Removed from my flight as it was overbooked .....

[Forest2017]

Aibu. To be ridiculously angry and fed up because I didn't think that "overbooking" a flight existed...

Due to fly to Croatia today, 7.25am. With two female friends (all professionals in our late 20s). Tried to check in yesterday but it wouldn't allow us to. Tried and tried. In the end we just decided to get to the airport early and check in.

Printed our boarding passes and then headed through security, had breakfast and went to the gates and joined he queue.

On passing over our cards and passports we were told we had to stand aside. We were not told why. Everyone walked past us one by one.

Finally they told us "this flight is overbooked and only two of you can fly, the third person can't" they explained: albeit rather abruptly and with little apology, that there was nothing to be done. So between us we had to choose who stayed and who went, we were assured the third person would be out on the next flight. I stayed.

I then have a lengthy walk back through to departures, found a help desk, explained, waited... was escorted through security (with others who'd missed flights) and then left to queue in the "EasyJet queue". My friends flew to Croatia and messaged me before I even got to the front TWO HOURS of queing: I needed the loo, had no water and quite frankly was losing patience.

I knew there was another flight at 1pm but it said online fully booked. There are three more tomorrow. Although in my head I was very disappointed to be missing a days holiday, having to wait and fly alone, re book ferry crossings in Croatia etc etc life is what it is....

AND THEN....
I was told I couldn't wait as standby for the 1pm flight. And that they couldn't we book me for a flight for another three days THREE WHOLE DAYS as they are overbooked on all their flights to Croatia until then. Like wtf...?!?!

I went away in tears. I get one holiday a year. I haven't endless money to whittle away on taxis, food, flights.

So I sit down and look at easy jet. Tomorrow 5.55am flight is still up for sale (although I've just been told it's sold out and overbooked by 4 seats). But whatever it's £290 so I put that on my credit card.... I then pay an extra £16.99 for reserved seating and I check in and print a new boarding pass.

I go back to the front desk and explain. They've put me up overnight in a hotel: no lunch offered or snacks. Just dinner.

My issue here is tomorrow the flight is iverbooked. I have paid for speedy boarding, and for an extra leg room seat. All of which I hope to be compensated for. I will join my friends a day late and hopefully enjoy my holiday. BUT that flight is iverbooked and unless five people don't turn up then they'll be removing people from the flight. I hope to God it isn't me.

How do they get away with this?!

And EASYJET YOURE COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY INCOMPETENT.

just to add the queue was so long due to various complaints: one lady who's seat wa double booked so she was thrown off, 30 people also denied boarding S they'd downgraded to a smaller plane, a few missed flights due to the gate being changed and then not knowing, then those that were there due to overbooking. As well as the misfortinate who had simply missed their flight.

So I'm in my hotel room, bored and hungry and yes ranting!

Bit impractical to boycott ALL airlines. Cornwall doesn't do it for me I am afraid. Had a caravan holiday many years ago in August and it poured down for most of it! Bit like today!

You just cannot guarantee the weather in the UK and it makes for a miserable holiday if it rains for most of the time so I will take all the tips on checking in early and hope for the best. The last time I was delayed we sat on the tarmac for 7 hours but BA made an announcement that they would not tolerate abuse etc and no one was saying anything!

The airlines and airports are just getting away with it. Having said that I have also seen many of the general public making stupid demands either at the airport or on the plane mainly around where they are sitting on the plane itself. These days I am just thankful I have a seat and am away on time!

Ryanair will try to prioritize the needs of and minimise the delay to those passengers effected

Beside the point but have RyanAir really not even bothered to spell-check their website?!

As forest have an amazing time!

How does the OP or anyone stand legally re the lost holiday days? If Easyjet bumped me off a flight and I was going to miss half of a week's holiday, for example, I wouldn't bother going and would sue them for the full cost. Is that realistic?

Little update:

Wonderful holiday when I eventually got there.

Filled in endless silly forms. Kept all receipts.

I have just received an email saying they will not refund me for the new £300 ticket (as I was promised three times both on the phone and at the counter) as they had flights available within 48 hours. NO THEY DID NOT. they did not offer me anything until Friday.

I have been refunded my original £100 flight. And given £250 compensation under the EU regulations.

However I've sent them a rather blunt email and will try and go via my holiday insurance and also possibly small claims as they cannot promise one thing and then refuse after it's appalling. I also desperately need that £300 as I don't have money to spare!!!!

