The coronavirus pandemic has caused huge problems for airlines, most of whom have had to ground most or all of their fleets. Easyjet is no exception. These decisions have resulted in millions of passengers wanting refunds for their cancelled flights.
What should I do?
Bear in mind that that all airlines are overwhelmed by the current situation, and so will be working through hundreds of flights with tens of thousands of passengers.
If your flight is not for this week or next week, it may make more sense to wait a few weeks until the airlines have sorted our resourcing issues in call centres and also improved their online refund procedures. Many airlines also spent much of March sorting out urgent repatriation flights.
For general advice on claims, including EU261 claims, see
Easyjet has cancelled my flight. How do I get a refund?
First off, head to the airline’s website. If the airline has cancelled your flight, then you are entitled to a refund. The airline will probably have sent you an automated email explaining what your options are.
UPDATE MARCH 26, 2020
UK airlines seek permission to defer refunds until after crisis
Am I entitled to a full refund?
If the airline has cancelled your flight or the government (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) has advised against travel to the destination, then yes you are.
If the flight is still being operated, then Easyjet’s “standard refund policies continue to apply”. This means that if you want to cancel, you are likely to get back only the government taxes – the air passenger duty. It means you won’t get back the full price of the ticket, or the extras you paid for such as seat selection and bags.
There are exceptions to this. For bookings made within 24 hours you get a full refund, minus a cancellation fee (for more information see Easyjet’s Fees and Charges page).
The second exception is a temporary one. During the crisis, Easyjet is currently waiving change fees. This means you can change both the dates and destination without incurring a change fee. Instead you would only pay the fare difference (if the new flights are more expensive).
This applies only for customers booking directly with Easyjet through its website or by using the mobile app. Easyjet says that “changes must be made at least two hours before the scheduled departure time, in line with our standard terms and conditions”.
What if I still want to cancel my flight?
You are better off waiting for the airline to cancel it – then you’ll get a refund.
If for some reason you need to do cancel now, then as stated above, you will probably get back only your government taxes. You may be able to claim on your travel insurance.
Can I claim on my travel insurance?
Possibly, depending on when you booked your flight – and also when you took out your insurance. See the following article for advice on that.
Easyjet has told us (Thursday, March 26, 2020) the following
‘Customers on cancelled flights can transfer to an alternative flight free of charge or receive a voucher for the value of their booking online or claim a refund through our contact centre.
“We are experiencing higher than average wait times so we would thank customers for their patience and assure them that these entitlements will be available long after their cancelled flight has flown.
“For customers whose flights are not cancelled but would like to move to a later date they can amend their flight online with no change fee and we have brought forward our winter schedule on-sale so customers have more choice to move their flights, up to 28 February 2021.”
As the comments below make clear, the wait time for a refund through the contact centre is considerable, so if you can, wait a few weeks, if you can’t, be prepared to wait a few hours.
ADDED
The UK, like most of the world, is in a semi-lockdown mode. Anyone with any symptoms is to self-isolate for 14 days. In those circumstances all aviation call centres, no matter how many extra staff they employ / contract with, are experiencing difficulties responding at the busiest time they have ever experienced.
FINAL NOTE
PLEASE DO NOT include your booking references, ticket numbers or names in the comments below. Your PNR (Passenger Name Record) contains personal information and should not be put on public forums. We are trying to XXXX these out when we see them, but we are not the airline, and this is a public website.
UPDATE 4 May 2020
here is a link to the Easyjet website where you can find the refund form
