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

"FEET UNDER THE TABLE" AGAIN!

It's taken me a few days, but I'm beginning to feel like I'm back in control of things at last. By "things" I mean my paperwork, correspondence and commitments, but NOT, unfortunately, my life!

For the "out of control" moments I rely heavily on the Serenity Prayer.

God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

I have repeated this little prayer almost daily since I first heard it at an Al-anon meeting way back on 6th November 1974. It was a life saver then and, "just for today", it's even more of a life saver now. Unfortunately this philosophy can be misconstrued as stoicism but far from being stoic it's subtly positive. However, I am aware that it might sometimes appear that I'm weak, tough, callous or even just plain stupid, but anyone that knows or cares about me know this is simply not true.

There are rare occasions when someone will penetrate my defences and not be fooled by my apparent acceptance of the unacceptable. This happened a couple of days ago when I had a 'phone conversation with an old friend who has known me for 40 years. He heard something in my voice that worried him enough to 'phone back. He probed and managed to get me to talk. Like many others he wanted to help but I told him that I fear it would lead to more problems than I feel capable of dealing with right now.

But we don't want to dwell of that do we? It is good to be back with my family, friends and colleagues. Yesterday I took my two great-granddaughters out to lunch and then on to a show. We had such a great time. Money can't buy days like that and today I'm going out to lunch at The George in Stamford with my daughter Kimberley and her husband. I am so grateful and fortunate in the family, friends and colleagues I have.

EASYJET BUNKUM

Let me first apologise for not catching up with my blog reading since I have been back home. It was very difficult when I was travelling because I was reliant on small windows of wifi access to make my posts, but now I have no excuses except to say that my feet haven't touched ground yet. I have so much paperwork to catch up on but I will get around to touching base with you all again within the next few days.

Now for the ongoing easyJet saga. This is the latest bunkum.

"Dear Mrs Cordner,

Thank you for contacting us.

I would like to apologise for the delay in my response and thank you for your patience. Your case has been escalated to me to investigate and obtain all information from the airport regarding this flight.

Firstly, I need to advise you that easyJet check in procedure is that the check in desks at the airport open 2 hours before the scheduled time of departure and closes 40 minutes prior to departure, also our boarding gate closes 30 minutes prior to departure. As stated on our carriers regulation any passenger that present themselves later than 30 minutes prior to scheduled time of departure will not be accepted for travel, and will forfeit their seats. I have enclosed the carrier regulations below:

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Book/regulations.html#checkin

I can confirm that I have contacted the airport in relation to your claim and they have advised me that the last passenger to board at the gate did so 06.56 therefore the times you have stated in your e-mail do not correspond with our flight report as a passenger has boarded this flight later than the 6.50 that you have stated. I can confirm that the agent at the gate did allow passengers to board after the 30 minute closing time and if you were at the desk at 6.50 you would not have been refused travel on this flight.

I can confirm that due to this flight being coached as soon as the last passenger boarded at the gate, the passengers were taken to the aircraft and the gate was closed. I have received confirmation that the agent at the desk called the dispatcher when you arrived who advised the gate agent that as the gate was closed we could not accept passengers that were late to the gate. I assure you that easyJet try not to refuse passengers for boarding however when the dispatcher informs the agents that no more can be accepted due to the gate being closed we have to follow these instructions.

I do understand that you did have a problem with the security at the airport this day and you were changed to a different queue for screening the push chair, however I need to advise you that you will need to directly contact the airport regarding this complaint as easyJet do not have control over the security, this a airport matter. I have enclosed the details below of Luton airport contact details.

London Luton Airport
Navigation House
Airport Way
Luton, Bedfordshire
LU2 9LY

In light of the information above, unfortunately I cannot agree to your claim for reimbursement of your additional expenses as this incident was not caused by easyJet and our staff at the airport followed the correct procedure when passengers missed the flight by providing you with the offer to pay the rescue fee to get on the next suitable flight.

I am sorry I cannot assist you further with this claim. I understand that this incident was a great inconvenience to you and your family and would like to apologise for the obvious frustration and upset that this has caused you. 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

Thank you for looking into this incident.

There were difficulties at the airport that morning, but my reason for setting out events in full was to illustrate that in spite of all these problems we were able to present ourselves at the gate before your cut off point which, according to OUR printed version of your Conditions of Contract are as follows “Passengers who present themselves at the boarding gate LATER than 25 minutes before the scheduled time of departure will not be accepted for travel”. In my book 06.50 is not later than 25 minutes.

We then go on to your point that you don’t believe we were at the gate at 06.50. Says who? Why am I not surprised that you have been advised that "the last passenger to board at the gate did so 06.56." If that was the case why didn't we see him? And who gave you that time? The gate agent, the dispatcher, the cabin steward, the bus driver? I can accept that maybe he was actally BOARDING the plane at that time, which would have meant that he was the last off the bus onto the plane, but I can assure you that he that wasn't at the gate.

