Banned from booking with EasyJet

VG1

Hello! I’m wondering if anyone else has been covertly banned from booking with EasyJet for claiming a refund via their credit company? This has happened to me because I claimed a refund via credit card company last year after no Joy from EasyJet. I say ‘covertly’ because I booked flights 2months ago, got confirmation email. When I went to check in online, discovered I couldn’t.  EasyJet did not tell me I was banned until I called them to ask why I couldn’t check in online?! They said I can hook with them again if I give the refund money back for flights I did not go on!! Is this legal? Would they not lose a lot of money doing this? Thanks! V

[Deleted User]

Yes, that's fine for them not to accept bookings from you, especially while you still owe for previous flights.

They may keep the funds you've paid for the new flights to offset against the debt, so check the situation on that. They were certainly doing it earlier in the pandemic.

They may lose some bookings, but they will also send a message that flights need to be paid for, and want to deter people from processing chargebacks where they are not valid.

Westin

I had not heard it before about EasyJet.  There were a few reports on these forums some months back about RyanAir doing similar.

Was the claim via your credit card provider following a breach in your contract of carriage with EasyJet, or you thought that was just a route open to get money back?

If EasyJet felt you had no claim or right for a refund they may view your attempt for a chargeback/s75 claim as fraudulent.  On that basis they might then decide that they no longer wish to have you as a future customer.

I’m not saying that you purposely took such action or made a fraudulent claim but my heart often sinks when some people just jump on a S75 claim to get money back when it is not due. They often don’t think about potential consequences of their actions.

I hope in your case it is just a mistake and it gets resolved to your satisfaction.

MalMonroe

To be honest, I'd be absolutely delighted to be banned by EasyJet. Not that I've ever flown with them but I never want to either. 

But all facetiousness aside, that means that the credit card issuer has claimed the money back from EJ. 

There's info from MSE in the following link about that, in pink. Sorry, it's a bit late for your current situation but maybe helpful in future.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/

onashoestring

…They said I can hook with them again if I give the refund money back for flights I did not go on!! Is this legal? Would they not lose a lot of money doing this? 

If the flight was cancelled by Easyjet then you are entitled to a refund . However if the flight went ahead - you are not automatically entitled to a refund just because didn’t go on it.

It is legal for an airline to expect you to pay your debt before you fly with them again . They would loose money if they refunded customers who weren’t entitled to refunds .

If you couldn’t fly because of lockdown restrictions for example - then this would be something to claim from your insurance policy - if you had one of the policies that covered this . 

It appears that you  are not banned from Easyjet - they are recovering the debit you owe them before you can book new tickets . 

Having said that , it does seem underhand that customers in this situation are not advised at time of booking . This was covered in a similar article about Ryanair. 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/repay-amounts-won-by-chargeback-or-you-can-t-board-your-upcoming/

Butts

From my experience of Chargebacks/S75 Claims the Service Provider has the opportunity to challenge the payment if they think it's unjustified and if the Card Company agrees get the money back from you via them.

Why are easyjet not exercising this option, but waiting for people to rebook and then pouncing ? 

Westin

Butts said:

From my experience of Chargebacks/S75 Claims the Service Provider has the opportunity to challenge the payment if they think it's unjustified and if the Card Company agrees get the money back from you via them.

Why are easyjet not exercising this option, but waiting for people to rebook and then pouncing ? 

A time and resource issue possibly?  I suspect what staff they had available are allocated tasks to deal with current and immediate passenger issues rather than trawl through records to investigate chargeback claims.  EasyJet would likely be losing this way as well as not all customers who made a chargeback will return.

mattyprice4004

Depending on why you didn't fly with them last time, they could be entitled to do this. 
Did the flight go ahead and you couldn't travel (due to restrictions etc) or did they cancel the flight entirely? 

If it's the former you're not entitled to a refund (even if the Government said you couldn't fly), but if they cancelled it you were entitled to your money back. 
The critical point is which situation applies to your flight. 

Sandtree

Westin said:

If EasyJet felt you had no claim or right for a refund they may view your attempt for a chargeback/s75 claim as fraudulent.

It will be a chargeback not a S75 given the later is paid for by the bank and so EasyJet wouldn't give too hoots if the bank has paid the OP out of their own pocket. A Chargeback comes from EasyJets account and that's what hurts them.

As others have said, its hit the news that RyanAir have done something similar but not seen other claims that EasyJet have. That said RyanAir hasn't banned people, its just said you must repay your debts before attempting to make a new booking.

Chargebacks ultimately dont resolve the underlying problem, it just moves where the obligations sit.

Still find it very odd that people would find a company's service to be this bad that they action a chargeback or consider taking the company to court and then want to become a customer again.

silvercar

It seems odd that easyJet can take money for a booking for one flight and assign it to a previous flight/ previous debt.  Surely that is obtaining money by deception ie fraud?

Westin

The counter argument could be that the deception/fraud was already committed from a fraudulent refund claim.