Easyjet

[alan]

EasyJet, which has relaunched flights for the first time in 11 weeks, has now added an explanation of what ‘sold out’ actually means when customers search for a flight online. The airline has also extended the notification period of cancelled flights from two weeks to three. If a flight is cancelled passengers will now have seven days to decide whether to take a refund, a voucher or transfer to another flight. See https://inews.co.uk/news/business/coron ... ned-446237

[alan]

Following my post last Monday, we are now directly affected by this Easyjet practice..

For some time now, we have had Easyjet tickets for a flight on 1 September departing Gatwick at 18.40 arriving Toulouse at 21.30. We haven't been notified of any cancellation or amendment but I have just done a search and the flight is shown as 'sold out'. It is, of course, inconceivable that all seats on the flight have been sold so it looks very likely that it will be cancelled probably at the beginning of August.

Incidentally, we are still waiting for a voucher in respect of a cancelled Easyjet flight Gatwick/ Toulouse which we should have been on, on 27 April. The voucher was requested on 19 April. I can understand the reason for delaying a refund but not a voucher.

[nickiwynne]

How frustrating, Alan. We sympathise.
We are still waiting for refunds from Ryanair for flights in April to Toulouse.
We requested the refund option but that took us immediately to a voucher request form......
We have always tried to be positive and supportive of Ryanair - after all, they have really opened up our travelling options to PO66 in the last 16 years.
But just wish they had been transparent and honest from day 1 about the returns/ refunds process.
The reason we don’t want vouchers is that we simply don’t know which routes will be viable for the ( limited) dates when we want to travel next.......
Good luck with EasyJet.
Nicki

[alan]

Thanks Nicki

We have been flying in and out of the Region frequently since 2004 and have also tried to be positive and supportive of both Ryanair and Easyjet over the years. Without them we would have had much less choice and much more expense. This has been a difficult year for everyone with strikes at the beginning of the year and then Coronavirus. Let's hope things start to get a little more settled so that it is easier for everyone to make plans.

As regards, our Easyjet flights from Gatwick to Toulouse on 1 September, we are able to change them on-line to flights on the same day from Gatwick to Montpellier at no extra cost even though the Toulouse flight has not actually been cancelled yet. This wouldn't really inconvenience us as our end destination is still Port Vendres and it does'nt matter much whether we have a stop-over in Toulouse or Montpellier.. At present though, we are tempted just to sit things out and see how things develop generally.

Good luck too with Ryanair.

Alan

[alan]

Having slept on it, we have decided to change our flight from Gatwick / Toulouse on 1 September to Gatwick / Montpellier on the same date at no charge

Still waiting for the voucher in respect of our cancelled April flight!

[alan]

I have just received by email the Easyjet voucher I requested on 19 April. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that they have added £10 to the original booking value for supporting them by accepting a voucher rather than demanding a refund. The bad news is that it can't be used online so I shall have to call their Customer Service Team to make use of it. I wonder how long I shall have to wait for them to answer the phone and speak to someone!

[opas]

We have a voucher for aireuropa, that apparently cannot be used online either. We tried the booking lines last week ...one for French speakers and one for English, total waiting time befor giving up was just under an hour.

All that money sat in company accounts.!

[alan]

I'm confused; the email I received yesterday from Easyjet clearly said,

“As it cannot be used online, please call our Customer Service Team to make use of your voucher. Please have the Flight Voucher reference and code word when calling us”.

Yet having just looked at the Voucher Terms and Conditions on their website it says:

“The voucher can only be used on easyJet.com using the same easyJet account as the original booking...The voucher code must be entered on the payment page prior to completion of the booking...”
and later
“Vouchers cannot be redeemed via the call centre or at the airport”.

Does anyone have any experience please of using Easyjet vouchers?

[nickiwynne]

Hello,

Just had an email this evening telling us that Eurostar will not be running to the south of France in 2020 or even 2021!

‘We’re really sorry to tell you that we’ll no longer be running our direct summer trains to Lyon and the South of France for the rest of 2020 and 2021’........

We’ve been offered a voucher (of course) but that’s not much use to us if the trains to Avignon aren’t running next year.

Interestingly, the update on the website doesn’t mention that there will be no trains next summer to the south of France.

No clue as to why the route seems effectively to have been axed......Not viable I guess.

We’ve now got to fight to get a refund and think about alternatives for July. Probably driving......assuming small issues of quarantine etc are removed, of course.

Will keep you posted.

Nicki

[alan]

Nicki

The BBC report said yesterday, that it was due to lack of demand and difficulties implementing protection measures on long journeys.

Eurostar said: "As we restart our service, we are focusing our timetable on our routes between capital cities, which have the highest demand from customers at the moment and shorter journey times."

The company said its services were operating with restrictions on food service, the compulsory wearing of masks, significantly increased hygiene measures and high-frequency cleaning and these standards were "more challenging to maintain on long distance routes".

