EasyJet it seams that their boarding system works okay on flights from the UK but not the return ones. The only way that this will be sorted is if people tell them about it. Their own staff, or contractors, aren't going to tell their customer services about the poor service they've provided.

I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness of the planes especially as they have very fast turn rounds. They have been cleaner than some scheduled flights that I've been on. But maybe I've been lucky to go on new ones.

jetboy

By all means complain..if enough people complain then eventually something will be done because competition in the low-cost sector is intense.
To keep costs down, cleaners don't board on turnarounds, except to empty the bins. The cabin crew have to clean the cabin..which can be difficult without vacuum cleaners and such like. When passengers are bussed to aircraft, the numbered boarding procedure turns into a farce. It is subject to widespread abuse even when buses are not used. If enough people complain, the penny will eventually drop. Running out of food on return legs is common..tell them to fix it! As for water dripping from overhead lockers..well that happens in all aircraft from time to time..most of Easyjet's fleet are brand new and very well maintained. Its not pleasant when it happens though. I've been soaked myself a few times on much bigger aircraft. Ironically my worst experience on board an aircraft was courtesy of British Airways (and not in economy). It was so bad, I shall not be putting business their way again!

from_suffolk

Easyjet have introduced another new queing seat allocation by splitting and calling people forward in 5 groups, families etc, then groups A to D.

This seems to work quite well and stops the scrum when passengers are called for the flight.

Sofa_Sogood

AndyMe wrote:

Complain! Or at least "bring it to their attention." Just because you use a cheaper service it does not mean that the service should not be good.

Couldn't agree more. How does a company know it's not working ok otherwise?

Having said that and seeing the programmes about easyjet etc, I'm not sure I'd expect anything other than bad service. But I've never been on a 'plane.

Just complain as you said. It doesn't hurt does it?

se999

Hi, Thanks for all the replies.

It does seem that the gate system works at the UK end but not at the foreign airports. For our return about 3 weeks ago they did deal with the only wheelchair passenger separately, then they called all families with young children, all people with mobility problems and tickets 1 to 75, a crowd of about 100 people! The gate was frequently blocked by people when one of a party waited for the rest of their group to push their way through.

If they had used the UK system it would probably have been the same cost, and resulted in faster boarding!

Someone compared Easyjet to a bus service. If my local bus service didn’t have seats with special stickers to give priority to people who needed them, it would be Front Page in the local newspaper. Easyjet didn’t provide this service to the people at the return airport being bussed to the plane.

I’d always imagined Easyjet should be comparable to National Express, no frills, get from A to B quickly and cheaply, no seat reservations. If you were on a National Express Coach with dirty broken seats and water dripping on your head you’d have a right to complain.

My husband had 3 trips with National Express just before the Easyjet trip, he’d use them again, but not Easyjet!

I do think that when you are in a restricted environment there is an increased duty for basics like food and drink to be available, you can’t go anywhere else. The only vaguely nutritious evening meal they have is sandwiches/baguettes, on our flight there were at least 7 rows who didn’t get the chance to buy them, that means 40+ people. No frills means you pay for the food, not that they don’t have it available. O.K. They have a subject to availability clause, but that normally means that you don’t get such a wide choice, not that there is no food and no choice. If I had to fly again I’d probably take my own food and drink (you’re not allowed to drink your own alcoholic drinks on board).

I know there are fans of Easyjet because they’ve had megabargain flights. But Easyjet is a profit making business. I assume they use the very cheap tickets as ‘loss leaders’ for advertising, so they effectively incorporate this cost into their marketing budget. If you’re not so flexible on dates to get the special deals, and you don’t get a flightchecker match, then the best deal is advance booking to get a lower price. Presumably Easyjet price these up on the basis of having your money interest free for maybe 6 months, they’d use this money as capital to finance their operations, they’d also be likely to incorporate into their calculations a relatively high level of cancellations and changes that you’d get with booking so far ahead. Easyjet know exactly what they’re getting for their side of the deal, so it is reasonable to expect them to fulfil their side of the contract.

About a year ago some friends who weren’t used to the internet asked us to book Easyjet flights for them, when we saw the price we immediately got searching and got them cheaper BA flights!! So you can pay more for Easyjet’s unique style if you’re not careful! Their marketing strategy seems to be based around making people assume they’re ‘cheap’.

Anway, thanks again for all your input. It doesn’t sound like my Easyjet experience was a ‘one off’. But, is there anyone out there who has complained and got a response?

jetboy

In Easyjet's defense, although it is true that those who shop around can find cheaper fares with full service carriers, this has only been made possible by the upsurge in low cost carriers. In effect they are victims of their own success. 10 years ago, a domestic flight anywhere with BA for under £100 was unheard of. The lack of food on return sectors is a variable that can only be fixed by passenger and crew input. The amount of food placed on board is governed by the fact that when stock is uplifted it must either be sold within a matter of hours or destroyed (health and safety). If a lack of food on certain return flights is highlighted then I'm sure in the fullness of time it would be rectified..after all it is money in their pocket. It's up to us to help this process along.
It's such a pity that the airport processing of passengers by Easyjet is so tedious as my experiences when on board compare favourably with any European scheduled carrier. I fly Easyjet often a couple of times per week. The airbuses are great..comfortable and spacious. If they could just bring themselves to drop some of the tacky orange and start allocating seats like other airlines! Flybe and BMIbaby allocate seats and their airport experience is much less hassle.