easyJet cancelling scheduled flights to put on extra football flights to Paris
 

I was due to fly from Manchester to Munich on Friday 27 May, returning Sunday 29 May however, easyJet has now cancelled this flight at a great inconvenience to myself and everyone else booked to travel, simply so they can cash in on the Champions League Final.

Using the easyJet website it is very easy to see that on a normal Friday easyJet operate 3 flights from Manchester to Paris however, on Friday 27 May easyJet have added an extra 3 flights, so will operate 6 flights from Manchester to Paris on this date. We all know airlines do not leave aircraft sitting around on the ground doing nothing so other flights will have had to be cut to make way for these three additional flights. My flight to Munich and likely other destinations on this date has been cancelled so the aircraft can instead be used to fly to Paris.

We paid about £180 each for this flight. easyJet are selling the additional Paris flights at around £1200 return, so they're raking it in even after they refund everyone on the cancelled Munich flight.

I have reported this to the press (who will be running a story), the CAA and MP Grant Shapps. I would like the forums advise on who else can I report this behaviour to, to ensure easyJet are held to account by regulators as simply, this is unacceptable.

In the current climate, we don't know that at all.

At least one of those 3 flights is operating via a W pattern from another UK base... they could also be using foreign based aircraft to operate? Seems like you've jumped to some pretty large conclusions.

They normally run LPL FAO but that not bookable that weekend, don't know if they were on sale before footie team got to final?

Former easyjet pax,

I understand your frustration as it affects you, however it is a commercial decision made by Easyjet. They are in business to make money, if that annoys some customers then so be it. As long as they have followed proper procedure regarding refunds / alternatives and notifying customers then they haven't done anything wrong. Complaining to the press and MP Grant Shapps (both entities are a waste of space) is wasting your time. Book with another carrier and learn your lesson not to trust easyJet as I am assuming from your user name you have done.

Safe Travels
REAC

REAC

I agree with your sentiments, but cancelling previously scheduled services to cash in on a one off opportunity isn't really 'cricket'.

If I had suffered personally from such corporate behaviour I would vote with my wallet and avoid them in the future as the OP seems to have done. I would also probably have gone to the media.

The cancellation could be to cash in on the game, or just simply because they have to cancel, same as other carriers, quite a few flights as they are unable to recruit enough personnel, especially cabin crew. Happens now all the time, both on short notice and longer term. Someone forgot that Covid is actually still an issue, as well as having not enough crew to start with being negatively affected by said shortages leading to severe fatigue and additional sickness issues leading to a vicious circle.

Anyway, there are others out there, competition is good for the consumer after all.

Not bookable or sold out? It’s the start of the half term I think

They are a company required to
make profit where they can. I can’t see they have done anything wrong. They will of course offer a full refund and depending on circumstances EU261 compensation. If they can make more money out of a different utilisation of equipment you would be silly not to.

Thanks for the replies.

I understand fully that easyJet are in business to make money, that goes without saying. However, that does not make this sort of behaviour acceptable. Cashing in on a quick buck for a one-off sporting event while screwing over existing, loyal customers is no way to run a business. After cancelling my flight easyJet offered me a cash refund or a voucher. Neither of these options get me to Munich. Lufthansa do have a flight on the same dates but over £200 in fare difference. Will easyJet pay the difference? I suspect not. Why should I be out of pocket while easyJet cashes in, at my expense?

Upon further investigation I can see easyJet do not normally fly between Liverpool and Paris however they do have flights out on 27 and 28 May, returning 29 May for a whopping £1,037.28 return. To make way for these flights, on Friday 27 May easyJet has cancelled flight EZY7253 from Liverpool to Krakow and flight EZY7195 from Liverpool to Faro.

Really disgusting behaviour from easyJet.

I will have to agree with previous comments. This is just sensible business practice and done reasonably well in advance for you to arrange alternative plans.

This is normal EasyJet practice to change flights with complete disregard to customers convenience. Recently booked flights Manchester to jersey for a long weekend, leaving around 0800, received an email four weeks prior to trip saying the flights would depart 3 hours later to 1100, therefore ruining the first day holiday of a 3 day trip, apparently the airline in the small print is allowed to change the flight times in advance. Myself and rest of family would never use this airline ever again.

It is perfectly acceptable for a private company to cancel your service and give you your money back with 3weeks notice They are not a public service, they can and do make commercial decisions as every company does. You can't even prove they have done what you are accusing them of. Even if they have canceled your plane specifically to provide extra capacity for the football fans that is their business and their business only. They exist to make money. The press will run any old story bashing airlines, so that's not an achievement in itself and I strongly suspect no one will investigate anything as no laws have been broken whatsoever. If you're that unhappy, simply take your business elsewhere, easyJet will make much more from these charters than you were going to give them anyway and they will have opened themselves up to many more future customers too. It's simply good business from a company that has suffered greatly for the last 2 years.

Not so. This is a regulated industry. The CAA were always very hard on carriers who cancelled scheduled flights for other than good reasons (pretending it was a tech issue when it was a commercial one was spotted in a flash), to the extent that it would be necessary to subcharter in, specifically to cover any shortfall. Once you schedule it, you run it. The only exception was "No commercial load". At all.

As I don't remember legislation going through removing this aspect, I presume it's still on the statute books.

Oh no, that isn't acceptable at all.
It is totally unethical to cancel flights simply because something more lucrative has turned up. If EZY, or any other 'reputable' airline really has reached the stage where they think "if it annoys some passengers then so be it" we are all in a sad place. Of course, if you don't think ethics count for anything that defines you and society as a whole perhaps.

I would be interested learning about such legislation - assuming it exists.

I'm afraid you did not pay attention over the past 30 years or so... These airlines are here to make money. They don't provide a public service (in which case your remarks might be justified).

I don’t understand your complaint, you booked some cheap tickets with a disreputable company, who keep fares low by cancelling flights/screwing passengers when it suits them to chase lucrative opportunities.

That was all fine, and you didn’t mind / supported that, until it affected you.

Then you complain that another airline is more expensive (and you’ll be out of pocket???), when the reason they are more expensive is because they don’t do the thing you are complaining about!


You can’t have it both ways.

Do you think it’s ok they do this to other people, to keep your fare low, as long as they don’t do it to you?

Stop whining, support reputable companies in future, explain the easyJet business model to people if you like, but don’t pretend they are costing you extra money that you should have paid in the first place if you wanted some guarantees you would get there.

You booked a cheap flight, with a disreputable company, that might be cancelled for a better opportunity, and then complained when they cancelled it.

Like I say, makes no sense.

The regulation - EU261 only come into effect if the cancellation was made inside 2 weeks. Outside of 2 weeks the airline can do what it likes.

Capitalism 101 afraid to say mate !

They will have made a consideration that paying a level of compensation and a few (no more than two hundred and sixty) people disappointed in a business that moves millions sort of worth it !

Oh and it happens almost every year . Do you remember the dozens of aircraft some years back that flew into Manchester for a football cup event and the masses of Alitalia cancellations on their schedules network 😉

As others have said the airlines can cancel any flight with sufficient notice and compensation where due . They are under no obligation of carriage unless it’s a PSO service .

Yet they have not canceled the flights from gatwick on the 27 or 29 to Munich, 4 flights in total, a choice of morning and evening departures.