This is an email I sent to EasyJet this morning. I have no expectation of anything being resolved, but you have to try don't you? If I don't get an answer I will escallate the problem to the MD and repeatedly keep sending numbered emails (i.e. this is the second time I have sent this email etc. etc.) until I get a satisfactory reply. I used this tactic once before and it worked.

DENIED BOARDING ON 0715 FLIGHT 2051 FROM LUTON AIRPORT ON 19/07/2011
BOOKING REF NO EHPNQXZ

We were denied boarding on this flight despite the fact that we cleared check in at 0610 and presented at the gate before 0650. Your closure times are 0635 at check in and 0650 at gate so please explain why this happened.

The mornings’ events unfolded as follows. As you will see there were problems at the airport that morning, but we still managed to arrive at the gate on time.

0400 Were collected by mini-van from our home in Surfleet, Lincolnshire.
0540 Arrived at airport complex. Congestion on airport approach road delayed arrival at terminal building.
0555 Stood in check line
0605 Checked in 30 minutes before cut off time of 0635
0610 At security we were advised that it would take approximately 15/20 minutes to clear due to high passenger levels.
0630 As we approached the security belts we were transferred to a longer queue “past line 6” because we had a pushchair.
0635 Selected for a random liquid test.
0650 Went directly to the gate where the desk clerk was speaking to someone on the telephone. She gestured with her hand and shook her head that we should wait.
Another 12 passengers joined us. Interestingly enough each family had a pushchair and had also been diverted to “past line 6”, the security point for pushchairs.
0655 The lengthy conversation came to a end when it was announced that the gate had been closed and we were denied boarding due to our late arrival. We vehemently denied this and asked to see someone in authority. Eventually Amanda Nunan (this may not be the correct spelling but she should be easily identified because she was the “dispatcher”, if this is the correct term) came to the desk.
We all pleaded with her to allow us to board. She refused despite the fact that we had one infant (aged 18 months) and three young children (one aged 2) with us. The other families also had two babies and children, many of who were crying.
0710 Amanda Nunan took us Gate 9 to “await further instructions”. We waited for approximately 30.
0750 From there we were taken to the EasyJet Sales Desk and advised that we should stand in line to book another flight. While standing in line we got into conversation with another lady who had had a similar experience. She told us that in her case 9 had been denied boarding on the Dortmond flight that morning. Once again Amanda Nunan was the “dispatcher”. (If this is the term).
0850 As all flights to Geneva were full we booked we booked on to the 1435 flight to Zurich instead. We met the lady denied access on the Dortmond flight again later that morning and she told us that she had been talking to 3 lads who had also been denied boarding on another flight, once again Amanda Nunan had been involved.
1816 We eventually arrived at Zurich Station where we changed rail tickets from Geneva/Aigle to Zurich/Aigle at an additional cost of CHF 184
2150 Arrived Aigle. Caught taxi because the last bus to Villars had left.
2210 Arrived Villars with four exhausted children who had left home at 0400 that morning. We were originally scheduled to arrive at 1355.

Out of pocket expenses due to being denied access to that flight:
Extra airfare £300.00
Lunch at Est Ristorante Luton £ 45.20
Extra cost of transferring train tickets £139.90 (CHF 184)
Taxi £ 76.03 (CHF 100)

My question is, what did we do wrong? We followed procedures every step of the way. We were not late at check in and we were not late at the gate. What else could we have done?

I am a MD of a service company and we record all calls, both external and internal and presume that a company like yours does the same. In the interest of good customer relations it is in both our interests to know the exact timing of that conversation, what exactly was discussed, why that inhumane decision was made and by whom.

In conclusion I would like to say that although there were problems at the airport that particular morning we arrived at the gate within your specified time period. Although, I have to say that it is my suspicion that by the time the telephone conversation was concluded and the gate closed it was probably after that cut off time. The conversation seemed to be about who was being denied boarding. They even talked about the number of “infants”. And this was while we were all standing there with young babies and children! I still can’t understand why, on compassionate grounds alone, we were not allowed to board that plane.