EasyJet Cancelled Return Flight 30 minutes before Departure. Guidance Please.

NoodleDoodleMan

If I've read and understood your issue correctly, it appears Easyjet did offer an alternative return journey at the earliest possible opportunity which you did not use. That would have been the Tuesday, the same day as your self arranged return flights.

Under applicable regulations that absolves them of having to repay any costs - if they had been liable the amount refunded would have been limited to the £585.99 which you had originally paid, not the cost of the re-arranged flights.

IMO the root cause of all these problems is Easyjet's near complete lack of their own customer service staff at the airport from which customers are returning home - had somebody been on hand you would have been able to get the key issues (overnight accommodation, meals and return flight arrangements) sorted there and then.

It's been several months since I had a look at this Facebook site - however there were repeated complaints about cancelled flights.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/192989321777/?locale=en_GB

Charsiu

NoodleDoodleMan said:

If I've read and understood your issue correctly, it appears Easyjet did offer an alternative return journey at the earliest possible opportunity which you did not use. That would have been the Tuesday, the same day as your self arranged return flights.

Not really, the flight cancellation was Sunday evening, earliest possible opportunity would have been Monday by a range of airlines, say British Airways/Iberia etc. But instead they pushed it back to Tuesday with a stopover longer than the actual flight.

Even by the time I worked out the regulations/rights I could no longer arrange to depart on Monday, but still managed to book them a flight and got them home on Tuesday before their "alternative" would have done.

But yes, the lack of EJ staff at the airport to assist/advise and guide just compounds the issues greatly.

Voyager2002

NoodleDoodleMan said:

If I've read and understood your issue correctly, it appears Easyjet did offer an alternative return journey at the earliest possible opportunity which you did not use. That would have been the Tuesday, the same day as your self arranged return flights.

Under applicable regulations that absolves them of having to repay any costs - if they had been liable the amount refunded would have been limited to the £585.99 which you had originally paid, not the cost of the re-arranged flights.

IMO the root cause of all these problems is Easyjet's near complete lack of their own customer service staff at the airport from which customers are returning home - had somebody been on hand you would have been able to get the key issues (overnight accommodation, meals and return flight arrangements) sorted there and then.

It's been several months since I had a look at this Facebook site - however there were repeated complaints about cancelled flights.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/192989321777/?locale=en_GB

The alternative that EJ offered was not "comparable" with the original flights because it was indirect, with a very long transfer time. The OP could use this fact to challenge their decision.

NoodleDoodleMan

Indeed, Easyjet will play any "get out of jail" card they can in order to avoid refunds etc. and put the onus on the customer to prove otherwise.

The absence of customer service staff at foreign airports suits this "Pontius Pilate" approach to resolving such issues.   

cw8825

Was the flight ej offered the next one available?

NoodleDoodleMan

cw8825 said:

Was the flight ej offered the next one available?

That is the crux of the problem - Easyjet's lack of meaningful effective customer support in overseas airport means  stranded passengers are left unaware of what might be available within a reasonable timeframe.

Charsiu

The saga continues! So we raised a complaint with the Aviation ADR two weeks ago and still waiting on their response.

In the meantime, EJ accepted to repay one of the two transfer expenses, and has now requested the following, read this if you need a good laugh:

Dear ,
Thank you for your expense claim which we received on 26/06/25.
To make sure that your expense claim is processed correctly and securely we need to verify some of the information you have provided.
Can you please reply to this email within 5 days and attach the following documents with your response:

• The original easyJet booking confirmation

• Proof of payment for the receipts you have submitted (e.g card holder copy or bank statement)

• A copy of the marriage certificate

• A copy of the child's birth certificate

• A copy of the passport showing the parent’s name

• A copy of the passport showing the legal guardian’s name

• A letter from the school on official letterhead

• A letter from the religious organisation on official letterhead

• A letter from the Trust on official letterhead

• A letter from the company on official letterhead

• The employee ID / card of person connected to the school

• The employee ID / card of person connected to the religious organisation

• The employee ID / card of person connected to the Trust

• The employee ID / card of person connected to the company

• A copy of the deed poll

• A copy of the adult's birth certificate

• A copy of the birth certificate

• A copy of the adult's passport showing the parent’s name

• A copy of the passport

If we do not receive these details within the next 5 days, the claim will be automatically closed, and you will need to resubmit your claim.
Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Ishaan
easyJet Customer Services

