Ryanair and Easyjet passengers told “you can fly home, but not with your bags”

by Scott Carmichael on

Earlier this week, 10 million Spanish workers went on strike to protest changes to workers rights and pensions. As usual, the strike shut down airports, forcing most European air carriers to cancel their flights. Once the strike was over, it took several days for things to get back to normal.

As airlines struggled to get enough planes back to Spain to pick up passengers, both Ryanair and Easyjet had a bad message for their customers – you can fly with us, but you can’t bring your luggage with you.

Most of the passengers were given absolutely no warning about this, while others only got a few hours notice. As tired vacationers struggled to find ways to get their possessions sent home, others had to give up and just leave their things at their hotels, without the chance of ever seeing them again.

One passenger left over $1,500 worth of clothes in Gran Canaria, a very quick way to completely spoil what was supposed to be a fun vacation. As is becoming common with low cost carriers, they showed that they really don’t care by saying little more than “sorry for the inconvenience”.

If easyJet goes under, you’re not screwed

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If easyJet were to go insolvent before you could take a package you’ve booked online with the company, fear not: you’re insured. Since the beginning of the month, the European low-cost carrier has arranged with credit protection company International Passenger Protection to make sure customers don’t lose out if the airline as a whole takes a nose dive.

According to Paul Phillips, group treasurer of easyJet:

“We pride ourselves at being one of the leading and most innovative airlines in the UK and, despite our strong financial standing, we recognise that we have important legal obligations to adhere to under the UK Package Travel Regulations. We acknowledge our continued duty to give passengers financial peace of mind when buying travel packages online from us.”

Paul Mclean, director at IPP, said:

“The travel industry and travelling public have suffered a surge of financial collapses in the last two years and headlines of passengers losing their holidays are becoming commonplace. We are delighted to be working with easyjet to ensure its continued compliance with the relevant consumer protection legislation in place.”

So, if nothing else, you have one less worry when booking our next trip!

[photo by WexDub via Flickr]

EasyJet bans disabled, French government mad

by Tom Johansmeyer on

EasyJet isn’t letting unaccompanied disabled passengers onto its flights, and the French government is furious. It’s threatening the airline with sanctions “with the greatest severity” for leaving these passengers on the ground. The government response was triggered by EasyJet‘s refusing to allow three passengers on flights after they bought tickets, citing safety concerns.

In a statement by the French transport ministry reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, “EasyJet cannot hide behind safety regulations for refusing to board passengers who have difficulty moving around.” It continued, “It must implement solutions adapted to each case, as most companies do. Otherwise it must be sanctioned with the greatest severity.”

EasyJet says it’s in discussion with the French government to work out a solution but noted through a spokeswoman, “European regulations oblige us to evacuate an aircraft in 90 seconds so we are authorised to ask someone to accompany (those needing assistance) to assure the safety of the person and the passengers.”

[photo by twinkleboi via Flickr]

easyJet founder tells airline to be more punctual or change its name

by Scott Carmichael on

Back in the late 90’s, easyJet triggered a new era of low cost carriers. Founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline went from just 2 planes to over 175.

As one of the largest airlines in the United Kingdom, easyJet has had a lousy track record of on time departures and arrivals. In a recent report, the airline actually managed to score lower than Air Zimbabwe.

This bad PR is not only bad for the airline, it also got the attention of the easyGroup, who lease the “easy” name back to the airline. Lawyers for the Easy empire have given easyJet just 90 days to gets its act together, or to lose the rights to the name, which would force them to change it.

A full name change would cost millions, and given its strong brand protection, it is even unlikely that easyJet would be allowed to keep its orange livery.

[Photo from:Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images]

EasyJet apologizes for Holocaust fashion shoot

by Sean McLachlan on

EasyJet has apologized to everyone who will listen over a fashion shoot that appeared in its inflight magazine.

Did the models wear too little? Did they look like fourteen year-old cokeheads? No, none of the usual stuff; they happened to be posing at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial.

Yes, some fashion photographer decided the concrete blocks known as the “Field of Stelae”, properly called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, would be a cool place for slinky women to show off designer duds. The editor of the magazine at INK Publishing thought it was a pretty neat idea too, and easyJet didn’t notice until too late.

Now they’ve yanked the issue from all their planes and are “reviewing their relationship” with the publisher.

This was probably an honest oversight by easyJet, who acted quickly and appropriately when the issue came to their notice, but what about the magazine’s editors? Or the photographer? Or the models? Didn’t anyone stop and say , “Hey, millions of Jews died in the concentration camps. Perhaps we should take these photos somewhere else?”

Nope, apparently not.