Easyjet and EU261 compensation

If your flight is cancelled by your airline you are entitled to both a full refund and (sometimes) compensation.

There are different rules if your flight is delayed, and we will publish a separate guide for that next week.

We will also keep updating this article to answer your questions

Cancelled flight

If you flight is cancelled, you are entitled to a full refund.

You will receive a message from Easyjet, either by text, by email or through the Easyjet app (or through all three).

The message will say something like

“We’re really sorry that your flight has been cancelled and would like to apologise for any inconvenience this will cause you.”

It will then say the following:

What happens now? 

There are several options available to you, which you can request quickly and easily online by logging into your booking on our website or via our Easyjet App:

1. Switch to another flight for free. You can search easyJet flights and make changes to your booking yourself via Manage Bookings. If there are no available flights on the same day, we can also offer you a hotel room for the night, if you need one.
2. Choose a voucher for the full value of your ticket. The voucher is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and gives you the flexibility to book travel anywhere on our network when you’re ready to fly. You can request the voucher yourself online via Manage Bookings.
3. Request a refund. You can request this yourself via Manage Bookings. Our team are currently processing refund requests within 7 days, and this may take a few days to show as available in your account, depending on your bank. Please note that refunds are made to the account used to make the booking with us. Once you’ve submitted an online refund request, you can track the status of your request here. 

If you need to get to your destination urgently, then this will be your first stop. Assuming that Easyjet has a flight going to your destination (or perhaps a destination close by) then this may be the best choice. Even if the flight is more expensive, Easyjet is legally obliged to rebook you on this flight. You should rrequest this. Do not book it yourself.

Switching to another airline and flying to your destination

Although it is not mentioned in the Easyjet message, in the event Easyjet does not have a flight going to that destination, then it is legally obliged to book you on a flight to the destination on another carrier, and you can request this.

Choosing a voucher

If you choose this option, you will receive an email saying

“Your flight voucher will be emailed to the Easyjet account holder that made the original booking. Our team are currently processing voucher requests within 7 days. Vouchers are valid for 12 months from the date of issue and give you the flexibility to book travel anywhere on our network when you’re ready to fly.

Request a refund

This should be a refund for the full cost of your flight and the cost of any associated flights – so this includes all those who were on the same passenger reference, and it includes the return flight as well.

If you choose this, then you will receive this message

“Your refund request should be processed within 7 days, please allow a few extra days for the money to come through to your account. Your refund will be paid to the account you made the booking with.”

In addition to a refund, you have rights under European Law.

Easyjet has a page on this here

Notice of your rights in case of flight delays, cancellations and denied boarding

In summary, if you are on an eligible flight (let’s assume you were, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this) and your flight was cancelled, then you are entitled to compensation.

There are a couple of things to note: you won’t be entitled to compensation if they cancelled your flight at least two weeks before you went, or you were told between 2 weeks and 7 days before the scheduled departure time and were “offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than 2 hours before the scheduled departure time and to reach your final destination less than 4 hours after the scheduled arrival time”

Lastly you were “informed of the cancellation less than 7 days before the scheduled departure time and were offered re-routing, allowing you to depart no more than 1 hour before the scheduled departure time and to reach your final destination less than 2 hours after the scheduled arrival time”

Lastly, you won’t be offered compensation if “The cancellation is due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken, which may include (but not limited to) air traffic control, weather, civil unrest, terrorist alerts and security alerts, strike action and unexpected flight safety shortcomings.”

We could have a whole article about ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and will do when I have time to write it.

Meanwhile, if you want to read an expert opinion on EU261, we have this article from several years ago.

Although the UK has left the European Union, this law still applies (it’s now called UK261)

The law (more like a regulation, really) gives you a long list of rights for compensation, depending on several factors such as the sector length of your flight

Easyjet’s compensation claim form under EU261 is accessible here

Easyjet Compensation Claim Form

Once you have submitted your claim you will generate a Claim Reference.

Keep this because Easyjet will then send you a message which says

“Thank you for contacting us and for submitting a claim.

We are sorry for your recent experience due to a cancelled or delayed flight.

Now that we have your claim, our specialist assessment and legal team will be collating the information required to classify the flight under the Regulation. Once we have completed our investigations, we will get back to you with the outcome within the next 28 days.”

To check the status of your claim, please use our track my claim tool.

And when you click that link, you will need your CASE ID or Booking reference and email address.

Generally, £220 / €250 for flights of 1500 km or less.

You are also have a ‘Right to care’. This includes:

• meals and refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time;
• hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the hotel, where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary;
• two telephone calls, or telex or fax messages, or emails.