Alan

[nickiwynne]

Thank you, Alan.

We had guessed that. But seems strange to decide for next year already.....

We don’t want a voucher so have submitted a request for a refund-We found a well disguised link via faq page and are waiting to see if we are eligible.

We will update you!

Nicki

[alan]

I have just tried using, on-line, the Easyjet voucher I received for the flight they cancelled.

First, I tried to use it to add seats to an existing booking in September but there was no facility for using vouchers. I then tried using it to make a completely new booking next year. In this case there was provision to use a “voucher” but it must relate to another kind of voucher because the site would not accept either the reference or code Easyjet gave me.

So as looks as if it can only be used by calling customer services.

[alan]

We managed to get through to Easyjet's call centre this morning in order to book flights for next year using the voucher they had issued to us sometime ago. From getting through at 7.30 am to receiving confirmation of the flights took just over 41 minutes!

During the course of the conversation we received different and random figures as to the amount the voucher was worth and the price difference they required us to pay. Both of us spoke to the call centre assistant, who we presume was in an Indian call centre, because both of us independently had difficulties in understanding her.

We now have our new flights booked but we shall never again voluntarily accept a voucher from Easyjet in respect of a disrupted / cancelled flight. We thought we were helping at the time but it is just not worth it.

In contrast, we also used a Vueling voucher yesterday towards a new flight. The process could not have been simpler. It was all done on line without the need to speak to anyone.

[alan]

We have flights in November from Gatwick to Montpellier which have yet to be notified as cancelled. However, it looks as if this will inevitably happen because Easyjet is no longer selling tickets for that route. In fact their website shows the "start of schedule" being 18 December. No point trying to change Gatwick to Toulouse because that route is also being shown as "No flights between 1 November and 17 December".

There are still limited flights being sold in November for Gatwick to Barcelona so we are considering a change to that route.

We won't accept a voucher when our flights are cancelled unless we can be certain that it can be redeemed online rather than through the call centre given the problems we have have had previously in this regard.

[alan]

In anticipation that our November Easyjet flights Gatwick / Montpellier will be cancelled, we have now booked Ryanair flights in November Stansted / Carcassonne at £8.75 a seat each direction. Hoping now to get the Easyjet notice of cancellation when we shall try out their refund procedure.

[Kate]

Bonne chance.

[alan]

Merci Kate

Alan

[alan]

Our outbound Easyjet flight in November to Montpellier has now been cancelled but not the return flight. Nevertheless, we have made an online request for a refund which should cover both flights.

[Kate]

Flipping ‘eck. Sorry to hear that Alan. I’m just ruling this year out for doing anything much, and looking forward to sometime in the not too distant future when hopefully life can get back a little bit to normal.
Between transport and event cancellations, it’s feeling more and more like a good idea to stay home with a good book and wait till its all over!

[alan]

Well, Kate, we still have the £8.75 Stansted to Carcassonne tickets we bought in anticipation of the Easyjet tickets being cancelled. Also, frankly, we would prefer not to be flying into Montpellier (or Toulouse) at the moment.

Alan

[alan]

Given today's news, https://simpleflying.com/ryanair-cuts-w ... ing-bases/, I have just checked to see if Ryanair are still selling tickets Stansted to Carcassonne in November.

Unfortunately they aren't so inevitably our flights will be cancelled. As far as I can see, it is not going to be possible to fly into a local airport (other than Barcelona) with either Ryanair or Easyjet in November.

[alan]

Ryanair flights now cancelled.

[Kate]

Aïe aïe aïe aïe aïe!

[alan]

Have transferred our cancelled Stansted / Carcassonne flights to Stansted / Barcelona and will hire a car at Barcelona to drive up all being well.

[alan]

We have now received notice of cancellation of our Stansted / Barcelona flights inviting us to change them by contacting customer services. We were quite happy to do this and change to flights next year. However, on contacting customer services we were told, "You may move a cancelled flight by 14 days". This is little use at present so we have gone for a refund of our £7.50 tickets.

[alan]

Back on 10 August, I commented on how difficult I found it to redeem an Easyjet voucher given in respect of a cancelled flight. You could only do it through the Call Centre. As far as I can now see, if you wish to make any changes to a flight booked through the Call Centre, you have to go back to the Call Centre because the relevant flight does not appear on the "Manage Bookings" section of your Easyjet Account.

As I have said before I shall never voluntarily accept an Easyjet Voucher in the future.

[Ted & Jemima]

Hi Alan

There have been lots of UK news stories about this issue, and the government (and its agencies) turning a blind eye to airlines not offering refunds as required by law. Example:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020 ... are_btn_tw

Somebody voted a proven liar into power!

Yours,
Ted & Jemima
findinglanguedoc.com

[alan]

Hi both

That's very interesting. I look at the Guardian most days on-line but missed that article; thank you.

Alan