Flights fiasco

THROUGH no fault of our own, my husband and I missed an easyJet flight in circumstances very similar to Naill and Aileen Caldwell (Mail).

We only had to drop off one bag and already had our boarding passes printed off, but because there was no separate bag-drop open, we had

to wait in a long queue to check in our bag.

Add to that the complete chaos at the entry to departures at Stansted and we missed the flight. We calculated that we couldn’t have made it to the gate on time even if we had run as fast as Usain Bolt.

We complained to easyJet afterwards and were told that we should have allowed more time to get through the departure process. But what is ‘enough’ time?

Are travellers expected to pitch up at the airport three hours in advance, five hours in advance, or perhaps the day before?

The airline and airport must surely take some responsibility for lack of staff or sheer inefficiency.

Missing a flight can be very traumatic and expensive for a traveller, but the airline doesn’t care. All it has to do is offload any bags (which it can do quite quickly these days) and away it goes.

They have the fare, which you are not going to get back, and indeed they gain again when you have to pay to book another flight.

I applaud the court decision to give compensation to the Caldwells. If travellers can prove they have allowed enough time to get through the airport maybe this should be defined), they shouldn’t be penalised for circumstances beyond their control.

The current system is unfairly loaded in the airlines’ favour.

LINDA WIGG, Norfolk.