AN EASYJET customer has urged the public to take out insurance as soon as they book flights after claiming the airline quoted her £635 to change £420 flights.
Sue Bennett has been forced to postpone her trip to Faro, Portugal, with her husband Rob in June after he was rushed into hospital for emergency heart surgery last month.
The 56-year-old booked the flights for her and her husband in March, unbeknown to them that 65-year-old Rob would end up spending almost three weeks in hospital.
Rob went into Kings College Hospital in London for tests on 1 April – but he was kept in for 18 days after being found to need a double bypass.
The couple from Bromley, Kent, have since been trying to move their flights to September to give Rob time to recover.
But Sue claims that easyJet staff have told them they can only change the flights if they pay the extra fee – taking the total cost up to £1,055.
To add insult to injury, the couple have already lost £716 on flights they were due to go on in April after booking the two trips at the same time.
Sue had not taken out insurance at the time as she usually books this closer to the time of the holiday.
But now, she has issued a warning to holidaymakers to make sure to take it out as soon as a holiday is booked to not end up in a similar situation.
Speaking today, Sue said: “Rob had to have a surgery to get a new aortic valve and have a double bypass.
“We were supposed to be going abroad a couple of times, to Menorca in April and then to Faro in June.
“We found out a few days after booking that Rob needed to have his operation so we emailed easyJet straight away to see if we could move the holiday to a later date.
“It took them three weeks to reply and the holiday had gone by then.
“They said we had no insurance so they could not help us.
“We never go away without it and we would have got it closer to the time.
“I’ve asked lots of people if they get insurance at the same time they book a holiday and lots said no.
“Our flights for June were £420 but easyJet now want another £635 to move them until September.
“We were angry and upset, especially under the circumstances of my husband’s illness.
“We found it all too stressful to deal with easyJet.
“All we wanted was credit, we never once asked for any refunds.
“EasyJet just keep saying they can’t help us because we are not insured.”
Sue also shared her experience on social media on Saturday, writing: “I just want to put out there to everyone if you are booking a holiday or flights make sure you get insurance, the same time you book.
“My husband and I had two trips booked with easyJet, one in April and two flights in June.
“My husband was taken into hospital two days after we had booked these trips for major heart surgery which was a big shock.
“We tried to get in touch with easyJet through email and phone calls to ask if we could get credit to move to other dates, not refunds.
“We have been good customers of easyJet for many years and I am outraged at the level of customer care they have given us.
“We now have lost our holiday and our flights in June as my husband can’t fly for a while.
“EasyJet has done nothing to help us, we will never be booking anything with them again.
“Please be aware.”
A spokesman for EasyJet said: “We are very sorry to hear of Mr Bennett’s situation.
“We would also like to apologise for any misunderstanding of the options available to rearrange their plans, as well as for any delay in responding to their enquiry and we are currently looking into how this occurred.
“To help any customers who are no longer able to travel due to serious illness and need to make new arrangements, easyJet provides the option to receive a flight voucher for the full booking value to use towards new flights at a later date or a full refund, and we are in contact with Mrs Bennett to assist her with their options.”