We have two crucial timings here, one is the time that we presented at the gate and other is the actual time that the gate was closed which I believe was after that telephone conversation had taken place by which time we had already been standing at the gate for several minutes. I would urge you, in the interest of good customer relations, to listen to the content and timing of this conversation.

As I have already stated, I am MD of a service company and in the case of a complaint we listen to the call recording which is then emailed to our client. If it is our fault we will immediately hold our hands up. No-one is invincible and nothing speaks louder than the truth.

This has two benefits:-

1) our clients respect being told the truth, especially if we have admitted liability and

2) we are then able to address any staff retraining issue before other clients have been affected.

This is basic customer relation and, more important, customer RETENTION good practice and I recommend that you follow it.

And let’s not forget here that there were 19 of us, including 2 infants and several young children, refused boarding on our flight, 9 on the Dortmund flight and apocryphally at least 3 on another flight that morning. Something is wrong, especially when it appears that the same dispatcher was serving all three flights. I know that if I had a report of this happening I would, in no uncertain terms, want to know what went wrong that morning.

I sincerely hope that we are able to conclude this situation amicably because I’m 71 years old and, quite honestly, have better things to do with my limited time. However, I should say that I am also pretty determined to get to the bottom of this and won’t stop until I feel vindicated. You have cast into doubt both my integrity and intelligence and if we can’t find some resolution I will take this further.

EASYJET - THE SAGA CONTINUES

As you would expect, I received this totally patronising and insulting rubbish from Easyjet. From my own experience you can only make a first impression once, and my first impression of the "Customer Care" department is, unfortunately, exactly what I expected. Ignoring my relevant point that the gate was closed while 19 people with children stood there. The reason I put so much informatiuon in my original contact was to pre-empt any misunderstanding but unfortunately you are dealing with people who think that Easyjet is KING.

Unfortunately this type of thing goes on far too often and most people give up This is what they rely on. I just want to get them to the point where they admit fault and then I'll go for the compensation. But I have to get them to that point first.

As I say my next step is the MD and the Trading Standards Department, another bunch of useless idiots! Ah well! It gives me something to do, as if I don't have enough anyway!!!

EASYJET’S REPLY
Our Reference: 110726-001018
Booking Reference: EHPNQXZ

26th July 2011

Dear Mrs Cordner,

Thank you for contacting us regarding your flight. I am very sorry to hear of the inconvenience caused to you and your family on the day of the 19 July 2011.

Airport security has the right to uphold any passengers coming through to do their security checks and this is something which we cant change or prevent. In this case we advise all our passengers when they make a booking with us to arrive at the airport as soon as check in opens to allow time to get through to security and to the boarding gate.

Our check-in policy is included in our Carrier's Regulations which we ask you to read before confirming your booking. We also ask you to confirm that you have understood and accepted our Carrier's Regulations by ticking a box. Without doing this, you would not be able to complete your booking.

For your information I have included a link to our ‘check-in' section online:-

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Flying/index.html

One of the ways we can guarantee a good level of on time performance is to ensure all our customers are at the gate on time. We will always try to help our customers when we can and exceptions can sometimes be made only if there is enough time for the necessary security checks to be completed and the departure time will not be affected.

As you mentioned in your e-mail you took the option of a transfer with us, this is at the airports discretion and cannot be offered all the time. As you took this option I cannot refund the cost of the transfer fee or the other costs you mentioned as easyjet is a point to point carrier and therefore does not deal with transport or supplements after a flight has been taken with us.

Therefore, I am unable to offer you a refund and I hope that this issue will not stop you from choosing to fly with easyJet in the future.

I do hope I have been able to answer your question fully.

Yours sincerely,

- Jennifer Hagan -
Customer Service Representative

MY REPLY ON 26TH JULY 2011

I did not ask for reimbursement, I merely listed my out of pocket expenses. The full history of that event was to aid your investigation. You will see from my email if your read it properly is that we DID comply with your terms and conditions i.e. we were through check in before your own cut off period of 40 minutes and at the gate before your cut off period of 25 minutes.

I will now escalate your reply to your MD unless my queries are answered. Please comply with my email request to listen to and time the conversation between your employees at the gate and ascertain for yourself why they closed that gate when 19 people with young children stood there.

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.

OFF I GO AGAIN

I would like to thank everyone that donated to the Marie Curie Charity through my Just Giving page. Every small gift will enable them to continue the good work of nursing people like Davy in their own homes. They work with kindness and understanding. They even offered to stay with me through the night in Davy’s last days so that I could get some rest. I can’t thank them enough and only hope that your donations will keep this wonderful service going for the benefit of the terminally ill. I will keep the Just Giving link open for a couple of months so please give generously to this good cause.

Now back to today. I was at home for less than a week when I set off again. This time I went to Switzerland with some of my family.

