Easy Jet flight change

[Allfurcoatandnoknickers]

Our flight in the summer has been changed from 06:30am to 17:30pm which means we now won't land til the evening and have effectively lost a whole day.
Is there anything we can do - the operator is Easy Jet

Normally they should give you the chance to cancel or change - did they do that?

You need to check terms and conditions but this far away they probably have the right to give notice of change without compensation. Of there is an alternative earlier flight they may agree to transfer that or a different airport foc.

I’ve contacted them and they’ve agreed to offer us another earlier flight from a different airport 😞 much further away for us but there you go - we’ve no other option but to do that

This happened to us last year with RyanAir. We had the option to get a refund or accept the change. The alternative operators were no better flight times and by then more expensive too so we had to suck it up.

Until two weeks before departure they can do pretty much anything as long as they offer you a refund — they don't have to offer you an alternative flight.

One reason to book your whole holiday with the airline is that if they do cancel your flights you will also get the accommodation refunded. Otherwise it's a bit of a lottery. (I don't know if travel insurance covers having to buy expensive last-minute replacement flights if an airline cancels.)

As these are budget operators they don’t run as scheduled airlines do. You know that so take the risk. They often move flights and it’s a pain. They no longer get our custom.

Travel insurance will be policy dependent but your credit card would cover the replacement flights under section 75 of the consumer credit act as long as the total purchase is over £100.

See also if your airline goes bust, which might seem unlikely but it happened to us. We were due to fly with Monarch 2 days after they went bust and of course, flights at that time were eye-watering especially as hundreds of other people were in the same position but I managed to get the same route on the same day, pay on my credit card and reclaim the lost flights and extra over the original price, which was buttons because the rumours were circulating about Monarch, which obviously affected bookings, but I decided to take a risk.

Which, for those Mumsnetters who say they 'don't need a credit card', is why you do.

Just posting to sympathise with you OP. I don’t know whether this is something which is increasing but we’ve had it happen 3 times in the last two years and it’s really annoying - especially when you’ve paid extra for a flight on a particular day because it was at a good time. EasyJet should offer a refund to you if you wish to cancel but it all depends on whether you are able to find something else that suits with another airline. Of the times this has happened to us, we took the cancellation on one occasion as it was only a weekend trip but for longer trips we’ve just gone with the new time. It certainly makes you wary of booking a particular flight because of timing though.

We also had bookings with Monarch @Bjorkdidit bur luckily it was some weeks away so we were able to rebook fairly easily. We were in Portugal with a return flight through Thomas Cook when they went bust but again were lucky as a replacement flight was put on for us on our booked return day. I don’t know what would have happened if extra accommodation was needed.

Our most recent very inconvenient time change was through Iberia Airways which I don’t think is a budget operator.

@ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea No technically not, but they are probably amalgamating flights or releasing expensive slots. We had BA alter ours to Canada in 2022. Just 2 hours later so no issue at all. Post Covid drop off in travellers. Recently we have had no changes at all. Budget operators frequently move travellers to early slots. Very early!

To avoid any confusion, particularly with regard to any potential claim, they may be a budget airline but they are also a scheduled carrier; you have the same passenger rights. But as someone has stated up thread, up until 2 weeks before, they can do almost anything.

‘Pleased you are now sorted OP, even if it’s less convenient.