Several hours to unblock the situation and an additional bill of more than 1,000 euros: here is Géraud’s Ascension weekend largely ruined. Thursday, May 26, he was to fly with three other people to Marrakech to attend the wedding of his niece. But a computer problem led to the cancellation of dozens of EasyJet flights, including his own. The passenger is outraged by the airline’s methods.
When Géraud arrives at Roissy airport in the afternoon, everything goes smoothly at first. “We go through customs, everything is going well. Then we wait outside the boarding gate to board the plane.” This is when it gets stuck: “All of a sudden, the sign shows 20 minutes late. Secondly, we see that it shows ‘canceled flight‘ but there’s no announcement.”
Géraud, like the other passengers, wonders and thinks of a mistake. It was finally the EasyJet employee present in front of the boarding gate who informed them. “She tells us the flight is cancelled, there’s nothing they can do and we have to look on the app.” Concern begins to rise among the passengers. “Two other people from EasyJet are leaving so as not to deal with the whole passenger set”, he told franceinfo. The passengers are finally explained that it is a computer problem related to the flight plans and that several other flights are canceled.
Noting this failure, Géraud therefore leaves to collect his luggage deposited in the hold on the corresponding belt. Then begins the quest for an emergency solution. “We will see the other companies: Transavia, Air France, Royal Air Maroc… In the end, only Royal Air Maroc found a solution for us.” They find a flight to Casablanca, from where they will take a taxi to Marrakech. And will arrive in time for the wedding. An emergency solution which has a price: 1,000 euros paid for four people on the Royal Air Maroc flight, not including the taxi between Casablanca and Marrakech. But it was the only option, according to Géraud.
“We found a solution ourselves and with the help of Royal Air Maroc, but absolutely not with the help of EasyJet, neither on the phone nor on the application, which did not work”
Géraud, EasyJet customer whose flight was canceledat franceinfo
After the weekend, another obstacle course will start for Géraud and his family. “We will manage to get reimbursed but I think we will have to fight.” He says that he has so far only completed a form for the reimbursement of the outward journey and has “no certainty” for the rest of the costs. “We are not even talking about taxi reimbursements or the price difference between EasyJet and Royal Air Maroc. But we will see that in a second step. The urgency was to be present in Marrakech for my niece.”
— Geraud Lassus (@geraud_lassus) May 27, 2022
If Géraud did the most urgent in relative calm, he is very angry with the company. “We are outraged. We have not had any offers. We were told to go to the application but it did not work. At Royal Air Maroc, they told us that they were stunned that the company did not offer us any fallback.”
Géraud, who flies three or four times a year, is not his first misadventure: “I had a similar problem before on Vueling, I said I would never take Vueling again. Now I will no longer travel with EasyJet.”