I sometimes wonder if I attract problems because the journey was a nightmare. My grandson, granddaughter and her four children set off for Luton airport at 4 am heading for the 7.15 am plane to Geneva. We arrived at check in at 5.50 am, 45 minutes before their stated closure time of 6.35 am. So far so good! However security was not good. We were told that it was typically taking 15/20 minutes to clear, but that was OK. As it came close to our turn we were transferred to another, slower, line because we had a baby buggy. Still OK! Then Ali was pulled aside to have a random liquid test. Still OK for time.

In the departure lounge the board was announcing a last call for our flight. By this time it was 06.45 am and getting close to our 07.15 departure so we ran only to be stopped at the gate by a hand gesture from the young lady at the desk. She was talking to someone on the telephone. There seemed to be some sort of problem. By this time it was 06.55 am, still OK. She finally came off of the ‘phone and announced that the gate had been closed. We were too late! It was a nasty moment.
I went into “stern” mode and then “indignant” mode and then “you’ve got to be kidding” mode”. The children started crying when they realised what was happening. In the meantime more people arrived at the gate. There were 19 of us denied travel that morning, all with young children. The dispatcher then joined in. She was a first class cow with no remorse or conscience at all. I then went into my “ranting” mode, which didn’t help. We were immediately herded into a remote area so that the waiting public wouldn’t get spooked and told to wait a decision. We knew what this would be but by that time it was obvious we were in the hands of experts who held all the cards.

The outcome was that we were herded back to reservations to book other flights. We then met people from other flights who had had the same thing happen and, amazingly enough, by the same dispatcher! Helplessly we exchanged email addressed, vowed to keep in touch and claim some sort of compensation. I think that it’s probably a waste of time myself, but I'm determined to at least go through the motions and give them grief.

All flights to Geneva where now full so we took another flight to Zurich at 2.35 pm. This meant hanging about the airport with sleepy children. But, we finally made it. When we stepped off the plane in Zurich it was like passing through the mirror into a different world! Clean, ordered, polite, and helpful. We soon have our tickets changed, directions onto the train and a printed itinerary of where to change trains, what platform we arrived at and what platform to head for at what time. The ticket checker on the pristine train even directed us to a lift so that we wouldn’t have to navigate the stairs with all the children. Amazing! At our final destination a pre arranged taxi was waiting to whisk us up to our beautiful chalet. We finally arrived at 10.00 pm!!

The rest of our party travelled by car, arriving a couple of hours ahead of us. EasyJet should be renamed HardJet or even AttitudeJet. And guess what? They blamed the airport! The truth is that they are both to blame. And do you think that I can rightly anticipate some high level buck passing going on in the days to come? You bet!

MISSION COMPLETE

I did it! I went around the world without flying, travelling from London via New York from East to West. On 27th March I met up with 22 "Oz-Bus" fellow travellers at the start of an amazing journey through Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, across the Pacific to Alaska, then through Canada to USA and New York where I said farewell to my friends to undertake the last leg of my journey alone on a Cruise Liner across the North Atlantic, arriving home on 13th July.

If you are interested to read about it just click on the logo on the side bar at “R&C epic adventure - READ BLOG NOW" button. What this travel log will not and cannot say is the “warts and all” inside story of the trip which, I know, everyone is waiting for me to tell. Well that’s for me to know and you to find out! What takes place on the Oz-Bus stays on the Oz-Bus. Suffice to say we did have our moments of “high drama”!

However, I will say that the whole experience was challenging, exhilarating and sometimes exhausting but one that I’ll be forever grateful that I experienced. I was sometimes elated, angry, tired but never, never bored. What is more important is that I met some fantastic people, some of whom I would like to consider as my friends.

I am always being asked what the “highlights” of the trip were. Strangely enough not the obvious things like Red Square, Siberian Express, Great Wall of China, Terracotta Warriors, Beijing Olympic Stadium, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Woodstock, Sleepy Hollow etc, etc . All stunning but, strangely enough, many of the highlights were quite ordinary things like:

Jono holding my hand to stop me falling when we walked back across very, very thin, and very, very slippery ice from Olkhon Island on Lake Biakal;

laughing with Jonny, Sirin, Jono while playing bingo on the Diamond Princess;

the strangely comfortable feeling that I felt re-joining my Green Tortoise companions after a day out in Seattle with Jack & Betsy;

the surreal feeling of going to a blues club in Chicago, a thing that I had never expected to do;

Sirin and I drinking a bottle of wine on an empty stomach at the revolving cocktail bar on the 48th floor of the Marriott on Times Square and bouncing off the walls on the way out, laughing all the way;

going up to Connecticut to spend the day with Margaret at her lovely home in Greenwich and going over to the island to meet her friends and enjoy the jazz band;

meeting up with Georgina and Kimberley, after such a long time apart, in New York and doing “touristy” things

Many, many memories and every one a treasure. You can’t buy that.