Easyjet flight delayed until 12.30 and they give me a £3 Voucher!!

[TravellingHopefully12]

Maybe IABU. I don't know anymore. I am at Stansted, having flown in from a visit to family. Meant to be flying home to Scotland about now, but Easyjet have delayed my flight to 12.30. I have work at 8am and feel furious - not with the poor girls giving out terravision cards worth all of £3. They're getting enough shit from people, but with the airline in general.

I also don't have my keys, as we had people staying while I was away so will have to phone from outside and wake DP who has work early too.

£3 doesn't even get you a drink.

I want to not be quite this furious, but my mother told me that the Easyjet flight to Edinburgh is always 'delayed' as they have two, and it's the best way for them to role it into one. I was convinced this could not be a policy (though this has happened to her 3x) but now am less sure.

Bought a burger and an internet pass (I can get on top of some work tonight) but feeling irrationally angry and wanting to vent.

Goodness how horrendous! Did you manage to speak to somebody on the EasyJet desk? Hope you get home soon! I would be fuming

They just made me (and the four other travellers who also 'got the gate wrong') fork out £65 for a new flight

Apparently 'everyone else got it' - although the woman saying that had to change her story to 'everyone except that person' as one more person who went to the wrong gate turned up as we complained.

They said it was our fault for missing it, and even if it was an error on the display (which they deny) the flight had to take off as cabin crew were tired and working out of hours. What?

Also, they have a transcript from last night to prove we got it wrong.

So angry now. Going to work on no sleep, missing a drs appointment I really need, got locked in a departure gate and had to pay £65 for the privilege.

We all heard Gate 6, and saw it on the screen. None of us thought to take a photo, because it didn't occur to us it would be wrong and then they would deny it.

So fucking tired.

Hi but when you got to gate 6 did the flight number and destination not correspond ?
however I would take it up with the airport rather than easy jet for the fact that you were dumped at a closed gate and abandoned - Unless it was an easyjet handler.... That is really bad .

When we got there the screens were broken; no information on them at all.

The airport say it was Easyjet's fault. Easyjet say we must have been mistaken. If it was just me I would wonder, but five of us.

Also, the thing with the woman saying 'everyone else was on the flight' then someone else who went to the wrong gate showing up, was kind of suspect.

I still can't get over the fact that you were locked in a departure gate after midnight. I mean ... just how many breaches of security and health&safety rules is that?

Good luck with the journey home. Hope you can get your blood test rearranged quite quickly.

Def take it up with the airport as if the screens at Gate 6 were broken , and it was impossible for you to verify that you were at the correct or inocrrect gate then you have a case for complaint. You can try Easy jet but they are likely to come back with the 'failure to reach the gate ...bla bla ...its your responsability etc

Yeah. They gave us the 'we take all complaints very seriously talk' - but also seemed determined not to believe us.

I just payed for more internet - my excuse being I need it for my freelance work (I kind of do, but I am so shattered that my copy us making no sense and I dread emailing it off.)

Liney, I was just really panicked but I guess we could have broken the alarm so they might just say that.

The airport and easyjet are blaming each other. I hate this.

Ugh, headache

I'm getting a Ryanair aka Ryandispair flight today. This sort of carry on is why I find it so stressful, I feel so uptight from the night before until I'm actually sat on the plane. Don't think that's unusual feeling either which is why people are so short tempered.

The whole gate thing too, being locked in especially(!!), do they make a big thing in Stanstead about there being no announcements and it being your responsibility to check screens? They do in Birmingham.

Don't see how that isn't Stansteads responsibility/fault in your case. Did the Easyjet ground attendent explain how the rest of the passengers get in on the secret of which gate?

and it was impossible for you to verify that you were at the correct or inocrrect gate then you have a case for complaint.

Surely if your gate isnt printed on your boarding card and the screen at the gate didn't diplay the destination you'd just ask at the desk

Sorry you've had a crap night OP but I'd just chalk it up to experience.

they didn't make a big thing about it, the attendant this morning said that we must have mis-seen and misheard (but five of us!) and she says it was advertised correctly

Interestingly the five who misheard were all in Wetherspoons, can they have different announcements in different places, or is it because we went through earlier then they changed it? I have no idea...

I'm going to be on the plane when my Dr's surgery opens so I can't even call to let them know I won't be there.

Also, I really really want to sleep. The idea of a full day at work makes me want to cry (and I really like my job.)

At least am getting on a plane soon (I hope)

I would suggest going to social media with this. It is the only way now to be taken seriously. Just have all 5 of the others complain too and they will most likely apologise and refund some of it.

I find EasyJet really crap on certain routes (despite every one saying they are so much better than ryanair, who I use regularly and never have probmens with). I've stopped flying EasyJet out of Toulouse as the flights are delayed more often than is reasonable.

Worth saying, though, that most airlines are crap when things go wrong unless you have a business class ticket and it does sound like the airport are partly at fault here.

I don't think complaining in the spot ever gets results. Do it in writing, to both easyjet and stand red, with copies to the CEOs and their PR offices, and if you don't get a response a couple of newspapers run a column where they help people chase up the companies concerned in situations like this.

"stand red" = stansted, iPad has a mind of its own ...

EasyJet have been having technical problems on their planes all summer, apparently.
We were two hours late both ways going to Portugal last week.

Apparently the cabin crew don't get paid any overtime or time in lieu. They just get paid per flight and either suck it up if they are delayed, or can refuse to travel when they are over time. Our lovely crew said 'of course we wouldn't do that, because then your flight might be cancelled', and they were getting all the abuse from the drunks, as if it were their fault.

OP I am so sorry you are having such a rubbish time and I do think you have a very serious cause for complaint, from the security point of view if nothing else.

