4 ms·

Rather than booking the replacement flight directly the author should have had easyjet rebook him. The author did no-show on the replacement flight provided by

Rather than booking the replacement flight directly the author should have had easyjet rebook him. The author did no-show on the replacement flight provided by easyJet, and all of the griping will get them nowhere. You can’t take things into your own hands and then expect the company to refund you, the company would have provided the free alternative flight (earlier than the one the next day) and the EU fine had they just talked to a gate agent. I’ve flown hundreds of thousands of miles and had my share of issues like this and you can always sort it out if you do it prior to taking the replacement flight.

VBprogrammer 6y ago
I've had this before. Gate agents told us we had to book online. Online the next available flight was Thursday. No true easyJet representative in the airport on a Sunday evening in a non-base airport. Phoned the call centre and assured that we'd be reimbursed for a replacement flight and reasonable expenses. When back in the UK submitted receipts and told they would only pay for our meal.
- leejo 6y ago
  ^ This. When we got back into the gate (having been sat in the returned plane for over an hour) I checked the available flights - IIRC three seats remained on a flight to Liverpool, and nothing else that would get us closer (our original flight being Manchester). I booked them immediately. The alternative would have been waiting to see an easyJet representative, in an overcrowded gate, two days before Xmas. Those seats would have gone. I've been through Geneva airport enough times to know how it functions and that we were going to get bumped to the next day.
s0rce 6y ago
Good luck with that. I've found gate agents either to not exist, or the 1-2 of them get completely overwhelemed as an entire flight needs to rebook. Passengers who were only connecting to another final destination add further complexity. Obviously the OP took a risk that the airline wouldn't refund his new flight but the alternative of waiting in a giant line or finding a non-existent agent from a budget carrier to hopefully rebook you isn't great either.
- bluGill 6y ago
  I've found that they are overworked in those cases, but they do the best they can and most people are polite. Though it helps that the last time this happened to me I had a family emergency just before I got on the aborted flight and so they were able to make me happy by getting me on a different airline to a completely different city. small joys like that are all they can ask for.
- coredog64 6y ago
  IME, for a plane load of people the gate agents are going to ask everyone to call the 800 number. Standing in line might get you the voucher for hotel/food if that’s what it’s going to be.
tomcam 6y ago
What happens if they tell you to make the change on the website, and the website tells you to make the change with the gate agent, and there isn’t a gate agent? I fly maybe half a dozen times a year and I’ve had this happen more than once.
- mehrdadn 6y ago
  Can't you just go to the nearest gate agent for another flight of the same carrier? I feel like they could point you to the right direction.
  - techsupporter 6y ago
    Realistically, no. I write this in the gentlest manner possible, not directed solely at you: a lot of the "see a gate agent and they'll sort you" advice seems to be coming from a place of people who either don't travel very much at all, or who travel so much that an airline employee can practically feel their level of Airline Status(tm) from half a kilometer away and will race to their aid. I fall in the third bucket, people who travel just enough to have seen a lot of things but not so much that any particular airline gives a rat's hindquarters about me. Gate agents largely do not have the authority--or the inclination--to help with much past their own flights. Anything you need done outside of that is usually handled at a customer service desk elsewhere in the airport, if such a desk is staffed by that airline. Most low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines do not staff help desks in the airport. And, in many circumstances, the gate agents wearing the uniform and logos of a LCC are contractors who hop from gate to gate, wrangling flights as they come and go. An unexpected circumstance happening two days before Christmas in a busy airport on a LCC? I would do the exact same as the author of the linked article and get my traveling party where we needed to be with a minimum of fuss and handle the rest later.
    - bluGill 6y ago
      Low cost is the key. Normal cost airlines are more friendly. They have the ability to do things that discount airlines don't care to.
    - 6y ago
freshbob 6y ago
> Rather than booking the replacement flight directly the author should have had easyjet rebook him. Lol! I had experiences similar to OPs two or three times. Agents will actively refuse to rebook, if you can get a hold of them at all. They will tell you all kinds of stories: "you booked through a third party, so your contract is with them and they need to rebook", or "I'm not allowed to rebook", or (another classic) "cannot be rebooked and you forfeit your compensation if you rebook yourself". Honestly, at this point, I consider people suggesting rebooking through an agent as people who rarely or never fly and therefore are very naive about what actually happens in these types of situations.
ativzzz 6y ago
The discount airlines tend to not allow you to do this easily, or at all. I've never had a bad experience doing this with normal priced airlines however.

