Victory as couple sue easyJet for making them late
THEY are notorious for their strict treatment of passengers – and woe betide those who turn up a minute late expecting to be allowed some leniency.
But this time, it was easyJet’s fault that their passengers missed the flight – and yesterday, the budget airline paid the price.
Niall Caldwell and his wife, Aileen, were awarded more than £1,000 after a sheriff ruled ‘operational inadequacies’ by the airline caused the couple to miss their flight .
The couple, from Portobello, Edinburgh, were left stranded in Sicily last September after horrendous queues at the airport meant they arrived late to their departure gate.
Despite arriving at the airport two hours before the flight was scheduled to depart to London Gatwick, they did not have enough time to check in, get through security and board their flight.
There were only three easyJet staff members working at the check-in area, where more than 100 passengers were queuing up.
The couple were then faced with further delays at security and passport control resulting in them missing their flight.
Mr Caldwell, 42, said he asked staff at the airport three times for passengers leaving on earlier flights to be prioritised at the desk, but this was refused.
After missing their flight, the couple were then told by easyJet that there wasn’t another flight for two days and they would have to pay for it themselves.
On his return to Scotland Mr Caldwell, managing director of Scots engineering firm Artemis, launched a legal action against easyJet, and now a sheriff has found in his favour.
Sheriff Tom Welsh, QC, blamed ‘operational inadequacies’ for the delays and ordered the airline to pay £1,042.90 to the couple.
Of this they received £634.92 in compensation, with an additional £407.98 for the cost of their tickets on the missed flight.
Mr Welsh has also ordered that Mr Caldwell’s legal expenses should be paid.
The sheriff said: ‘In my opinion, provided the passenger presents for check-in on time for a confirmed reserved seat and is not at fault, he is entitled to compensation if denied boarding and the responsibility for taking reasonable steps to facilitate passage through the carrier’s own bag-drop queues and airport security queues rests with the carrier.
‘To hold otherwise would mean that bona fide and blameless travellers like the Caldwells, who were thrice denied help and assistance by the carrier, would necessarily be deprived of the high level protection provided to them.
‘I am satisfied as a matter of fact that the passengers did nothing which had the character of fault about it.
‘They did not dilly-dally on the way to the departure gate, they did not divert to a restaurant or bar to have refreshments.
‘They were not legitimately detained at security for additional searches.
‘I am satisfied the facts proved can properly be characterised as denied boarding because of the operational inadequacies of easyJet ground staff’s management of the easyJet queues on September 14, 2014 and their failure to facilitate passage through security check, customs and passport control when asked, in circumstances, where it was obvious the passengers were in danger of missing their flight.’
Mr Caldwell represented himself at a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
He told how he and his wife were forced to pay almost £900 to return home on a British Airways flight – more than double the cost of the flight they missed.
In court, easyJet denied liability and said it was the responsibility of passengers to reach the departure gate in time for their flight.
Last night a spokesman for the airline said: ‘We are aware of the ruling and are currently reviewing it.
‘As such we cannot comment further at this stage.’
‘They did not dilly dally’