Originally Posted by
RAT 5
So call out a standby crew ... "What do you mean you don't have a standby crew, who's fault is that?"
depends where the flight was originating from; and there is no requirement to have a SBY crew for every flight: Impossible.
The flight number provided by the OP is a LGW departure, a significant crew base for EZY and, with just a little forward thinking, had they no standby crew at LGW they had other crew bases of STN & LTN within a taxi journey away.
I did Crew Scheduling for a living, I managed my own Crew Scheduling department for a number of years, I know what is possible and I know what is reasonable and for an operator the size of EZY not to have a standby crew available at, apparently, their largest operating base, except in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances, would be nothing less than bungling incompetence!
From what the OP says, and I know him to be ex crew himself he and I having worked together some 30 years ago, the passengers made a very similar challenge to the EZY staff as I have made here, to the effect "Call out a standby crew", and that is when the staff felt themselves cornered and came up with a different excuse as to why the flight had been cancelled.