Feeling awful for you!

Pay peanuts get monkeys. I do not travel on cheap airlines for this very real.

Yes it happens on the more established airlines but not to the same extent. Get on FB, twitter, everywhere you can and let people know. Hit them where it hurts - their pockets.

abilockhart's link is really interesting - looks like Easyjet have form for trying to wriggle round the rules.

For compensation issues you can go through the CAA dispute resolution scheme. A similar body were very helpful in helping me get compensation from an airline - one letter from them and they paid up. Good luck. www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Resolving-travel-problems/How-the-CAA-can-help/How-the-CAA-can-help/

Were you flying from Luton. Our EasyJet flight to Zurich was delayed over an hour while they found a replacment aircraft (problem with brakes), so that might explain a replacement plane for a later flight with the wrong number of seats. That being said, EJs customer relations at the departure gate were virtually non-existent.

I should have said, on the date of your first post (Jul 25th).

I had this last year. Tried to check in a few days before flying but couldn't due to a 'technical error' with the website and told to check in in person. Got to the airport at the crack of dawn after hours travelling, only to find they had sold more plane tickets than seats on the plane. I was so angry!

If we had been informed they had sold our plane tickets to someone else when we checked in we could have moved our flights back a day, but instead spent a day of our lives being bussed across the country to some grotty airport hotel.

I think overbooking should be illegal. If I sold something I knew I didn't have I could be charged with fraud. I don't see any excuse for airlines being able to get away with this.

Can they do this with package holidays too? We are off to Croatia with Jet2 in 10 days, but haven't checked in online (We never do). I'm really sorry Op, that's completely rotten. I have no idea how they get off with it.

You should be fine Rally. Most cheapy airlines don't overbook. I think Easyjet are the only ones that do.

Flag carriers like BA, KLM etc overbook because they sell lots of flexible tickets to business travellers, but Jet2 etc tickets aren't flexible, so they have your money whether you travel or not as a PP says and there's probably far fewer no shows on flights where most people are going on holiday, rather than business travellers.

The only time I've lost out to overbooking was when I was travelling somewhere else via Amsterdam with KLM. Only I didn't because KLM put me on a direct BA flight that got me there quicker because I didn't have to hang around in Amsterdam for 2 hours.

But I would check in online ASAP with Jet2 as you have more chance of sitting together for free.

On returning from holiday we had our internal flight home cancelled by Easyjet. We sat around for hours waiting for an update, then at 9pm we were told it cancelled and there were no available flights the next day. I got on my phone and quickly booked an airport hotel, a flight from Heathrow early next morning with a different airport and a taxi from Gatwick Airport to Heathrow.

When I sent my claim to Easyjet, I attached a copy of the EU directive highlighted in the appropriate areas and referred to it in my email. We were fully reimbursed within 10 days. I included all the expenses we incurred including wifi access, breakfast etc.

Pay peanuts get monkeys. I do not travel on cheap airlines for this very real.

Not flown BA then? We've had shocking service from them in the past regarding long haul flights. In comparison, apart from the cancelled flight, Easyjet were a dream.

Thanks Barbara (great name btw!). I've already paid for seats together, so if we get on the plane that should be ok. Never had any problems with Jet2, I must admit.

It's completely cynical that they were still taking bookings for an overbooked flight knowing that there were people bumped from earlier flights for whom they had not made any alternative arrangements. What they should clearly have done is give you a priority seat for the earliest flight and, if that mean it was even more overbooked, stopped taking any bookings on it.

Have you got written evidence that they weren't offering you an alternative flight within 48 hours?

BA bounced DD off a flight from Toulouse to London just over a week ago. She was flying with work.
She managed to get a flight the following day with Iberia.

She was in departures in time, had passed through security, it happened at passport control.

With package holidays I thought they couldn't overbook because of the linked accommodation? Certainly, I've had the opposite experience with the package holiday company beinding the rules to get me and my friend on the fly got when we only got tho the airport 20 mins before the flight ( - never fly from Birmingham the same weekend as crufts! Total gridlock!). We never thought they'd let us on and were checking out holiday insurance on the bus from the park and ride, but they rushed us through, bags went priority onto the plane and shepherded us into the only seats left on the plane...which happened to me the extra leg room seats they hadn't sold!! We lucked out!

Yes, that's going to help if you use gutter language like that.

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