Advice please - Easyjet -extending car hire period due to flight cancellation

Mister_Paul

Can someone help please?

We booked Easyjet flights to Faro in January, and car hire through theEasyjet site for the holiday period. The car hire was £650.

Last week Easyjet cancelled our return flight and booked us onto a different flight on the following day.

I need to extend the car hire period by 14 hours. Easyjet say that to do this the cancel the original booking and rebook the hire, at this week's rates. This means we would have to pay another ~£650, for less than a day's hire. I spoke to Europcar, who have the booking, and they said it's Easyjet's issue. Easyjet have told me to speak to Cartrawler, who they partner with.

I suspect Car Trawler will say the same thing. 

Any advice on how I get past this?

Thanks

eskbanker

https://product-router.cartrawler.com/customer-portal/faqs/topics/CHANGE_OR_CANCEL_YOUR_BOOKING/questions/CAN_I_CHANGE_DATES_TIMES_OF_BOOKING suggests that your previous payment will be carried over during the rebooking process:

If you change the dates or times it is likely that the price will change as a new booking needs to be created in the rebooking process. Any payment you have already made will be transferred to the new booking and you will be either charged or refunded the difference.

Edit: sorry, think I misunderstood - are you meaning that the revised booking is £1300?

Mister_Paul

eskbanker said:

https://product-router.cartrawler.com/customer-portal/faqs/topics/CHANGE_OR_CANCEL_YOUR_BOOKING/questions/CAN_I_CHANGE_DATES_TIMES_OF_BOOKING suggests that your previous payment will be carried over during the rebooking process:

If you change the dates or times it is likely that the price will change as a new booking needs to be created in the rebooking process. Any payment you have already made will be transferred to the new booking and you will be either charged or refunded the difference.

Edit: sorry, think I misunderstood - are you meaning that the revised booking is £1300?

Yes, they pretty much want to double the price. 

GrumpyDil

Can you use a taxi for any travel on that final day? 

onashoestring

Is this an Easyjet a flight only booking ? 

If you were advised of the flight cancellation less than two weeks before the date of the original flight ;  you may be entitled to compensation per passenger which may cover these additional expenses? 

bagand96

You didn't have to accept easyJet's alternative flight the next day. You could have found an alternative flight on another airline on the original day, and easyjet would have to cover the cost of this.

Not sure if this option will still be open to you if you've "accepted" the alternative flight but might be worth trying. 

TELLIT01

GrumpyDil said:

Can you use a taxi for any travel on that final day? 

That was my immediate thought too.  Much less than an extra £650.

Ath_Wat

GrumpyDil said:

Can you use a taxi for any travel on that final day? 

Depends how far they are from the airport really.  If they have to drive 2 hours  to the airport  to drop off the car, then get a taxi back to where they  re staying, then back again to the airport the following morning then it could end up not only costing them nearly as much but meaning they spend the whole extra day just driving back and forth.

Dropping off the car the day before then staying in a hotel near the airport for the extra night could be cheaper though, in those circumstances.  It's really dependent on the drop off times and the distances involved.  

OP have EasyJet covered an additional night's stay at wherever you are staying when they changed the flight?  How is that working?

tightauldgit

What penalties would you be due if you just return the car 14 hours late? You'd get stung for that part no doubt but you'd still get your original booking at the original price so it might work out cheaper than a completely new rebooking?

Failing that - return the car as planned on the original booking and then make another booking of a car for the last day?

Mister_Paul

Thanks everyone. Responses:

We're staying a fair drive from the airport so returning the car a day early would be a drive and two taxis.

It's a flight-only booking, in August. 

Easyjet originally offered a replacement flight on the same day, so we've not asked them to reimburse the additional night. We'd got the additional night booked anyway as the flight is a late one and we were planning on staying at the accommodation until the evening.

It's interested that even if we'd gone for the same-day replacement, amending the car hire booking before travelling would have still resulted in the hire being cancelled and rebooked, if they took the same line, resulting in the cost increasing for a shorter booking.

I'd not realised until Car Trawler pointed it out the that original car hire was for 14 days, as the drop-off time was after the pickup time. The new car return time would still be within 14 days so I shouldn't have to pay anything extra. I've contacted Car Trawler on Twitter and got a very human response. They say that the costs are set by the hire company (Europcar) but have contacted them to ask whether they can amend the booking without imposing the crazy new cost. 

eskbanker

Mister_Paul said:

I'd not realised until Car Trawler pointed it out the that original car hire was for 14 days, as the drop-off time was after the pickup time. The new car return time would still be within 14 days so I shouldn't have to pay anything extra. I've contacted Car Trawler on Twitter and got a very human response. They say that the costs are set by the hire company (Europcar) but have contacted them to ask whether they can amend the booking without imposing the crazy new cost. 

Sounds promising, and is standard across the car hire industry that rentals are priced in 24-hour chunks, so, at the time of booking, 13 days and 23 hours should be charged the same as 13 days and 1 hour - hopefully Europcar won't impose a change fee for adjusting the drop-off time within that window....