EasyJet pile of pants - so fed up and dissapointed

[PamShipman]

Yesterday evening the DC (16,13) and i were meant to be flying to Berlin for 4 days. We were really looking forward to it. DS did his GCSEs this summer and loves European history; DD loves travel and exploring new places and has never been to Germany and I have always wanted to go since I watched the wall come down on a little b&w telly in my student flat in 1989! I was also looking forward to not having to think about food, entertainment or driving for a week.

Our plane was an hour late. We started to board. People with young children were on board. 40 mins later the (full) flight was cancelled. EastJet gave us forms to fill in for refunds and escorted us back landside. We had to go back through passport control without having been anywhere. Just at the time we should have been landing in Berlin, DH arrived to pick us up and take us hime.

We booked flights + hotel as a package through an independent travel agent, who was looking for all the alternatives to get us there, but nothing doing in the time I have booked off work. She’s arranged a full refund.

Any ideas for a very last minute break this week with two disappointed teens in the UK, that involves land travel only? We’re halfway between Leeds and Sheffield.

Great minds! What about a short flight to Belfast or Dublin? Or train to London - even if you’ve been a few times, always plenty to see? Nearer home Chester is excellent mini break destination.

I know you asked for something on GB mainland but what about coming to NI? Plenty of history to explore and Belfast is an easy city to get around on foot, lots of walking tours and great food.

Get an air bnb in the Lake District or look at center parcs - so much to do with teens!

We’d be too late to land.
No-fly hours above Berlin would have started before we’d be landing.
They didn’t say why they were running 90mons late.

Look at France or Belgium, you could get there today by car/Eurotunnel/ferry (or Eurostar but not sure about tickets).

Other German destinations are available!
And many of them way quicker to get to than Berlin.
Hamburg, Cologne, Munich. A doddle to sort budget accommodation short notice, the cheapest in Germany is often as good as the best in UK.
You don't need too much planning to do any of these, all great cities for young minds into European history.
Do it!

How about Liverpool? Loads to do in the city and you can easily travel out to the coast for a day

We have also been to Belfast and the Antrim coast recently!

DH doesn’t love flying, so we’ve done a lot of UK breaks, and ferry holidays; lots of London and Lake District; DM used to live near Bristol. All the other UK capitals. Amsterdam/other parts of the Netherlands by ferry. Belfast by ferry, with a weekend in Liverpool on the way.

I said land-travel because i can’t bear the thought of spending another minute in an airport at this point.

Surely there's other flights available? Or are the prices too high now?

Look on Skyscanner for later today until your original return date from Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool or East Midlands and see what's on offer? Use booking.com to find a hotel room or apartment.

Eurostar? Several really interesting European destinations. Plenty of availability to Brussels today.

Eurostar to Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels

Done it. No chance. It’s school holidays across Europe.

There’s multiple flights available.

Why not just rebook for next week?

I think OP said she only had a few days annual leave

What alternative flights were Easyjet offering you? What time would you have got there if you’d taken a flight they were offering you?

Seconding all the posts suggesting Eurostar. We did a short break in Brussels and we really liked it

Most people can’t just take several days off from work at the last minute.

Maybe it’s just my job, but if I contacted them to explain, they’d happily cancel my AL and let me go another time

@ThunderyDays I think you’re very lucky. For most jobs, there are limited numbers of staff who can be off at the same time, and everyone wants time off in the summer holidays. Chances are, for the rest of the summer holidays, the leave allocations have been taken by other staff already.

I really feel for you. I had a flight cancelled the night before one time and it meant we couldn't go on our trip at all as there were no other flights. If it's Easyjet's fault then make sure you get the full statutory compensation for the cancellation.

Eurostar will be very expensive. As you booked through a travel agent, what does she suggest as last minute alternatives?

Anglesey. A few hours driving to get there from your location. Great beaches, history, culture and food!

There’s loads of city breaks with Tui, leaving tomorrow. I’ve done 3 and 4 nights and hundreds came up.

Depends entirely on the job. If the OP has her own client portfolio and manages her own workload, it definitely could be possible to work this week and take the week off some time in August.

Some time in the second half of August might be better as many European schools will be back by then.

It needs to be this week. Time off is a fine balance around 9-5 work commitments, ooh shifts roster, sporting commitments, 90th birthday, elderly parents locally, and visiting those far away and this year - picking up exam results and the knock on effects of that.

I don’t really have a job where i can chop & change leave at short notice.