Easy jet and disabled travel.

Mellow69

I saw a deal with easy jet to Spain it was a package holiday which included flights, hold baggage, hotel and transfers from the airport to/from the hotel. The price was keen at £657.74 for both of us.

I called Easy Jet to ask about what they do for transfers for wheelchair users, the Easy Jet assistance team were not able to help, suggested I ring the sales team.

I rang the sales team who after several times of calling answered from their office in South Africa, I asked them specifically about transfers from the airport to the hotel for wheelchair users that were not able to climb the steps of a coach. The initial reply was they use a bus with a ramp to get on with a wheelchair space inside the bus, however as the conversation continued the word bs changed to coach. I asked again about this and on the staff checking with their manager it was confirmed they use a coach, put the wheelchai rinth eboot which means the disabled person must be able to climb the steps of the coach! I asked if they would provide a welfare taxi as other travel companies do and was told no I would have to get a private transfer for a disability which would incur an additional cost and would bring the total cost of the holiday to £915.76. (It takes 45 - 60 mins to get to the airport) I asked would they not absorb the cost as other travel operators do and was told they could not do this. So much for equality and conforming to disability rights, an able bodied person would not have this additional cost.

Thank god I persisted witht he questions otherwise I could have booked the holiday in the belief that everything was going to be OK. The re-evaluated price given by Easy Jet meant they were not competitive with other companies.
Always check all the details if you have any special arrangements before you travel.

PompeyPete

Last time I got an EJ flight into Spain with transfer, there simply weren't enough 'Assisters' available to meet arriving flights to deal with all the incoming passengers requiring assistance at the same time.

This resulted in the departure of the Transfer coach being severely delayed. There were 3 passengers in total who required wheelchair assistance. When they eventually arrived 2 of them demanded time for a cigarette before getting on the coach!

Two days after arrival, I saw one of the wheelchair passengers wandering around Nerja.....not a wheelchair in sight!