A Bristol mum suffering from terminal brain cancer has reached the end of a long tussle with airline, easyJet, which has agreed to refund her money this week. This is after a customer service agent for the airline wished Katie Warner, 31 “a speedy recovery”, while also saying a cash refund “would not be fair on other passengers”.
EasyJet has apologised and said an investigation into her experience when communicating with the airline has been launched. The confirmation of a cash refund was an about turn from the airline’s stance that she use a voucher for the ticket, which cost £178.86 for a flight from Bristol to Inverness in November 2020.
Katie was first diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and said she, her husband and daughter wanted to holiday in Scotland at the end of 2020. She said: “We had booked return flights, then Covid hit and Scotland closed.”
Read next: Police urge public for help find 'vulnerable' missing man
“We immediately got a refund for the motorhome we had booked. I went on to easyJet’s website and filled out a form for a refund and was sent a voucher.”
As she was going back on to chemotherapy treatment, Katie said she explained to the airline that she would be unable to fly as her immune system would be compromised. Her voucher was extended to July and then again for another six months.
“In December, I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, the doctor told me ‘I had too many brain tumours to count’. As a family, we decided to book to go to Poland in January and have a fantastic time. But when my brother tried to use the voucher, they (easyJet) said no and that the voucher had expired.”
Read next: Update after mysterious human remains found in cave
Katie said she felt the airline should refund the money for her ticket and entered into lengthy email correspondence with the airline’s customer services. “I just wanted my money back, I told them I was terminally ill and the customer services wished me a 'speedy recovery'.”
“It was completely offensive and insensitive,” she said, adding that the customer services agent had then also told her that a cash refund “would not be fair on other customers”. She said: “I want to make memories and not fight with easyJet for the time I have left.”
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “ “ We are incredibly sorry to hear about Ms Warner’s circumstances and our thoughts are with her and her family at this difficult time. We have been in touch with her to provide a full refund and offer our sincere apologies for her experience, as this is absolutely not the level of care and understanding we want to show our customers.
“We will always refund customers who are no longer able to fly due to difficult circumstances such as these, and so we are looking into why this didn’t happen for Ms Warner as it should have on this occasion.”
Read next:
- Man refused to swap plane seats so mum could sit with kids because 'it's not his issue'
- Flying from Bristol: Baggage rules for Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2, TUI and British Airways
- 80 SUVs in Clifton have their tyres let down by environmental campaigners
- New Bristol train station to open this summer after months of delays