VBprogrammer 6y ago

I've had this before. Gate agents told us we had to book online. Online the next available flight was Thursday. No true easyJet representative in the airport on a Sunday evening in a non-base airport. Phoned the call centre and assured that we'd be reimbursed for a replacement flight and reasonable expenses. When back in the UK submitted receipts and told they would only pay for our meal.

leejo 6y ago
^ This. When we got back into the gate (having been sat in the returned plane for over an hour) I checked the available flights - IIRC three seats remained on a flight to Liverpool, and nothing else that would get us closer (our original flight being Manchester). I booked them immediately. The alternative would have been waiting to see an easyJet representative, in an overcrowded gate, two days before Xmas. Those seats would have gone. I've been through Geneva airport enough times to know how it functions and that we were going to get bumped to the next day.

s0rce 6y ago

Good luck with that. I've found gate agents either to not exist, or the 1-2 of them get completely overwhelemed as an entire flight needs to rebook. Passengers who were only connecting to another final destination add further complexity. Obviously the OP took a risk that the airline wouldn't refund his new flight but the alternative of waiting in a giant line or finding a non-existent agent from a budget carrier to hopefully rebook you isn't great either.

bluGill 6y ago
I've found that they are overworked in those cases, but they do the best they can and most people are polite. Though it helps that the last time this happened to me I had a family emergency just before I got on the aborted flight and so they were able to make me happy by getting me on a different airline to a completely different city. small joys like that are all they can ask for.
coredog64 6y ago
IME, for a plane load of people the gate agents are going to ask everyone to call the 800 number. Standing in line might get you the voucher for hotel/food if that’s what it’s going to be.

tomcam 6y ago

What happens if they tell you to make the change on the website, and the website tells you to make the change with the gate agent, and there isn’t a gate agent? I fly maybe half a dozen times a year and I’ve had this happen more than once.

mehrdadn 6y ago
Can't you just go to the nearest gate agent for another flight of the same carrier? I feel like they could point you to the right direction.
- techsupporter 6y ago
  Realistically, no. I write this in the gentlest manner possible, not directed solely at you: a lot of the "see a gate agent and they'll sort you" advice seems to be coming from a place of people who either don't travel very much at all, or who travel so much that an airline employee can practically feel their level of Airline Status(tm) from half a kilometer away and will race to their aid. I fall in the third bucket, people who travel just enough to have seen a lot of things but not so much that any particular airline gives a rat's hindquarters about me. Gate agents largely do not have the authority--or the inclination--to help with much past their own flights. Anything you need done outside of that is usually handled at a customer service desk elsewhere in the airport, if such a desk is staffed by that airline. Most low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines do not staff help desks in the airport. And, in many circumstances, the gate agents wearing the uniform and logos of a LCC are contractors who hop from gate to gate, wrangling flights as they come and go. An unexpected circumstance happening two days before Christmas in a busy airport on a LCC? I would do the exact same as the author of the linked article and get my traveling party where we needed to be with a minimum of fuss and handle the rest later.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    Low cost is the key. Normal cost airlines are more friendly. They have the ability to do things that discount airlines don't care to.
  - 6y ago

freshbob 6y ago

> Rather than booking the replacement flight directly the author should have had easyjet rebook him. Lol! I had experiences similar to OPs two or three times. Agents will actively refuse to rebook, if you can get a hold of them at all. They will tell you all kinds of stories: "you booked through a third party, so your contract is with them and they need to rebook", or "I'm not allowed to rebook", or (another classic) "cannot be rebooked and you forfeit your compensation if you rebook yourself". Honestly, at this point, I consider people suggesting rebooking through an agent as people who rarely or never fly and therefore are very naive about what actually happens in these types of situations.

ativzzz 6y ago

The discount airlines tend to not allow you to do this easily, or at all. I've never had a bad experience doing this with normal priced airlines however.