booked wrong flight on easyjet

I recently made a flight booking with easyJet for my family of four to travel from Gatwick to Alicante for the October half-term. I have done this on many occasions over the past eight years as my parents have a home there.

Normally easyJet’s website remembers your previous booking history and brings up details of the travellers from the information already stored. It is all very easy - or so I thought.

Two days later, on checking the email confirmation, I noticed that the reservation details were incorrect. We were booked to travel out from Alicante and back from Gatwick. This was certainly not the reservation I had made. When I checked the “Where are You Going” tab on my computer, I found it still showed my stored preferences: outbound Gatwick, return Alicante. So how could this error have happened? To book Alicante-Gatwick return tickets I would have had to input new departure airports from the drop-down menu. I would have recalled doing this.

Another odd thing is that the confirmation shows the cost in sterling. I know that when you make a flight booking that originates from a European airport, the website’s default is to quote the cost in euros.



I contacted easyJet’s customer services desk where I was told that it must have been my mistake and that I would have to pay an additional £759.92 to rebook the correct flights. (The original flights cost a total of £418.68.) I work as a nurse and simply cannot afford to pay this amount.

I was so upset that I was put through to a supervisor. He told me that because nobody else had reported problems with the website on the day I made the reservation easyJet would not accept that it was a system error. He would only agree to refund £52 for the airport taxes. I have reluctantly accepted this but I am very upset about it (I have not dared tell the family yet). Can you help me?

Gill Charlton, consumer expert, replies
It is difficult to argue that you did not make the mistake yourself because airline booking systems are very robust in this respect. A screen shot of the final booking page can be a great help in situations like this. However, in your case, it does appear odd that your booking confirmation showed the cost of Alicante-Gatwick return flights in sterling. You would surely have remembered changing the default from euros to sterling.

I put this argument to easyJet. While the airline claims that it is nigh impossible for such a mistake to happen, it has now agreed - as a gesture of goodwill - to reimburse a total of £379.68 including taxes but excluding card charges and other fees. This will appear on the payment card used to make the booking.

The original offer of a taxes-only refund was because you notified the airline outside the 24-hour grace period for flight cancellations. If customers discover a mistake like this within 24 hours it is possible to obtain a fare refund. However, there is a cancellation charge of £30 per passenger and charges for payment cards and checked luggage are non-refundable. Do not despair of getting away in October. Prices may fall, especially on charter flights, so keep an eye on a price comparison site like skyscanner.net or kayak.co.uk.