That's more documentation than a mortgage application, surely a Small Claims Court is less effort. 

eskbanker

Charsiu said:

The saga continues! So we raised a complaint with the Aviation ADR two weeks ago and still waiting on their response.

In the meantime, EJ accepted to repay one of the two transfer expenses, and has now requested the following, read this if you need a good laugh:

AviationADR will generally only take on complaints once the airline has issued its final response, so if you're still in dialogue with easyJet then this may compromise the ADR process (which is measured against a 90 day service level).

Going back to the earlier post referencing "A free transfer was provided to you and did not take the flight, we will not be able to reimburse you for your alternate carrier claim", did you notify easyJet in advance that you were rejecting  their rebooked flight on the basis of it being incompatible with their obligations, or would they have been under the impression that the passengers would still be turning up?

Charsiu

eskbanker said:

Charsiu said:

The saga continues! So we raised a complaint with the Aviation ADR two weeks ago and still waiting on their response.

In the meantime, EJ accepted to repay one of the two transfer expenses, and has now requested the following, read this if you need a good laugh:

AviationADR will generally only take on complaints once the airline has issued its final response, so if you're still in dialogue with easyJet then this may compromise the ADR process (which is measured against a 90 day service level).

Going back to the earlier post referencing "A free transfer was provided to you and did not take the flight, we will not be able to reimburse you for your alternate carrier claim", did you notify easyJet in advance that you were rejecting  their rebooked flight on the basis of it being incompatible with their obligations, or would they have been under the impression that the passengers would still be turning up?

So the ADR claim is in response to their rejection to reimburse our flight costs back to the UK. The communication above is for the expenses claim which was via a separate case/channel with EJ.

In terms of the "free transfer" provided, my partner called them up to inform them on the Monday of the more comparable (i.e. direct) and earlier flights we had found and requested that they booked those flights instead, citing their obligations etc - she was flatly refused. So we booked them ourselves, and returned much sooner than their arrangements. My partner did make a point to inform that they would not be taking their flight connecting flight to Scotland as the freed seats could be utilised by others. And now we're going through the rigmarole of claiming back in form of expenses.

Voyager2002

Charsiu said:

eskbanker said:

Charsiu said:

The saga continues! So we raised a complaint with the Aviation ADR two weeks ago and still waiting on their response.

In the meantime, EJ accepted to repay one of the two transfer expenses, and has now requested the following, read this if you need a good laugh:

AviationADR will generally only take on complaints once the airline has issued its final response, so if you're still in dialogue with easyJet then this may compromise the ADR process (which is measured against a 90 day service level).

Going back to the earlier post referencing "A free transfer was provided to you and did not take the flight, we will not be able to reimburse you for your alternate carrier claim", did you notify easyJet in advance that you were rejecting  their rebooked flight on the basis of it being incompatible with their obligations, or would they have been under the impression that the passengers would still be turning up?

So the ADR claim is in response to their rejection to reimburse our flight costs back to the UK. The communication above is for the expenses claim which was via a separate case/channel with EJ.

In terms of the "free transfer" provided, my partner called them up to inform them on the Monday of the more comparable (i.e. direct) and earlier flights we had found and requested that they booked those flights instead, citing their obligations etc - she was flatly refused. So we booked them ourselves, and returned much sooner than their arrangements. My partner did make a point to inform that they would not be taking their flight connecting flight to Scotland as the freed seats could be utilised by others. And now we're going through the rigmarole of claiming back in form of expenses.

Your final sentence worries me: you need to be making a claim for "rerouting". If you call it expenses then you create further opportunities for them to delay matters and for additional obfuscation.