Customer fuming over refund
AIRLINE WILL NOT BE FLYING FROM NEWCASTLE ANY MORE
AN angry easyJet customer has slammed the airline for allegedly refusing to give her a refund on a flight from Newcastle Airport she knows is not going ahead.
Tracy Alexander-Hill booked a trip to Barcelona from the region with easyJet to join her family in celebrating her sister’s 50th birthday in June next year.
But their plans have been thrown into chaos after the airline decided to close its North East base – axing all of its international flights from Newcastle Airport in the process.
Despite this, Tracy, 53, claims her flights remain active with a countdown to departure on the easyJet website still displaying when she goes to manage her booking.
She also claims easyJet call centre staff told her the flight may not be cancelled until 30 days before takeoff – meaning Tracy could have to wait eight months before being refunded.
Tracy, from Wallsend, said: “It is so frustrating. You could still book flights for next year a number of weeks after they announced the closure in Newcastle.
“Now, you can no longer fly to Barcelona direct from Newcastle and you have to fly via Bristol or Belfast to get there.
“But it’s still saying online that my flight is going ahead.
“I’m not prepared to wait until May to get a refund for a flight I know now will not be going ahead. It’s absolutely disgusting.
“If this has happened to us, just think of the thousands of others who could also be affected by this.”
easyJet previously had three aircraft based at Newcastle Airport and operated up to 79 departures per week to popular holiday destinations including Alicante, Barcelona, Corfu, Malaga and Split.
The budget airline also closed its operations at London Stansted and Southend on September 1, putting 670 roles at risk of redundancy, triggering mass cancellations.
The airline has decided to scrap all international flights from the region, other than flights to and from Nice, which continue until the end of October.
It means Belfast and Bristol will soon be the only destinations easyJet customers will be able to fly to from
Newcastle.
Tracy has accused easyJet of keeping people’s money and is anxious whether she will see a refund at all.
The assistant practice manager at a GP surgery said: “I’m livid that my money is being withheld by easyJet. What if the company goes under before next year?
“My brother-in-law called up and demanded to speak with a supervisor who eventually issued him with a full refund for six people.
“When I called up I was put on ‘silent hold’ for 37 minutes waiting for a supervisor. It was shocking service and I gave up in the end.
“There’s 14 of us going through to Barcelona and it’s such a shame for this to happen. We have paid to go away on holiday and we now know the flight is not going to happen so we should be entitled to our money back. “The customer service from easyJet has been appalling. I know the aviation industry is in trouble at the moment but they can’t go keeping people’s money.”
However, easyJet has told the Chronicle that Tracy’s flights to and from Barcelona have been cancelled.
They denied the airline was either holding onto customers’ money or delaying giving them a refund.
A spokeswoman said: “easyJet can confirm that this flight has been cancelled as we will no longer be operating this route and so our usual cancellation policy applies.
“This means that customers can transfer onto an alternative route or are entitled to a refund. Although we have closed the base Newcastle we will continue to operate from this airport.”