Pulling my hair out with easyjet and lastminute.com

mehtadone

I'm facing a frustrating situation with Easyjet and would appreciate any advice on next steps.

The Situation

Last September (2024), I booked flights through an Lastminute.com for a family holiday. Shortly after booking, my wife was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer, requiring immediate treatment.

• I submitted and received approval for the airline's Medical Declaration form in October 2024
• The airline confirmed cancellation and mentioned voucher reference information
• Due to the stress of the cancer diagnosis, we didn't fully process these details at the time

The Problem

When attempting to book travel in March 2025, I discovered we never received the actual vouchers. 

After investigation:

1. The airline had sent the vouchers to the travel agency in October 2024, not directly to me
2. I only received the vouchers in March 2025 after contacting the travel agency myself
3. The 12-month vouchers had already lost 4+ months of validity through no fault of mine
4. As a family of four navigating unpredictable cancer treatment (including surgeries in October 2024 and 2 this year already), using these vouchers within the remaining validity period is impossible

What I've Tried

1. Requested a cash refund explaining the exceptional circumstances (March 2025)
2. The airline initially offered government tax refund and insurance letters (April 2025)
3. I accepted this alternative solution
4. The airline then reversed position on the tax refund
5. When I received the insurance letters, they contained incorrect information stating vouchers were sent directly to me, which prevents me making a legitimate insurance claim
6. Despite providing extensive documentation of the timeline and even the airline's own admission that vouchers went to the travel agency, they continue to contradict themselves

Current Status

• The airline now falsely claims vouchers were sent to my registered email address
• They refuse to correct the insurance letter to reflect the actual circumstances
• Both the airline and travel agency are pointing fingers at each other
• I've been in this dispute for over two months with no resolution

Questions

1. What regulatory bodies should I contact? (CAA? Consumer rights organizations?)
2. Is this worth pursuing through small claims court?
3. Is there any specific legislation I should reference when escalating?
4. Any tips for dealing with the airline's complaints department more effectively?
5. Has anyone successfully resolved a similar situation?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

la531983

I dont think you have a leg to stand on given the wording in bold below, it was always a goodwill gesture...

Terms and Conditions | easyJet

5.3 If you need to cancel:

5.3.1 due to a serious or terminal illness: you are required to complete and submit a Medical Declaration document. Please see our Manage Your Booking area for more details and conditions. Our team will review your case and if your circumstances qualify we may, in our discretion, offer you a refund or flight voucher towards the value of a subsequent flight;


As an aside, this is yet another thread showing the perils of introducing an unnecessary third party into a simple flight booking.

born_again

la531983 said:

I dont think you have a leg to stand on given the wording in bold below, it was always a goodwill gesture...

Terms and Conditions | easyJet

5.3 If you need to cancel:

5.3.1 due to a serious or terminal illness: you are required to complete and submit a Medical Declaration document. Please see our Manage Your Booking area for more details and conditions. Our team will review your case and if your circumstances qualify we may, in our discretion, offer you a refund or flight voucher towards the value of a subsequent flight;


As an aside, this is yet another thread showing the perils of introducing an unnecessary third party into a simple flight booking.

Or the need for travel insurance from date of booking.

Hope the good lady is progressing well with the treatment 👍

Voyager2002

born_again said:

la531983 said:

I dont think you have a leg to stand on given the wording in bold below, it was always a goodwill gesture...

Terms and Conditions | easyJet

5.3 If you need to cancel:

5.3.1 due to a serious or terminal illness: you are required to complete and submit a Medical Declaration document. Please see our Manage Your Booking area for more details and conditions. Our team will review your case and if your circumstances qualify we may, in our discretion, offer you a refund or flight voucher towards the value of a subsequent flight;


As an aside, this is yet another thread showing the perils of introducing an unnecessary third party into a simple flight booking.

Or the need for travel insurance from date of booking.

Hope the good lady is progressing well with the treatment 👍

It does seem clear that some kind of insurance was in place.

Voyager2002

mehtadone said:

I'm facing a frustrating situation with Easyjet and would appreciate any advice on next steps.

The Situation

Last September (2024), I booked flights through an Lastminute.com for a family holiday. Shortly after booking, my wife was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer, requiring immediate treatment.

• I submitted and received approval for the airline's Medical Declaration form in October 2024
• The airline confirmed cancellation and mentioned voucher reference information
• Due to the stress of the cancer diagnosis, we didn't fully process these details at the time

The Problem

When attempting to book travel in March 2025, I discovered we never received the actual vouchers. 

