An easyJet passenger who was set to fly from Gatwick to Edinburgh was offered an option of travelling via Berlin after thousands of passengers were grounded due to bad weather over the weekend.
It is estimated that around 20,000 easyJet passengers were impacted by the severe weather, but one flyer was left puzzled after the budget airline offered her the option of flying from London via Germany to Scotland.
The weather had caused the cancellation of around 90 easyJet flights to and from its main base at London Gatwick, The Independent reports.
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Under current air passenger rules, all of those impacted by cancelled or grounded flights should be offered “re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity”.
All of those affected should be offered a same-day alternative flight by their airline and if that is not available then they should pay for a seat on a competitor's craft if space is available.
Tracy Thompson was faced with her flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh being cancelled due to the storms on Sunday June 18.
As an alternative she was offered a journey that would see her fly to Berlin before embarking to her final destination of Edinburgh.
The journey was a total of 1,320 miles - almost four times as much as the initial direct trip between England and Scotland’s capitals.
Speaking to The Independent, she said: “The flight was delayed three times. Then we got the cancellation email and were offered Gatwick to Berlin then onto Edinburgh – which would work if we had passports but don’t expect that for internal flights.
“We were offered no other options unless we chose to fly on Monday or later in the week. But we needed to get home on Sunday.”
Passengers on the cancelled flight were told: “We’ve got three options available for you”. One was to request a refund, the second to accept a voucher for the cost of the flight. The third – “Switch to another flight for free” – offered only easyJet flights.
Thankfully Ms Thompson discovered a flight through British Airways that was due to leave London City airport to Edinburgh.
She was able to book this using her Avios points and her flight was delayed by around half an hour due to the adverse weather conditions.
EasyJet stated that the customer was due reimbursement due to the ordeal she faced and per their own internal policy.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Our self-service booking management tool is designed to help customers rebook quickly and easily for free providing direct and indirect flights depending on availability.
“While indirect routing can work well for a lot of our network, particularly in Europe, we understand that on this occasion the option provided was not suitable however customers have the option to book with another carrier or alternative transport such as a train if suitable easyJet flights are not available and we will reimburse them.”
The easyJet spokesperson added: “easyJet operated around 1,700 flights yesterday (Sunday 18) and will operate a similar number today, however severe weather conditions yesterday affecting the UK and much of Europe unfortunately resulted in disruption across some UK airports and, like other airlines operating at Gatwick, easyJet was instructed to reduce its flying programme.
“This has resulted in a knock-on impact to this morning’s flying programme and we have notified customers in advance where possible to help rearrange their plans.”
“The safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and, while this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”
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