In January, I booked easyJet flights for my husband and I to go to Gibraltar.
We were due to fly out on 21 April, but since we made that booking, life has changed dramatically due to the Coronavirus pandemic and easyJet, along with other airlines, have grounded its planes.
Claim compensation for delayed and cancelled flights
What were my options?
On 4 April, easyJet notified me that its planes were temporarily grounded with no flights throughout April, other than for repatriation.
As this meant our flights would be cancelled and we could claim a refund under EU flight delay rules, we ignored easyJet’s offer to rebook for a future date and sat tight awaiting the official cancellation confirmation.
Two days later, another email popped up confirming our ‘outward’ flight had been cancelled, but strangely there was no mention of the return flight.
I was given two options; to rebook for a future date (with no flight change fees), or have an easyJet voucher for the full cost of the flights, that could be redeemed at a later date – but no mention of a refund or how to get one.
Like many customers, I trawled through the easyJet site and clicked on various options in the ‘Manage Bookings’ section of my account before I finally stumbled on the option to get a refund.
This involved calling easyJet’s UK Customer Service Centre, which is 0330 365 5000, in case anyone is still trying to track it down.
Please note: this article was originally published on 16 April. Since then, easyJet has launched an online refund page but we can't yet verify how well it's working.
How I lost £320 in compensation after an 18-month battle
‘No chance to queue’
Now I had already spotted that Twitter was awash with comments from people complaining about they could not get through to easyJet, so I was prepared for the long haul.
The first time, I called around 11.30am and immediately got a recorded message.
It's the same one I’m sure easyJet customers now know off by heart. It starts by thanking you for calling and offers two options.
If you are a ‘flight only’ customer, you need option 1 – or 2 if you booked an easyJet holiday package.
As I booked flights through the website, I went for option one and on to the next stage.
Here I was greeted by a message saying, “Our customer service centre is really busy. To save you queueing for a long period of time, please call back later.”
Having geared myself up for a long wait, I decided I was happy to hold. After all, I could pop my mobile on loudspeaker and stick it on the side, while I waited and got on with some work.
But the reality is however committed you are; you do not even get the chance to queue.
Next up is a message flagging up the option to reschedule your flight or get a voucher.
Having listened to all this, after nearly two minutes on the phone; the call ends with “if you still need to speak to us, please call back later; goodbye.”
I called back another four times over the next couple of days at different times, but still got the same message asking me to call back.
Please note: this article was originally published on 16 April. Since then, easyJet has launched an online refund page.
Why perseverance is key
Having rung yet again (this was my seventh call!) and listening to the same old message at 4.30pm on a Saturday, I decided with just half an hour before the lines closed at 5pm, I’d cut the call and hit ‘redial’ the second I got the first ‘please call back’ message.
My thinking was if there was any way of the system recognising my number, it might register the fact I was not going to give up and go away, so I put my plan to the test.
Once I got through the first part of the message to the first ‘please call back’, I hung up and redialled.
Bizarrely and amazingly, this time round I got a different message, which mentioned bookings being affected by Coronavirus, so I pressed this option.
This took me through to a different message, which asked me to hold. Now I was actually ‘holding’ and determined to stick it out.
Within six minutes, I got through to one of easyJet’s customer service team.
Can I have a refund?
I immediately explained I would like a refund for the cancelled flights.
I was told there were two other options. Yes, you guessed it, they were the ‘change flight’ or ‘voucher’ options, but I stood my ground and said I wanted a refund.
And then, without any push or hard sell, I was simply asked for the last four digits of my original payment card and told the refund would be issued in three to five days.
Now I have no idea whether that immediate redial had any effect on easyJet’s customer service system but all I can say is that it worked for me!
Three days later, I checked my account and the full amount of £97.96 for both my husband and I’s return flights showed up on my statement.
I contacted easyJet for a comment about getting refunds, and a spokesperson sent the following response:
"Customers on cancelled flights can transfer to an alternative flight free of charge or receive a voucher for the value of their booking online or claim a refund through our contact centre. Customers may also submit a claim in writing via a new dedicated refund webform, online.
"We are experiencing higher than average wait times so we would thank customers for their patience and assure them that these entitlements will be available long after their cancelled flight has flown.
"For customers whose flights are not cancelled but would like to move to a later date they can amend their flight online with no change fee and we have brought forward our winter schedule on-sale so customers have more choice to move their flights, up to 28 February 2021.’"
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