EASYJET, SLEAZYJET - WHY?

Here's the latest from easyJet.

Dear Mrs Cordner,

Thank you for contacting us.

I would like to apologise for the delay in my response, I have contacted the airport again regarding your query.

I can confirm that the information provided regarding the time the last passenger boarding the flight is the details taken from the boarding gate check in system which showed that the last passenger to go through the gate did so at 06.56. I do understand that you have stated that you were at the gate before this but I need to advise you that if you were at the gate at the time you have stated, easyJet would not have refused you boarding on this flight.

I have made contact with the airport to find out a full version of the events on the 19th of July and they have advised me that the dispatcher that the gate agent spoke to regarding the passengers being late to the gate was not Amanda Nunan. However, Amanda Nunan did come to take you away from the gate due to another flight departure and to bring you through to the sales desk at the other side of the airport and give the passengers all options available to them due to this incident of missing their flight.

In regards to your query regarding the phone calls made at the departure gate to the dispatcher. Unfortunately, easyJet do not have access to listen to calls made in the airport and as previously advised I would suggest you contact Luton airport regarding this complaint so they can investigate this case for you.

As previous stated, I regret to inform you that we are unable to agree to your request for a refund of the rescue fee you had to pay due to missing this flight.

Whilst our position remains unchanged, I do not wish to detract from the obvious frustration and upset, you have detailed. It is always regretful when we are unable to find a mutually satisfactory conclusion. I hope that despite your present sentiments we may look forward to welcoming you onboard an easyJet flight in the future and I apologise, I cannot offer a more favourable response.

Yours sincerely

- Mary Maguire -
Escalations Team


And here's my reply

Once again, thank you for your reply.

I have stated this over and over so please, for one last time, watch my lips – I have not asked for my out of pocket expenses to be refunded, What I DO want is a full and frank admission of facts.

Having said that I have another shock for you, I still have unanswered questions. Such as:

1. If you know of the problems at that particular airport why don’t you close the check in 1 hour before the flight instead of “promptly 40 minutes before the flight” thereby giving your passengers time to get to the gate?

2. If the gate was closed as we approached why did the information board in the corridor give the flight status as “Last Calls”? This would indicate to me that the gate was still open.

3. At the risk of repeating myself, as we approached the gate at 06.50 your gate agent was involved in a ‘phone conversation about passenger numbers which continued for some time while we waited. It wasn’t until she came off the ‘phone that she announced the gate closure. We could see the plane but were denied access. Please indulge me, but I would dearly love to know the name of the person who took the decision to close the gate, off load our luggage and leave 19 people including 2 infants and several children stranded when it would have been more humane, probably simpler and certainly less time consuming to escort us to the nearby waiting plane?

4. Amanda Nunan came up the stairs from the dispatch area. Are you asking me to believe that it was just serendipity that she, a dispatcher, happened to be around the dispatch area that morning without having some involvement? But this is just smoke and mirrors, someone made that decision, if not her then one of her colleagues. There must have been a discussion. Why didn’t someone say, “hey wait a minute, there are small children involved here, aren’t we being a tad pedantic?”

And the claim that “Amanda Nunan did come to take you away from the gate due to another flight departure and to bring you through to the sales desk at the other side of the airport and give the passengers all options available to them due to this incident of missing their flight” is simply not true.

She took us to Gate 9, well away from passengers passing to other gates who were becoming very curious to know what was happening. At the deserted Gate 9 she simply left us to “await further information”. After approximately 30 minutes we were taken through to the sales desk by a young man who had simply been sent to escort us. He had no “further information” for us and we were given no guidance or instruction on what we should do next.

And, out of curiosity, did you make enquiries about exactly what time the next flight was due to board from our gate? Or are you just “buying the excuse”.

Finally, three things

1. I am not convinced that you have uncovered the truth.

2. You continue tell me to complain to the airport. We arrived at your gate on time and I believe that the call recording could be instrumental in proving this.

3. I am not happy with the explanation that you do not have access to this call recording. This is nonsense. Ask the airport to provide you with this information and then you can pass it on to me. Simple.

If your "investigation" proves to be unsatisfactory I will be sending details of this incident, including our email correspondence, to your MD, the European Passenger Complaints Unit, the Trading Standards Institute, my MP and Watchdog.

Regards,

Ann Cordner