I really don't get this obsession with complaining about everything.

Budget airlines are generally crap. You know when you book them that there's a very strong possibility that they'll be delayed (which isn't right but it's the way it is) but they're cheap so you take the risk.

It does sound like the OP's complaining on here about the delay might be partly responsible for actually missing the flight as she was concentrating on venting her anger more than checking which gate to go to.

I genuinely can't understand anyone sitting at a departure gate that doesn't state the destination without asking someone if they are in the right place- gate changes often happen, particularly if you go to the gate very early.

I wouldn't chalk it up to experience! I would take it much much further! Its a massive security issue! If it had just been you but 5 of you! The biggest problem is Easyjet just don't care about their customers! If I had been locked in I would have called 101.

By big thing I mean is it made know that checking the screens is your responsibility and that gate changes won't necessarily be announced there's signs about it in Birmingham. Because it's more than possibly, especially on a delayed flight the gate will change, you are supposed to regularly check the screens. The right screen must have been listed if everyone on the flight bar six/seven got the right gate.

The being locked in however is an issue though!

^I really don't get this obsession with complaining about everything.

Budget airlines are generally crap. You know when you book them that there's a very strong possibility that they'll be delayed (which isn't right but it's the way it is) but they're cheap so you take the risk.^

Not true about punctuality of budget airlines - and many flights aren't that cheap any more.

They all have a 95%+ punctuality rate so hardly a strong possibility of delay. I have taken dozens of flights on Jet2, Ryanair, Flybe etc and have been seriously delayed (5.5 hours) once. All other flights have landed within minutes of the stated time. We received nearly £500 in compensation for the delay, which caused inconvenience and stress in accordance with what we are entitled to.

The delay such as that suffered by the OP will be a tiny percentage of flights and EU rules state that she is entitled to compensation so there is no reason why she shouldn't complain and receive compensation in accordance to what she is entitled to.

Her contract with the airline was to be taken on a certain journey and get there at a certain time and the airline has failed in that duty.

Her contract with the airline was to be taken on a certain journey and get there at a certain time and the airline has failed in that duty.

But her plane did make the journey, albeit with a delay, it just the OP wasn't on it.

The EU rules only apply after 3 hours (I think) and the compensation is based on distance, it's not automatically £500, and, as long as this flight delay was less than 3 hours, there's no compensation claim to be made.

The gate/ security issues are the airports fault, not the airline anyway.

I don't think Easyjet even fly to Cyprus from Stanstead so none of the staff uniforms/ baggage labels/ signs etc at the gate these few passengers were at would have been bright orange- wouldn't that ring alarm bells in itself?

Most airports have a smartphone app which provides access to the departures screen in its most unmediated form: it's the truth, or as near as airports have it, rather than the stuff airlines and random check in staff might think is the truth. Rather like you should ignore all information in railway stations and trust realtimetrains.co.uk - that's the Network Rail signalling data feed, so either it's right or there's an impending accident - there are all sorts of dodgy not-quite-right data feeds in airports which are best avoided.

If there isn't an app, then the airport's own website will be the same data, and is again much more likely to be right than anything else. If you're on your computer randomly surfing working while waiting, it's worth glancing periodically at the airport departures board as shown on their website, in case reality has got the better of the screens.

Yes, it did, but when I asked I was told by others that I was at the right gate. We had all seen 6 on the thing and heard it on the tanoi.

If it was just me I would have convinced myself I was wrong. That there were five of us who all saw and heard the same thing is different.

"I would suggest going to social media with this. It is the only way now to be taken seriously. Just have all 5 of the others complain too and they will most likely apologise and refund some of it." So true

"I really don't get this obsession with complaining about everything" etc really?!! Because if they're so cheap to you that you can afford to just 'forget it' lucky you! I certainly can't. If I'm flying its to facilitate my daughter's contact with ex. And I have to scrimp and save to do that. Also I'm STILL a paying customer and shoddy treatment is never acceptable! The reason UK has amongst the worst customer service in the developed world is because we've stupidly put up with it for so long!!

Also delayed flights don't only affect the passengers on that flight but are a major headache for the airport and other flights and therefore other airports the costs incurred are massive!

And the locking in is definitely an issue too. I'd have been livid!

Bolograph I didn't know that and while handy for future reference I suspect many passengers don't.

Because if they're so cheap to you that you can afford to just 'forget it' lucky you! I certainly can't.

But it's not like you have a choice- there are very specific guidelines for flight compensation and this flight doesn't meet them. Complaining won't achieve anything except winding you up even more.

Delays happen- it's an unfortunate part of any travelling.

It seems the OP complaining about the delay on here actually resulted in her missing the flight- even if the gate was announced at some point as being 6, it clearly wasn't that for long as the majority of other passengers got to the right gate- a bit more awareness of what was going on IRL and a bit less ranting about it on the internet and I suspect she'd have got the flight as planned.

Also Gate 6 and Eighty 6 do sound quite similar.

"Complaining won't achieve anything except winding you up even more."

I disagree. I always complain if I get poor service and I've always had a resolution of some kind.

Budget airlines are often not that cheap even compared to national carriers. And because they now account for such a huge market share, just sucking it up and avoiding in future isn't always practical. I have three choices for flying between my home and my employer's HQ, two of which are budget airlines. The third (BA) is on a significantly less convenient route, although I generally choose them over easyjet (but behind Ryanair) because of easyjet's appalling record on availability of actually functioning planes.

Plus, the OP's saga last night is concerning not just because she missed her flight but because of serious security failures (airport's fault here I think not Easyjet's). If people don't complain, loudly, then companies won't put things right in future.