After investigation:

1. The airline had sent the vouchers to the travel agency in October 2024, not directly to me
2. I only received the vouchers in March 2025 after contacting the travel agency myself
3. The 12-month vouchers had already lost 4+ months of validity through no fault of mine
4. As a family of four navigating unpredictable cancer treatment (including surgeries in October 2024 and 2 this year already), using these vouchers within the remaining validity period is impossible

What I've Tried

1. Requested a cash refund explaining the exceptional circumstances (March 2025)
2. The airline initially offered government tax refund and insurance letters (April 2025)
3. I accepted this alternative solution
4. The airline then reversed position on the tax refund
5. When I received the insurance letters, they contained incorrect information stating vouchers were sent directly to me, which prevents me making a legitimate insurance claim
6. Despite providing extensive documentation of the timeline and even the airline's own admission that vouchers went to the travel agency, they continue to contradict themselves

Current Status

• The airline now falsely claims vouchers were sent to my registered email address
• They refuse to correct the insurance letter to reflect the actual circumstances
• Both the airline and travel agency are pointing fingers at each other
• I've been in this dispute for over two months with no resolution

Questions

1. What regulatory bodies should I contact? (CAA? Consumer rights organizations?)
2. Is this worth pursuing through small claims court?
3. Is there any specific legislation I should reference when escalating?
4. Any tips for dealing with the airline's complaints department more effectively?
5. Has anyone successfully resolved a similar situation?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

You seem to be concerned about two separate issues:
1. The limited validity of the airline vouchers, and the fact that you did not receive them until you asked the agent. I don't think that a complaint about this would get anywhere;
2. Inaccurate documentation from the airline/travel agency, preventing you from substantiating an insurance claim that would otherwise be valid. This might be worth pursuing.

Reading between the lines: it seems that you had insurance in place that should cover the cost of flights that you could not use for medical reasons. However, no insurance will pay out for something that someone else covers, and so the airline vouchers are preventing you from receiving an insurance payment. You appear to be saying that there was a delay in sending you the vouchers, and that this, combined with their limited life, means that you should be eligible for the insurance money. You are saying that the airline is not documenting this accurately.

If my understanding is correct, then 'cherry-pick' the documentation you have from the airline and travel agent to present the true picture. Submit this to the insurer, and if necessary make a formal complaint. Be prepared to take this to the Ombudsman Service. 

eskbanker

mehtadone said:

When I received the insurance letters, they contained incorrect information stating vouchers were sent directly to me, which prevents me making a legitimate insurance claim

Could you perhaps clarify this point, i.e. if your claim to your insurer is basically that the 12 month validity of the vouchers isn't adequate for your circumstances, then does it matter where and when they were sent, i.e. if you'd wanted to book something in the first four months then you'd presumably have spotted that you hadn't received the vouchers at that stage, but the delay in receiving them wouldn't extend their expiry date?

It seems to me that, while the airline and agency may each have made mistakes, these don't necessarily entitle you to a cash refund, so your insurer is presumably the best bet?

sheramber

Would you have been able to use the vouchers if you had received them 4 months ago?

mehtadone

Thanks for the replies. 

We did have travel insurance. And I totally understand we don't have a leg to stand on with easyjet. However, they never sent us the voucher when we accepted it. 

We were going through dealing with the diagnosis I didn't check. The email said our claim had been accepted and had some codes in it and I assumed that this was it. 

We had a small window to travel in March and when I tried to find the vouchers, this is when I find I didn't have them. I did book using our own money at that point as I didn't know what was going on, lastminute were slow to reply. 

It turns out that easyjet sent the vouchers to Lastminute. Lastminute are saying easyjet are at fault for this, and easyjet are sending mixed messages, some representatives saying its normal for them to send it to the reseller and others mention it was sent to my email address. 

The issue is the insurance will not pay out as easyjet have already paid out in vouchers. 

We are in the process of sending everything to the insurance company, but thought I'd ask on here if there is anything else we can do. 

la531983

mehtadone said:

Thanks for the replies. 

We did have travel insurance. And I totally understand we don't have a leg to stand on with easyjet. However, they never sent us the voucher when we accepted it. 

They sent it to the entity that booked the flights. Which is the third party you introduced, so as far as I can see your beef here needs to be with lastminute.

This is why the airlines hate these third parties booking flights on other peoples behalf, Ryanair in particular detest it unless its been authorised by them.

mehtadone

Btw, not sure if it helps, but we bought a hotel/flight combo on Lastminute hence why we booked through there. They refunded the hotel proportion straight away.

la531983

mehtadone said:

Btw, not sure if it helps, but we bought a hotel/flight combo on Lastminute hence why we booked through there. They refunded the hotel proportion straight away.

That would be because they would have got the money back from the hotel, lastminute are still beholden to same terms and conditions as if you had booked them seperately.

We see this all the time on here from other similar operators such as On The Beach, third parties who cobble "packages" together from different operators.